EZRACH

(35) I saw a wicked man, powerful, well-rooted like a robust native tree.

כגר כאזרח יהיה, “the proselyte and the native shall be alike (before the law).” The Gentile who came from a foreign land and separated himself from his homeland is called גר by the Torah as he resembles a גרגיר, a berry falling of a tree which is separated from its source. If someone’s parents came from the same town he is called an אזרח, a “native.” The word appears in that sense in Psalms 37,35 ומתערה כאזרח רענן, “and well-rooted like a robust native tree.” The Torah wanted to make the point that in spite of these differences in origin of certain people, the law is to be applied to them equally.

You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths,

And this shall be to you a law for all time: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall practice self-denial; and you shall do no manner of work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you.

The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the LORD am your God.

And the Rabbis say: Although they said that a person does not fulfill his obligation on the first day of the Festival with the lulav of another, he fulfills his obligation with the sukka of another, as it is written: “All the homeborn in Israel shall reside in sukkot” (Leviticus 23:42). This teaches that all of the Jewish people are fit to reside in one sukka. If the value of one sukka were divided among all the Jewish people, no individual would have a peruta stake in it; therefore, no individual could be considered even a part-owner of the sukka. The only way the entire Jewish people could fulfill the mitzva in one sukka is by residing in a communal sukka that does not belong to any of them. Apparently, there is no obligation to reside specifically in one’s own sukka.

No leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days. For whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a citizen of the country.

There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.

There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.

You shall have one standard for stranger and citizen alike: for I the LORD am your God.

This land you shall divide for yourselves among the tribes of Israel.

You shall allot it as a heritage for yourselves and for the strangers who reside among you, who have begotten children among you. You shall treat them as Israelite citizens; they shall receive allotments along with you among the tribes of Israel.

You shall give the stranger an allotment within the tribe where he resides—declares the Lord GOD.

23. Al Khazari: If this be so, thou fallest short of the duty laid down in thy law, by not endeavouring to reach that place, and making it thy abode in life and death, although thou sayest: 'Have mercy on Zion, for it is the house of our life,' and believest that the Shekhinah will return thither. And had it no other preference than that the Shekhinah dwelt there five hundred years, this is sufficient reason for men's souls to retire thither and find purification there, as happens near the abodes of the pious and the prophets. Is it not 'the gate of heaven'? All nations agree on this point. Christians believe that the souls are gathered there and then lifted up to heaven. Islām teaches that it is the place of the ascent, and that prophets are caused to ascend from there to heaven, and, further, that it is the place of gathering on the day of Resurrection. Everybody turns to it in prayer and visits it in pilgrimage. Thy bowing and kneeling in the direction of it is either mere appearance or thoughtless worship. Yet your first forefathers chose it as an abode in preference to their birth-places, and lived there as strangers, rather than as citizens in their own country. This they did even at a time when the Shekhinah was yet visible, but the country was full of unchastity, impurity, and idolatry. Your fathers, however, had no other desire than to remain in it. Neither did they leave it in times of dearth and famine except by God's permission. Finally, they directed their bones to be buried there.

115. The Rabbi: Thou hast touched our weak spot, O King of the Khazars. If the majority of us, as thou sayest, would learn humility towards God and His law from our low station, Providence would not have forced us to bear it for such a long period. Only 'the smallest portion thinks thus. Yet the majority may expect a reward, because they bear their degradation partly from necessity, partly of their own free will. For whoever wishes to do so can become the friend and equal of his oppressor by uttering one word, and without any difficulty. Such conduct does not escape the just Judge. If we bear our exile and degradation for God's sake, as is meet, we shall be the pride of the generation which will come with the Messiah, and accelerate the day of the deliverance we hope for. Now we do not allow any one who embraces our religion theoretically by means of a word alone to take equal rank with ourselves, but demand actual self-sacrifice, purity, knowledge, circumcision, and numerous religious ceremonies. The convert must adopt our mode of life entirely. We must bear in mind that the rite of circumcision is a divine symbol, ordained by God to indicate that our desires should be curbed, and discretion used, so that what we engender may be fitted to receive the divine Influence. God allows him who treads this path, as well as his progeny, to approach Him very closely. Those, however, who become Jews do not take equal rank with born Israelites, who are specially privileged to attain to prophecy, whilst the former can only achieve something by learning from them, and can only become pious and learned, but never prophets. As regards the promises at which thou art so astonished, our sages, long ago, gave descriptions of paradise and hell, their length and width, and depicted the enjoyments and punishments in greater detail than is given in any later religions. From the very beginning I only spoke to thee of what is contained in the books of the Prophets They, however, do not discuss the promises of after-life with so much diffuseness as is done in the sayings of the Rabbis. Nevertheless the prophetic books allude to the return of the dust of the human body to the earth, whilst the spirit returns to the Creator who gave it. They also mention the resurrection of the dead at some future time, the sending of a prophet called Elijah AlKhidr, who had already been sent once, but who was taken away by God in the same way as another said that he never tasted death. The Torah contains the prayer of one who was specially privileged to become a prophet, and he prayed that his death might be made easy, and his end be as the end of the Children of Israel. After the death of Samuel King Saul invoked his aid, and he prophesied for him concerning all that would happen to him in the same way as he had prophesied to him whilst living. Although this action of Saul, viz. consulting the dead, is forbidden in our law, it shows that the people at the time of the prophets believed in the immortality of the soul after the decay of the body. For this reason they consulted the dead. All educated people, including women, know by heart the opening prayer of our morning liturgy, which runs as follows: O Lord, the spirit which Thou hast breathed into me is hallowed; Thou hast created it, Thou guardest it, and Thou wilt after a time take it from me, but wilt restore it to me in the other world. As long as it is within me, I praise Thee, and am grateful to Thee, O Lord of the universe. Praise be to Thee who restoreth the spirit unto the dead. The notion of 'Paradise' itself, of which people often speak, is derived from the Torah, being the exalted abode which was intended for Adam. Had he not been disobedient, he would have remained in it for ever. Similarly 'Gēhinnōm' was nothing but a well-known place near the Holy House, a trench in which the fire was never extinguished, because unclean bones, carrion and other impurities used to be burned there. The word is a compound Hebrew one.

You ask me for my opinion on the question which at present agitates so greatly the minds of men, emancipation; whether I consider it feasible and desirable, according to the spirit of Judaism, our duty to strive to attain it. The new conception of Judaism which you have gained, dear Benjamin, has rendered you uncertain as to the reconcilability of Gentile citizenship with the eternal ideals of our faith. You have begun to doubt whether the acceptance of these new relations be in harmony with the spirit of Judaism, inasmuch as it approximates to a close union with that which is different and alien, and a severance of the ties which bind us to the Israel lot; you doubt its desirability, because through over much intimacy with the Gentile, Israel's peculiar characteristics could easily be obliterated. I respect your scruples, and will communicate to you my own opinion. Let us first examine whether it be in harmony with the spirit of Judaism.

?השלום לו, Yaakov wanted to find out something about Lavan’s circumstances and state of mind before he would come face to face with him. He did so as it is not appropriate for a guest to make such enquiries about his host after he has already been welcomed in his home.