For Friday night, Shabbat:

The experience of being slaves was so powerful that 36 times in the Tanakh we are told to treat the widow, the orphan and the stranger with justice because we were slaves in the land of Egypt.

Last week’s Torah portion says “Tzedek, Tzedek tirdof, Justice, Justice shall you pursue.” Pursue is an active verb, we should run after justice, actively pursue it. More than any other individual portion, this week’s parsha spells out how to treat the widow, the orphan and the stranger, the marginalized among us. Our country is a nation of immigrants. Yet, there is always a call for immigration reform. There is a tension between “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,” and something else that appears in this week’s Torah portion. This week we are also commanded not to forget Amalek.

How do we balance these two seemingly polar opposites today? How do we treat “the other” today? Who are the marginalized people in our society today? Why does each of us have a responsibility to be mindful of this? What can you personally do? Educate yourself about the issue from a Jewish perspective: http://forward.com/articles/181134/the-jewish-face-of-the-immigration-reform-struggle/?p=all

Consider, as many Jewish organizations are doing, signing a petition supporting immigration reform or calling your representative. Check out http://action.rac.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3561