Parashat Shelach: Perception vs. Reality, Welcoming Immigrants

My community outside of Boston has long welcomed immigrants. At the beginning of the 20^th century, Jewish and Italian immigrants came to work in the factories, later establishing shops and other local businesses. In the 1980’s when the Former Soviet Union opened its gates, the community resettled Russian Jews who contributed their technical skills and expertise to the local technology industry. The end of the 20^th century brought Brazilians who worked menial jobs; now they too own businesses and have become active members of our local civic community.  Today, students in our public schools come from nearly every continent, representing many dozens of countries across the globe, and speak 70 different languages.

This week’s Torah portion, Shelach (Numbers 15: 14-16), teaches us, “There all be one law for you and the resident stranger (ha-ger).”

These days, though, I feel as if we are living two different realities in America, two sets of vastly different playbooks. As a nation of immigrants, for generations we have valued immigrants as a fundamental pillar of American democracy, yet these days many Americans, especially those with political clout, consider them a stain on our society and are eager to expel them.

For generations, new immigrants have contributed to society in many different ways, including working on farms and in factories to provide us our daily sustenance. Meanwhile, undocumented immigrants have been arrested in courthouses, parents are afraid to send their children to school, and raids in immigrant communities continue. Recently, a Massachusetts high school honors student and athlete who came to the US as a young child was arrested on his way to volley-ball practice. Naturally, I can’t help thinking about my great-grandparents and other Jewish immigrants and the impact on the fabric of American-Jewish life had similar scenarios occurred in the early 20^th century.

Whenever we read this week’s parasha with the episode of the spies whom Moses had sent to scout the land of Canaan, I always reflect how history would have been different had Moses listened to the advice of the majority of the meraglim (spies) who said, “The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers… (Numbers 13: 31-32). Instead, Moses listened to God and demonstrated the moral courage to heed the words of Joshua and Caleb, “The land that we traversed and scouted is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into that land, a land that flows with milk and honey….” (Numbers 14: 8-9). What would have happened had Moses heeded the cries of his constituents, B’nai Yisrael, who had listened to the majority of the spies and cried to Moses and Aaron, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt. Why is the Lord taking us to that and to die by the sword?… It would be better for us to go back to Egypt (Numbers 14: 1-4).

However, too often perception colors our sense of reality. For generations, immigrants have contributed to our daily lives in America (not to mention how immigrants built the State of Israel). Yet American leaders continue to succumb to the loud voices of those who perceive immigrants as a threat to American democracy instead of considering their valuable impact on American society. But to do so requires moral courage, just as Moses exhibited in this week’s Torah portion.