Parashat Shelah Lecha: Numbers 13:1-15:41
One Law for Citizen and Stranger Alike
Since the news broke in the New York Times last month that some 700 children were separated from their parents at the border by ICE between October and April 2017, and the recent testimony of a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official revealed that between May 6-19, 658 children had been separated from their parents at the border under the new "zero-tolerance policy," I have been unable to reconcile these facts with what I know to be the legacy of the United States to embrace huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
When Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley tried to visit a detention center for immigrant children and was turned away, it was not before he saw children in conditions he would not forget and understood that parents who seek asylum in the U.S. are often separated from their children, without understanding what is happening. Those who seek a better life for themselves and their children are not reckless, improper, or illegal. The policy of separation is cruel and inhumane.
This is all just the next layer of an already deeply dehumanizing immigration system where immigrant kids are subjected to abuse at the hands of border patrol, DREAMers are in limbo, families are terrified that their loved ones will be handed over to authorities like the pizza deliveryman at a Brooklyn army base just this week, or worse, deported after living in America for 20 years.
More than any other mitzvah in the Torah, we are commanded to champion the needs of the vulnerable in society, including the immigrant, the stranger, and the foreigner, because we know deep in our collective Jewish consciousness what it is to be the persecuted minority, the outsider subject to suspicion, prejudice and oppression. We Jews are a nation of immigrants from the earliest story of migration from Egypt to the Promised land, and the Torah is replete with reminders to care for the stranger, whose heart we know well.
Buried in the narrative this week of Parashat Shelah, in the aftermath of the scouts' visit to the Land of Promise, and their return with a report that despite the land flowing with milk and honey, it is a land which devours its inhabitants, comes the verse that demands we pay attention to our treatment of the strangers in our midst.
"There shall be one law for you and for the resident stranger; a law for all time—You and the stranger shall be alike before the Lord. The same ritual and the same rule shall apply to you and to the stranger who resides among you." (Num. 15:15-16)
Our history has relentlessly enforced this ethic, urging us to remember that we were once slaves, that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, that we are to love the stranger and share our ways with all in our midst. Our tradition expressly forbids the kind of hatred, exclusion, and punitive prosecution that we have heard from the Administration.
There is no law that requires parents and children to be separated as such actions can cause lifelong trauma for children as young as 18 months, including psychological distress, anxiety, and depression. The United States must not resort to such draconian measures that deny immigrant children dignified and respectful treatment, a safe and clean environment, adequate food and water, and proper medical care.
Our national policies should mirror the teaching of the Book of Numbers. They should be encouraging and supporting the connections children have to their families, whether citizens or immigrants, adhering to the same laws and rituals of communal life for all.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yael Ridberg
When Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley tried to visit a detention center for immigrant children and was turned away, it was not before he saw children in conditions he would not forget and understood that parents who seek asylum in the U.S. are often separated from their children, without understanding what is happening. Those who seek a better life for themselves and their children are not reckless, improper, or illegal. The policy of separation is cruel and inhumane.
This is all just the next layer of an already deeply dehumanizing immigration system where immigrant kids are subjected to abuse at the hands of border patrol, DREAMers are in limbo, families are terrified that their loved ones will be handed over to authorities like the pizza deliveryman at a Brooklyn army base just this week, or worse, deported after living in America for 20 years.
More than any other mitzvah in the Torah, we are commanded to champion the needs of the vulnerable in society, including the immigrant, the stranger, and the foreigner, because we know deep in our collective Jewish consciousness what it is to be the persecuted minority, the outsider subject to suspicion, prejudice and oppression. We Jews are a nation of immigrants from the earliest story of migration from Egypt to the Promised land, and the Torah is replete with reminders to care for the stranger, whose heart we know well.
Buried in the narrative this week of Parashat Shelah, in the aftermath of the scouts' visit to the Land of Promise, and their return with a report that despite the land flowing with milk and honey, it is a land which devours its inhabitants, comes the verse that demands we pay attention to our treatment of the strangers in our midst.
"There shall be one law for you and for the resident stranger; a law for all time—You and the stranger shall be alike before the Lord. The same ritual and the same rule shall apply to you and to the stranger who resides among you." (Num. 15:15-16)
Our history has relentlessly enforced this ethic, urging us to remember that we were once slaves, that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, that we are to love the stranger and share our ways with all in our midst. Our tradition expressly forbids the kind of hatred, exclusion, and punitive prosecution that we have heard from the Administration.
There is no law that requires parents and children to be separated as such actions can cause lifelong trauma for children as young as 18 months, including psychological distress, anxiety, and depression. The United States must not resort to such draconian measures that deny immigrant children dignified and respectful treatment, a safe and clean environment, adequate food and water, and proper medical care.
Our national policies should mirror the teaching of the Book of Numbers. They should be encouraging and supporting the connections children have to their families, whether citizens or immigrants, adhering to the same laws and rituals of communal life for all.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yael Ridberg