Dual Citizenship

Political shots have been fired. Freshman Senator Bernie Moreno from Ohio has introduced legislation to ban dual citizenship in the United States. The “Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025” would make it illegal for an American citizen to hold dual citizenship with another country. Moreno, who himself immigrated from Colombia, is touting his own renunciation of his Colombian identity as the champion of this cause. Moreno stated,” If you want to be an American, it’s all or nothing. It’s time to end dual citizenship for good.” ​ It remains to be seen whether this legislation will become law or withstand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court (previous court rulings have upheld dual citizenship as constitutional). Regardless, this call to action reflects the political environment. The ramifications for the Jewish community, especially those American Jews living in Israel with dual citizenship, is very significant. The tilt toward nationalism has been picking up steam in the MAGA world, and some in the movement are also calling for it to be illegal for any American to serve in the IDF. One of the accusations of Jews throughout history has been that we have not shown sufficient loyalty to the host country. One of the blessings of the American Jewish story until now has been that we did not have to choose between being a proud Jew and a loyal American. The road ahead in the American Jewish story may be changing, and we are looking for twists and turns in this road that we might not have seen before. In this week's Parsha, our ancestor Yaakov has an encounter with one of history's first anti-Semites. It was his brother Esav. After over two decades of Esav attempting to kill Yaakov, the two brothers arrive at reconciliation. The Torah describes the encounter as warm, noting that Esav even kissed Yaakov. What’s odd is that the Hebrew word for "and he kissed him” is וַיִּשָּׁקֵ֑הוּ, and there are dots over the word וַיִּשָּׁקֵ֑הוּ in the Torah. The placement of these dots is usually there to indicate a deeper message. Rashi quotes the Midrash to the effect that it is known that Esav hates Yaakov. It was just then that Esav was overwhelmed with compassion and embraced Yaakov. It doesn’t mean that Esav was insincere when he embraced Yaakov. It means that it was an aberration of his default of hostility. ​ Throughout our history, we have been accosted by the biological and ideological descendants of Esav who threatened our destruction time and time again. The pattern usually begins on more benign terms and might even be friendly. Usually, at some point, we are given an ultimatum to either give up our faith or else. The call to end Dual Citizenship may turn out to be a blip on the screen that won’t affect us much. Or it may be the new canary in the coal mine. Either way, it requires us to buckle up for the road ahead. ​ Have a Peaceful Shabbos, ​ Rabbi Yaakov Fisch