Jill: 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the Crossing Voices from the Lighthouse. Today we're talking with two dear friends of the Lighthouse, Harriet Taub and Kathy Prussak. Together with Hope and Lisa and others from the Refugee Committee at the United Synagogue of Hoboken, these determined, caring women have become regular partners in our work, delivering food, organizing community dinners and building relationships that bring comfort and dignity to our guests. Their stories remind us how the Lighthouse connects people of different traditions around a shared call to welcome and support those seeking safety and belonging. Here's our conversation. Well, hello, ladies. It's great to have you here on the Crossing Voices from the Lighthouse. We're so excited to have a chance to chat with you today. Maybe we can start by each of you just introducing yourselves and just tell us a little bit about your association with the Lighthouse and, really, the Refugee Committee of the Synagogue. Harriet, why don't we start with you? Sure?

Harriet: 1:03

My name is Harriet Taub and I've been a member of the United Synagogue of Hoboken for nearly 40 years and I retired from my full-time job back in 2020. And at that time I knew that the United Synagogue of Hoboken had a refugee committee, but, you know, I was working full-time and I didn't really have any time to sort of put towards that. And once I retired, I decided I was working full time and I didn't really have any time to sort of put towards that, and once I retired, I decided that I would join. So it's been, I guess, five years, and my relationship with the Lighthouse is that soon after I guess sometime in 2021, we had met with you, jill, to talk about the work that you were doing, because I understand that the Refugee Committee had been supporting the Lighthouse for a number of years. And we asked you you know, what did you need?

Harriet: 1:53

And one of the things you said was that there was a food pantry in Jersey City that did have food, but you needed people to pick that food up twice a month, or maybe a little more often if that happened. And so I volunteered to do that, and that was really my first experience with meeting the folks at Triangle Community Center, which is a wonderful organization that supports people with food and picking it up and then bringing the food and dropping it off at the lighthouse. So that was my first experience and we've been doing that now for a number of years. Kathy does it with me, we go off and on with each other and it's been really nice for us to meet the people at Triangle who are doing such good work, and then also meeting people over the years at El Faro, at the lighthouse, great.

Jill: 2:41

Thank you so much, kathy. How about you?

Kathy: 2:44

Okay, so my name is Kathy Prussak and I am a recent addition to the USH Refugee Committee. I've been a member of the synagogue for more than 40 years, but I think when I retired in 2022 is when I, and so I probably joined in 23,. Harriet, I can't actually remember, but my role has been. I mean, I've always been interested in refugee issues and immigrants in particular, and so I wanted to help. And so Harriet said great, you can help me in picking up food at Triangle and people there are really wonderful, and everything Harriet said has been great and then dropping it off at the lighthouse, where I got to get a chance to meet the people. The other thing, too, is that we were so successful in hosting a dinner prepared by the residents of the Lighthouse, where we introduced them to a lot of community members, and it was a tremendous success raising money also for them.

Jill: 3:38

So you raised something interesting, Kathy. You said you've always had an interest in refugees and immigrants, and I guess I'd love to hear from each of you, you know, where does your interest in this work come from, sort of what drives you to do this work and what is it that keeps you coming back for more. Kathy, why don't we start with you? Well, I mean.

Kathy: 3:59

I think it's really important to welcome the immigrant and support the immigrant important to welcome the immigrant and support the immigrant, and I think it's so important that we continue to provide support for people looking for a better life. It really surprises me the animus towards anybody who's new to this country. It just is amazing to me that they would not open their arms to people coming from all over. And I mean, I was an international relations major and I worked for years bringing exchange students to families in this area, because I just think getting to know people from other cultures and other worlds is just so incredible.

Jill: 4:39

Thank you so much. And Harriet, how about you?

Harriet: 4:42

Well, my mother came to this country when she was a little girl, crossing the borders from Ukraine under hay in a wagon, escaping the Cossacks, and while my dad was born here, his family came from Poland.

Harriet: 4:58

These were people who were escaping terrible conditions in Europe for Jewish people, and so I've always felt very close to the idea, as Kathy was saying, that we need to support people who are coming to this country.

Harriet: 5:14

It is only in the last maybe 10 years, maybe a little bit more, that there's been so much animus, and I think that it's very political, and I think that people who are unhappy with their status in this country take it out on recent immigrants, and I also don't understand it, and especially now, with how really terrible it's been for people coming from countries where they are fearing violence and persecution and sex trafficking and all sorts of things, that people who are so angry at them don't realize that these are the people that come here, that pick our fruit and vegetables, that work on farms, that work in meat processing plants, doing work that no one in this country wants to do, and I think that we're going to feel that now, as the borders are closing and people are being deported you know the prices of everything are going to go up and it's going to hit people like, oh yeah, those people that worked at that store or worked on our lawn or helped build our house, you know they're no longer here and I just.

Harriet: 6:24

It's a terrible feeling and while we can't solve those really big problems, we can do some work locally and that's what the Lighthouse affords us and that's what you have created, jill, this wonderful haven for people, and we are blessed with being able to sort of touch them in the way, even if it's just dropping off food for them. That's a way that we can feel like we're doing something.

Jill: 6:49

Very powerful words and I think so true. You know, the refugee committee has done so much and has helped in so many different ways, and I'm always just amazed at the creativity you guys have and you think about different ways to help, and it's just, it's a really beautiful thing how you find ways to help, and so many people I mean I don't know if you come across this, but people say I want to help, but I just don't know what to do and you all find ways to really help, which is amazing. And so I guess one question I'd like to ask is really help, which is amazing. And so I guess one question I'd like to ask is can you tell us about a particular event, maybe, or it could even just be an experience or an interaction, something specific, that you've done or experienced with the Lighthouse that really touched your heart, that really made you feel the importance of the work that you're doing and that just has stayed with you and that maybe even fuels you to do more?

Kathy: 7:47

I had one. I mean, there was these two little boys, the African boys, and they were so bright and so amazing and I just spent, you know, a half an hour maybe just talking to them and they were like little sponges and they wanted to know the English words and I was, you know, and as soon as I left that I contacted the Hudson School. I said you must take these two boys because they are just amazing, they were so smart. I don't think that anything ever happened with it, but I just I felt like I don't know how anybody could not love them.

Jill: 8:18

Excellent, and Harriet, how about for you?

Harriet: 8:43

me, but you know, I've been studying Spanish and so every time I go I try to speak Spanish, and they're always so grateful, although they really want to speak English, but so it is a little bit of a dance, but I will say that one of the things that really stuck with me was Kathy mentioned it before that the synagogue refugee committee organized for a dinner that was going to be held at the lighthouse and the chefs were residents of the lighthouse.

Harriet: 9:04

So there were people who were cooking, who came from South America, central America, cuba, and then there were some folks that came from Ghana, and so I took the folks from Ghana to a town a few towns away, east Orange, where there was an African market, because they wanted to buy some very specific things for their meal, and the care that they took and the specificity of the items that they were buying, because what they really wanted to do was to bring their culture to the people who were going to be eating that food, and it really struck me that they're in this country and, yes, there are definitely enclaves of people from Ghana and you know, specifically in that in East Orange there were and they were able to find the ingredients they needed.

Harriet: 9:52

But it was really a matter of pride, because everybody is making refugees out to be people who you know want to come and go on welfare and you know, get free stuff and you know that just doesn't happen. I mean, the level of falsities that are out there about immigrants are just, you know it's incredible and you know you can't trust anything. So I think they really wanted to make a point that these are the foods, this is what we eat, this is how we live and we want to share that with you. And that was really very important to me and I think it really was important to the people who came to that dinner. I think they really felt that.

Jill: 10:31

Yeah, that was really a great event on so many levels we have to do that again and just so much fun to sample all these different foods that are made with such love and such pride, you know, as you point out. So I guess one of the things that I'm really interested in is, you know, on a spiritual level, you know why do you do this work, how does it connect to your faith and how has it impacted your continued sort of spiritual formation and growth? I'm really interested in learning a little bit more about that.

Harriet: 11:03

It's complicated right now to be looking at your faith and reading the Old Testament, which sometimes to me, I have to say, we're talking about animal sacrifice. I mean, there's stuff that just doesn't make sense. But the core issues of what it means to be a Jew in the world is taking care of your fellow. You know, tikkun alam, repair the world and take care of people in need, the sick, the injured, the widow that's part of it. And just to do good. And you know, I think our ability to work with a larger community outside of the Jewish community, doing things that we feel will repair and help, has brought me, not necessarily closer, but it's brought a feeling to me that I'm doing the good work, that it means to be a good Jew.

Kathy: 11:56

I was brought up in a Reformed tradition of Judaism and Reformed Judaism. It is very, very, very focused on social activism. It always has been, and so that's my background. When we're called to help people, this is what we do, because part of our mission in the world is to make the world a better place and so being able to fulfill that because it was very interesting, the synagogue refugee support committee just recently received an award from HIAS, and the rabbi pointed out that we were the only conservative synagogue that received the award, because all the rest of them were reformed congregations, and I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud that my you know my activism background growing up has and that I can connect with this committee in order to fulfill that mission that I was brought up with, which is that, you know, we we have to work to help people always. That's what we have to do, and these are people you know. Immigrants coming to our country from the earliest of days have always needed help, and it's our obligation to do that.

Harriet: 13:04

Can I just say one other thing? You know I've said this in sort of speaking at the synagogue about the Refugee Committee and its importance. We literally live in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. That is so foundational to me. I mean, my mother came to Ellis Island, my grandparents came to Ellis Island, on both sides. I mean the fact that we are here, that I am sitting in a house that I own, that I've, you know, that you know in a community that I love, because they had to struggle and escape Cossacks under a hay and a hay wagon, I mean, and took two years to get here.

Harriet: 13:45

I I am every day, you know, need to remind us that myself how lucky I am and the fact that we can help others who are trying to make that journey to make their not just necessarily their lives better, but their children's lives better, because that's what these people did. They had skills in these other countries. They were doctors, they were scientists and they came and they're driving cabs. I mean we hear that all the time People who had skills, who but they're doing it not just for themselves, they're doing it for their future, of their families, and it speaks to everything. And the work that you're doing has just really. You know you've enabled that and so it's. You know we're blessed to be in your company and around the work that you, of a completely different faith tradition, have enabled, and we feel united by that.

Jill: 14:35

Oh no, it's my pleasure and for me that's one of the biggest thrills about this work is it's an opportunity to be able to gather with good people and it's a reminder that there are such good people in the world who really do want to make a difference and really who can put other people first. You know, I think our faith traditions are very aligned in so many ways in terms of that being our call, our call to do our part to repair the world, our call to bring justice into the world, our call to spread love in the world, and we get to do that together. And I think it's really amazing. I'm wondering how have conversations changed in recent months around the table, at your meetings, at your refugee committee meetings? Have things changed? Has the current context changed the work itself, the way you view the work, the conversations that you have? You know what has the impact been?

Kathy: 15:40

I don't know that the meetings have changed so much.

Kathy: 15:42

I mean, we're really micro-focused. The macro issues facing the immigrant community and refugees are just depressing and horrible, and you know the fact that a lot of the organizations that have been sponsoring refugees have been basically shut down again because of the administration policies. That affects us only a little, I think, other than just our overall mental state, but what it also means is that we're more determined than ever to make sure that we continue to do the work that we do for the places that we can do it. I mean, we can't do apartment setups anymore anywhere because, guess what? No apartments are being set up because nobody has come here. When we hear about people who are sold everything and we're at the airport waiting to come to the US and then they couldn't, it's really sad, and so we're so happy that the people who have come through and that you've been able to sponsor and get through the system. It's been really great that we're able to help them, while we can't help a lot of the people that are coming through the quote unquote legal route.

Harriet: 16:50

I think the committee started maybe under the Obama administration. So I do think that they were doing very specific things, like there were a lot of Middle Eastern refugees that were coming into the country as long with people from the South American and Central American countries. Like, as Kathy mentioned, there were opportunities. These people and you know this better than anybody there were opportunities for them to get apartments, and so there was different kind of work.

Harriet: 17:16

I think right now, kathy, it's absolutely correct that we're very local focused. We're very focused on what we can do with the folks that are here, and I think that the you know, on the one hand, the idea that we have three and a half more years is terrifying under this administration and, on the other hand, we say, well, in three and a half years maybe we'll get some. You know, things will change. So I think the horribleness of what is happening with deportations has just sort of focused us, like we have to keep doing this. We're trying to get more people to join our committee. We're trying to do whatever need. What can we do? I mean, I often ask you what else can we do? What else do you need? We want to be available to you with whatever. However, we can help you in whatever your.

Jill: 18:06

That's just amazing. And as far as apartment setups go, we also have a family getting ready to move out in the next month or so and we'll have another family ready to move on to independent living in December. So that's always an area that we can expand into as well, but we'll have to get together and talk and dream together, as we do, about what's next, and talk and dream together as we do about what's next. I guess the last thing I'd like to ask is for those who say I want to help but I don't know what to do. Or you know, there is a lot of lamentation happening about how terrible everything is. How can you speak into that narrative to help people find a way that they can find a positive pathway through this morass at this time?

Harriet: 18:55

Well, it can be very hyperlocal, like you just talked about the two families. So if we know that information, we can put that out to our network and say looking for a dress or looking for sheets, clean sheet, whatever it is. I mean I know that when we ask people to do that and people drop off stuff or they go directly to the light, people feel really good, even if it's like I've got those two boxes of towels that I'm not using because I changed the color of my bathroom, like people want to do it but they just don't know. So I think information is really power in terms of getting people to do things. I mean, the other thing that I would tell people and when we speak at our synagogue about we say things like you could join us by picking up food once a month. You can join us by collecting school supplies.

Harriet: 19:43

You can, you know, look in your closets, talk to your kids. You know the families of your children's, you know the parents of your children's friends and talk to them about clothes that they have or whatever it is. I mean there's so many things that people have. We are an abundant community. We have so much and I think we want to share it. But I think you're right. People are sort of they're lamenting and they don't really know how. So I think having an organization like the Lighthouse gives us the focus of what we can do. So you know we'll put the pressure back on you to tell us what you need and when you need it, and give us time so we can get that information out to you. Know our networks.

Kathy: 20:22

You know we'll put you to work. We got things you know, right. We just also need for you to tell us whatever it is that you need. It may not be a lot of things all the time, but it's something.

Jill: 20:34

Absolutely, and I think a good time of year is coming soon where we can really focus our energies together.

Jill: 20:41

I know Thanksgiving for me is a really special time at the Lighthouse.

Jill: 20:45

It's a time for folks there to really learn about the holiday and what it means to us in this country and to really take the time to be grateful and to share and to think about how we can be better together and how we can all sit together at the same table and you know we can also, if the table's too small, we can always, as one of my friends says, you know, build a bigger table, and that's the work that we do, and so we do it together.

Jill: 21:10

I'm very proud of that, I'm enriched by that, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you do as individuals and as a committee to help other people who are struggling really just to have a decent life. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about the ability to live in a safe place, an ability to feed your children and get them an education and be able to give them a life and help them to build a life that you might not even be able to have yourself. But, as Harriet pointed out, oftentimes this generation is sacrificing really their life for the next generation and that's a beautiful thing and if we can help facilitate that, then we will have done good.

Harriet: 21:56

Jill I want to add one more thing. There's so many people out in this world of in the United States right now, who claim to be people of faith, and I would just tell them to look, just go back to like the very basics. Like you know, treat the stranger as you would like to be treated. It is the most the golden rule treat people the way you would want to be treated. And I feel like that is one of the biggest damages to our souls and to our country that people who should know better and should really be caring are, you know, viciously attacking people who are different than them. And you know, inside we're all the same, we all have the same blood and it all runs red.

Jill: 22:41

Yes, absolutely, and amen to that. Amen. Thanks for listening to the Crossing Voices from the Lighthouse. My thanks to Harriet and Kathy for the countless ways they've stood alongside the lighthouse and our guests. Their witness is proof that partnership across traditions can change lives, both for those seeking refuge and for those who welcome them. If you'd like to learn more, volunteer or support the work, visit us at the lighthouse. Together, we can keep the light shining for every person who comes through our doors. I'm Deacon Jill Singleton. We'll be back soon with more voices and more stories from the Lighthouse. In the meantime, please share this podcast with friends and consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify To learn more about the Lighthouse and how you can support our work. Visit lighthousenjorg Until next time. Peace be with you.