Articles & Essays Featured

May 16, 2016 By

Processing Our National Grief

by Ellen Spero

On this Memorial Day, Ellen Spero considers how the Vietnam War Memorial provides an example of the ongoing process of grief in community that might also guide us in the wake of Covid-19.

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Caring for refugees has deep religious roots, and welcoming the stranger is a core value for the three monotheistic faiths.

In the Jewish tradition, the mandate to welcome the stranger is rooted in remembering one’s own story of vulnerability; the descendants of Abraham were themselves once strangers in a foreign land: “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19).

In the Christian tradition the mandate to welcome the stranger is embedded in the notion that, in welcoming the stranger, you are welcoming the Divine. “I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” Jesus told his disciples in a parable (Matthew 24:35). “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,” urges the writer of Hebrews, “for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2).

In the Muslim tradition welcoming the wayfarer is rooted in regarding all humans as children of God, and thus it is also seen as welcoming the Divine. Such hospitality demonstrates righteousness: “Whatever money you spend, spend it on your parents and relatives, and on the orphans, disabled paupers and wayfarers,” challenges the Qur’an (2:215).

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Articles & Essays Featured

Processing Our National Grief

by Ellen Spero

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