war

Let's Overhaul Immigration

New York/JTA

A

rizona Gov. Jan Brewer and
those of us who believe in com-
passionate and fair immigration
laws are in complete agreement on one
thing: the draconian bill she signed into
law on April 23 is the result of the federal
government failing to pass comprehensive
immigration reform.
Like Governor Brewer, HIAS is frus-
trated with the inaction in Washington
and the resulting impact on local com-
munities across the country. Yet unlike the
governor, we believe that our value system
as Americans and as Jews, which protects
human dignity above all else, must never
be jeopardized.
For Jews especially, the question "Where
are your papers" raises the dual specter of
Nazi Europe and the Soviet Union. Within
living memory, some of us were forced
to identify ourselves by yellow stars and
many of us by having "Yevrey" ("Jew" in
Russian) stamped on our identification
papers.
The situation in Arizona, though very
different from these tragic memories, nev-
ertheless resonates strongly.
Once it takes effect later this year,
Arizona's "Immigration; Law Enforcement;
Safe Neighborhoods Act" (SB 1070) will
require everyone in the state of Arizona

to carry government-issued
identification at all times or risk
arrest. Despite the police train-
ing programs Gov. Brewer man-
dated after the law was signed
to prevent racial profiling, dis-
crimination seems unavoidable.
For legal residents who will
be pulled over based solely on
the color of their skin or ques-
tioned due to their accents, the
reaction no doubt will alternate
between shame and rage. This
legislation will pit segments
of society against each other,
resulting in increased hate rhetoric and
racial tension.
In Deuteronomy 16:12, we are com-
manded to establish a fair justice system:
and they shall judge the people with righ-
teous justice?' In Leviticus 24:22, we are
further instructed: "You shall have one law
for the stranger and the citizens alike
We believe these passages have great
relevance today and that advocating for
the rights of immigrants reflects the
Jewish mandate to uphold a fair justice
system.
Undocumented immigrants are not the
only ones who suffer under our broken
immigration system. Employers, workers,
families and America's proud tradition of
welcoming immigrants become victims of

this law.
Enforcement-only approach-
es have been tried and failed
because the motivation to flee
grinding poverty — like that
experienced by our relatives
who came from Eastern Europe
— is so great.
As U.S. Department of
Human Services Secretary
and former Arizona Gov. Janet
Napolitano said, "If you build a
50-foot-high fence or wall, they
will build a 51-foot ladder."
HIAS believes the only
humane answer to an inhumane law
is comprehensive immigration reform
similar to the bipartisan legislation coura-
geously introduced by Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., and the late Sen. Edward Kennedy,
D-Mass., in 2005.
Congress must enact immigration
reform to establish border protection
and enforcement policies that bolster our
national security; enhance enforcement
while promoting economic development
and human and civil rights; keep families
together and decrease the waiting time
for family reunification; create pathways
to citizenship for undocumented immi-
grants; devise a plan for future migra-
tion flows in order to protect all workers'
rights; and empower immigrants to fully

A New Narrative
To be sure, many believe that the pur-
pose of American Jewish education is to
prevent assimilation.
Wake up! We have already assimi-
lated! Jewish teens see themselves in
Rahm Emanuel, Sarah Silverman and
Adam Lambert, among others. Jewish
teens are smart, savvy and motivated.
They understand complexity and fill
their lives with myriad academic and
extracurricular pursuits.
This is not a value judgment; it is
simply reality. If we continue to frame
Jewish learning as peripheral, as some-
thing to do in isolation from their
friends and everyday activities, then
how will Jewish values ever find a place
in their lives?
Several initiatives have successfully
developed models for Jewish learning in
secular spaces.
The Curriculum Initiative (TCI) part-
ners with private high schools to intro-
duce Jewish content into student clubs,

all-school assemblies and classrooms.
By partnering with Jewish student
leaders and their teachers, TCI devel-
ops and teaches Jewish content that is
rooted in student interests and develop-
mental needs.
The Jewish Outreach Institute takes
a similar approach by running Jewish
programs in public spaces, where barri-
ers to participation are lower than what
is typically found in Jewish institutions.
Even BBYO has conducted "Rock the
Vote" programs at public high schools.

((

integrate into American society by provid-
ing financial support to local governments
and community organizations that offer
classes and services.
The Torah commands us to "welcome
the stranger" and "treat the stranger as
ourselves?' It is an injunction stated in
one way or another no less than 36 times
in our sacred text. The new Arizona law
blatantly rejects the strangers among us,
trumpeting a hateful, anti-immigrant
message that will reverberate through
American society and far beyond our
borders.
The United States can be a light unto the
nations by establishing a just and humane
immigration system. Without Congress
taking a leadership role on immigra-
tion, we can expect other states to follow
Arizona's suit.
Now is the time for the Jewish communi-
ty to stand together in defense of all immi-
grants, for we, too, once were strangers. By
not demanding immediate action from our
national leaders, we betray both our Jewish
teachings and our American heritage as a
country built by immigrants.

Gideon Aronoff is president and CEO of HIAS,

the international migration agency of the

American Jewish community and the oldest

refugee rescue and resettlement agency in the

United States.

Jewish Teens from page 42

For the 85-88 percent of teens who
do not attend Jewish day school, the 60-
plus percent of teens whose families do
not belong to a synagogue and the huge
numbers of teens who do not partici-
pate in Jewish youth groups or camps,
the peer group more often than not is a
religiously, racially, ethnically and some-
times economically diverse group.
Faced with this reality, one option is
to continue with business as usual: We
can alienate a majority of Jewish teens by
continuing to insist that they only bring
their full Jewish selves to bear in Jewishly
exclusive spaces.
However, it is pretty clear that the stan-
dard model of ripping teens out of their
everyday lives and placing them in arti-
ficial, Jewish-only peer groups has failed
for all but the most affiliated teens.
Or we can promote Jewish learning
that focuses on meaning-making and
encourages teens to integrate their Jewish
selves into every aspect of their lives.

Talk To Them!
The beauty of Jewish tradition is that
it imagines that every place and every
act from the most mundane to the
most extraordinary can be infused with
meaning. This sense of integration
should guide Jewish education.
Integration does not connote a
"watering down" of Jewish learning. In-
depth Jewish learning should be able
to match the rigor of any learning and

should energize Jewish teens and their
friends.
By way of comparison, wouldn't it be
absurd to assert that African-American
studies are only relevant to African
Americans? That African-American stud-
ies can only be rigorously pursued in
historically African-American schools
and colleges with exclusively African-
American teachers?
Jewish students may internalize and
personalize Jewish learning differently
from their peers, but that should not
affect the quality of the learning nor the
potential impact.
Jewish teen education is in need of a
massive paradigm shift, but the hand
wringing about what to do is silly. All we
have to do is talk to teens. They under-
stand their worlds better than we do. ❑

Adam Gaynor is executive director of The

Curriculum Initiative, an organization that

supports Jewish culture and identity at

secular and parochial private high schools.

May 20 • 2010

43