Watching the evening news, Adam Haber said, he felt sick to his stomach by the reports of violence and suffering in war-torn Syria — a reminder of the not-so-distant past for him and his family
“The country is in disarray, and it reminded me of the Holocaust,” the East Hills resident said. “I lost a lot of family in the Holocaust, and seeing what was happening in Syria, it touched a nerve.”
Haber, who is a principal for a commercial real estate firm and a member of the Roslyn Board of Education, said in response to the violence and suffering he began an extensive research in what he could do to help refugees from a civil war in Syria that as of last year was estimated to have claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people.
But, he said, he had little hope for help in the United States.
“I tried calling places in [the United States], I googled organizations, and nobody was responding,” Haber said.
Restrictions on emigration from the Middle East have prevented Syrian refugees from settling in the United States.
Last week the Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s travel ban which would bar most citizens from the United States.
Under President Barack Obama, about 18,000 Syrian refugees were settled in the United States between Oct. 1, 2011 and the end of last year, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Over half of that amount arrived in 2016.
But refugee relocation continues in Canada, which resettled 40,000 Syrian refugees between November 2015 and December 2016 alone.
Haber, who made unsuccessful runs for county executive and state senator in recent years, said he received a recommendation about a relocation program based out of Canada and decided to sponsor a family himself.
Haber said after looking through dozens of programs that assist refugees, he settled on Najda Now Canada.
He flew out to meet the program’s director at her office in Kitchener, a small city a few miles west of Toronto, he said. After speaking with her and local members of the community, he came away impressed, he said.
“I met her, I met people at the local synagogue, the Lutheran church, the head of local Muslim group, and they all liked this woman,” Haber said. “So we decided to sponsor.”
Najda Now Canada Director Siba Al-Khadour has already helped 40 families relocate from refugee camps to Canada.
The Canadian government covers half the cost of relocation and pairs the refugee family with a Canadian family to help the new arrivals adjust to life in a new country.
Haber said he and his family helped to relocate a man targeted by terrorists for teaching arts to refugees, his wife and his daughter to Canada. The daughter was born in a refugee camp outside Syria.
Following that experience, Haber spearheaded efforts for the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore in Manhasset to sponsor another family, he said.
“When Adam brought us his passion — sponsoring specific families — he thought that we’d want to be involved,” said Cantor Eric Schulmiller. “He was correct.”
Schulmiller said that the oppression that Jewish people have experienced in ancient and recent history has given them an understanding of those who are suffering.
“Starting from our own biblical history in Egypt, we identify with the powerless,” he said. “In more recent times, many of our families were immigrants and refugees from eastern Europe. It helps us be sympathetic to those under repressive regimes.”
The family sponsored by the synagogue consists of a father, mother and daughter who have been separated by the war. The father had been captured and detained by the Syrian government for assisting in humanitarian efforts and is now homeless. He has been living apart from his wife and his daughter since 2010.
As of March 2017, more than 5 million Syrians have fled the country and 6.3 million people are displaced internally, according to CNN.
Fundraising began earlier this month for the family sponsored by the synagogue.
Donations are being solicited online at longislandsavessyrians.com and over $2,000 has already been raised toward a $20,000 goal.
“The plan is to lead by example with our synagogue,” said Dave Kerpen, a Port Washington school trustee and a member of the synagogue who helped set up a site to raise money. “We’re going to demonstrate the power of fundraising.”
Haber, too, was optimistic that fundraisers to relocate families will eventually spread across Long Island.
“I’m trying to get as many people aware as possible,” he said. “I’m speaking to Temple Israel, I’m talking to Muslim group in Syosset, I went back and visited the program in Kitchener. I’m reaching out to everyone who is interested in doing this.”
