Immigration

For I was a stranger in a strange land. (Ex 2:22)

As Jews, we often recall those times when we were immigrants and “strangers in a strange land.” That is why we are commanded to befriend the strangers in our midst and to help them in whatever way we can.

In this section, you will find the relevant Jewish texts on this issue, the resolutions passed by United Synagogue, the Rabbinical Assembly, and other Jewish organizations, other educational materials, and a list of ways that you can help to bring about comprehensive immigration reform.

We hope that these resources will be enlightening and informative on this difficult and contentious issue.

Jewish Texts on Immigration/Migrant Workers

1. If a stranger who dwells with you would offer the paschal offering to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised; then he shall be admitted to offer it; he shall then be as a citizen of the country... [Exodus 12:48]
2. The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. [Leviticus 19:33-34]
3. You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer... but you must pay him his wages on the same day, for he is needy and urgently depends on it. [Deuteronomy 24:14]
4. What is hateful to you, do not do to others. That is the entire law; all the rest is commentary. [B. Shabbat 31a]
5. There are six things, the fruit of which man eats in this world, while the principal remains for him for the world to come: Hospitality to wayfarers, visiting the sick, meditation in prayer, early attendance at the bet hamidrash, rearing your child to the study of Torah, and judging your neighbor in the scale of merit. [B. Shabbat 127a]
6. “The stranger need not lodge outside” (Job 31:32). The Holy One declares no creature unfit - He receives all. The gates are always open, and he who wishes to enter may enter. [Exodus Rabbah 19:4]
7. The New Colossus
   Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
   With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
   Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
   A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
   Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
   Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
   Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
   The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
   "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
   With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
   Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
   The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
   Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
   I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" [Emma Lazarus-1883, mounted inside the Statue of Liberty in 1903]

Relevant Online Resources

• United Synagogue Resolution Implementation Packet - Immigrants and Immigration
• Resources from Jewish Funds for Justice
• Resources from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society