In so many ways - this seems to be the message of the book to this point. Telushkin keeps making reference to the obligations that we have to take care of those who are in positions of weakness; whether as a stranger in a community, a child, someone sick. In this piece, he couldn’t be any more explicit. “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. (Lev 19:33). This verse follows closely after “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
But the stranger is not a neighbor, in this case - the stranger was outside the clan, the religion, the people. Telushkin quotes the 19th C German philosopher Hermann Cohen, “In the stranger, man discovered the idea of humanity.”
It takes the other to define who we are. We are obligated to find ways to “ensure that people are treated equally before the law’ - whether they are immigrants from South America or Palestinians in Gaza. The problems arise precisely because this is so difficult - to treat the powerless with the same respect that we treat the powerful.
I am intrigued to see how many other ways Telushkin will be able to make this point.
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