The Gardens we Tend by Denise L. Eger

Shabbat Shalom

Tonight, even in the rain, is a wonderful evening and celebration of our Gan Shalom, our Garden of Peace and Welcome. I know I speak for the Cantor who joins me in thanking all of you for the great honor you bestowed upon us in dedicating the garden.

A special word of thanks to Andy Wolf, Lynn Tjomsland and Fran Solomon, your dedication and expertise rock! You have each left a spark of your holiness in this place by your efforts. Isn’t that indeed the miracle of growth? That in every plant, every animal, and indeed every human being there is a spark of divine holiness that ignites the growth process. Thank you for sharing your passions and your sparks here at Kol Ami.
Especially as we celebrate this Passover holiday—that divine spark is palpable. This holiday is known by many names—Pesach-because God Pasach==passed over the houses of the Israelites who had put a sign of blood on their doorpost. Another spark of life.
Passover is also known as Zman Herutainu—Time of our Freedom, because on this holiday God brought us forth from Egyptian servitude with an outstretched arm, a zeroah netuyah. The Spark of God’s holiness was present at the Exodus for all of us to partake in. It was that spark that split the Red Sea for us allowing our safe passage to freedom.
It is also called Hag HaAviv—the Festival of Spring. Passover is the first festival of the season and marks the beginning of the spring planting season. Supposedly Pesach marks the end of the rainy season (But the memo must have gotten stuck in the snail mail tonight). In fact on this holiday we stop praying for rain in the Amidah!
Our garden is planted and blooming already. And indeed it will grow.
On Pesach we remember how we a small group of foreigners living in the land of Egypt—became slaves. “A new king arose in Egypt, who knew not Joseph,” says the book of Exodus. We an immigrant class, never really part of the Egyptian society, were turned into the slaves and servants who did the labor that no Egyptians wanted to do, the backbreaking labor of building the cities and storehouse of Egypt.
And Pharaoh hardened his heart—he would not let such workers go. He knew what it would do to his economy. He knew what it would do to his kingdom. Let alone his ego.
And what of us? Today our slave labor –is none other than our illegal immigrants, undocumented workers. Many who have lived here for decades. Many whose children are citizens. Who toil for minimum wage and find a way to still send money home to support their families there.
And we harden our hearts—by making them felons. Does anyone really think that we have the ability to deport 11 or 12 million people? Does anyone really think that we have the prison space to deal with felons in that number? Or that we would want to?
No doubt we must secure our borders. No doubt we must have some order and dignity to the process of immigration. No doubt we must have some way to sustain our economies. But forcing hardworking people into exile who are doing the jobs you certainly don’t want to do—won’t bring the promise of America’s freedom to anyone.
The protest’s we have seen in recent weeks are more than symbolic. They were the cry of people desiring America’s promise. The protesters were an outpouring of divine sparks—showing the human faces of those who work in the shadows.
On Pesach we say, “Let all who are hungry come and eat”. We open our doors and our tables to strangers. We do so because we too were once strangers in a strange land. Our Torah is filled with admonitions to us not to forget that time when we toiled at hard labor, when we were strangers. Our Torah urges fairness for workers and commands us to pay the laborer accurately and fairly.
For our words to have meaning and our rituals to make sense—we must during Congress’ spring break call our legislators and tell them the rhetoric they have spouted won’t do. Attaching riders and amendments, making these immigrants-felons, are not solutions to this difficult and thorny issue of immigration reform.
But to deal with the flood of immigrants in isolation from economic policy and foreign policy is foolish. For both Democrats and Republicans to think that the immigration issue has nothing to do with our trade policies is lunacy. Most immigrants come to our country to better their lives. To earn a living. To support their families. If there were ample opportunities in their own lands perhaps they would stay there. But that is the problem—there isn’t. And as long as America continues to consume 25% of the world’s resources and our foreign policy and economic policy seem to have no relationship to one another—we can be assured that even if immigration reform somehow manages to be raised again in Washington we will be in a similar situation in another 5 years with a new batch of undocumented workers.
Some say those who come here illegally must be punished. That making stricter and harsher laws will act as a deterrent. Their harsh hand of cruelty does little to fix the problem or stem the tide. Seems to me this was the same argument that restored the death penalty in much of the United States—that it will act as a deterrent. We certainly haven’t seen that happening.
I do believe we ought to secure our borders and perhaps awall isn’t such a bad idea—it has certainly worked for Israel. But to cruelly and harshly miss the divine spark in those who build our homes and cities, who take care of our children, who cook the food in the many restaurants we patronize, negates not just their humanity but our own.
The compromise bill worked out in the Senate was far from perfect but at least it was a smarter and indeed more humane beginning than the House bill.
Pesach –This Passover season teaches us about freedom and servitude. The Haggadah of our seder taught us that if one person is not free then we are not free. And when we have the opportunity to offer freedom we must. Perhaps its time to invite a Senator to a seder.
Or certainly circle a few passages in the Haggadah, so that when Congress returns to work, they might sanely, and sensibly, discuss this issue of immigration reform, in conjunction with economic policy and foreign policy, but do so with compassion and seeing the divine sparks in each and every immigrant.
The divine spark that causes plants to bloom and flourish, like those in our new garden, is the same divine spark in each person. We must nurture and tend it, shape it and help it. We are called to tend the garden of freedom, peace and welcome for all. This is what we believe. This is our task.
So may it be Your will.
Amen.