Is This The Bread of Affliction? Thinking about the Illegal Immigrant

Is This The Bread of Affliction?
Rabbi Michael Ragozin, Congregation Sha'are Shalom, Leesburg, VA
Originally appeared: April 2009 synagogue bulletin
Current month's bulletin available at Current Bulletin

Individuals, geographic regions, and industries will be affected differently by the current economic downturn. One group that may be affected more adversely than others is immigrants, particularly illegal immigrants.

In periods of severe economic decline, populist preachers are prone to scapegoating. For example, during the Great Depression Father Coughlin, whose weekly radio broadcast reached as many as forty-five million listeners, said, “Somebody must be blamed.” He was known for combining “harsh attacks on President Roosevelt as a tool of international Jewish bankers with praise for the fascist leaders Benito Mussolini and Adolph Hitler” (See: History Matters).

The increased likelihood for scapegoating occurs at a moment when our government’s policy towards illegal immigrants is relatively less tolerant. On a federal level, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been increasingly active. Between 2004 and 2008 the number of people taken into custody during workplace raids grew by 644 percent (See: Raids Fact Sheet). Here in Loudoun County, in July 2007 the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution that would limit illegal immigrants' access to county services and penalize employers who hire them.

What does Jewish tradition teach us about the illegal immigrant? The specific status, “illegal immigrant,” is unknown to the Torah. However, the Torah does say the following: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:20).

Who is this “stranger” whom the Torah addresses? Nahum Sarna in his commentary to Exodus (137 – 8) explains: “The Hebrew term ‘ger’ denotes a foreign-born permanent resident whose status was intermediate between that of a native-born citizen (ezrah) and a foreigner temporarily residing outside his community (nokhri). Because he could not fall back upon local family and clan ties, he lacked the social and legal protection that these ordinarily afforded. Being dependent on the goodwill of others, he could easily fall victim to discrimination and exploitation.” The biblical “stranger” resides among the Israelites, but having left his tribe, he has no one to help him and is exposed to exploitation and oppression. Should today’s illegal immigrant be included in the Torah’s definition of a “stranger”?

If so, what are our responsibilities to the “stranger”? The Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael (3rd century, CE) explained the verse from Exodus as follows: ‘You shall not wrong him’ with words (i.e. verbal and emotional abuse), ‘or oppress him’ financially (i.e. defraud him). Does our contemporary treatment of legal and illegal immigrants violate Jewish tradition? For information about immigration raids see the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, especially Raids Fact Sheet.

To merit this protected status, the stranger who resided among Israel had certain moral obligations. According to Maimonides, (Mishnah Torah, Laws of Forbidden Relationships, 14:7) this Gentile agreed to observe the Noachide laws: 1) not to worship idols, 2) not to curse God, 3) not to kill, 4) not to steal, 5) not to engage in sexual immorality, 6) not to eat the limb of a living animal, and 7) to establish courts of law to enforce them. Are the traditional obligations of the stranger applicable to today’s illegal immigrant?

Thirty-six times the Torah warns against wronging a stranger (Baba Metzia 59b). How should we treat the illegal immigrant? Perhaps, in the spirit of the Greco-Roman symposium after which the Passover Seder is modeled, this will be the discussion topic at your Seder.

Hag kasher vesame’ah, a joyous and kosher Passover to everyone,

Rabbi Michael

P.S. For those interested in the national Jewish campaign to encourage the new administration and Congress to choose humanitarian immigration reform, check out Progress by Pesach.