Today I would like to share my first example of Torah relating to immigrants, refugees and migration. When I use the term Torah, I do so in the broadest sense as an essential statement of Jewish wisdom.
Here, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the (British) Commonwealth, asks the question why should we not hate the stranger?
“Why should you not hate the stranger? asks the Torah. Because you once stood where he stands now. You know the heart of the stranger because you were once a stranger in the land of Egypt…I [G-d] made you into the world’s archetypal strangers so that you would fight for the rights of strangers – for your own and those others, wherever they are, whatever the colour of their skin or the nature of their culture, because, though they are not in your image – says G-d – they are nonetheless in Mine. There is only one reply strong enough to answer the question: Why should I not hate the stranger? Because the stranger is me.”
The quote above is one of my favorite and one that I find incredibly compelling. It reminds me of another quote that can be found in the commentary explaining the commandment to protect the stranger. This commentary is of German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen:
“This law of shielding the alien from all wrong is of vital significance in the history of religion. With it alone true Religion begins. The alien was to be protected, not because he was a member of one’s family, clan, religious community, or people; but because he was a human being. In the alien, therefore, man discovered the idea of humanity.”
Comment by Stephanie Grosser — November 21, 2008 @ 1:33 pm