Rabbi Jonathan Prosnit has a recipe for destroying America (but he leaves Israel out of his recipe for national collapse):
In every generation we are obligated to see ourselves as though we personally went out from Egypt. The call to this generation is now. Immigration Reform is one of the pressing issues of this time and our community has an obligation to be a part of conversation. It is the merging of both our Jewish tradition with the highest of American ideas that we espouse. The mitzvah of caring for the stranger is greater than most any other commandment. The Torah discusses protection of the stranger no less than 36 times. We know well the words of the Polish Jewish immigrant Emma Lazarus that welcome us to New York Harbor. At the foot of The Statue of Liberty – across from Ellis Island that welcomed hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants to America – her poem reads:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door
With these words in mind, it is imperative that Jewish Americans speak out with regard to the moral dimension of public immigration policy and lend an active hand to organizations committed to welcoming the stranger and aiding the immigrant. Modern day undocumented immigrants living in San Jose came to America for the same reason that our ancestors crossed the Atlantic 100 years ago. The stories of Haitians and Mexicans and Filipinos today are the stories of our Czech, German and Polish ancestors. Senator Lindsay Graham – a man I rarely agree with – spoke to our group in DC earlier this week and said: “America’s an idea nobody owns – let’s allow people to become part of it!”
I’m thrilled that this Sunday at 4:00 pm Beth Am is hosting a program on Immigration Reform. The program is called: “From Stranger to Neighbor” in which we will be exploring immigration reform locally, nationally and Jewishly. We’ll explore Jewish texts on immigration, we’ll hear from experts on statewide and national immigration reform policy, and we’ll hear Beth Am members sharing their personal immigration stories. We’ll also hear from some of our own neighbors – including the story of Jose Arreola, an immigration advocate, and an undocumented Immigrant who graduated a few years ago from Mountain View High School.
Not only our synagogue, but our movement is out front on the issue of Immigration Reform via a coalition of Jews called Reform CA. Reform CA is ensuring fair and comprehensive immigration reform through a public policy perspective. Reform CA, is talking with our representatives in Sacramento and organizing lobbying days – to ensure passage of the Trust Act – which will assist undocumented Immigrants during some of their most vulnerable periods. This is a movement each of us can be a part of – through lobbying, lettering writing, and joining Reform CA in Sacramento. We do this not only as concerned citizens – but deeply rooted in Jewish tradition – standing on the shoulders of the commandment – from Leviticus Chapter 19 which reads: “When strangers sojourn with you in your land, you shall do them no wrong. The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
