… תּוֹרָ֥ה אַחַ֛ת וּמִשְׁפָּ֥ט אֶחָ֖ד יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֑ם וְלַגֵּ֖ר הַגָּ֥ר אִתְּכֶֽם

The same rule and the same law shall apply to you and to the alien who resides among you.

Bamidbar/Number 15:15-16

Such thinking was considered radically innovative in 1776 when the United States declared its independence. And yet the Torah legislated the principal of equal treatment – and equal responsibility – under the law for ALL people residing in the Land of Israel.

Indeed , the very concept of the social contract between the resident of a country and the nation at large is embedded in this verse.  The resident alien is subject to the identical benefits and obligations as the indigenous ethnic population.

The Torah does not tell us what the penalties are for violating this principle whether by the government or the resident alien or by a conspiracy between the two. Nor does it define for us who/what is a resident alien. Is this status of ‘resident alien’ something an individual declares about themselves or is it something decided by national consensus?

We assume, of course, that ‘resident alien’ meant someone who was not born Jewish or converted to the Jewish People.

But what about someone who does meet these criteria yet chooses to see themselves as a resident alien; someone who perceives themselves as in no way obligated to live by the law of the Land, yet nevertheless feels entitled to all the benefits the law of the Land accords to its citizens?

The original sin of the State of Israel was its enshrining in law or accepting by default that there are resident aliens who are exempt from certain civic laws and obligations, yet who are nevertheless entitled to........

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