September 2010/Tishrei 5771
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PERMIT #168
This year, our Sigi Ziering
column focuses on the
ethics of immigration. Each
month, an esteemed guest
columnist wrestles with
what Jewish texts and our
tradition teach us about
our neighbors and
ourselves. Each month we
will peer into the
immigration debate raging
in America; we’ll also look
into immigration issues
and the lives of
undocumented workers in
Israel. This column is
sponsored by Bruce Whizin
and Marilyn Ziering in
honor of Marilyn’s
husband, Sigi Ziering, of
blessed memory. Visit
shma.com to view the
series and responses.
Ethics Sigi Ziering
My heart tells me there is only one au- thentically Jewish response to the im- migration debate raging in our
country. The story of the immigrant, the
stranger, the “other,” is our own story. As Jews,
we can do nothing less than champion the
needs of the immigrants in our midst with the
full force of our spiritual and political power.
My Neighbor/Myself:
Thoughts on a Jewish Ethic of Immigration
AMY EILBERG
Do not oppress the stranger; you know the
soul of the stranger, for you were slaves in
the land of Egypt. (Exodus 23: 9)
You shall not wrong or oppress a
stranger, for you were strangers in the
land of Egypt. You shall not ill-treat any
widow or orphan. If you do mistreat
them, I will heed their outcry as soon as
they cry out to Me . . . . (Exodus 22: 21-4)
My father was a fugitive Aramean . . .
(Deut. 26: 5)
When a stranger resides 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 her as yourself, for you were
strangers in the land of Egypt: I the Lord
am your God. (Leviticus, 19:33-34)
Rabbi Amy Eilberg directs
interfaith dialogue programs
in Minneapolis/St. Paul,
Minn. at the Jay Phillips
Center for Interfaith
Learning and in the Saint
Paul Interfaith Network.
More often than any other mitzvah in the
Torah, we are commanded to champion the
needs of the vulnerable in society, including the
“stranger,” the immigrant, and the foreigner, for
we know deep in our collective being what it is
to be the persecuted minority, the outsider
subject to prejudice and oppression.
