tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241889800645271761.post2037269087765964836..comments2024-03-06T10:53:14.782+11:00Comments on Social Issues & Torah (TFH): Fear of the "other" in Sefad, ancient Egypt, Aboriginal Australia, politics and ethicsRabbi Zalman Kastel AMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689513680760912342noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241889800645271761.post-14116465653756707832011-01-24T20:56:20.879+11:002011-01-24T20:56:20.879+11:00Thank you Michal for the challenging question from...Thank you Michal for the challenging question from Sderot. I would love to hear what Donna or others thinks about this. I am going to read a story to my son and hope to come back to this. <br /><br />One interesting thought is that Haman's justification for eliminating the Jews (in the Megilla) is not that the Jews were inferior but that they "were different". Research into racism has found a "new racism" that emphasises difference. <br /><br />Stil the challenges you raise about the practical difficulties that result from diversity need serious thought, better dealt with when not keeping a 5 year old waiting for his story.Rabbi Zalman Kastel AMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15689513680760912342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241889800645271761.post-61066152719102945252011-01-24T15:46:19.234+11:002011-01-24T15:46:19.234+11:00donna shalom,
all true, in an emptier world. I wou...donna shalom,<br />all true, in an emptier world. I would love to feel welcoming towards the many newcomers here in Israel, but accepting their presence raises many questions about how societies function best.<br />the fact that Israel is only a walk away from africa means that we are faced w/ a huge influx of people who share none of our history; their worldview is shaped by very different considerations. how to help them w/out disasterously undermining our own project (securing a homeland for own group)?<br />it would be lovely to let these seekers settle anywhere they choose but market forces being what they are, they are for the moment settling in our lowliest areas and having babies as quickly as they can, knowing that these babies are the best way to ensure their continued presence here.<br />the neighborhoods hosting the largest numbers of these uprooted people have become dangerous and problematic... from personal experience I can say that being anywhere near the central bus station in tel aviv has become unnerving, at the very least. <br />israelis in general are quite nonracist about this. I never hear 'wish all these black people would go away', but rather 'quantities of disconnected people are scary'. if we don't encourage them to put down roots, they continue to be a difficult element. but how can we encourage them to put down roots, knowing that if they choose to join our nation, it is only from economic stress - not a great basis for spiritual communion.<br />the problem of foreign immigrants is one wh/ challenges my sense of identity on many levels, not least that of myself as a jew. I wish to follow our teaching, but how to do so when following it seems to lead to weakening it? how to build a homeland and at the same time, fill it w/ people whose homeland is elsewhere?<br />thoughts from michal in sderotUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12999061534254506743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241889800645271761.post-63712944514573492932010-12-26T13:22:06.711+11:002010-12-26T13:22:06.711+11:00thanks Donna. This is the way of the Torah.thanks Donna. This is the way of the Torah.Rabbi Zalman Kastel AMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15689513680760912342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241889800645271761.post-83875116831107297892010-12-25T09:51:54.651+11:002010-12-25T09:51:54.651+11:00I think it is simply our greatest human challenge ...I think it is simply our greatest human challenge - to love the stranger.... the one who is strange to us, whatever that difference or strangeness might be. there is evidence enough i the torah: <br /><br />Regarding the asylum seeker, in Deuteronomy 23.16 it says “You shall not return a runaway slave to his master......Let him stay with you anywhere he chooses in one of your settlements, whatever suits him best: you shall not wrong him.”<br /><br />Or in Exodus 22:20 “ You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” <br /><br />I dont think its ambiguious. Its required of us if we wish to be truly human.Donnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14752701601978275288noreply@blogger.com