22:20 ְגֵ֥ר לֹא־תוֹנֶ֖ה וְלֹ֣א תִלְחָצֶ֑נּוּ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם״ ”- You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Why does it specify that we were strangers in the land of Egypt shouldn’t we not be mean anyway and not oppress the stranger/ גר?
Rashban explains that when it says we shouldn’t oppress a גר because we too were strangers it is to remind ourselves that we should know how it feels to be treated poorly and that we know how bad it feels so we shouldn’t treat others like that. It’s also to remind us that Hashem took us out and saved us and punished the Egyptians
when we cried out to Hashem. Hashem listens to the tears of those in need so he will listen to the גרים if we oppress them.
Why does this come after talking about converts serving 2 gods? Is there a deeper meaning to this? What does it mean לא תונה?
Chizkuni: וגר לא תונה - “and you could not oppress a convert”. The reason why this pasuk comes after the pasuk before where it talked about converts serving both Hashem and their previous Gods, is because Hashem wants to make it clear that although He finds serving other Gods very bad, He loves converts and appreciates how they distanced themselves from other religions. I really like this answer because it shows that even though a convert might have served another God in the past, that doesn’t mean that they don’t believe in Hashem now. Also if Hashem is able to love converts despite the fact that they used to believe in another God then obviously we should respect converts too and follow in Hashem ways.
ReplyDeleteWhy shouldn’t we oppress a stranger? We, the Jewish people, were oppressed and strangers in Egypt. Because of this, we had no one to save us and cried out. Once we cried out, Hashem had to save us and he did. If we oppress a stranger, we are setting them up to cry out because no one is saving them from our hands. Now that we caused them to cry out , Hashem would have to save them like he saved us! I really like this answer because I think it teaches us a lesson that can relate to our everyday lives. In our lives we are always taught to be kind and when a child asks why a lot of answers would be because you don’t like when people are mean to you , so why be mean to them? I feel this relates because we are told do not oppress a stranger because we were strangers and we know what it feels like, so do not put them in a situation where no one will save them from you just like we do not want to be put in that situation like we were in Egypt.
ReplyDeleteWhat does לא תונה mean?
ReplyDeleteRabbi Hayyim ibn Attar points out that it may seem like the Torah itself would “insist” that strangers are not as holy because their ancestors weren’t Jewish (and lineage is important in Judaism). Here it specifically says that we were also strangers as a reminder not to judge them based on it. If we go back far enough our ancestors were also strangers without lineage.
I like this answer because it makes you look at yourself before others. Sometimes we’re quick to judge what other people are doing but we are doing the exact same thing.
Also, another idea that this reminded me of was how strangers are praised because they did so much to get to where they are today. For us, it’s much easier since we grew up religious and with an understanding of Torah and Hashem.
Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz first says how the Torah repeatedly reminds us to remember, but history also shows that memory can lead to wanting revenge, vengeance. So since we were oppressed, it is natural human tendency to later want to become oppressors. So, the Torah goes out of its way to argue the opposite. I like this answer because it doesn’t seem so far fetch. Also it shows that we are unique, and that hashem always teaches us to be empathetic.
ReplyDeleteThe Ibn Ezra says that once a גר converts, we (jews from birth) have more strength than them, and we should remember that we were once like them so we don’t do anything that we wouldn’t have wanted done to us. We must also remember that widows and orphans who are Jewish also have less strength than us, which is why the pasuk saying this comes after the pasuk on גרים. The Ibn Ezra concludes by saying that anyone who sees someone pressing a widow, orphan, or גר and doesn’t help is considered an oppressor as well.
ReplyDeleteI don’t agree with the Ibn Ezra’s idea that we have more strength than a גר, widow, or an orphan. I believe that these people have more strength than the rest of us, because they have been through hardships and have come out of them, while we have not. I do, however, agree with Ibn Ezra’s final statement. It makes sense to me because if someone doesn’t stop something bad that they see happening, they are enabling the abuser.