By Eric Parkinson

"We were scared, and that scared everyone else around us because we were crying to go home. Our family's first duty is to send us back safely and then worry about themselves."

These are the words of a 17-year-old high school student from Toronto, named Renu, who was evacuated from Jaffna two days ago due to intense fighting in the region (see Reuters article). The student, an ethnic Tamil, had come to Sri Lanka to pay her first visit to her parents' native Jaffna. "I never knew that it was this bad here," she said. My mum came after 18 years to visit her family. We were here for two weeks and it was OK. Then after that we were stuck in the curfew."

As the ferry carrying Renu and her family arrived in Trincomalee harbor en route to their home in Canada, they were greeted by artillery and mortar fire.

Like all children, Renu did not get to choose where she would be born, what color her skin and hair would be, or whether she would be an ethnic Tamil, Sinhalese, European or African. But Renu is one of the lucky ones. She can leave Sri Lanka to return to her safe home in Canada. Hundreds of thousands of other children are not so fortunate. Through no fault of their own, they are stuck in the middle of a war and are now struggling to meet their most basic needs.

So what is our duty to our family of fellow human beings caught in the crossfire of the war in Sri Lanka?

In the Abrahamic faith traditions, the duty to help others is of paramount concern. In fact, it goes hand-in-hand with loving God; one cannot love God without also caring for others. Indeed, according to the Jewish Sages, one who is truly in love with God does not view helping others as a "duty" or something done out of the "fear of God." For these "lovers of God" spoken of by the Sages, helping and loving others is viewed as an opportunity -- even a privilege -- that is performed out of a sense of awe toward the creator and creation.*

But we can't send the over 200,000 Sri Lankan refugees -- most of whom are parents and children -- "back safely" to some other country. So what can we do to help?

Plenty. Each of us now has an opportunity to act. We can do everything in our power to make the place they are living safer. We can help feed and clothe them; we can stand with them and advocate for them within the world community; and we can offer them our words of encouragement and our prayers.

But all of this starts with acknowledging them as human beings whose needs are as important as our own. Once we see them as our brother or sister or child, we have to act. As 17-year-old Renu said, a family's "first duty" is to act selflessly for the safety of its youngest members.

Actually, it's a family's first privilege.
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*In Orchot Tzaddikim, a text written in the 1500's, there is a chapter on "Yirat Shamayim," which is probably best translated as fear or awe of Heaven -- the word "Heaven" being a circumlocution for God. In it, the author suggests that there are three kinds, or levels of yirah (i.e., awe):

* In the first kind, people do good deeds, not out of reverence for God, but out of fear of people. They worry that if certain things are not done, others will scorn and distrust them. Although this behavior may appear to be yirah, in fact it is missing the true essence of yirah.

* The second kind of yirah is related to fearing God but focuses on the individual. At this level, people are doing good deeds, primarily out of concern that God may punish them if they don't.

* The third kind of yirah is the highest level. It is when one's whole being is filled with an awareness and an appreciation of God's greatness.

Love of God (ahavah) and fear/awe of God (yirah) are two emotions that the Torah lists as basic to the worship of God. Maimonides, one of the greatest Jewish philosophers, described the obligation of loving and fearing God as follows: "One is commanded to love God and fear God, as it says, 'You shall love Adonai, your God', and 'You shall fear Adonai, your God." (Mishneh Torah)

Refugee child in Trincomalee

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