29 Sh'vat 5770/12-13 - February 2010
Parashat Mishpatim - Shabbat Shekalim - Machar Chodesh
Torah: Exodus 21:1 - 24:18
Maftir: Exodus 30:11-16
Haftarah: 2 Kings 12:1-17 (Ashkenazim); 2 Kings 11:17 - 12:17 (Sephardim); because Sunday is Rosh Chodesh Adar, many add 1 Samuel 20:18, 42
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We’re All Strangers Here
“You shall not wrong a ger or oppress him, for you were gerim in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 22:20
The word “ger” (plural “gerim”) is untranslated here, because it has two distinct meanings. The word may mean “stranger” or "alien”, i.e., one who is not from the place where s/he resides. It may also mean a “convert”.
“It has been taught: Rabbi Eliezer the Great said, ‘Why does the Torah warn against (the wronging of) a ger in thirty-six, and some say forty-six places? Because he has a strong inclination to evil.’” B. Talmud Bava Metziah 59b
Rashi understands “ger” in Rabbi Eliezer's statement to mean a convert to Judaism. He suggests that mistreatment of a convert will cause the convert to relapse to “his original bad character”. This is a not very flattering portrayal of converts (in truth, such a statement does not reflect positively on those who make it).
I believe that Rabbi Eliezer’s teaching deserves a deeper reading. Each of us, every human being, at some time or another has been a ger, a “stranger”, an “other”, which means that each and every one of us has an inclination toward evil. The only protection any of us has is the commandment to remember that very fact. Perhaps that is the true meaning of “love your fellow as yourself”. No matter who you are, you are a ger to someone else. “Love your fellow, who is a ger just like you”.
Mishenichnas Adar, Marbim Simcha! With the beginning of Adar, increase joy!
Shabbat shalom.
Rabbi Richard A. Flom - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Burbank Temple Emanu El
Burbank, CA
http://www.btee.org
"For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still"
Isaiah 62:1
Rabbi Richard A. Flom - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Burbank Temple Emanu El
Burbank, CA
http://www.btee.org
"For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still"
Isaiah 62:1
