{"id":42347,"date":"2018-10-18T16:28:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T13:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=42347"},"modified":"2022-05-15T17:38:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-15T14:38:08","slug":"recognizing-the-humanity-of-the-stranger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/recognizing-the-humanity-of-the-stranger\/","title":{"rendered":"Recognizing The Humanity Of The Stranger"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[661,354,453],"acf":{"old_id":"42347","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"72","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Those who forget what it feels like to be a stranger, eventually come to oppress strangers. If the children of Abraham oppress strangers, why did I make them My covenantal partners?","content":"

Morality, in Jonathan Haidt\u2019s phrase, binds and blinds. It binds us to others in a bond of reciprocal altruism. But it also blinds us to the humanity of those who stand outside that bond. It unites and divides. It divides because it unites. Morality turns the \u201cI\u201d of self interest into the \u201cWe\u201d of the common good. But the very act of creating an \u201cUs\u201d simultaneously creates a \u201cThem,\u201d the people not like us. Even the most universalistic of religions, founded on principles of love and compassion, have often seen those outside the faith as Satan, the infidel, the antichrist, the child of darkness, the unredeemed. They have committed unspeakable acts of brutality in the name of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two sentences blaze through today\u2019s chapter like the sun emerging from behind thick clouds:<\/span><\/p>\n

You must not mistreat or oppress the stranger in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once strangers in the land of Egypt. (Ex. 22: 21)<\/span><\/p>\n

You must not oppress strangers. You know what it feels like to be a stranger, for you yourselves were once strangers in the land of Egypt. (Ex. 23: 9)<\/span><\/p>\n

The great crimes of humanity have been committed against the stranger, the outsider, the one-not-like-us. Recognising the humanity of the stranger has been the historic weak point in most cultures. The Greeks saw non-Greeks as barbarians. Germans called Jews vermin, lice, a cancer in the body of the nation. In Rwanda, Hutus called Tutsis inyenzi, cockroaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dehumanize the other and all the moral forces in the world will not save us from evil. Knowledge is silenced, emotion anaesthetized and reason perverted. The Nazis convinced themselves (and others) that in exterminating the Jews they were performing a moral service for the Aryan race. Suicide bombers are convinced that they are acting for the greater glory of God. There is such a thing as altruistic evil.<\/span><\/p>\n

Note that these commands are given shortly after the Exodus. Implicit in them is a very radical idea indeed. Care for the stranger is why the Israelites had to experience exile and slavery before they could enter the Promised Land and build their own society and state. You will not succeed in caring for the stranger, implies God, until you yourselves know in your very bones and sinews what it feels like to be a stranger. And lest you forget, I have already commanded you to remind yourselves and your children of the taste of affliction and bitterness every year on Pesach. Those who forget what it feels like to be a stranger, eventually come to oppress strangers, and if the children of Abraham oppress strangers, why did I make them My covenantal partners?<\/span><\/p>\n

From <\/span>Healing the Heart of Darkness, Covenant & Conversation, Mishpatim <\/span><\/i>(5775)<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Recognizing The Humanity of the Stranger","main_caption":"Those who forget what it feels like to be a stranger, eventually come to oppress strangers. If the children of Abraham oppress strangers, why did I make them My covenantal partners?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"old_create_date":"","links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42347"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104859,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42347\/revisions\/104859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}