On Friday President Trump issued an Executive Order banning immigrants from Muslim majority nations.
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, responds in the strongest language possible:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” (US Declaration of Independence) “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.” (Leviticus 19:33-34)

We, all of us are descendants of immigrants. Every one of us in these United States came here from elsewhere. It is only the small minority of indigenous peoples who can claim otherwise. Jews have learned from the experience of our relatives how dangerous a ban of people who are different than “us” or from someplace else can be. We know the consequences of calling someone the “other.” We know.

It is because of this experience, because of the foundational documents of our country, of the words in the Hebrew Bible that give us clear guidance: to protect ourselves we must protect others, to care for ourselves we must care for others, we must love our neighbor as we would love ourselves.

ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, as a faith-based, heart-centered, Jewish organization stands with our neighbors, stands with those who are different, stands with those who are from elsewhere to defend their rights, to defend our rights, to fulfill the holy and moral imperative of to love the stranger as we would love our very own. As such we call on President Trump to rethink and rescind his executive order. As Nelson Mandela said, “To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity”. Those of us in the faith-based community must help all to realize the fullness of their humanity; those in the political community must remove impediments to that sacred mission.