Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Rabbi Alana Suskin posted on Facebook (on 2018-10-27) some very important things to keep in mind, a large chunk of which I am quoting here even though I suspect much of this is already obvious to many of my friends.

[...]

There are those who hate the immigrants coming into the country and use the language of invasion and overrun.

Those people who were murdered today, they were the descendants - like everyone not Native American in this country, except for African Americans who came against their will in chains - of immigrants who fled from poverty or oppression. They - and thus all of us - were "invaders" in exactly the same way.

If you claim you are not an anti-Semite, but you use this kind of language, stop, immediately, because the language of traitors and invaders, this is what it leads to.

If you claim you're not racist, stop using this language. It is not about "doing it right" or laws or jobs. It is about decency.

[...]

Today our Torah reading included the portion about Sodom's destruction.

The sin of Sodom was actually made very clear by the prophets and the sages: it wasn't sexual in nature, but rather a moral failure to share in the resources of the land.

It was treating the stranger as an invader, hoarding the riches of the land to only those who were "natives."

It was hatred for the outsider and the refusal to welcome them.