“Showing to non-Jewish families what a vibrant Jewish community is like is also a bonus,” the rabbi said, citing the upcoming Purim carnival as an example. “The Jewish kids will know what Purim’s about, the other kids will just have a good time with food trucks and games.”
The executive director recalled how, at the town’s fall festival, the shul had a table with activities related to Sukkot, and had “families stop by who are Black, Hindu, Hispanic, saying ‘That’s where I went to preschool.’”
“They want to do the craft, they want to hug,” she said. “They’ve become part of the family. They see us as part of their family.”
Which is why President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order reversing the longstanding policy regarding so-called “sensitive locations” prompted the synagogue to call an emergency board meeting.
‘It’s because we were allowed to be here’
“I’ve given sermons over the years about the importance of loving the stranger, we were strangers in the land of Egypt, all the good things rabbis talk about,” the rabbi told me. “If I ever hear a congregant talk about being anti-immigration, I remind them that their ancestors also didn’t speak English — whatever we American Jews have accomplished, it’s because we were allowed to be here.”
But this “is not just a Jewish issue because of Jewish values,” he added. “It’s a Jewish issue for us because this is our actual house, our home.”
After the executive order was announced, the preschool director called the school district and the rabbi reached out to the local member of Congress. She talked to other preschool directors, and he to other clergy members. They consulted the synagogue’s security guard. They had the board meeting. And there is still no clear protocol on what, exactly, they are supposed to do if ICE agents show up and ask to remove a student from their class.
“I don’t go into a public school class and talk about Purim, but I do give the kids high-fives in the hallway. I am, in a different way, also their rabbi.”
They know they are supposed to immediately notify the school district. They know they are supposed to ask to see a warrant. They do not know how to assess a warrant’s validity or what to do while they wait for someone from the school district to arrive.
“Am I allowed to check their IDs? I don’t even know that,” the school director said. “Am I allowed to take sometime to verify if this is a judicial warrant? I don’t know that.”
“Our security director said if they come and they’re getting impatient, eventually you have to just kind of step out of the way,” the rabbi added. “He’s an armed guard, and he said it’s not good to have a confrontation between two armed people.”
No clear protocol
To be clear, the synagogue staff has no idea of the immigration status of any of its preschool families; the school district requires only proof of residence in the town, like a utility bill, to enroll. There is no particular reason to suspect these families would draw ICE’s ire. But that’s why the Trump 2.0 promise of mass deportation is so pernicious.
The president frames the immigration crisis as being about murderers and drug dealers illegally infiltrating the country, but his policies threaten to ensnare everyone without proper papers. The synagogue staff is worried, too, about the mental health of its preschool families and staff, about the way the general atmosphere around immigrants have changed.
“We try so hard to say you and her are the same, you’re going to be best friends — we don’t talk about color, we keep it all so neutral for these kids,” the director said. “Their minds are like a sponge. The schools work so hard to say we’re all inclusive, but then outside, what are kids being exposed to?”
She is, herself, the child of immigrants who came from Africa and India more than 50 years ago. Her parents became naturalized citizens and worked for the Postal Service. “In their time it was just a lot more welcoming,” she told me.
On her desk is a sign that says “DIRECTOR OF AWESOMENESS.”
And she has decided what she will do if ICE ever does show up.
“I would just ask if I can go with that child,” she said. “At that moment, I’m the only one that kid would know and trust.
“The board is advising that we don’t get ourselves arrested,” she added. “I don’t care. These kids are my babies. I want to make sure that wherever they end up, they’re with someone they know.”
