![]() ![]() How can I, as someone whose tradition holds as foundational that all human beings – created in God’s image – have infinite worth and equal dignity, stay neutral when our leaders pursue explicitly stated goals like banning Muslim immigrants? Or when they perpetuate noxious myths about people of color, or when they are repeatedly accused of sexual assault, or when they support and safeguard men who brutalize and prey on women? I cannot, and so I have been fiercely committed to supporting the Muslim community in the face of rising Islamophobia, to activism on behalf of refugees, to advancing racial justice, and to helping amplify women’s voices and supporting strong female leadership.įurthermore, my tradition mandates that, in a just society, all people have equal status, privilege, and protection (see, for example, Leviticus 24:22). ![]() And it especially drives me now, at this moment when injustice is routinely entrenched in policy and cruelty seems to have become a governing philosophy.įor instance, how can I, as someone devoted to a tradition that commands, literally dozens of times, to “love the immigrant, for you were immigrants in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19 is but one iteration of this law) remain silent when politicians enact policies that systematically target members of our country’s immigrant community, vilify immigrants (especially those from “sh*thole countries”), conduct warrantless searches of people who appear to be foreign, hold those suspected of violating immigration law without trial or bail, break apart families, destroy lives, and shatter the dreams of young people who have known no other home? I cannot, and so I have been active in the Central Virginia Sanctuary Network and in pro-immigrant advocacy. Every moment we are not fighting for justice we are impeding it, including when we remain neutral and silent.Īs a rabbi, this awareness has always fueled my social activism. Either we are engaged in shaping a society in which everyone is uplifted, or we are helping some remain privileged and powerful while others are degraded and disenfranchised. Neutrality is not a morally acceptable option. The moral of the story is, either we are on the side of justice or we are opposed to it. Perhaps that’s why the ten plagues afflicted all Egyptians, and not just Pharaoh. So, while the average Egyptian may not have personally harmed any Israelite, by failing to speak out, he effectively sided with the oppressors. In this sense, silence always benefits the status quo. It is natural to interpret an absence of protest as agreement. How do you think Pharaoh interpreted his people’s silence? Just as any modern leader would, Pharaoh doubtlessly assumed his people supported or at least tolerated his policies. Everybody else stood silently on the sidelines as an entire nation was brutalized. Only a handful of courageous Egyptian women engaged in acts of civil disobedience. But, at least the way the Bible tells it, during the four centuries of Israelite bondage in Egypt, not once did any of those Egyptians protest Pharaoh’s oppressive policies. Weren’t there regular Egyptians who did not themselves enslave any Hebrews? Technically, yes. Some may argue that within the Exodus story there is a third possibility. Every person, in every time and place, thus faces a fundamental choice: Either you can be a Pharaoh or you can be a Hebrew either you are an oppressor or you are the oppressed. In every generation, the same drama plays out: Some will seek to secure their own privilege and power by relentlessly vilifying and oppressing the weak, while the oppressed will yearn for liberation, dignity, and equal opportunity. Our tradition also instructs us to understand the Exodus as an allegory about the present. In just a few days, Jews everywhere will gather not only to recall the story of the Exodus but also, through conversation and ceremony, to internalize, personalize, and universalize the narrative.įor us Jews, the Exodus from bondage in Egypt is not mere history. ![]() Passover, the Jewish holiday commemorating the enslavement and liberation of the Children of Israel from Egypt, is right around the corner. ![]()
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