Day 6 of Daily Vigil for Compassion at Our Borders

A grassroots group of concerned citizens began a daily multi-faith vigil beginning last week to peacefully protest the U.S. Government’s treatment of children and asylum seekers at our southern borders. This daily vigil will continue through Friday, August 9 at the intersection of El Camino Real and Page Mill Road in Palo Alto from noon-12:30 p.m., Saturdays excluded.

“Separating children from their parents and holding them in brutal conditions shames the values of our country. We will not remain silent. Each person, young or older, who comes seeking refuge never surrenders his or her dignity as a human being created in the Divine Image,” said Rabbi Shelly Lewis, Local Bend the Arc leader, one of the event’s organizers. “This three-week period in the Jewish calendar coincides with a period of mourning in Jewish history when the basic values of compassion and justice were ruined, resulting in violence and destruction. We remember this painful time; and now, in our own time, we resolve to respond to cruelty with caring, to abuse with kindness, to hard-heartedness with empathy.”

The vigil was organized by Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice and Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice, together with allies and friends in the community, including the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council.