"How dare we come before God with our prayers when we commit atrocities against the one image we have of the divine: human beings?" Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
(יט) אָר֗וּר מַטֶּ֛ה מִשְׁפַּ֥ט גֵּר־יָת֖וֹם וְאַלְמָנָ֑ה וְאָמַ֥ר כָּל־הָעָ֖ם אָמֵֽן׃ (ס)
(19) Cursed be the one who withholds justice from the stranger, the orphan, and widow. And all the people shall say: Amen.
(א) מטה משפט גר יתום. כי אין להם עוזר והנה גם הוא בסתר והזכיר הגר גם היתום והאלמנה כי אם יטה הדיין משפט אחרים יערערו עליו ויפרסמוהו והגר והיתום והאלמנה אין להם כח. ושוכב עם אשת אב ואחות וחותנת אינו נחשד להתייחד עמה על כן הוא דבר נסתר ואין כן שאר העבירות:
(1) perverts the justice of the stranger or orphan Scripture mentions the stranger, the orphan, and window, because these people have no allies, so to mistreat them is also an act committed in private. If a judge were to pervert the justice of others, they would appeal against him, and thus subject him to public scrutiny. But strangers, orphans and widows have no power.
ואחר שאמר לא תענון לשון רבים אמר אם... תענה, כי כל רואה אדם שהוא מענה יתום ואלמנה ולא יעזרם, גם הוא יחשב מענה
Ibn Ezra, Exodus 22:23
After it says, "Do not oppress" in the plural the language changes to be singular..., for anyone who sees a person oppressing an orphan or a widow and does not come to their aid, they will also be considered oppressors. [AJWS translation]
Excerpted From You Shall Not Oppress the Migrant
Or, Twenty Five Times the Tanakh Warns Us Against Mistreating the גר
By Amelia Wolf
There are many different possible translations for the Biblical Hebrew גר (ger) which usually refers to one of foreign birth or nationality that lives among those of a different nationality. Common translations include "sojourner, stranger, and alien and resident alien." Since the root of the word indicates temporariness of stay and any type of permanent stay is made explicit by the usage of גר תושב (ger toshav, the resident ger or resident alien) or some form of הגר הגר אתכם (ha-ger ha-gar itkhem, the ger who lives among you), the word sojourner seems most accurate of the bunch.
However, in its modern usage, the word sojourner now sounds antiquated and, perhaps more importantly, it has lost its stigma. The גר is stigmatized; that much is clear in Tanakh. The גר is as vulnerable to abuse as the widow and the fatherless. With that in mind, I have chosen to translate גר as migrant (a term familiar to those of us who know of the struggle and oppression of the migrant worker) and גר תושב and different forms of הגר הגר אתכם as immigrant - the one who has migrated to live among us.
These translations are not perfect. Most notably, the גר may actually be children or descendants of migrants or immigrants. But I have found that the need to preserve the sense of stigma the גר faces in society outweighs the option to use a different translation.
If there are any blessings to be had, the request, surely, mustn’t be partisan. At least in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, it is believed that human beings were created in the image of God. Not just the faithful of these religions, but all humans: Syrian refugees, whom our current administration have deemed threats, were created in the image of God. Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, members of the Ku Klux Klan and Bashar al-Assad all were created in the image of God. So even as we ask God to bless America, surely we must ask God to bless those whom we have deemed threats or enemies. Our blessings must be scattered across the entire world, inclusive of all of humanity. George Yancy, Is Your God Dead?