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We must keep the stranger in mind - as well as other vulnerable populations - as we construct the basic expectations of citizenship.
Please share with the group what aspect of this text resonates with you. Why did you decide to join the discussion group for this theme?
In the verse in Leviticus, the Torah tells us to have one "standard" for all. Here in Exodus, it says to have one "law," and the Hebrew word used in for law is "Torah."
1) What might this look like in practice?
2) Why do you think the Torah needed to repeat this point? Why might you think that a legal system could behave otherwise?
These verses in Leviticus add an additional element. Not only should laws treat everyone equally, but you should love the stranger.
1) How might loving the stranger look in our lived reality? Would it involve a higher standard than making laws equal?
2) Do you think that loving the stranger is a part of your Jewish life or Jewish community? If so, how?
The Paris Architect, by Charles Belfoure
p. 56
Janusky smiled. "You're a good man, Manet. When most gentile businessmen turned their backs on Jews, without hesitating you offered to help us, putting yourself and your entire family at great risk."
"Any good Christian would do the same."
"Now, that's a goddamn joke...They would smile in your face and call you a dirty kike the minute your back was turned...France may have been the first country in Europe to grant Jews civil rights, but it's still a country of Jew haters. I was stupid enough to be fooled into thinking they'd finally accepted us."
"I don't believe that."
"That's because you're a true Christian gentleman. But you're a fool to think that most men think like you."
This novel is set in the 1940s, a time of danger for Jews in Europe. In this passage, a Jewish man reflects on the fact that despite having civil rights on the books in France, it is "still a country of Jew haters."
1) The Biblical sources push us to set up a legal system that is fair, while this modern text reflects the reality that these laws are not always enough. How do you think these earlier sources expect us to respond to that reality?
2) How do we ensure that having laws that set out standards of equality means that people are actually treated fairly?
On Middle Ground: A History of the Jews of Baltimore, by Deborah R. Weiner and Eric L. Goldstein
p.104
On the morning of Wednesday, August 19, 1891, employees at the Canton immigrant pier, where the packet liner Slavonia had arrived from Hamburg, noticed an unusual commotion. Crowded near the ship were fifty-four Russian Jewish men, women and children who had been detained after immigration inspectors judged them "likely to become a burden on the resources of this country." A recent directive from the Immigration Bureau in Washington, DC, had urged officials to be more exacting in screening for indigent arrivals. As word spread about the plight of the detainees, the Jews of Baltimore-both the older community of Central Europe origin and the growing population of more recently arrived immigrants from Eastern Europe, scrambled to prevent the group from being deported....Despite the daunting task of raising thousands of dollars in a very short time, leaders among the newer immigrants worked with wealthier "German" Jewish benefactors to pull together the necessary funds. Less than a week after the Slavonia's arrival, the bonds were paid and the Jews of Baltimore breathed a collective sigh of relief.
In this work of history, the authors describe a form of discrimination that was legal at the time: those who were deemed likely to become a burden could be kept out.
1) How did the Jews in this story mobilize to work around these laws?
2) How might you prioritize the need to work within these types of laws vs. the need to change these (or other) laws?
Antisemitism Here and Now, by Deborah Lipstadt
p. xi
It is axiomatic that if Jews are being targeted with hateful rhetoric and prejudice other minorities should not feel immune; this is not likely to end with Jews. And conversely, if other minority groups are being targeted with hatred and prejudice, Jews should not feel immune; this is not likely to end with these groups, either. Antisemitism flourishes in a society that is intolerant of others, be they immigrants or racial and religious minorities.
Historian Deborah Lipstadt reflects the ways in which having laws which do not discriminate against anyone is fundamental to a society in which all are protected - even if the discrimination isn't against us in a particular moment.
1) What actions do you think the author expects Jews to take to live up to this recognition?
2) How is this the same as or different from the idea of setting up equal laws, as reflected in the Biblical verses?
http://braungardt.trialectics.com/philosophy/20th-century/emmanuel-levinas-1906-1995/levinas-face/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-13/netanyahu-tells-arab-citizens-they-re-not-real-israelis