Syrian Refugees in New Jersey

by Thomas E. Franklin

2016 marked the fifth anniversary of the Syrian crisis, a grim milestone in the bloody civil war that has left an estimated quarter million dead, and the mass exodus of nearly half the country’s population. Inspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring, the five-year war began on March 15, 2011, now known as the “Day of Rage,” when peaceful demonstrations against the Assad regime quickly escalated into a harsh military crackdown and civil war. Aerial bombings and street fighting have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and left entire cities devastated. As a result, more than 11 million have been forced from their homes, many risking their lives in perilous boat crossings to Europe. According to the UNHCR, a staggering 4.8 million have registered as refugees. As a result of the war, nearly half the Syrian population has fled their homes, many risking their lives in perilous boat crossings to Europe, in search of shelter and basic needs like food and health care. Countless millions have been forced to resettle outside the country, and have come to depend completely on humanitarian aid. A small number of those refugees have made their way to New Jersey, where organizations like the International Rescue Committee (IRC) resettle them in places like Camden, Jersey City, Paterson, and Elizabeth. As the public has grown weary of the dire situation in Syria, here in New Jersey, where the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has quietly resettled nearly two dozen refugee families, there has been a growing grassroots movement by various local religious groups and ad hoc volunteers to provide needed assistance and friendship to Syrian families trying to adapt to a new life in America. Some of that support has come area churches and mosques, but it also as come from more unlikely sources, two North Jersey Jewish synagogues.