HIAS 2019 Annual Report

HIAS Haggadah and Calendar Link
Jewish Holidays to Refugee Crisis
To build connections
between Jewish values
and our commitment to
refugees, HIAS created
a Passover Haggadah,
that meaningfully links
the Jewish experience
retold in the story
of Passover with the
story of modernday
and historical
struggles of refugees
and asylum seekers.
Our Haggadah was
downloaded nearly
23,000 times and
featured as a “bestselling
Haggadah”
on Amazon.com.
HIAS also published
a Holiday Calendar for 2019/5780,
created by HIAS’ rabbi-in-residence, that highlights facts and
dates related to the history of refugees and asylum seekers.
Nearly 1,500 calendars were distributed to synagogues and
partners throughout the country.
Honoring HIAS History
Outside the Washington Beltway, 2019 was a year where
HIAS was honored to be associated with the leadership of
two past U.S. presidents in the area of refugees and human
rights: In May, Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of the 36th
President of the United States, presented HIAS with the
Houston Holocaust Museum Lyndon Baines Johnson Moral
Courage Award for our work. And in June, in Atlanta, HIAS
and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
organized an all-day celebration—memorialized on C-Span—
celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Refugee Act of 1980,
reuniting for the first time the policy makers and advocates
who were the forces behind the legislation which established
our refugee resettlement and asylum systems in the United
States. Also participating were prominent former refugees
who were helped by the Refugee Act of 1980, and the
Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Kelly Clements.
HIAS Annual Report 2019
hias.org
17