Iceland – Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover or a Country by Its Name by Rabbi Judith Schindler

I didn’t know too much about Iceland until this week. In terms of climate, Iceland is not known for its warmth. The summers barely see temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. But this past week, the people of Iceland warmed our hearts.

As hundreds of thousands of refugees are fleeing their war torn homeland of Syria, they are facing closed gates in every direction. They are facing closed borders in many of the Gulf States. They are facing packed train cars in Budapest, taking them unknowingly to camps for asylum seekers. For us, as Jews, it awakens frightening memories. Syrian refugees are facing death in unsafe rafts on stormy waters. The photo of Aylan Kurdi, a three year old boy washed up on the shores of Greece broke our hearts. He has become the small innocent and iconic image of the immense tragedy facing the eleven million Syrian refugees forced to flee from their homes over the past four years of war.

While many might look away feeling helpless and hopeless in the face of this overwhelming crisis, a large group of citizens from Iceland refused to allow their hearts to become hardened. Instead, these families set up a Facebook page to see if they could challenge their government to raise its cap of accepting annually only 50 asylum seekers. More than 11,000 families offered to open their homes.

Ms. Bjorgvinsdottir, who organized the campaign, highlighted the “human resources” these individuals fleeing oppression could offer. “They are our future spouses, best friends, the next soul mate, a drummer for our children’s band, the next colleague, Miss Iceland in 2022, the carpenter who finally finishes the bathroom, the cook in the cafeteria, a fireman and television host,” she wrote.

In response to this outpouring of compassion, kindness and generosity, Iceland’s Prime Minister, has now formed a committee to rethink how many refugees his country can accept.

Lifesaving and loving acts of opening homes and hearts melts away pain of those who are suffering and gives faith in humanity to those who are struggling.

As we welcome a New Year this coming week, we pray for the people of Syria. We pray that this will be the year for their war to end and for their refugees to be able to return home and rebuild. Until that day comes, we pray these millions of refuges will be able to find shelters of safety and build homes filled with peace, health, and hope wherever they are.