Pirkei Avot (“Ethics of the Sages”), records the favorite teaching of Yossi ben Yochanan: “Open wide the doors of your home, and welcome the poor as members of your household.” This generous sentiment seems to have inspired poet Emma Lazarus, author of “The New Colossus,” inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”
Jewish tradition never idealized deprivation, but wisely celebrated the dignity of those in need: “Poverty suits Israel like a red ribbon on a white horse” (Chagigah 9A). The Talmudic phrase was borrowed by novelist Anzia Yezierska, in her autobiographical treatment of the American Jewish immigrant experience, “Red Ribbon on a White Horse.”
Hillel, an impoverished Babylonian immigrant to the Land of Israel, taught that there is a measure of Jewish national self-interest in this principle: “Hizaheru B’vnei Ani’im – Take particular care regarding the children of the poor, for from them will go forth Torah” (Nedarim 81A).
The sacred tradition of the United States has, happily, long recognized the inherent dignity and the invaluable potential for our collective well-being represented by immigrants, regardless of financial means. That ethos remains “a red ribbon on a white horse.” It is a dream we can all share.
(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi for Temple Emanuel of Northern Jersey and is the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)
Jewish tradition never idealized deprivation, but wisely celebrated the dignity of those in need: “Poverty suits Israel like a red ribbon on a white horse” (Chagigah 9A). The Talmudic phrase was borrowed by novelist Anzia Yezierska, in her autobiographical treatment of the American Jewish immigrant experience, “Red Ribbon on a White Horse.”