“The New Colossus”

“Vayera contrasts the treatment of people at the margins of society – they can be ignored or welcomed, abused or protected” (Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce).

The contrasts are highlighted in two of the very many potent tales found in this week’s sedra, namely Abraham and Sarah welcoming and feeding the strangers and its exact opposite, namely the horrific treatment of strangers by the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.

We are familiar with Emma Lazarus’ words at the base of the Statue of Liberty, the entire text of her sonnet, “The New Colossus.” It emphasizes our nation’s openness to the stranger, those who are “tired, poor, …yearning to breathe free, homeless.” But let’s not forget that those familiar words are not the ones that begin her poem. Her opening sentence is, “Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame with conquering limbs astride from land to land.”

How appropriate that her words were placed at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty is “new” as she rises above the New York harbor while the opening sentence is a reference to the “old” Colossus of Rhodes, a statue that stood in its harbor. While we don’t know what the “old” Colossus looked like, a relief suggests that its arm was placed over its eyes, shielding it from the sun. The Statue of Liberty “lifts her lamp” so that the refugees can see what lies before them: Liberty, both the statue itself as well as the land and the opportunities that are well beyond it. The ancient one may have avoided the light, preferring darkness as opposed to the sun, ignored and abused versus welcomed and protected.

I looked up the word “brazen.” Synonyms include “impudent, shameless, cocky, defiant, indecent, and insolent,” to name but a few. To protect not only today’s “huddled masses” but the values that define our culture, Americans should not tolerate the brazen but through our own actions show that we are aware that each of us is a descendant of those who came from elsewhere.