Sudanese refugees fleeing to Israel present an interesting moral case, besides showing holes in Israeli border security. Biblical obligation of charity extends only toward neighbors. Talmudic sages, however, discussed charity to itinerants and resident aliens. The approach recalls twentieth-century American discussion of fighting evil vs. searching for distant monsters. To decide on the appropriate object of charity, we need to dwell on the definition of neighbors. Torah seems to define neighbors as all of “your brothers,” Jews, by default plus submissive resident aliens. Evangelist Luke in the proverb of Good Samaritan, probably drawing on Jewish sources, defines a neighbor as the one who is expected to do good to oneself, thus even despised Samaritan was declared a good neighbor since he had helped the wayfarer. Luke’s definition catches the essence: Jewish criminals cease to be neighbors and deserve punishment rather than compassion, and well-wishing Gentiles fall into the category of neighbors.
Back to the Sudanese. Surely, the Sudanese at large won’t help the Jews – neither in the UN, nor in the hypothetical case of Jewish refugees fleeing to Sudan. Fundamentally, Jews have no moral business in Sudan, and Jewish participation in Save Darfur campaign is silly; go save Sderot. The few Sudanese who arrive in Israel, however, could be expected to be good citizens of our country and qualify as our neighbors. They are too few to change demography, influence voting, or lobby. They lack educational skills or work ethics, but there are plenty of jobs in Israel occupied by Arabs suitable for the Blacks. The Sudanese refugees have every reason to be loyal to the Jewish state and they hate Arabs. While the Jews – or other people, for that matter – need not go around the world helping every afflicted tribe, victims knocking on our door deserve minimal help, allowing them residency in Israel.
One problem is that allowing a few Sudanese into Israel suggests thousands of others to flee in the same direction. That many Blacks we don’t want; morality to aliens is good only so long as it doesn’t affect our lifestyle. An immediate solution would be for Israel to press the Egyptians to stop the Sudanese from infiltrating Sinai. Strategically, a smarter move would be to welcome any number of Sudanese refugees and dump them into the Palestinian-held areas of Samaria. Given some goats and weapons to defend them, the Blacks will habitually move to fight the Arabs.
As a general rule, Jews need not be ashamed to refuse charity to aliens who demand it.
