The Solomon B. Freehof Institute of Progressive Halakhah marked its twenty-fifth anniversary at the convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis in Atlanta this past March 21. As always, the meeting featured presentations by speakers on a chosen theme. This year, the theme was the very timely topic of immigration: what insights does Jewish law offer to liberal Jews seeking to influence, change, or critique the immigration policies of the counties in which they live? The presentations will eventually be available in written form at the Institute’s website.
Jonathan Crane, the Raymond F. Schinazi Scholar in Bioethics and Jewish Thought at the Center for Ethics at Emory University, offered a text study on the mitzvah of hospitality (הכנסת אורחים, hakhnasat or’ḥim) that focused upon a fundamental tension in the halakhah. We have any number of Biblical and Rabbinic texts that, on the one hand, would support a stance of broad openness toward newcomers seeking entry to our community. Yet other texts emphasize that when resources are insufficient to take care of all persons in need, we are entitled to prioritize “those who are closest to us”]1[ and to ban newcomers from settling in our communities.[2] To deal with this apparent contradiction, Crane suggested an approach that centers upon another Jewish ethical value: that of “accompanying” travelers along the way toward their ultimate destinations. Applied to our case, the value of “accompaniment” would stress our duty to assist immigrants and refugees to find their own path without demanding that they “reproduce our journey” and surrender their own cultures.
Walter Jacob, president of the Freehof Institute and founder and president of the Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam/Berlin, also emphasized the theme of contradiction (creative tension?) in the sources with a look to the Passover Hagadah. At the outset of the magid section of the ritual, where we recount the story of our liberation from Egyptian slavery, we recite the passage הא לחמא עניא (ha laḥma anya, “this is the bread of affliction/poverty”) which includes the famous invitation “let all who are hungry come and eat.” The passage, in fact, is preserved in Aramaic, the spoken language of the Jews in late antiquity, to symbolize that we want this message understood, that we truly open our door to the outsider. Yet later on, after dinner, when we actually do open the door, the traditional Hagadah has us recite a passage beginning with Jeremiah 10:25: “Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not know You” (שפך חמתך, sh’fokh ḥamatkha), which expresses the opposite sentiment. An authentically Jewish understanding of our responsibility toward immigrants and refugees must be based upon a confrontation between these two differing attitudes that we find in our sources.
Mark Washofsky, the Solomon B. Freehof Professor of Jewish Law and Practice at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, addressed the halakhic principle dina d’malkhuta dina, “the law of the state is valid law,[3] by which halakhah recognizes the validity of state legislation in mattes that fall under the state’s legitimate prerogative. Immigration and refugee policy certainly belong to this category. If so, on what Judaic grounds (other than such vague and fuzzy sentiments as “you shall love the stranger”) is it possible to critique them? The answer requires a thorough analysis of the dina d’malkhuta dina principle from a liberal halakhic perspective. That analysis, which will appear in the published version of these proceedings, must focus upon at least three issues: the halakhic rationale for dina d’malkhuta dina; the requirement that in order to qualify for halakhic approval, state legislation must be equitable in nature; and whether the principle dina d’malkhuta dina applies to the realm of international law. On the basis of such an analysis, we may have powerful halakhic grounds to object to the immigration and refugee policies of our governments, even though those policies tend to be subsumed under the legitimate power of the state.
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[1] See Shulḥan Arukh Yore De`ah 251:9.
[2] See Shulḥan Arukh Ḥoshen Mishpat 156:5-6.
[3] B. Gitin 10b, B. Bava Batra 54b and elsewhere.