Oral Law Assignment

For my Oral Law Assignment, I decided to choose the verse of Leviticus 19:33-34. The verse says "When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the Lord am your God." When I first read this, I thought of a picture that I did not take, but was on my computer. In the wake of Trump's immigration reforms there have been a lot of anti immigrant actions taken. The picture below depicts a woman entering the united states from a muslim nation surrounded by protestors in favor of her right of immigration. Living in an area with many immigrants I have often taken this bible verse to heart without even realizing it. I am very sympathetic of the everyday struggles of those who are not native to the country, often helping them to speak the language and do other simple tasks when I'm with them that are beneficial to the other party.

It is my belief that the people depicted above are doing exactly what they are commanded to. The signs read many variations of the simple phrase "Immigrants welcome." and if an immigrant is not a stranger, then I don't know what they are. It is our obligation as a jew and human beings to "love our neighbor as ourselves (v'ahavta l'reacha)" Those who are protesting in this picture aren't just protesting the bad decisions being made in washington, but rather are celebrating the diversity of the world and know that the world works best when we have immigrants in society. But immigrants can't always stay foreigners. They have to be able to be accepted into society and truly be treated as full on citizens, not second rate ones.