Talmud reads Torah // Mishpatim

You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me, and My anger shall blaze forth and I will put you to the sword, and your own wives shall become widows and your children orphans.

Just as there is a prohibition against fraud [ona’a] in buying and selling, so is there ona’a in words. The mishna proceeds to cite examples of verbal mistreatment: One may not say to a seller: For how much are you selling this item if he does not wish to purchase it. He thereby upsets the seller when the deal fails to materialize. The mishna lists other examples: If one is a penitent, another may not say to him: Remember your earlier deeds. If one is the child of converts, another may not say to him: Remember the deeds of your ancestors, as it is stated: “And a convert shall you neither mistreat, nor shall you oppress him” (Exodus 22:20).

Know that misusing your words [ona'at devarim] has a special verse in the Torah, which says: "Do not wrong one another, but fear your God" (Leviticus 25:17). This is much more serious than financial fraud, as you see the harsher and more frightening warning. For man can play tricks in the matter, haggling over an item and saying he wants to buy it, but then doesn't. Or someone who asks an a man who is uninformed of certain wisdoms to explain them to him in order to embarrass him, saying "I thought he was wise." Or tell stories that include defamation or shame for someone else, but say "I didn't mean what you thought I did." That is why it is written "but fear your God", as he knows your intention and what you thought in your heart. That is also why our sages said that everything relegated to the heart bears the warning "and fear your God". Everywhere in the Torah where it says "and you shall fear" is a matter that human judges cannot debate.

(Exodus 22:20) "And a stranger you shall not afflict and you shall not oppress him": You shall not afflict him with words and you shall not oppress him in money matters. Do not say to him: "Yesterday you worshipped the deity of Nevo, and (the flesh of) swine is still between your teeth, and you would dare contend with me!" And whence is it derived that if you taunt him he can taunt you in return? From "And a stranger you shall not afflict … for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" — whence R. Nathan derived "Do not attribute a blemish of your own to your neighbor." Beloved are the strangers, for in many places you are exhorted concerning them: "And a stranger you shall not afflict", (Devarim 10:19) "And you shall love the stranger", (Exodus 23:9) "And you have known the soul of the stranger." R. Eliezer says: Because a stranger's past is to his disadvantage, Scripture exhorts concerning him in many places [...] Abraham called himself a stranger: (Genesis 23:4) "A stranger and a sojourner am I with you." David called himself a stranger: (Psalms 119:19) "I am a stranger in the land" [...] Beloved are the strangers (i.e., the proselytes), as witness Abraham's not being circumcised until the age of ninety-nine. For if he were circumcised at twenty or thirty, a stranger could become a proselyte only if he were younger than thirty — wherefore the L rd prolonged commanding him until he was ninety-nine, so as not to shut the door to future proselytes.

God said: I must greatly favor the Ger for leaving his family and his father's home and coming to me. That is why I commanded: "And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt." (Deut. 10:19), and "You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him," (Exodus 22:20). That is why it is also written: "The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow" (Psalm 146:9). He attached the foreigner to the orphan and widow. Why? God said they are all downtrodden and poor.

Widow and orphan. Why did it specify the widow and the orphan? I (God) am quicker to punish those who abused widows and orphans more than any other person. For a woman complains to her husband, a son complains to his father. But these have no one to turn to but to me alone.

And My anger shall blaze forth. I will have pity on the one who cries out to Me and rage at the tormenter, as was the case with Israel in Egypt. And the punishment will be in kind (mida keneged mida) as he who willingly torments the widow and the orphan will have inevitably brought about the torment of his wife and children.

R. Mordechai Yossef Leiner (Poland, 1800-1854)

There is a well-known question: how did the first mistaken killing happen? My interpretation is this:

It is written "The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down." (Psalm 145:14). Two are mentioned in this verse: one who fell and one who is bowed down. Someone with engrained anger or bad inclinations in his heart, who God forbid acts upon it, is called "falling", and if he hasn't acted upon it yet he is called "bowed down," meaning that his heart bows down and is subjugated to this bad desire, but God has his own plans etc. and therefore he orchestrates it so. For a person killing by mistake does not mean that he killed in reality, just that he has that default of anger and murderousness in his heart. And he who killed intentionally has already acted upon it, and killed in reality.

And here God gives each of them closure: he who killed intentionally is killed, and he who killed unintentionally is exiled. And that is the meaning of "an act of God," since God did this for his benefit, since so long as his evil thought was not implemented, he never takes the time to repent. But now that God caused him to kill a man by accident, and the deceased merited death, the perpetrator begins to search his soul: Why did it happen to me to kill a man by accident? I must have a kernel of murderousness in my heart, and by considering this he repents.