TWO VOICES: What does Jewish history teach us about the current immigrant crisis?
This week’s Two Voices asks: What does Jewish history teach us about the current immigrant crisis?
Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz says…
According to Jewish tradition, our forefather Abraham could lay claim to many firsts: the first monotheist, the first Jew… but also the first immigrant. Abraham journeyed back and forth between Ur Chaldea, Canaan and Egypt. Not only was he the first immigrant, but he also embraced that identity: he was the Hebrew, ‘ha-ivri’, which can be translated as one who crosses over, the ‘border-crosser’. In short, the immigrant’s narrative in Judaism started with Abraham and was cemented by the Torah’s many-fold injunction to ‘love the stranger’. This is part of our historical and theological DNA.
As a rabbi, I try to be the best representative of the moral voice of our tradition. The Torah exhorts us to love the stranger 36 times. We have an obligation to link these texts to our lives. Through supporting refugees, we weave their unheard voices into the consciousness of our communities and when relevant, we speak from personal experience.
I’m an immigrant. My son was born in the Netherlands, my baby daughter in the UK. My English is fluent, I’m culturally confident enough to find my way, I am a tax and national insurance-paying citizen, but I’m still an immigrant. My whiteness, middle-class-ness, level of education doesn’t make me any less of an immigrant. I stand in solidarity with immigrants and refugees. My tradition demands it of me, and I find myself in Abraham’s good company.
Esther Hugenholtz is assistant rabbi at Sinai Synagogue in Leeds
Rabbi Benji Stanley says…
Ben was full of praise for Takum, a fortnightly Torah learning course for people in their 20s and 30s on issues of responsibility and justice. “It got to me,” he said.
We had been challenged, almost too much, by a rabbi, to consider the plight of asylum seekers and our arbitrary privilege. He brought Emmanuel Levinas’ question: “In western society – free and civilised, but without social equality and a rigorous social justice – is it absurd to wonder whether the advantages available to the rich in relation to the poor… one thing leading to another, are not the cause somewhere of someone’s agony?”
It harrows me today in moments of quiet; it makes me want to cry and scream out when language is used that dehumanises those who, at this precise moment, are living without security, without everything I have always taken for granted.
To bring the Jewish experience to bear on education, we prioritise educational spaces in which there’s a complex, nuanced discussion of both our ancient narratives and experiences, and contemporary issues, in which we consider how these discussions might play out in action. At Takum, we confront uncertainty, but in a communal environment that wards off instability or despair.
We’re now planning Takum’s second year, and hope to engender still more action. Perhaps we’ll focus on asylum issues.
Benji Stanley is Reform Judaism’s young adult development rabbi
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
