Rabbi’s Update 11/21/2025

Dear Friends:

Tomorrow marks the fourth yahrzeit of my father Elliott Arian z”l.

I’ve written before about the last coherent conversation I had with him. For the last few weeks of his life he wasn’t able to talk so this conversation was some time in September, 2021. He was very upset because he had been watching coverage of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the people who had worked with the Americans desperately trying to get onto American planes leaving Kabul, even trying to grab onto the wings as they took off. He said that he was so upset because “when I look at those poor people, I see us.”

Over the last ten months I have been very involved in various efforts to aid our immigrant neighbors who have been under increasing threat. No one denies that the United States, like any other nation, has the right to control its borders. At the same time, the United States Constitution guarantees due process to “every person” -- not “every citizen” but every person. People have the legal right to due process. If you are in a public place, you have the legal right to video or record police officers. You have the legal right to demand that someone claiming to be law enforcement present their badge and identify themselves. You have the right not to admit law enforcement to your home or place of business unless they present a judicial warrant, meaning a warrant signed by a judge. Your skin color, the language you speak, or the clothing you are wearing should not be the basis for you to be stopped or arrested -- or worse. Justice Kavanaugh wrote that if you are a US citizen or legal resident such a stop would be “typically brief” and the individual would “promptly go free” once confirming their status, reality for many has proven otherwise.

I think it’s this conversation with my Dad which has stayed with me and motivated my involvement with organizations like CASA, Jews United for Justice, and the DMV Accompaniment Network. My Dad was a proud Korean War era veteran of the US Army. He was born in 1929, the son of two Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, and he was old enough to remember his parents and other relatives worried about family members left behind.

“When I look at those poor people, I see us.” It’s no accident that the most repeated commandment in the Torah is to love the stranger and to refrain from oppressing the stranger. 

The Torah reminds us that we were strangers in Egypt because our historical experience should condition us to solidarity with others who don’t share our religion, our language, our sexual orientation, or our skin tone but share our experience of fleeing persecution. The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote that the commandment to love the stranger is in a very real sense countercultural. “Love your neighbor” is relatively easy. It’s easy to empathize with those who are like us but Rabbi Sacks wrote that human nature has evolved to condition us to be suspicious and fearful of those who are outside the group.

God commands us to love the stranger, Rabbi Sacks wrote,  because you once stood where he stands now. ... If you are human, so is he. If he is less than human, so are you. ..I made you into the world’s archetypal strangers so that you would fight for the rights of strangers – for your own and those of others, wherever they are, whoever they are, whatever the colour of their skin or the nature of their culture, because though they are not in your image – says G-d – they are nonetheless in Mine. There is only one reply strong enough to answer the question: Why should I not hate the stranger? Because the stranger is me.

While the Federal government has reopened, if you or someone you know is in need because of the shutdown, has been laid off, or has lost benefits because of the funding impasse and needs immediate help, please let me know. I can access limited funds through the Jewish Federation almost immediately. For longer-term help, the Jewish Free Loan Society will loan up to $18,000 interest-free and the Jewish Federation has set up a hotline to access assistance at 703-JCARING.

As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building. 

As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by. 

Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Charles L. Arian