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October 8, 2004/Tishri 23 5765, Vol. 57, No. 6
Welcoming the stranger
VICKI CABOT
Contributing Editor
"We can learn from you about pluralism."
So commented one member of a visiting delegation from Ramat-Gan, Israel, in the Valley earlier this week as part of an effort to forge a sister city relationship between the Tel Aviv suburb and the city of Phoenix. We were chatting about potential benefits the fledgling partnership could provide both our communities.
Pluralism indeed.
It was refreshing to be reminded by our Israeli visitors that it is our incredible diversity and dedication to e pluribus unum that makes our democracy thrive. And disconcerting to reflect on how remiss we can be in fully appreciating that pluralism, much less in protecting and preserving it.
Case in point: Proposition 200.
The measure on the ballot Nov. 2 seeks to prohibit voting and access to public benefits by non-documented immigrants. It requires state employees to check for citizenship and report any irregularities to federal authorities under threat of imprisonment or fine.
Under the guise of promoting needed immigration reform, it plays to those Arizonans who are tired of ostensibly paying for benefits for non-citizens and disgusted with the lack of effective federal protection of our Southwest border.
Real concerns, and valid ones. But the legislation as written does not propose substantive change in our immigration laws, and it may cost taxpayers more money in its implementation than it may save, not to mention likely increasing bureaucratic hassle for us law-abiding, legal residents.
Nor does it address the most troubling issue - the perception that we are a regressive state, unfriendly to outsiders, seeking to preserve our inherent character, whatever that may be. It has become a rallying point for extremists, an unsettling reminder that there are some citizens who would prefer to close off our borders altogether.
Tourism is sure to be affected, as well as economic development. Arizona will be viewed as a difficult place to do business, unwelcoming and unaccommodating.
And how will we view ourselves?
As Jews, we have surely benefited from the openness of a society that has allowed us entr‚e to the highest echelons of economic, political and social power. The immigrant experience is an innate part of our history; we, too, were once strangers in a foreign land, and we are enjoined to remember our past. Repeatedly the Torah tells us that there is one rule for the strangers and the native-born, that we are obligated to welcome the stranger.
And so it is fitting that it is our Israeli friends, too, a nation of immigrants, a miraculous ingathering in response to horrendous catastrophe, who remind us of the very preciousness of our plurality.
Yes, we must urge our legislators to develop humane, fair, comprehensive immigration policies. And, yes, we must address the issue of undocumented citizens and unprotected borders.
But through a Jewish lens.
Contact the writer here
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