What is your opinion regarding the Sudanese (religious law)?
Answer:
The question is not entirely clear, but I assume it to be: What is the opinion of religious law concerning Sudanese immigrants to Israel.
The Torah urges us to “love the stranger.” Although the Talmudic Sages generally understand this as a reference to proselytes, the simple meaning of the text remains an instruction to love the true stranger in our midst, “for you were strangers in Egypt.”
Because we were also strangers in Egypt, and likewise throughout the long years of exile among foreign nations, we are charged with understanding the trials and tribulations facing the stranger, and to offer him comfort and safekeeping among us.
At the same time, Israel is a small state, and it cannot – both physically and socially – absorb large numbers of immigrants, in particular those arriving illegally across the Egyptian border.
Therefore, a balance must be struck between the moral obligation to care for a stranger in desperate plight, and those immigrants who are not in any danger, but who wish to better their standard of living at the expense of the Israeli – an expense he can’t really afford to pay.
The Torah does not espouse a universal outlook on people of the world. Torah law stresses that there is a difference between Jew and non-Jew, between brother and non-brother. Preference, in cases of limited resources, is given to the brother. Therefore, it is imperative to treat all with respect, and to “love the stranger” – but care must be taken that this love should not compromise the lot of Israeli citizens.
Best wishes.
