When the Cloud Lifts: Torah, Justice, and the Fight for Immigrant Lives

Photo by Miko Guziuk on Unsplash

In this week’s Torah portion, Beha’alotecha, the Israelites begin their journey anew. They don’t move because it’s easy. They move because the cloud that rested over the Mishkan lifts—a divine signal that it’s time to go, time to act, time to follow the path of justice, even into the unknown.

This week, the cloud is lifting in our world, too. Just as our ancestors couldn't ignore the divine signal to move forward, we cannot ignore what's happening around us.

Across the country, people are rising up against the Trump administration’s mass deportations and violent immigration raids. In Los Angeles, peaceful protesters were met with tear gas, rubber bullets, and the deployment of the National Guard and Marines. The images are heartbreaking—but they are also a call. A call to move. A call to act. A call to say: Not in our name. Not on our watch. As a veteran, I didn't serve so that our military would be turned against peaceful Americans defending immigrant families.

Just like our ancestors in the wilderness, we are being asked to journey forward, not with blind certainty, but with moral clarity. The Torah doesn’t leave room for ambiguity. Again and again, it commands us to love the stranger and protect the vulnerable. Beha’alotecha teaches us that God doesn’t dwell in stillness alone—divine presence travels with those who carry justice forward.

This is not just a political crisis. It’s a moral one. Families are being ripped apart. Protesters calling for compassion are met with state violence. And too many are staying silent.

But the cloud has lifted.

Now is the time to show up for our immigrant neighbors. Now is the time to speak out. Now is the time to walk—with Torah in hand—toward justice.