“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
-Emma Lazarus
(49) There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.
(יד) לֹא־תַעֲשֹׁ֥ק שָׂכִ֖יר עָנִ֣י וְאֶבְי֑וֹן מֵאַחֶ֕יךָ א֧וֹ מִגֵּרְךָ֛ אֲשֶׁ֥ר בְּאַרְצְךָ֖ בִּשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃ (טו) בְּיוֹמוֹ֩ תִתֵּ֨ן שְׂכָר֜וֹ וְֽלֹא־תָב֧וֹא עָלָ֣יו הַשֶּׁ֗מֶשׁ כִּ֤י עָנִי֙ ה֔וּא וְאֵלָ֕יו ה֥וּא נֹשֵׂ֖א אֶת־נַפְשׁ֑וֹ וְלֹֽא־יִקְרָ֤א עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ אֶל־ה' וְהָיָ֥ה בְךָ֖ חֵֽטְא׃ {ס}
(14) You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow Israelite or a stranger in one of the communities of your land. (15) You must pay out the wages due on the same day, before the sun sets, for the worker is needy and urgently depends on it; else a cry to ה' will be issued against you and you will incur guilt.
There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice through Jewish Law & Tradition
by Rabbi Jill Jacobs
The verses from Deuteronomy further include sojourners among the protected workers, thereby prohibiting us from distinguishing between Jewish and non-Jewish workers (p.113). (SEE NOTE)
(NOTE): The gerim (sojourners, or strangers) mentioned in the Bible are not precisely analogous to contemporary non-Jews. Rather, gerim appear to be people who live within the Jewish community and who are bound by the mitzvot lo ta'aseh (commandments not to do something), if not by the mitzvot aseh (commandments to do something). These gerim, who are unable to own land and who never become full members of the community, are, according to the Bible, in need of special protection. A category of gerim as such no longer exists. However, the biblical extension of workers' protections to one group of people who are not fully Jewish sets a precedent to extend employment laws to other groups of non-Jews, especially those who are in need of special protection. (pp. 232-233).
(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 did not know Joseph. Did not recognize, did not know, and did not welcome [the Israelites] because of him.
"I used to think that the most important line in the Bible was “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Then I realized that it is easy to love your neighbor because he or she is usually quite like yourself. What is hard is to love the stranger, one whose color, culture or creed is different from yours. That is why the command, “Love the stranger because you were once strangers”, resonates so often throughout the Bible. It is summoning us now."
-Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
יוסף בן יוחנן איש ירושלים אומר יהי ביתך פתוח לרוחה ויהיו עניים בני ביתך ואל תרבה שיחה עם האשה. יהי ביתך פתוח לרוחה כיצד מלמד שיהא ביתו של אדם פתוח לרוחה לדרום ולמזרח ולמערב ולצפון כגון (שעשה) איוב שעשה ארבעה פתחים לביתו. ולמה עשה איוב ארבעה פתחים לביתו. כדי שלא יהיו עניים מצטערים להקיף את כל הבית. הבא מן הצפון יכנס כדרכו הבא מן הדרום יכנס כדרכו וכן לכל רוח לכך עשה איוב ארבעה פתחים לביתו: ויהיו עניים בני ביתך ולא בני ביתך ממש אלא שיהיו [עניים] משיחין מה שאוכלים ושותים בתוך ביתך כדרך שהיו עניים משיחין מה שאוכלים ושותין בתוך ביתו של איוב. וכשנפגשו זה בזה אמר אחד לחברו מאין אתה בא מתוך ביתו של איוב ולאן אתה הולך לביתו של איוב
Yosef ben Yohanan, a man of Jerusalem, would say: Let your house be open to all, let the poor be members of your household, and do not talk too much with married women.
Let your house be open to all. How so? This teaches that a person’s house should be open to all sides: the south, the east, the west, and the north. This is like Job, who made four doors to his house. And why did Job make four doors to his house? So that the poor would not have to trouble themselves to go around the whole house. Someone who came in from the north would enter from that direction, and someone who came in from the south would enter from that direction, and so with every direction. That is why Job made four doors to his house.
Let the poor be members of your household. Not that they will be actual members of your household, but they will speak of what they ate and drank in your house, in the way that they speak of what they ate and drank in the house of Job. For when they would meet, one would say to another: Where are you coming from? (And the other would reply:) From the house of Job; and where are you going? (And the first one would say:) To the house of Job.
(ד) אַהֲבַת הַגֵּר שֶׁבָּא וְנִכְנָס תַּחַת כַּנְפֵי הַשְּׁכִינָה שְׁתֵּי מִצְוֹת עֲשֵׂה. אַחַת מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהוּא בִּכְלַל רֵעִים וְאַחַת מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהוּא גֵּר וְהַתּוֹרָה אָמְרָה (דברים י יט) "וַאֲהַבְתֶּם אֶת הַגֵּר". צִוָּה עַל אַהֲבַת הַגֵּר כְּמוֹ שֶׁצִּוָּה עַל אַהֲבַת עַצְמוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים ו ה) "וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ". הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עַצְמוֹ אוֹהֵב גֵּרִים שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים י יח) "וְאֹהֵב גֵּר":
(4) The loving of a convert who came and entered under the wings of the Divine Presence is [comprised of] two positive commandments - one because he is included in "neighbors" [and we must love our neighbor as ourselves], and one because he is a convert and the Torah stated (Deuteronomy 10:19), "And you shall love the convert." [God] commanded regarding the love of the convert like He commanded regarding the loving of Himself, as it stated (Deuteronomy 6:5), "And you shall love the Lord, your God." The Holy One, Blessed be He, Himself loves converts, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 10:18), "and loves the stranger."
[Thus, God] has commanded us concerning the love of a convert just as He has commanded us concerning loving Himself as [Deuteronomy 11:1] states: "and you shall love God, your Lord." The Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, loves converts as [Deuteronomy 10:18] states: "and He loves converts."
Do we only love strangers who can become converts?
שו"ת ציץ אליעזר חלק יח סימן סה
אנו למדים להבין עומק אזהרת הציויים על איסור אונאת הגר וגודל הצו החיובי לאהבה אותו באהבה רבה ונאמנה בלב ונפש, וכן על גודל מעלתו של הגר - צדק ושכרו הרב הצפון לו על אשר נשאו לבו ליקרב אל מלאכת עבודת ד' לחסות בצל דת האמת והצדק ולקיים בפועל ככל אשר צוה לנו אדון כל הנביאים על פי ד' בתורתו תורת - אמת.
Responsum of the Tzitz Eliezer Section 18 Number 65
We learn [from this teaching] to understand the depth of the commandment warning [us] against committing fraud against the stranger, and [we also learn] the greatness of the positive commandment to love [the stranger] with great love that is felt in the heart and soul, and thus the greatness of the [mitzvah] of raising the ger-tzedek and the reward for the rabbi who leads him to come close to the work of serving God under the shade of the true and correct religion and to establish in action all that was commanded by the greatest of prophets (i.e. Moses) according to God's Torah, the Torah of truth.
TZITZ ELIEZER
Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg was born in 1916 in Jerusalem. He studied in Yeshivat Etz Chaim and then in Yeshivat Chevron. At an early age he already stood out for his talent and his diligence. In 1935, before he turned 19, he already published a volume of his own original Talmud insights entitled Dvar Eliezer. Later he served as head of Yeshivat Sha'arei Zion. In 1945 he began to publish his volumes of responsa entitled Tzitz Eliezer, which became quite famous. His responsa deal with all aspects of Jewish Law, but most prominent are his responsa dealing with medical problems and new technologies. He especially dealt with these issues as a result of his becoming the Rabbi of Sha'arei Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. R. Waldenberg was a dayyan and head the of a Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, eventually becoming a judge on the Supreme Rabbincal Court in Jerusalem was considered an expert in the laws of divorce. After the establishment of the State of Israel, he authored a volume named Hilkhot Medinah ("Laws of State", Jerusalem 1952-55), in which he dealt with all aspects of Jewish Law concerning the management of a modern Jewish state. He passed away in the autumn of 2006 (5767), leaving 22 volumes of his responsa, Tzitz Eliezer (the last volume having been published in 1998).