Rabbi’s Update 6/27/2025

Dear Friends:

There is a famous story in the Talmud, B’rachot 5b, where Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba fell ill. Rabbi Yohanan went to visit him and asked him “are your sufferings dear to you?” Rabbi Hiyya replied “neither them nor their reward.” Rabbi Yohanan said “give me your hand” He gave him his hand and Rabbi Yohanan healed him.

This story is often understood as a lesson in the power of compassion, presence, and relationship to bring a measure of healing in the presence of suffering. Even when there is nothing else we can do, we can always be present, connect, and show that we care.

On Tuesday morning I went to Baltimore as part of a group of clergy and lay leaders to support Rosa Gutierrez Lopez as she went to the ICE field office for her required annual check-in. Rosa Gutierrez Lopez fled to the United States from El Salvador in 2005 and has three US born children, the youngest of whom has Down’s Syndrome. At her annual check-in in 2018 she was told to “self deport” and rather than leave her three children behind, she took sanctuary in the Cedar Lane Unitarian Church in Bethesda and literally lived in the church with her children for about a year and a half. In 2020 she was given a “stay of removal” and once again was free with the requirement of an annual check in.

These check-ins have been smooth but as you know, since January it has become increasingly common for people to report to ICE offices for a routine visit and find themselves arrested and incarcerated and eventually deported. It has also been observed that when immigrants are accompanied by clergy on their ICE visits, the visits often go more smoothly. So the Congregation Action Network, which had helped Rosa take sanctuary back in 2018, put out a call to come to Baltimore and support Rosa and her family. Before she went for her check-in, it was very clear to me that Rosa was terrified about what might happen. I gave her a hug and said to her in Spanish, “que Dios te bendiga” (may God bless you) and we both cried.

As it happens, her check-in went smoothly. She went to the electronic kiosk, pressed a couple of buttons, and was given another appointment a year from now. I anticipate being called on frequently in the coming months to accompany other immigrants to their check-ins, which I will do to the extent that my schedule permits (Tuesday was my day off). There is not a lot that I as an individual or the clergy as a group can do to change policy, but we can nevertheless be a healing and compassionate presence.

Yesterday morning I participated in a Zoom gathering called “Supporting Each Other Through Learning: Resilience and Hope” sponsored by the Rabbinical Assembly. It was an opportunity for Israeli Masorti (Conservative) rabbis to study and discuss texts about resilience and hope, in Hebrew, with their colleagues who live in other countries. Most Israeli Masorti rabbis are fluent in English but it was important that yesterday’s gathering took place in Hebrew to make our Israeli colleagues more comfortable and as a sign of our identification with them in their hour of need. 

I was shaken to hear how difficult life had been in Israel for the past two weeks until a couple of days ago when a ceasefire went into effect. When Hamas and Hezbollah were firing missiles, their range and impact was limited, and people in the areas under fire could protect themselves by temporarily relocating, as difficult as that certainly was. But the Iranian missiles were far more deadly and the entire country was within range and potentially under attack. According to the Israeli rabbis I spoke with, they all felt that their lives were quite literally in danger in ways that most of them had not known previously.

We closed our gathering with a song and the rabbi who was leading it could not get through the song and collapsed in tears. But the Israeli rabbis told us how much they appreciated us taking the time to be with them, even if only over Zoom. And the fact that we made the effort to do so in Hebrew made it all the more meaningful. Of course we could not stop the missiles from flying but we could be a healing and compassionate Zoom presence. Sometimes there is not much more we can do, but we can always do that.

As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building.

I will be on vacation as of a week from today, so if you contact me with a routine matter or question I may not get back to you until early August. If you have a real emergency you can phone me at 301-977-0768 and leave a message if I do not answer; if you send a text to that number I probably will not see it.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Charles L. Arian