This report details the history of Sukkat Shalom, our current activities, and how we envision our ongoing work. A version of this report was presented to Temple Micah’s Board of Directors in September 2026.
Table of Contents
In early 2017, a group of Temple Micah congregants came together to actively oppose the harsh immigration policies of the new Trump administration. We named the group Sukkat Shalom (Shelter of Peace). This name reflects a core Jewish teaching: that peace is something we are called to build. We work to build a sukkah of peace, creating a shelter that is stable enough to protect, wide enough to welcome, and enduring enough to hold those in need. This vision draws on Judaism’s deep commitment to hospitality and to the sacred responsibility to welcome the stranger.
In the nearly 10 years since we began, more than half of the Micah community has participated in Sukkat Shalom’s work, through donations, advocacy efforts, and direct work with migrant and refugee families.
Sukkat Shalom’s 2022 Impact Report details our work from 2017-2022, during which time we
In 2023, we continued our partnership with the HIAS legal team, continued direct support for our second family, worked to liberate people related to the families we had helped resettle who were still in Afghanistan, and began a rich partnership with Ayuda, a social service nonprofit helping low-income immigrants in the DC area.
In 2024, HIAS honored Temple Micah with its Pathways Trailblazer Award — their highest congregational honor — for our “extraordinary work helping refugees, asylum seekers and other forcibly displaced people.” Temple Micah was one of just 19 congregations nationwide to receive this honor, and the only one in the DC area. HIAS recognized how we have incorporated ritual, volunteering, education, advocacy, and philanthropy into every facet of our work.
Another meaningful collaboration with HIAS has been our annual observance of global Refugee Shabbat, a weekend that recognizes the profound impact of the world’s Jewish community’s work on behalf of refugees and immigrants. In 2023, we were honored that HIAS CEO Mark Hetfield chose to join us at Micah for his national talk on Refugee Shabbat. Last spring’s service [2026] at Micah was covered in this article in Washington Jewish Week.
In late 2024 and early 2025, we supported the resettlement of two additional Afghan families who arrived in the United States shortly before federal refugee policies dramatically changed. In late 2024, we worked with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to provide apartment set-up for a family who had lived in a refugee camp. Micah congregants worked with volunteers from other Jewish and Christian congregations to support this family, with tutoring, job guidance, required immigration filings, and more.
In March 2025, Sukkat Shalom collaborated with the HIAS Welcome Circles program to sponsor an Afghan couple with three young children. We secured and furnished an apartment near two of the congregation’s previous families and arranged school placements, introducing them to a variety of community resources..
We have provided encouragement as these last two families built meaningful connections and friendships and successfully moved toward independence through employment and language study.
In total, these families include 10 adults and 12 children making their way in the United States with Temple Micah’s support.
Since early 2025, immediately following Donald Trump’s second inauguration, threats to refugees and migrants have increased dramatically. While continuing to provide guidance to the four Afghan families we helped resettle, Sukkat Shalom has pivoted and intensified our efforts to support and advocate for migrants by creating partnerships with migrant-focused nonprofit organizations addressing the needs of migrants in the DMV. We detail this involvement below; we are now a valued partner of some of the area’s most successful, reliable, and dedicated organizations, including HIAS, Ayuda, CASA, and Lutheran Social Services (LSSNCA). With the curtailment of health care coverage for migrants in DC, we also formed partnerships with Mary’s Center and La Clinica del Pueblo, federally qualified health centers primarily serving the Latino community.
In the summer of 2025, we began an intensive fact-finding effort to determine which organizations to partner with to address the compelling needs of migrants in our region. The list of worthy organizations is long; our due diligence led us to support a smaller number of trusted partners with substantial grants – most of them focused on the critical need for legal representation for migrants and asylum seekers.
In August 2026, Sukkat Shalom made significant donations to two partner organizations.
In addition to these major recent donations, during the last year, we made significant donations to these carefully vetted nonprofits:
A final note about partnerships
In addition to the advocacy work outlined above, Sukkat Shalom focuses on building community within Temple Micah. Toward that end, we have partnered with Machon staff and families as well as with Beytenu (e.g., to collect furniture and household items for one of the recent Afghan families, as well as the Thanksgiving food drive). A key goal for the coming year is to expand these partnerships, and to enhance our outreach to Micah members generally, with community programming and opportunities to engage with our work.
Beyond providing funding and support to the above organizations, Sukkat Shalom has been involved in several additional and noteworthy efforts this past year.
Since August 2025, Sukkat Shalom has made significant donations to the partners detailed above, provided funds to support families, and paid for the expenses for collection drives and other activities. And Micah members have generously donated household items, menstrual pads, coats, boots, gift cards, and more.
Nearly ten years after a small group of Micah congregants first gathered in response to a moment of crisis, Sukkat Shalom has grown into a sustained, enduring expression of our community’s values. What began as an effort to resettle a young family from Afghanistan has become a network of partnerships with trusted organizations, a source of direct, hands-on support for families building new lives in the DMV, and a vehicle for hundreds of Micah members to act on the Jewish call to welcome the stranger. As immigrants and refugees face new and unprecedented challenges in our country, we are more committed than ever to these efforts.
None of this would be possible without the generosity and commitment of the Micah community. We invite you to join us and find purpose and joy in this important work. For more information, please contact us at sukkatshalom@templemicah.org.