Empathize with the Stranger Group 2

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Please share with the group what aspect of this text resonates with you. Why did you decide to join the discussion group for this theme?

As you can see, this is a theme that is repeated multiple times in the Bible. What do you think makes the experience of being strangers in Egypt so definitional to who we are as a people?

To be a Jew is to be a stranger...The Torah asks, why should you not hate the stranger? 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. If you are human, so is he. If he is less than human, so are you. You must fight the hatred in your heart as I once fought the greatest ruler and the strongest empire in the ancient world on your behalf. I made you into the world’s archetypal strangers so that you would fight for the rights of strangers – for your own and those of others, wherever they are, whoever they are, whatever the colour of their skin or the nature of their culture, because though they are not in your image, says God, 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.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, articulates some aspects of what it means for us to empathize with the stranger.

1) He begins by saying "to be a Jew is to be a stranger." In what ways does this ring true for you in your own life? In what ways does it not resonate?

2) What might it look like to act on the feelings of connection that Rabbi Sacks is describing? How might we change our actions or speech in moments when we are aware of this idea?

pp. 11-12

There's nothing surprising about the idea that trauma-the after-effects of being dehumanized and slaughtered, of lives made of terror even in peacetime-travels from one generation to another, not least because, if undealt with, it mutates, so that you grapple with not only your grandmother's torment but what that torment did to your mother. All the same, it rattles you to learn, after devouring your own food year after year-a free country, sunlight outside, friends waiting, homework done-about the way your grandmother fell upon her first loaf all those years ago, like an animal. Nothing's changed. Not even the way her proxies, themselves once victims of her pushing, push food at you even after to manage to summon, from somewhere, a modicum of brief self-control as the table on Avenue P. You scorn them for not managing to let go of three and six decades of grim lessons from that place, but have you managed much more despite leaving as a child? At least you're trying.

In this passage, the author describes the after-effects of family experiences of trauma.

1) How might this relate to the idea expressed in the verses from Exodus?

2) What, if any, received trauma do you think your family has passed on (even going back to the exodus from Egypt!)? How, if at all, does this impact your actions?

pg. 98-99

Fear of violence at the hands of police or being declared "out of place" because one wore a kippah or some other religious accoutrement is not a current reality for Jewish Americans. It is precisely because of this that Jews bear a special responsibility to speak out against not only this particular type of prejudice but also against all forms of discrimination. As the victims of prejudice ourselves, we know from personal experience how important it is to have the support of other communities when we fight prejudice against us.

The historian Deborah Lipstadt believes that the sense of empathy that we have with minorities gives Jews a "special responsibility" to fight prejudice.

1) Do you agree or disagree? Why?

2) How might this responsibility change our actions or speech?

pp.64-65

In communities around the world Jewish men, usually established merchants, gave interest-free loans to those wanting to start peddling. Hebrew loan associations popped up wherever Jews settled in large enough numbers to be able to amass some funds. In 1895 in Detroit such an association came into being..The organization typically lent new immigrants five dollars to acquire a stock or fifteen dollars to upgrade to horse and wagon...

The peddlers' suppliers, most of them former peddlers, offered more than just goods at low prices. They also provided the information the peddlers needed on how to apply for a license. They directed the peddlers to specific routes, making sure that no peddler veered onto someone else's terrain...They also stood as guarantors for the peddlers...

The historian Hasia R. Diner provides an example of how Jews who were more settled provided for Jews who were new to the country.

1) How do you think this example compares to the mandate to remember that we were once slaves in Egypt?

2) Do you think it makes a difference whether the "strangers" are Jews or non-Jews? Why or why not?

It shouldn't make a difference whether we are Jewish or not, in reference to the stranger because we are all one.

The stranger is me. The lines are blurred between us and G-d. All of us are strangers. Every human, even G-d is a stranger.

We all are the stranger. We all experience being the stranger at different times in our lives. We need the reminder, we need the Torah to remind us of our experiences, 36 times we are reminded that we were once strangers. To make sure we don't lose our empathy.