Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

This coming Thursday, May 15, at 7 PM, at St. Francis Xavier Church by Rockhurst University, there will be an interfaith service in support of immigrants and immigrant rights.  I have been asked to offer my reflections and a prayer.

Two things come to mind in anticipation of the service.  One is my own connection to immigrant rights, or really immigrant opportunities.  My paternal grandparent came to America in the 1920s, seeking to leave the persecution Jews experienced in Eastern Europe, and to seek a better life here in America. 

I have often said that, without an open border, a welcome invitation to come to America, I don’t exist. Beyond that, what brought my grandparents to America is really no different than what motivates present day immigrants to our borders; to come to a place of safety for themselves and their families and to seek a life of economic opportunity - to seek a better life.  

All this is to say that immigrant rights is a quintessentially Jewish issue. We know our story of being the stranger, and our obligation as a core commandment to love the stranger.  It is the foundational pillar on which our Jewish values stand.

My second thought is the timing of this event.  We come together with the Catholic community on the heels of the naming of a new Pope, Pope Leo XIV.  While in our Jewish world we do not operate under the same hierarchical structure; imbuing so much responsibility or sacred duty in a single person, we do hope that the voice of this Pope for a more compassionate and just world will be persuasive.

Let us continue to support the work of those who work for justice such as the Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund, and to seek out and partner with others who are working for a more just world.