(כ) וְגֵ֥ר לֹא־תוֹנֶ֖ה וְלֹ֣א תִלְחָצֶ֑נּוּ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
(20) You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Who is the ger? How is the ger like me or not like me?
(א) וגר. כאשר יקבל הגר שלא לעבוד עבודת כוכבים לא תונהו בארצך. בעבור שיש לך כח רב ממנו. וזכור כי גרים הייתם כמוהו. וכאשר הזכיר הגר שאין לו כח ככה היתום והאלמנה שהם ישראלים ואין להם כח.
When the stranger accepts not to worship idols, do not wrong him in your land, because you have greater power than he does. And remember that you were strangers like him. When the verse mentions a stranger who has no power, it compares him to the orphan and widow [mentioned in the next verse], who are Israelites, yet have no power.
(9) You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.
תניא: רבי אליעזר הגדול אומר, מפני מה הזהירה תורה בל"ו מקומות, ואמרי לה במ"ו מקומות, בגר? מפני שסורו רע.
מאי דכתיב "וגר לא תונה ולא תלחצנו?" כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים. (תנינא) רבי נתן אומר, מום שבך, אל תאמר לחברך.
It has been taught: R. Eliezer the Great said: Why did the Torah warn against [the wronging of] a stranger in thirty-six, or as others say, in forty-six, places? Because he might return to his former bad ways [in response].
What is the meaning of the verse, You shall neither wrong a stranger, nor oppress him; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt? It has been taught: R. Nathan said: Do not taunt your neighbor with the "flaw" you yourself have.
והנכון בעיני כי יאמר, לא תונה גר ולא תלחצנו ותחשבו שאין לו מציל מידך, כי אתה ידעת שהייתם גרים בארץ מצרים וראיתי את הלחץ אשר מצרים לוחצים אתכם ועשיתי בהם נקמה, כי אני רואה דמעת העשוקים אשר אין להם מנחם ומיד עושקיהם כח, ואני מציל כל אדם מיד חזק ממנו...
ובפסוק האחר הוסיף טעם ואתם ידעתם את נפש הגר כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים (להלן כג ט) כלומר, ידעתם כי כל גר נפשו שפלה עליו והוא נאנח וצועק ועיניו תמיד אל ה' וירחם עליו כאשר רחם עליכם, כמו שכתוב (לעיל ב כג) ויאנחו בני ישראל מן העבודה ויצעקו ותעל שועתם אל האלהים מן העבודה. כלומר לא בזכותם רק שרחם עליהם מן העבודה:
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that He is saying: do not wrong a stranger or oppress him, thinking as you might that none can deliver him out of your hand; for you know that you were strangers in the land of Egypt and I saw the oppression with which the Egyptian oppressed you, and I avenged your cause on them, because I behold the tears of such who are oppressed and have no comforter, and on the side of their oppressors there is power, and I deliver each one from him that is too strong for him....
And in another verse he added this reason: for you know what it feels like to be a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt. That is to say, you know that every stranger feels depressed, and is always sighing and crying, and his eyes are always directed towards G-d, therefore He will have mercy upon him even as He showed mercy to you, as it is written, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God by reason of the bondage, meaning that He had mercy on them, not because of their merits but only on account of the bondage [and likewise He has mercy on all who are oppressed.]
Ona'at Devarim
(33) When a stranger lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The stranger living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
(ד) [ד] "יהיה לכם הגר הגר אתכם ואהבת לו כמוך" – כשם שנאמר לישראל "ואהבת לרעך כמוך" כך נאמר לגרים "ואהבת לו כמוך". "כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים" – דעו מנפשם של גרים שאף אתם הייתם גרים בארץ מצרים.
(4) 4) "shall be to you the stranger that lives among you. And you shall love him as yourself." Just as it is written of Jews (Vayikra 19:18) "and you shall love your fellow as yourself," so is it written of proselytes "and you shall love him as yourself." "for you were strangers in the land of Egypt": Know the soul of the strangers, for you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt."
(17) For the Lord, your God, is God of gods and the Lord of the lords, the great mighty and awesome God, Who will show no favor, nor will He take a bribe. (18) He executes the judgment of the orphan and widow, and He loves the stranger, to give him bread and clothing. (19) You [too] shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Loving the Stranger, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (2008)
Dislike of the unlike is as old as mankind.This fact lies at the very heart of the Jewish experience. It is no coincidence that Judaism was born in two journeys away from the two greatest civilizations of the ancient world: Abraham’s from Mesopotamia, Moses’ and the Israelites’ from Pharaonic Egypt. The Torah is the world’s great protest against empires and imperialism. ... [their] most serious offense – for the prophets as well as the Mosaic books – was the use of power against the powerless: the widow, the orphan and, above all, the stranger.
To be a Jew is to be a stranger. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this is why Abraham is commanded to leave land, home and father’s house; why, long before Joseph was born, Abraham was already told that his descendants would be “strangers in a land not their own”; why Moses had to suffer personal exile before assuming leadership of the people; why the Israelites underwent persecution before inheriting their own land; and why the Torah is so insistent that this experience – the retelling of the story on Pesach, along with the never-forgotten taste of the bread of affliction and the bitter herbs of slavery – should become a permanent part of their collective memory.
...
It is terrifying in retrospect to grasp how seriously the Torah took the phenomenon of xenophobia, hatred of the stranger. It is as if the Torah were saying with the utmost clarity: reason is insufficient. Sympathy is inadequate. Only the force of history and memory is strong enough to form a counterweight to hate.
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. 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 color 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.
| ב. למושג אונאת דברים |
ד"ה ולא תלחצנו: בגזלת ממון.
לא תוננו: בדברים; ולא תלחצנו: בממון. שלא יאמר לו (לגר): אמש היית עובד לבל, קורס נבו, והרי חזירים בין שניך ואתה מדבר מילים כנגדי...
... באונאת דברים הא כיצד? אם היה בעל תשובה, אל יאמר לו: זכור מעשיך הראשונים; אם היה בן גרים, אל יאמר לו: זכור מעשי אבותיך; אם היה גר ובא ללמוד תורה אל יאמר לו: פה שאכל נבלות וטרפות, שקצים ורמשים, בא ללמוד תורה שנאמרה מפי הגבורה? אם היו יסורין באין עליו או אם היו חלאים באין עליו, או שהיה מקבר את בניו, אל יאמר לו כדרך שאמרו לו חבריו לאיוב (איוב ד'): "... זכר נא, מי הוא נקי אבד ואיפה ישרים נכחדו?"
"GER"/IMMIGRANT, RABBI JILL JACOBS
For the rabbis, themselves living under foreign rule, it may have been inconceivable to imagine a situation in which Jews constituted the majority and non-Jews needed protection. Perhaps for this reason, the rabbis reconstructed the biblical mandate to protect the stranger as a warning not to discriminate against converts to Judaism. Such is the nature of the world: in times of personal struggle, it becomes difficult to look outward. Ultimately, the lesson implicit both in the biblical protections of sojourners, and in the rabbinic re imagination of the ger as a convert, is that history imposes obligations. For the bible, the experience of not being fully secure in Egypt obligates the Jewish people, now secure in their own land, to care for those who remain perpetually on the outside. Though we may reject the rabbis’ disregard for non-Jews, we can at least learn from the rabbis that our own history of imperfection should prevent us from feeling superior to others. Within the American context, many Jews have reinterpreted the word “ger” as “immigrant.” Here, the idea that history imposes obligations is extended to reminding Jews that our own community once occupied the position now held by newer immigrant groups.
נשאלה שאלה על דבר חכמה, לא יאמר למי שאינו יודע אותה חכמה: מה תשיב בדבר זה? או: מה דעתך בדבר זה? וכן כל כיוצא באלה.
Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, 2017
One of the Torah's central projects is to turn memory into empathy and moral responsibility. Appealing to our experience of defenselessness in Egypt, the Torah seeks to transform us into people who see those who are vulnerable and exposed rather than looking past them.
Parashat Mishpatim contains perhaps the most well-known articulation of this charge: "You shall not oppress a stranger (ger), for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt" (Exod. 23:9; see also 22:20). By ger, the Torah means one who is an alien in the place where he lives - that is, one who is not a member of the ruling tribe or family, who is not a citizen, and who is therefore vulnerable to social and economic exploitation. The Torah appeals to our memory to intensify our ethical obligations: Having tasted the suffering and degradation to which vulnerability can lead, we are bidden not to oppress the stranger.
Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, 2017
In a society where some are oppressed, all are implicated. There are no innocent bystanders.
The law of the widow and the orphan in parashat Mishpatim represents a radical democratization of moral responsibility.
(י) חַיָּב אָדָם לְהִזָּהֵר בִּיתוֹמִים וְאַלְמָנוֹת מִפְּנֵי שֶׁנַּפְשָׁן שְׁפָלָה לִמְאֹד וְרוּחָם נְמוּכָה אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁהֵן בַּעֲלֵי מָמוֹן. אֲפִלּוּ אַלְמָנָתוֹ שֶׁל מֶלֶךְ וִיתוֹמָיו מֻזְהָרִים אָנוּ עֲלֵיהֶן שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כב כא) "כָּל אַלְמָנָה וְיָתוֹם לֹא תְעַנּוּן". וְהֵיאַךְ נוֹהֲגִין עִמָּהֶן. לֹא יְדַבֵּר אֲלֵיהֶם אֶלָּא רַכּוֹת. וְלֹא יִנְהֹג בָּהֶן אֶלָּא מִנְהַג כָּבוֹד. וְלֹא יַכְאִיב גּוּפָם בַּעֲבוֹדָה וְלִבָּם בִּדְבָרִים קָשִׁים. וְיָחוּס עַל מָמוֹנָם יוֹתֵר מִמָּמוֹן עַצְמוֹ. כָּל הַמַּקְנִיטָן אוֹ מַכְעִיסָן אוֹ הִכְאִיב לָהֶן אוֹ רָדָה בָּהֶן אוֹ אִבֵּד מָמוֹנָן הֲרֵי זֶה עוֹבֵר בְּלֹא תַּעֲשֶׂה וְכָל שֶׁכֵּן הַמַּכֶּה אוֹתָם אוֹ הַמְקַלְּלָן. וְלָאו זֶה אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵין לוֹקִין עָלָיו הֲרֵי עָנְשׁוֹ מְפֹרָשׁ בַּתּוֹרָה (שמות כב כג) "וְחָרָה אַפִּי וְהָרַגְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בֶּחָרֶב". בְּרִית כָּרַת לָהֶן מִי שֶׁאָמַר וְהָיָה הָעוֹלָם שֶׁכָּל זְמַן שֶׁהֵם צוֹעֲקִים מֵחָמָס הֵם נַעֲנִים שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כב כב) "כִּי אִם צָעֹק יִצְעַק אֵלַי שָׁמֹעַ אֶשְׁמַע צַעֲקָתוֹ". בַּמֶּה דְּבָרִים אֲמוּרִים בִּזְמַן שֶׁעִנָּה אוֹתָן לְצֹרֶךְ עַצְמוֹ. אֲבָל עִנָּה אוֹתָם הָרַב כְּדֵי לְלַמְּדָן תּוֹרָה אוֹ אֻמָּנוּת אוֹ לְהוֹלִיכָן בְּדֶרֶךְ יְשָׁרָה הֲרֵי זֶה מֻתָּר. וְאַף עַל פִּי כֵן לֹא יִנְהֹג בָּהֶן מִנְהַג כָּל אָדָם אֶלָּא יַעֲשֶׂה לָהֶם הֶפְרֵשׁ וִינַהֲלֵם בְּנַחַת וּבְרַחֲמִים גְּדוֹלִים וְכָבוֹד שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי כב כג) "כִּי ה' יָרִיב רִיבָם". אֶחָד יָתוֹם מֵאָב וְאֶחָד יָתוֹם מֵאֵם. וְעַד אֵימָתַי נִקְרָאִים יְתוֹמִים לְעִנְיָן זֶה. עַד שֶׁלֹּא יִהְיוּ צְרִיכִין לְאָדָם גָּדוֹל לְהִסָּמֵךְ עָלָיו וּלְאָמְנָן וּלְהִטָּפֵל בָּהֶן אֶלָּא יִהְיֶה עוֹשֶׂה כָּל צָרְכֵי עַצְמוֹ לְעַצְמוֹ כִּשְׁאָר כָּל הַגְּדוֹלִים:
(10) A man is obliged to watch out for orphans and widows, for their soul is very lowly, and their spirit humble even though they be wealthy in money, even though they be the widow and orphans of a king, we are charged concerning them, for it is said: "Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child" (Ex. 22.22.). What, then, are the rules of conduct toward them? One must not speak to them save in soft words; not to treat them in any way, save in an honorable way; not to pain their body with labor, nor their heart with hard words; to be careful with their money more than with the money of one's own self. He who worries them, or vexes them, or pains them, or masters them, or causes the loss of their money, violates a prohibitive commandment, needless to mention one who smites them or curses them. This prohibitive commandment, notwithstanding that the punishment of flogging is not inflicted for its violation, behold, the punishment therefor is plainly stated in the Torah: "My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword" (Ibid. 22.23). Moreover, He Who spoke and called the universe into being, made a covenant with them, that whenever they will cry out against violence, they shall be answered, even as it is said: "For if they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry" (Ibid. 22.22). But all these warnings are applicable when one afflicts them out of a selfish motive; but if the master who, in order to instruct them in the Torah, or teach them a trade, or lead them in a righteous path, does inflict punishment upon them when they are contrary, behold, such he may do. Nevertheless, he should not follow the rules of other people in dealing with them but conduct himself toward them differently, to lead them slowly, with great mercy and honorable consideration, even as it is said: "For the Lord will plead their cause" (Prov. 22.23). Whether it be a fatherless orphan or a motherless orphan, the treatment to be accorded to them must be identical. Now, until when are such called orphans for the purpose of the subject treated herein? Until they will have no need to lean upon a grown-up person to rear them and support them, but each one be able to take care of all his personal needs even as all other adults do.