"Since the rabbis [of old] were speaking of a situation like today, when the
majority of Israel’s residents are Jews, this discussion refers to a
minority group of non-Jewish residents. We may allow them residence here
as long as they keep the fundamental laws of ethics and morality which
protect the inviolability of every human being and certainly of the
Jewish majority among whom they are living."
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
In what can be understood as a direct rebuke to racist rabbis like Sefat's Shmuel Eliyahu and the racist anti-African-refugee movement led by right wing Israeli politicians, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of the West Bank settlement town Efrat comments on Leviticus 25:35, “If your brother becomes impoverished and his support is faltering when he is with you, you must strengthen him, the stranger and resident [ger vetoshav], so that his life may be preserved with you":
Now that after 2,000 years of exile, we have returned to our homeland and become a nation-state, we are faced with new challenges for which we must find solutions. These solutions must accord with the compassionate righteousness and moral justice which it is Israel’s mission to teach to the world, without compromising our security. One of these new challenges is our relationship to the Arab minority that lives in our midst.…
There are many places in the Bible where the term ger, usually translated either as “stranger” or “convert,” appears. The key to the most proper translation of this word is the directive that emerged directly from the Exodus: “You shall love the ger [stranger], because you were gerim [strangers] in the land of Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:34)…
[But there are also places in the Torah where ger means “convert,” along with other cases where ger mean “stranger,” and Riskin goes on to acknowledge this. – FailedMessiah]
In the context cited above, the verse enjoins us to help the “ger vetoshav,” the stranger who is also a resident, thereby creating a new category, the resident-alien. Maimonides defines this category in his great Jewish law compendium Mishneh Torah as follows: “Who is a ger toshav? He is an idolater who accepts upon himself no longer to serve idols and to keep the other commandments which were commanded to the Noahides [not to kill, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to eat the blood or limb of a living animal, not to blaspheme God and to establish law courts].…And why is he called a resident ger? Because he is permitted to live among us in the Land of Israel.” (Laws of Forbidden Relationships 14:7-8)
Since the rabbis were speaking of a situation like today, when the majority of Israel’s residents are Jews, this discussion refers to a minority group of non-Jewish residents. We may allow them residence here as long as they keep the fundamental laws of ethics and morality which protect the inviolability of every human being and certainly of the Jewish majority among whom they are living.
It is interesting to note that Maimonides grants them permission to live “among us.” This is based on the verses (Deuteronomy 23:16-17): “You may not return a runaway slave [clearly a gentile] to his master if he has sought refuge with you. He must dwell with you, in your midst, in the place of his choice, in any of your gates which is good for him; you shall not oppress him.”…
The Ramban (Nahmanides), in his comments on Maimonides’s Book of Commandments, writes the following: “We are commanded to preserve the life of a resident alien, and to save him from evil. If he is drowning in a river or a heap of stones has fallen on him, we must labor with all our strength in order to save him, and if he is sick, we must engage in his healing... and this is considered to be for them [the resident aliens] a matter of preserving a life, which pushes aside Shabbat restrictions. And this is what the Bible teaches: ‘If your brother becomes impoverished and his support is faltering when he is with you, you must strengthen him, the stranger and resident (ger vetoshav), so that his life may be preserved with you.’” (Positive Commandment 16)…