From the Editors January 27, 2014 Issue

True assimilation

The Editors

Many of us are familiar with these two moving immigrant stories: A teenager named Joseph is forced to leave his parents and family when his older brothers, in a fit of jealousy, sell him into slavery in another country. After a series of trials that test his character, Joseph is introduced to Pharaoh, who makes him the second most powerful man in Egypt. As a result of Joseph’s inspired leadership, the Egyptians, as well as his own family, are spared great suffering during a prolonged period of famine in the region (see Genesis, chapters 37–45).

A young widow named Ruth, expressing loyalty toward her mother-in-law, Naomi, decides she will return with her to Israel, the country of her mother-in-law’s birth, after their husbands have passed on. Over her mother-in-law’s protestations that Ruth remain with “her people,” Ruth insists, “Wherever you go, I will go; ... Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (Ruth 1:15, 16, New King James Version). In Israel, Ruth begins a new life and gains a new sense of purpose, and she finds a husband, Boaz, by all accounts a good and loving man.

The immigrant experiences of both Joseph and Ruth, recorded in the Bible, offer a kind of blueprint for success for anyone who finds him- or herself living in a new or unfamiliar environment. They illustrate that assimilating the universal qualities we associate with goodness, or God, such as loyalty, compassion, honesty, integrity, flexibility, and courage, enables us to not only survive, but to thrive in our surroundings, and moreover, enrich and bless the countries or places we call “home.”

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