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April 30, 2004/Iyar 9 5764, Vol. 56, No. 32
Border crisis: We have all been strangers
RABBI ANDREW STRAUS
Special to Jewish News
One of the greatest challenges that we as a nation face is the growing crisis of immigration. The crisis is all around us. So-called "safe houses" with literally hundreds of people squeezed inside are "discovered" in nice middle-class neighborhoods in Scottsdale, and shootouts occur on I-10 between Casa Grande and Tempe.
The immigrants are all around us, working in restaurants, cleaning our pools, cutting our lawns, building our houses and cleaning our houses and picking our fruits and vegetables.
On April 19 I attended a convocation and news conference organized by Arizona Interfaith. I was honored to participate alongside the heads of many of the various Christian denominations of our state.
I shared the following remarks:
Last week the Jewish community observed Passover, the annual celebration during which we relive, retell and re-experience what it means to be a stranger, to be the oppressed, to be the enslaved, and what it means to finally achieve freedom.
For a week, Jews throughout the world remind ourselves "that I came out of Egypt, not my ancestors 3,000 years ago, but I, in my own day and age, came out of Egypt. I know what it means to be oppressed. I know how easy it is for the stranger, the immigrant, to be oppressed and abused, because I have been that stranger."
Our Torah, the Five Books of Moses, reminds us over and over again: "When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." (Leviticus 19:33-34)
In Judaism, one commandment is repeated more often than any other: Remember you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You know what it is like to be the stranger, the immigrant, therefore do not oppress the stranger, do not wrong the stranger. Treat him/her as one of your own.
One rule we shall have for stranger and citizen alike, the Torah teaches us.
We are a nation of immigrants; the vast majority of us came here from someplace else. We have come seeking freedom, economic freedom, freedom of religion, political freedom. We have all been strangers.
The Torah and Judaism are based on mitzvot, commandments. The most important of these is Chai Bahem, you shall live by them. Tradition teaches us that to save a human life, we can break all of the commandments except for three.
Today we gather as people of faith - Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist and people of no faith; black, white and all colors - to say Chai Bahem, we must live by them. We can no longer stand idly by while hundreds die in our deserts. We can no longer stand idly by while hundreds are oppressed in "safe houses," sweatshops, and farm fields.
We must work to ensure that our trade agreements and immigration policies are fair and equitable and respect the rights of workers and the environment. We must work to ensure that our border enforcement policies are humane, and that every effort is made to protect human life.
We were all strangers. We have all been immigrants. We must not oppress the stranger, for we were all strangers once too.
Rabbi Andrew Straus is the rabbi at Temple Emanuel of Tempe.
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