[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 109 (Thursday, June 28, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E950-E951]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING RIGBY ZENTNER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 28, 2018

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Ms. Rigby Zentner on 
the occasion of her Bat Mitzvah, and for her dedication to public 
service. Recent events in our nation have highlighted the need for 
comprehensive and compassionate immigration reform. It is with great 
pride that I include in the Record the powerful words of Ms. Zentner, 
delivered on the day of her Bat Mitzvah. As she has written, we have a 
moral duty to welcome those in need.
  Mr. Speaker, this speech should serve as a reminder that we must work 
to improve our society for our children and grandchildren, and that our 
society is truly made richer and stronger by immigrants.

                         Welcoming the Stranger

                          (Rigby Maya Zentner)

       ``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-tossed to me, I lift 
     my lamp beside the golden door!'' Emma Lazarus
       Thank you for coming. I really appreciate everyone being 
     here today. Over the past year I have been researching Jewish 
     values on welcoming the stranger, and how it relates to 
     immigration in the past and today. I explored lessons from 
     the Torah; the Jewish experience during their migrations; and 
     my personal experience with helping to welcome a newcomer to 
     America.
       At the time I was choosing my Bat Mitzvah topic, there was 
     a political uproar about immigration. The Trump 
     Administration was working to:
       Limit the rights of immigrants in the US
       Put a travel ban on Muslim countries, and
       Build a wall on the Mexican border.
       I couldn't believe this was happening in our homeland and 
     my core values and beliefs led me to want to do more research 
     on how people are treated and welcomed in this country. I 
     also wanted to find a way to help a stranger to America 
     adjust to life in the United States.
       All of us in this room have been a stranger before, whether 
     it was being new to a country, school or activity. We all 
     know what it is like when you are someplace where everybody 
     knows each other and you don't know any of them and, most 
     importantly, we all know how we would like to be treated and 
     welcomed in those situations.
       I am fortunate because I have almost always been surrounded 
     by my friends and family. The times in my life when I have 
     felt like a stranger are nothing compared to what some people 
     have gone through in their lives as immigrants or refugees . 
     . . but even some of my experiences have made me feel nervous 
     and afraid.
       For example, there was a time when my family and I used to 
     go to my neighbors Super Bowl parties. My neighbor, who was 
     around my age, would invite all her friends to the party as 
     well. I only knew my neighbor and one of her friends. I would 
     try to get myself included but it was really hard because all 
     of them knew each other and went to the same school so they 
     would talk about things that were happening at their school, 
     or play games I didn't know how to play. They were not trying 
     to be mean and I doubt the even noticed, but I felt really 
     excluded and upset. After this experience I tried imagining 
     what it would have been like to come to a new country and not 
     know anybody or speak a different language, and I couldn't.
       To get started on my research, and because this is my Bat 
     Mitzvah, I wanted to explore my jewish culture. I decided to 
     understand what the Torah, The five books of Moses, says 
     about how to treat foreigners. I know that it is important to 
     explore our history and culture because it shapes our morals 
     and values.
       My research led me to believe that Jewish people have 
     welcomed foreigners with open arms. The Torah gives 
     instructions on how to welcome strangers as many as 36 times. 
     Exodus 22:20 says ``you shall not wrong nor oppress a 
     stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.'' In 
     other words, since Jews have been strangers we should feel 
     empathy toward others and not harm them.
       Leviticus 19:33-34 tells us, ``When strangers reside with 
     you in your land, you shall not wrong them. The strangers who 
     reside with you shall be to you as your citizens; you shall 
     love each one as yourself, for you were strangers in the land 
     of Egypt.''
       Nevertheless, as I learned more about the history of these 
     original Torah passages, it became clear that not everybody 
     interpreted the Torah in this way.
       Rabbi Jeremy told me that in these verses the Hebrew word 
     ger is used, which can

[[Page E951]]

     translate to ``immigrant'' OR ``convert''. In the middle ages 
     Rabbis interpreted ger as convert, so the Torah might be 
     saying that you should treat converts to Judaism nicely 
     INSTEAD of saying that Jews should treat all strangers well.
       Because today the messages of the Torah are not always 
     clear, I prefer to assume that my religion is instructing me 
     to be kind to ALL strangers, and not just to Jews. It is 
     important to always review our history and reflect on our 
     actions so that we can learn from our mistakes.
       In the past, Jews were not always welcomed to new 
     communities in a kind way. And, it is this history that 
     influenced Jewish culture and our ethics on welcoming 
     strangers and helping others.
       Around the world the treatment of Jews was frequently 
     terrible. For example. . .
       In Spain, in 1492, the inquisition forced Jews to convert 
     or be killed;
       In 1508 German people were allowed to confiscate and 
     destroy all Jewish books
       In 1547 Jews weren't allowed to live in Russia at all;
       In France, in 1615, King Louis XIII declared that all Jews 
     had to leave or be killed;
       Between 1622 and 1629 Persian Jews were forced to convert 
     to Islam
       In 1654 Jews were expelled from Brazil.
       The treatment of Jews became so bad, that, in 1848, a 
     German newspaper said that killing a Jew should be treated as 
     a misdemeanor instead of a serious crime.
       In the early 1900s there were Pogroms in Russia where they 
     rounded up all the Jews and either killed them, beat them, 
     and made them leave. My great great grandfather fled these 
     Pogroms and spent 7 years traveling across China and Asia 
     Koshering meat for Jewish communities. When he finally got to 
     America he sent for the rest of his family, including my 
     great grandma, Yetta Greenberg.
       America is known as a country of immigrants. Today, 
     according to the Pew Research Center, the U.S. has more 
     immigrants than any other country in the world. In the past 
     25 years, the U.S. immigrant population doubled from 23 
     million to 46 million foreign born people. Our country hasn't 
     always been perfect, and our current situation is very 
     upsetting, but America has a pretty great culture around 
     letting in strangers and being welcoming to everybody.
       Nevertheless, it is more complicated than that.
       Jews came to America to escape the harsh treatment they 
     received in Europe, Russia, Brazil and other places, in hopes 
     that their lives would improve. Some things were better when 
     they arrived, but it wasn't perfect.
       Books, school, and, yes, even schoolhouse rock, taught me 
     that American is the land of opportunity and in most 
     instances it is . . . but not always.
       In 1654, the first Jews arrived in America from Recife, 
     Brazil to what is now New York City.
       Initially, some parts of America tolerated different 
     religions, but other places didn't. For example, for years 
     Jews were banned from living in places like Massachusetts, 
     Connecticut and New Hampshire. Furthermore, Jewish tradition 
     made it hard to live in the colonies. There were laws against 
     working on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, so if Jews didn't 
     work on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, they could only work a 
     five day week, making it harder for them to support their 
     families.
       In spite of these challenges, the early Jewish settlers to 
     America were more able to worship freely and generally had 
     more rights than they did in Europe. And, with the First 
     Amendment protecting religion and free speech, America became 
     one for the safest places in the world for Jews to settle.
       Still, as I looked closer back in our history I found the 
     treatment of immigrants and refugees in America to be 
     inconsistent. One of our best presidents, Franklin D. 
     Roosevelt, made a terrible decision about Jewish refugees. 
     During the Holocaust when many Jews needed a safe place, FDR 
     and Congress turned them away. Congress turned down a bill 
     that would have allowed 20,000 Jewish children from Germany 
     to find safe haven in the U.S. Furthermore, when a ship with 
     about 1,000 Jewish people trying to escape persecution tried 
     to enter the United States it was turned away. After the ship 
     was turned away TWICE it sailed back to Europe where many of 
     the Jews were caught and sent to Nazi concentration camps.
       Unfortunately, today we are experiencing a lot of anti-
     immigrant feelings. President Trump and his administration 
     have repeatedly tried to place a travel ban on immigrants 
     from several Muslim-majority countries.
       Additionally, the Trump Administration is also trying to 
     cancel DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which 
     will directly impact about 690,000 people.
       The Trump administration has started separating parents 
     from children to try to make people not want to immigrate 
     illegally. One example of this comes from an El Salvadoran 
     family whose father fled to America to escape gang violence. 
     After the Dad left, the gang tried to kill his 16 year-old 
     son. So the Mom took the 16 year old, as well as her 3 year 
     old son and 11 year old daughter across the border into 
     America where she thought they would be safe. They were 
     caught and her kids were taken from her and placed in foster 
     care while the mother went through a trial to consider her 
     application for refuge. The kids spent months in foster where 
     they weren't even allowed to hug each other. How is it 
     acceptable for our country to punish a 3 year old by 
     separating him from his Mom and family--for any reason--is 
     beyond me.
       Many Americans believe that immigrants come and take jobs 
     and resources and bring crime and other evils. When I first 
     learned about immigrants, I thought that most barely spoke 
     English, worked at fast food restaurants, and lived in tiny 
     one bedroom apartments. These beliefs including my own early 
     impressions-are based on inaccurate stereotypes.
       In fact, America needs immigrants. They help our economy; 
     they are often job-makers and entrepreneurs, taxpayers and 
     consumers. ``Compared with all Americans, U.S.-born children 
     of immigrants are more likely to go to college, less likely 
     to live in poverty, and equally likely to be homeowners.'' 
     Furthennore, immigrant-headed households who are close to the 
     poverty line rely less on government help than U.S.-headed 
     households in the same position.
       The facts are clear-it is simply not true that most 
     immigrants come over to America and sit around doing no work 
     and relying on the social safety net.
       Moreover, many undocumented immigrants in America are here 
     because they are fleeing severe economic hardship, violence, 
     or persecution. Because Jews have often been in a similar 
     situation of fleeing to safety, I believe that we in 
     particular need to welcome these strangers. Given the Jewish 
     experience through the ages, and notably the Holocaust, the 
     current situation in Syria should be especially meaningful to 
     Jews.
       We watch what is happening in Syria where hundreds of 
     thousands of children and families have died since the start 
     of the Syrian War. Yet, in the first three months of 2018, 
     the U.S.-the richest, most powerful, greatest country in the 
     world-has accepted only 11 Syrian refugees. You heard right-
     11 Syrian refugees in three months. This is unbelievable and 
     I am speechless to as how our government is responding to 
     this tragedy.
       Still, there is room for hope. Individuals around the 
     country are working tirelessly to assist Syrian refugees I am 
     proud to say that my Machar congregation and people like 
     Hannah in my B'Nei Mitzvah class, are working to help Syrian 
     refugees in the U.S.

                          ____________________