In Eastern Europe, the
rabbi was the undisputed leader of the Jewish people of his village. Not only was he the master of religious wisdom
and law, but he often served as the arbiter of disputes and the provider of
common sense advice.
One day, two individuals
who had a major dispute decided they would each take their case to the rabbi. The first party to the dispute came to the
rabbi and carefully outlined his side of the argument. The rabbi listened intently, stroked his
beard, and finally said, “My friend, you are right.” The man went away satisfied.
Later in the day, the other
party to the dispute arrived and told the rabbi his side of the issue. The rabbi again listened carefully, stroked
his beard, and replied after some thought, “You are right.”
Later, the rabbi’s wife,
who had overheard the rabbi’s conversations with both men, said to him, “You
told both the first party and the second party that they were right. That’s
impossible!” To which the rabbi replied,
“And you are right too!”
Strangely, this story came
to mind as I read article after article on the subject of what Israel will do
with the nearly 40,000 African migrants currently in Israel awaiting resolution
of their status. Let me explain.
Here are the facts.
Israeli
authorities have begun handing out deportation notices in accordance with the “Infiltration
Law” adopted by the Israeli Knesset in December. Deportations are due to begin in March
2018. Migrants, who came to Israel illegally, are being
offered $3,500 plus a plane ticket to depart.
Those who refuse to leave “voluntarily” will be jailed. The government has not said where those
deported will be sent. The
deportation notices simply said they would be sent to an African country that has a
“stable government” and that “has developed tremendously over the last decade
and has absorbed thousands of returning residents as well as migrants from
various African countries.”
The migrant and refugees
issues are tremendously complex and shockingly common. There are currently over 65 million refugees. One in every 113 people on the planet is now
a refugee. Around the world, someone is
displaced every three seconds, forced from their homes by violence, war and
persecution.
Many have argued that the
African migrants in Israel are refugees deserving asylum. They have pointed out Israel has recognized refugee status for only one Sudanese and 10 Eritreans, out of thousands of applications for
asylum, an acceptance rate of 0.056%.
Meanwhile, the European Union has recognized asylum claims from 90% of
Eritreans who apply for refugee status and 56% of Sudanese, according to the European Stability
Institute.
At the same time, countries
need to do what they feel is best. Prime
Minister Netanyahu recently noted:
International law places
obligations on countries and it also gives them rights. There is an obligation
to accept refugees, and we accept refugees, but international law also gives
the right to a country to remove from its borders illegal migrants. We have no
obligation to allow illegal labor migrants who are not refugees to remain here.
This doesn’t mean that the
decision to deport was an easy one.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, when asked about criticism of the Israeli
plan as being insensitive, responded: “We are doing this after many
sleepless nights. We are not ignoring the issues. We reached the decision that
we have to do this for the future of Israel and the future of the people of
Israel.”
The complexity of the issue
may be why it was recently reported that Israel is negotiating with the United Nations High Commission on
Refugees to resettle some of the African asylum seekers in third countries deemed
by the UN to be “safe,” in exchange for some of the refugees to be given
permanent residency in Israel.
Which side is right?
Most Israelis agree with the government. A recent survey found that two-thirds of the public (65.9%) support the plan. Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau expressed his support for the government plan. He said, “The State of Israel is obliged to
help refugees, but let’s distinguish between refugees and work [seeking]
migrants.”
At the
same time, there are many voices calling for Israel to reverse its decision.
Over 750 rabbis signed a letter to Prime Minister
Netanyahu claiming that Israel must not deport
those seeking asylum within its borders.
They wrote that “we Jews know far too well what happens when the world
closes its doors to those forced to flee their homes.”
There are voices of protest in Israel. Holocaust survivors have pledged to hide the
African immigrants in their own homes. Doctors,
nurses and psychologists have said that those the government is calling illegal
immigrants are actually victims “who have come to us in their flight from
genocide, torture, violence and rape.” Professor
Asa Kasher, author of the Israel Defense Forces code of ethics and commonly
cited on moral issues, wrote in a Facebook post: "To get rid of the
foreigners is to abandon the Israeli goal of being a model society.”
It’s a complex issue.
Ruth Berdah-Canet, a French-Jewish filmmaker
who observed the lives in Israel of a group of asylum seekers from South
Sudan in 2012, noted this issue is unlike others that have a more
predictable breakdown of who holds certain views based on ideology.
There’s
something unique about this issue in Israel, because it cuts across society. On other issues, like the IDF or the peace
process, there are predictable divides between left and right, between
religious and non-religious, between young and old – but go to a demonstration
against the deportations, and it’s not uncommon to see an orthodox rabbi
alongside left-wing activists.
It is impossible for both
sides of an argument to be right, but one thing is absolutely clear in this
complex and heartbreaking issue: We
need to feel the pain of the others.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has a
beautiful article on Parshat Mishpatim entitled “The Power of Empathy.” We are very familiar with the verses from the
portion admonishing us not to oppress the stranger.
וְגֵ֥ר לֹא־תוֹנֶ֖ה
וְלֹ֣א תִלְחָצֶ֑נּוּ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
You shall not wrong a stranger or
oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Shemot 22:20)
וְגֵ֖ר לֹ֣א תִלְחָ֑ץ
וְאַתֶּ֗ם יְדַעְתֶּם֙ אֶת־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַגֵּ֔ר כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ
מִצְרָֽיִם׃
You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of
the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt. (Shemot
23:9)
The Torah teaches
that our historical experience has conditioned us to feel the pain of others
because we have felt that same pain.
This is a mitzvah of empathy. As
Rabbi Sacks writes:
The religious response to
suffering is to use it to enter into the mindset of others who suffer. That is
why I found so often that it was the Holocaust survivors in our community who
identified most strongly with the victims of ethnic war in Bosnia, Rwanda,
Kosovo and Darfur.
On the one
hand, there is a compelling case for Israel to allow the migrants to stay. On the other hand, there is a valid case for
deporting those who do not meet the legal criteria of being refugees. What is absolutely correct is our moral
obligation to feel the pain of the people – real people! – affected.
Rabbi Benny Lau of Jerusalem wrote, “How can we continue life as it is
while the works of God’s hands are drowning in fear and uncertainty? What will we tell our children and
grandchildren when they are old enough to ask us what we did on behalf of the
African children who were living in Israel?"
My good friend Yossi Klein Halevi wrote a powerful piece on this issue entitled “Shame.”
He concluded by asking:
Where is
the sign of unease from our leaders, some indication that they understand why
so many Jews are tormented by their decision? Part of my feeling of shame today
is the absence of shame among our leaders.
I hope that
the issue of the African migrants can be resolved properly. I know that each of us must feel the pain of
all those impacted by this human tragedy.
