This role, this work of helping immigrants, are new to me — a retirement gift to myself. But the inspiration for it isn’t. Though I’m not an especially observant Jew, I’ve been ever more moved to action by one of the injunctions I’ve heard in countless sermons over the years: “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
The people I've met are remarkable -- resourceful, resilient, funny, and yes, incredibly stressed out as SNAP benefits are cut and employers increasingly reticent to hire someone who might be deported any day despite being authorized to work in the US. (You can read more about some of them in my Cognoscenti essay here.) But I know that the English-language training and legal support they receive from the Center for New Americans makes a huge difference.
And selfishly, I'd love your contributions to hold my feet to the fire in honoring my commitment to write a daily poem.
