Immigration Ban

Virtually everyone was talking about the immigration ban. 

The country was bitterly divided, wracked with chaos and havoc. Half the citizens felt that the immigrants were terrorists and wanted them out immediately, and at any cost, while the other half felt that as skilled workers, the immigrants would benefit their country financially. 

The immigrants were all Middle Eastern. 

Protests erupted all over the country. 

This led to civil war. Brother turned against brother. Tens of thousands of people were killed. 

The Jews had been enslaved in Egypt for 210 years. After nine devastating plagues befell Pharaoh and the Egyptians, Moses warned Pharaoh that the next plague would kill all the firstborns in the land. 

Hence, all the firstborns wanted the Jews to leave immediately. The Jews had caused too much damage, they said. They turned the Nile into blood, brought frogs, lice, wild animals, locusts, and painful boils upon them, and now the firstborns were to die? How much more terror and devastation could they take?

But the rest of the people saw value in retaining the Jews as slaves and weren't remotely interested in letting them go. They'd built cities and pyramids for free—what could be better for the economy?

This was the very first immigration ban. 

Ultimately, the Jews left Egypt at G-d's behest and were brought to the Land of Israel.  

                                                                 -------

In just a few days we mark the passing of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe. Very shortly before his passing he gave a Chassidic discourse which began with the words “I have come into my garden.” A year later, when the Rebbe took over the Chabad movement, he explained that these words are the mission statement of our generation.

G-d wants us to take the world and make it into a home for Him—a better, brighter place.

According to Chassidic teaching, Egypt is the only country in the world that G-d banned us from living within. Why? We have already fulfilled our mission there. Throughout the long years of exile, our ancestors found and elevated every single spark of G-dliness He planted there.  

I have friends who are extremely passionate about the current immigration ban, and I love all my friends. As a rabbi, my job is not to take sides, but to remind my friends and congregants that there is a Boss even higher than the president of the United States—our Father in Heaven. He is the one who has ruled the world since its creation, He is the one Who led us out Egypt and He will surely lead us to peace and prosperity in 2017. 

"Hearts of kings are in the hands of G-d, and He turns them whichever way He desires" (Proverbs 21:1). So, this Shabbat, let us congregate at shul and pray that G-d guide this administration to do what is right and just in a way that will bring G-d's presence into the world, to make it a home for Him and to make this "garden" into a better, brighter place.