Immigration and Jewish Tradition – It’s Not Always What You Think!
Just as we discovered in the brief survey of Jewish sources reflecting environmental values, traditional Jewish attitudes towards immigrants are complex. Our history is one of wandering; from the stories of crossing the Red Sea to our own ancestors crossing the Atlantic Ocean, we are certainly global nomads. Our history alone speaks to many about the need for Jews to embrace and support the immigrant. However, ancient Jewish tradition is surprisingly ambivalent in its treatment of non-Israelites (and non-Jews) who might be resident in the Holy Land.
First, consider some texts that are famously, embracing of foreigners. Exodus 12:49 declares: “There shall be one law for the native and stranger who lives among you.” Deuteronomy 1:16 also declares that judges should: “Hear out your fellow and decide justly between any person and a fellow Israelite or a stranger.” Clearly these principles seek to establish a legal system that recognizes the presence of non-native sojourners and prescribes equal treatment under the law. This principle and its derivatives are emphasized throughout the Torah and is clearly the predominant view and embraced by a host of subsequent interpreters.
However, there are also texts that seek a pure Israelite society where those who don’t belong in the land are wiped out. Consider Deuteronomy 7:1-3, “When יְהוָה your God brings you to the land that you are about to enter and possess, and God dislodges many nations before you. . .seven nations much larger than you—and יְהוָה your God delivers them to you and you defeat them, you must doom them to destruction: grant them no terms and give them no quarter. You shall not intermarry with them: do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. . . .Instead, this is what you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred posts, and consign their images to the fire.” This is certainly not a recipe for co-existence.
Upon the return from the Babylonian exile (450 BCE), Ezra (9:1-2) rebuked the Jews for bringing their foreign (read non-Jewish, non-native) wives into the land: “The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the land whose abhorrent practices are like those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. They have taken their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has become intermingled with the peoples of the land; and it is the officers and prefects who have taken the lead in this trespass.” Clearly this text indicates a visceral aversion to intermingling of different identities and the impact it has on Israelite national purity. It would not be difficult to draw a line from this attitude to the desires of any nation to maintain their national identity with restrictive immigration and citizenship laws. To what extent do ancient aversions to miscegenation have bearing on our immigration debate today?
It is easy to quote the passages and perspectives that reinforce the ideas we embrace; however, the difficult, and even painful, texts challenge our own understanding of Jewish values. Reflecting on the context, and the possible perspectives of those advocating a particular view at the time a text was written, helps us not only grasp the complexity of the text but also to explore our own motivations for positions we might hold. You can find information about the Reform Movement’s position here.
To what extent do Jewish perspectives on the stranger reflect your own attitude? Does an understanding of context both then and in our present day influence your thinking about immigrants and their place in our society?
— Rabbi Ron Stern