One Law for Citizen and Stranger Alike

January 23, 2026

Parashat Bo is a portion with a short name and a large impact. It includes one of the great dramatic climaxes in the Bible: we see the last three plagues, including the devastating slaying of the firstborn Egyptians, the blow that finally brings Pharaoh to his knees. “Get out,” he says, and the Israelites prepare for departure, making their matzah and girding their loins. We know that the Red Sea will soon come into view. But in the middle of all this action, we have something new in the Torah: our first section of laws. From here on out, the Torah will combine narrative and legal material, stories and mitzvot side by side. We begin with the laws for celebrating Passover, the holiday commemorating an event that hasn’t even happened yet!

It’s appropriate that the first mitzvah in the Torah is the first act of worship by a free – or almost free – Israelite nation. After all, Moses famously repeats the command, “Let My people go that they may serve Me,” and now that they are going free, the people are given instructions on how to serve God: in this case, by making an animal sacrifice. The laws of the Passover offering emphasize unity and wholeness. Each lamb is to be whole and unblemished. It must be consumed completely that night, and it must be eaten in one single house. It is a ritual to be observed by the whole Israelite people – and no one else. “No foreigner shall eat of it,” says God. Passover is just for us.

I can’t decide whether it’s ironic that the first act of the just-about liberated Israelites is to exclude others, or whether it’s just plain human. After all we’ve been through, the Israelites say, can’t we just keep some things for ourselves? Either way, the Torah immediately contradicts, or at least qualifies, itself, as if to correct for the all-too common temptation of dividing people into “us” and “them.” So we read, “If a stranger who dwells with you would offer the passover to GOD, all his males must be circumcised; then he shall be admitted to offer it; he shall then be as a citizen of the country. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it. There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you” (Ex. 12:48-49). First the Torah asserts that only born members of the Israelite people can eat the sacrifice, but then it says anyone can eat of the sacrifice, so long as, if they’re male, they’re circumcised. But the Torah then goes even further, declaring “תּוֹרָ֣ה אַחַ֔ת יִהְיֶ֖ה לָֽאֶזְרָ֑ח וְלַגֵּ֖ר הַגָּ֥ר בְּתוֹכְכֶֽם׃” (v. 49). “There shall be one Torah, one law, for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.” This principle is repeated several times in the Torah, including in the book of Leviticus, where it refers to the law of “an eye for an eye.” Considering both contexts, the Torah is making a bold claim: the laws of the land – both its prohibitions and its privileges – apply to everyone who resides in the land and identifies with the community, whether they are native-born or not. At this critical moment in our sacred story, the moment where the People of Israel begin to envision the new society they are to build, we see a couple of things: the allure of exclusion and nativism on one hand, and on the other hand, the antidote – the fair and equal application of the law. One law for citizen and stranger alike. America’s founders liked the idea so much they wrote it into the US Constitution. 

In Parashat Bo, the Israelites learn that freedom isn’t free. Freedom means serving God instead of Pharaoh. Freedom isn’t a resource to be hoarded, it’s a gift to be shared. And freedom must be continuously protected and exercised in order to endure. Today, thousands of people, including a delegation of rabbis from across the country, are doing just that by protesting the actions of ICE in Minneapolis. I’ll close by quoting Rabbi Jill Jacobs, who offered these words of prayer for Minneapolis this morning:

“Harachaman, Compassionate One.

God who knows the heart of the stranger, who commands us to protect gerim– the immigrants and refugees among us.

…Grant strength to those marching on the streets of Minnesota and across the country, as they stand up against ICE to protect our neighbors. 

Grant safety to the immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees among us, and to all those targeted by the cruelty of this government. 

Grant us the fortitude of Moses, who refused any freedom that didn’t include everyone– who responded to Pharaoh’s offer to let the men go free by insisting that the men, women, and children must all go free together. Give us the courage not to let ourselves be divided– let us fight together for the safety of everyone in this country– adults and children, U.S. and foreign born, people of all races, faiths, and backgrounds. 

Please God, remind us of the weight of our actions. As Jews, our communities know that immigration policy is a matter of life and death. So many of our families are alive today because this country’s doors were open before 1924. Too many of our relatives died when those doors remained closed to our people trying to flee Nazi Germany. 

כֹּֽה־אָמַ֤ר ה’ 

Thus said God to Pharaoh:

עַד־מָתַ֣י מֵאַ֔נְתָּ לֵעָנֹ֖ת מִפָּנָ֑י 

“How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?”

God, with signs and wonders You humbled Pharaoh because he believed himself to be a god. He believed that he could do as he pleased, to enrich himself while oppressing those most vulnerable. But You, God, are the one who stands with the vulnerable, with the stranger, with the immigrants. You bring low the arrogant and lift up the lowly. 

In the words of Your Torah: 

וְגֵ֖ר לֹ֣א תִלְחָ֑ץ וְאַתֶּ֗ם יְדַעְתֶּם֙ אֶת־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַגֵּ֔ר כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃

You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.

Today, we, faith leaders and people of faith are taking Your words and Your commandments to the street, in Minnesota and across the country, to show that we won’t stand by as our neighbors are kidnapped from their homes, schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods.

Bless the works of our hands, and grant us success. Spread your shelter of peace and safety over us, over our neighbors and our communities, over all the people of these United States, and over all who dwell on this earth.” 

Amen, ken y’hi ratzon.