10 July 25 • 2019
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A
merican Jews have a long and
understandable tradition of
advocacy for immigrants. That’
s
due in part to the fact that most Jews
were the children and grandchildren
of immigrants as the community first
began to assert itself into the political
life of the country in the
20th century. It’
s also
because the plight of
those who were denied
entry to the United
States and other poten-
tial sources of refuge for
those Jews seeking to
flee Nazi Germany and
occupied Europe during
the Holocaust is imprinted upon the
political memory of most Jews.
So, it’
s hardly surprising that much
of the organized Jewish community has
little sympathy for President Donald
Trump’
s positions on illegal immigra-
tion. That includes distaste for his desire
to build a wall on America’
s southern
border, as well as contempt for contro-
versial policies that led to the separation
of families of those who entered the
country illegally. And it now extends to
revulsion toward the deplorable condi-
tions at detention camps as the resources
of the federal government have been
overwhelmed by a surge of migrants and
often dubious asylum claims by econom-
ic migrants in the last several months.
But there is a difference between sup-
porting more liberal immigration laws
and empathy for those who came here
illegally and the more radical stands on
these issues that are increasingly become
mainstream on the left.
The left-wing Jewish groups that
are organizing the growing number of
demonstrations against the work of the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) agency and essentially opposing
any enforcement of laws against illegal
immigration think they are representing
the views of most Jews these days. And
they might be right.
The Democratic presidential candi-
dates were nearly unanimous during
their recent debates about supporting the
decriminalization of illegal entry into the
United States. They are similarly united
behind measures like providing free gov-
ernment health care for illegals.
And while most mainstream Jewish
groups have pushed back against anal-
ogies to the plight of illegal immigrants
and asylum-seekers to the Holocaust,
many are continuing to do just that.
Indeed, the coalition of left-wing orga-
nizations organizing the protests against
federal law enforcement aren’
t just
applauding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez’
s labeling of detention centers as
“concentration camps,
” they’
ve named
their group “Never Again Action.
”
The support they have garnered is
indicative of two things: genuine horror
about the conditions at federal facilities
and partisanship.
Claims that all those who are flood-
ing across the border are in some ways
analogous to Jews fleeing for their lives
from a Nazi death sentence are as absurd
as they are false. Still, the hardships
faced by those in custody were bound
to generate outrage from Jews, who are
naturally sympathetic to downtrodden
underdogs.
It’
s also true that many of those lead-
ing these protests are guilty of blatant
hypocrisy.
It was, after all, only six months ago
that the same people now denouncing
the conditions at the border today were
just as adamant in claiming that Trump’
s
arguments about there being a crisis
there were false. Whether you agree with
the president about the need for a wall,
in retrospect, the position taken by his
critics, which generated a lengthy gov-
ernment shutdown, was disingenuous.
Their hypocrisy is also compounded
by the fact that the same Democrats
decrying Trump voiced no protests
when families were separated, immi-
grants imprisoned and millions deported
on President Barack Obama’
s watch.
To note this hypocrisy is not to gainsay
the need for the government to improve
conditions at the detention centers.
But in assessing this debate, we also
have to acknowledge that Trump’
s critics
and the Democratic candidates have
departed from traditional Jewish posi-
tions on immigration. That means the
notion that the community is obligated
to follow along and echo some of these
radical Democratic stands doesn’
t stand
up to scrutiny.
The organized Jewish community has
always supported more liberal immigra-
tion laws, family reunification, and an
orderly and generous asylum process.
But what leading Democrats are now
proposing in terms of decriminaliza-
tion and entitlements for illegals goes
beyond even the granting of amnesty
for those who are already in the country
without legal permission. Their stands
are now indistinguishable from open
borders. The idea that open borders, as
opposed to compassionate treatment of
immigrants, is somehow consonant with
Jewish values or history is pure fiction.
The accusations that the crisis at the
border is the result of Trump’
s moral
failings are also bogus. Whatever you
may think of the president, every mass
movement across the border has been
preceded by liberal promises that those
who come here without following the
rules don’
t have to worry about being
held accountable for breaking the law.
The only way to curtail this flood of
migrants — and thereby relieve the
crisis — is to make it clear that all those
who try will be caught and deported.
Democratic pledges of free health care,
college tuition and driver’
s licenses are
a neon welcome sign that led directly to
the unfolding calamity at the border.
But there’
s another point that needs
to be emphasized. Sovereignty and the
rule of law — the values that are being
trashed by those making inappropriate
Holocaust analogies and calling for
tearing down the border — are actually
good for the Jews.
The basic problem Jews faced in the
1930s was partly the result of restrictive
U.S. immigration legislation, coupled
with the anti-Semitic refusal of some
officials to let in refugees that did qualify
under the law. But it was also rooted in
the plain fact that the rule of law had bro-
ken down in Europe, and Nazi aggression
was aimed at destroying the sovereign
rights of all nations not named Germany.
If generations of Jews have found a
haven in the United States, it is because
it remains a nation of laws. Destroy the
rule of law — and that is exactly what
Never Again Action and others who
share their desire to strip the United
States of its sovereign right to determine
who may pass through its border are
advocating — and no one, least of all
religious minorities like Jews, will be
safe. ■
For a related story, please see page 12.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS—
Jewish News Syndicate.
commentary
Is Support for Open Borders Really
in Tune with Jewish Values?
Jonathan Tobin
(Hebrew Bible) and our rabbis’
per-
ceived boundaries decide who is a
Jew and who is not a Jew; who is
behaving “properly” and who is not;
and who is a danger to our peo-
ple and who isn’
t, whether Jewish
or non-Jewish. Nevertheless, our
rabbis made clear that, while they
were willing and proud to judge the
behavior of other Jews, they were
for the most part profoundly reluc-
tant to cut them out of the commu-
nity. There is a lesson there.
The founder of the Shalom
Hartman Institute, Rabbi Dr. David
Hartman, often quoted a text
(Tosefta Sotah) in which the schools
of Hillel and Shammai were debat-
ing matters of Jewish law. The text
then asks, “If the Torah is given by
a single God, provided by a single
Shepherd, how is it the case that
there exist such differing interpreta-
tions (of Jewish Law)?”
The Tosefta answers the question
by teaching, “Make yourself a heart
of many rooms and bring into it the
words of the house of Shammai and
the words of the house of Hillel.”
In other words, Hartman
explained, a Jew must strive to be a
“person in whom different opinions
can reside together … who can feel
religious conviction and passion
without the need for simplicity
and absolute certainty” (A Heart of
Many Rooms, p. 21).
We live in difficult and com-
plicated times, where the answers
to our local, national and inter-
national problems — strategically
and religiously — require deep
conversations and intricate nuanced
approaches, as well as a tremendous
amount of humility and generous
listening. We look forward to con-
tinuing this dialogue and this learn-
ing with each other and with our
fellow rabbis; we also look forward
to continuing this learning and to
beginning this dialogue with you.
May we strive to make for our-
selves a heart of many rooms so
that we can better learn and work
together, celebrate and mourn
together and, when appropriate, tear
down and build up again … togeth-
er. Amen. ■
Rabbi Ariana Silverman serves the Downtown
Synagogue in Detroit. Rabbi Aaron Starr
serves Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield.
continued from page 8