Last December, Rabbi Daniel Sher received an urgent request from HIAS, the world’s oldest refugee settlement agency. Just three months removed from the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s subsequent return to power, America’s refugee system had become strained and overtaxed. Feeling the pressure of this surge, the century-plus-old organization—originally founded in the late 1800s to support Jews fleeing persecution and poverty in Eastern Europe—was in search of faith-based institutions that could support the resettlement process for Afghan families. “At first, we weren’t certain that we could pull it off,” said Rabbi Sher of Kehillat Israel, a reconstructionist...