Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Washington Synagogue Becomes Haven For Refugees

(JTA) — A synagogue in Olympia, Washington has become a haven for refugees.

Temple Beth Hatfiloh, a Reconstructionist congregation with some 175 member families, announced on Wednesday evening that it has become a sanctuary congregation, working in conjunction with other regional faith communities and immigrant rights organizations.

“In support of immigrant rights, the congregation pledges to participate in actions up to and including physical sanctuary,” the synagogue said in an announcement.

The synagogue’s rabbi, Seth Goldstein, said at an opening event on Wednesday evening that his congregation had been working on the plan for months.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have detained more 1,600 undocumented immigrants in Washington State, local news station KIRO 7 reported.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected]

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.