Jews and Sikhs seek the Common Good
20 August 2018
In what might be a historic first, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Sikh Council UK have started a partnership to join our communiti es in pursuing the common good.
As the first in the series of events, on Sunday, Jewish and Sikh volunteers joined forces at the West London Synagogue’s Drop-In Centre for families seeking asylum. Together with participants from the synagogue, the Sikh volunteers helped provide a hot meal, grocery vouchers, clothing, companionship and advice for parents and children who have fled life-threatening violence or persecution in the countries they are from. West London Synagogue is the UK’s flagship Reform Synagogue, and has been a pioneer in Jewish-led social action.
This collaboration followed a meeting between the Sikh Council UK and the Board of Deputies earlier in 2018, when the two organisations committed to working together on a range of activities, including social action.
Further Sikh-Jewish projects will follow soon, with the next event of Jewish volunteers joining a Sikh-led project to help the homeless on 2 September from 6:00pm in Charing Cross. Anyone interested in participating should contact Anthony Silkoff on anthony.silkoff@bod.org.uk
The Board of Deputies Interfaith and Social Action Officer Anthony Silkoff said: “What better way for Sikh and Jewish communities to get to know each other, than by working together to help those in need. The Sikh and Jewish communities have much in common, and that is a strong basis on which to build a partnership. Dialogue between faiths is crucial, but nothing is more important than putting your beliefs into action together.”
Satnam Singh Chana (Chan), a representative of the Sikh Council UK, said: “It was a real privilege to take part in this important project supporting asylum seekers with our Jewish brothers and sisters. We look forward to the next round of joint activism together when our Jewish friends come to help us to feed the homeless. This collaboration represents the best of what interfaith partnerships can achieve and we look forward to watching this relationship grow.”
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