Economic Justice
Take a moment to think about your mother or your father; your daughter or your son. Now, think of being forcibly separated from your loved one, without reasonable cause, without warning, without knowledge of where either one of you may be headed, and without a clue as to when you will see them again. All you can hear is the sound your loved one crying out your name. This scenario may evoke thoughts of one of the darkest times in Jewish history. Yet, this is happening today, in America. Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy for... Read More
This Shabbat, as we prepare to march to demand justice for the immigrant families separated at our border, consider incorporating a reading of this prayer into your congregation's or community's observance. As Jews, we know what it is like to feel unsafe in your land of birth. We know what it is like to be oppressed, to be unwanted. We have vowed “never again” and so as Hillel would say – “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, Who am I? And if not now, when?” To those who would use religion to justify their bigotry we remind them of the Talmud’s... Read More
As a resident of McAllen, TX, for more than 40 years of my life, I know what value immigrants bring to our community. Thousands of people cross our borders every year, enhancing our quality of life. Our community witnesses this firsthand, seeing those children, those families, that cross in search of a better life. What is happening to children and parents fleeing torture and violence in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala is a terrible reality. Yet for most Americans, it is unimaginable. What our government has done to these families is morally reprehensible. McAllen and the Rio... Read More
This week, we read Balak in the Book of Numbers. The portion begins as the Israelites, wandering through the desert, approach the nation of Moab. Balak, king of Moab, asks Balaam, a non-Israelite diviner, to curse the Israelites out of fear of what the Israelites might do to his people. After much back and forth, Balaam agrees to go, but to speak only what God speaks. To Balak’s disappointment, Balaam follow’s God and blesses the Israelites in the end: Ma tovu ohalecha, How goodly are your tents, O, Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel! (Numbers 24:5). We see Balaam’s words, originally a curse... Read More
The mother from Nicaragua stood before our multi-faith group of forty religious leaders this morning in the simple and dignified space of the Catholic Charities Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, cradling her sleeping infant in her arms. “We are here because my country is no longer safe for my child.” By this writing, she is already on a bus to San Francisco, her ticket purchased by relatives there, her safe passage arranged by Sister Norma and the remarkable staff and volunteers of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. She, like the other families we met in the Respite Center, is... Read More
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