August 8 • 2019 15
jn
Night of Learning
Diverse group of rabbis reinforces obligation
to treat all strangers
humanely.
Speakers at the recent ADL and JCRC/ADL event on immigration
M
any Americans are sad-
dened and angered by the
videos, photos and firsthand
accounts of immigrant families sepa-
rated at the southern U.S. border and
often sent to over-crowded, inadequate
detention facilities.
As the flow of refugees fleeing
violence and poverty increases, U.S.
government officials, human rights
activists, immigration advocates and
American citizens dispute how these
would-be immigrants should be treated.
A group of 17 local rabbis from five
streams of Judaism, as well as represen-
tatives from several Jewish nonprofit
agencies, presented a unified view of the
obligation of Jews to welcome strangers.
They spoke at an educational program
titled “Strangers in our Midst — Texts for
Jewish learning about the crisis on our
southern border” presented Aug. 1 by
the Anti-Defamation League Michigan
Region and the Jewish Community
Relations Council/AJC at Temple Beth
El in Bloomfield Township.
The program idea came from a recent
event hosted by U.S. Congressman
Andy Levin that reported on his trip to
the border with religious leaders.
Rabbi Josh Whinston of Temple
Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor spoke as
a “personal witness” who has visited
immigrant detention centers and helped
a mother “whose children were torn
from her.
”
“She lived in a town controlled by a
gang and knew when her son reached
a certain age he would face the choice
of joining the gang or being killed,
”
Whinston said. Nonetheless, she told
him if she knew her children would
be separated from her in the U.S., she
would have remained and faced the
threats of violence in her hometown.
Speakers discussed biblical sources,
commentary from the Midrash and the
perspective of rabbis from the 19th to
and 21st centuries. Citing Deuteronomy,
Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Kehillat Etz
Chayim in Oak Park said we are told to
welcome and bring in strangers.
“If we turn them away, we are doing
desecration of our country, of being
Jewish,
” he said. “You learn the Torah so
you can do — to bring us to action.
”
Speakers reminded the audience of
the Jewish history of slavery in Egypt
and the Jewish belief that all people are
created in the image of God. However,
the Jewish people were not exempt
from “baseless hatred” — their “xeno-
phobia” resulted in the destruction of
the Second Temple.
Rabbi Jennifer Lader of Temple Israel
in West Bloomfield gave a chronology
of recent immigration events in the U.S.
“When we said, ‘
Never again,
’
we meant
never again. If I am only for myself,
who am I?” she asked.
Rabbi Ariana Silverman of the Isaac
Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit
cited 36 times that the Bible commands
that strangers be welcomed and treated
humanely — evidence this is important
and difficult to accomplish.
Program attendees were urged to get
involved in the immigration issue by
immigration lawyer Ruby Robinson,
vice president of JCRC/AJC. He rec-
ommended talking to elected officials
about immigration and supporting
efforts to welcome immigrants. ■
For local and national resources for
action, go to jcrcajc.org/take-action.
SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
JEFF AISEN
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER
ZEKELMAN FAMILY CAMPUS
Discovery & Recovery:
Holocaust Stolen Art and the
Hungarian Documents
Wednesday, August 14 2 PM
holocaustcenter.org
RSVP by August 12 to 248.536.9612 or www.holocaustcenter.org/art
Free with museum admission or membership
Clara Garbon-Radnoti and
Jonathan H. Schwartz
Photo credit: Max Ortiz, The Detroit News
Charlie Langton
Jonathan H. Schwartz
Clara
Garbon-Radnoti
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