​ Strangers / Ger

This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Anyone who is famished should come and eat, anyone who is in need should come and partake of the Pesach. Now we are here, next year we should be in the land of Israel; this year we are enslaved, next year we should be free.

(13) And He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs for 400 years. They will be enslaved and oppressed. (14) But I will finally bring judgment against the nation who enslaves them, and they will then leave with great wealth. (15) You shall join your fathers in peace, and you will be buried at a good old age. (16) The fourth generation will return here, since the Amorite's sin will not have run its course until then." (17) The sun set, and it became very dark. A smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the animals. (18) On that day, G-d made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, from the Egyptian River as far as the great river, the Euphrates; (19) [the lands of] the Kenites, the Kenizites, the Kadmonites, (20) the Hittites, the Perizites, the Rephaim, (21) the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Yebusites."

(34) 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 L-RD am your G-d.

(19) You must also show love toward the foreigner ("ger"), since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1134-1204), commonly known as Maimonides or Rambam

207. To love the convert [to Judaism] ("ger") as it says “and you shall love the convert” (Devarim 10:19)

You shall not wrong a stranger ("ger") or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

We are forbidden from verbally causing emotional distress to a convert, as the verse says, "Do not wrong a convert." (Ex 22:20)

We are forbidden from causing financial damage to a convert, as the verse says, "Do not oppress him." (Ex 22:20)

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040 – 1105)

(20) כי גרים הייתם FOR YE WERE STRANGERS — If you annoy him he can annoy you back by saying to you: “You also descend from strangers”. "Do not reproach your fellow-man for a fault which is also yours" (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 22:20). Wherever "Ger" occurs in Scriptures it signifies a person who has not been born in that land (where he is living) but has come from another country to sojourn there.

Rabbi Moses ben Nahman (1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides

(20) For you were strangers in the land of Egypt: Not all strangers are made fitting [for special treatment just] because we were strangers in [some] land for a time. And there is no reason that they should be assured [of this treatment] forever because of this. And Rashi on Exodus 22:20 explained that it is the reason why "you should not oppress him with words [...], for if you oppress him, he can oppress you [also] by saying to you, 'You also come from strangers' - [regarding] a blemish in you, do not speak about it in your fellow." And Rabbi Avraham (Ibn Ezra on Exodus 22:20) said, "Remember that you were strangers like him." But I do not believe these explanations fundamentally address the issue. Rather, what is correct in my eyes is that when it states, "Do not oppress the stranger and do not harry him," you may think that he has no one to save him from your hand, since you know that you were strangers in the land of Egypt, and you saw the harrying that Egypt harried you and that I took vengeance for you, 'since I see the tear of the oppressed who has no comforter and has no power from the hand of their oppressors' and I save every person 'from the hand of one stronger than he.' And so [too], do not afflict the widow and the orphan, since I hear their cries. As all of these do not rely on themselves and [so] upon Me do they rely. And in a different verse, it adds another reason (Exodus 23:9), "For you know the feelings of the stranger, since you were strangers in the land of Egypt." This is to say, you know that any stranger has low self esteem, and he sighs and cries, and his eyes are always to God - and He will have mercy upon him, as He had mercy upon you, as it is written (Exodus 2:23), "and the Children of Israel sighed from the work and they cried out, and their prayer ascended to God, from the work." This is to say that not because of their merit [did God hear], but rather He had mercy upon them due to their [heavy] work.

Hezekiah ben Manoah (c.1250-1310)

(9) וגר לא תלחץ, “and do not oppress the stranger.” Here too the Torah speaks about the treatment strangers may have to endure at court. In the earlier reference to the stranger, (22,2), the Torah referred to how we are not to treat the stranger in every day life, not particularly when he is involved in litigation. It is repeated here as he is also one of the sections of society that is likely to be taken advantage of, as they have no one to stand up on their behalf; It is easy to get away with taking advantage of them.

(11) Mark well what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

(1) A war is never waged against anyone before peace is offered. This applies both to an obligatory war and to a permitted war, as it is written “when you get near a city to wage war against it, you must offer peace” (Deut. 20:10). If they agree and accept upon themselves the seven mitzvot given to the children of Noah, not a single soul is to be harmed…

And Moses was also commanded by G-d to force the nations to accept the Noahide Laws. Anyone who refused to accept them was to be killed. Those who did accept them are called "resident aliens" throughout.

(4) No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted into the congregation of the LORD; none of their descendants, even in the tenth generation, shall ever be admitted into the congregation of the LORD, (5) because they did not meet you with food and water on your journey after you left Egypt, and because they hired Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor of Aram-naharaim, to curse you.— (6) But the LORD your God refused to heed Balaam; instead, the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, for the LORD your God loves you.— (7) You shall never concern yourself with their welfare or benefit as long as you live. (8) You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your relative. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land.

Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa (1340 – 1255)

(5) It is common courtesy to welcome newcomers with food and drink; not that the Israelites had any needs in the desert--they had Manna falling [from heaven] for them and a well that traveled with them.

Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (1816-1893)

For [the Edomite] is your relative. G-d wanted to accustom Israel to the virtues of a sensitive soul. And the higher the soul, the more he brings his relatives closer. This is why he commanded him to remember the brotherhood of the Edomites.

Because you were a stranger in [the Egyptian's] land. This, too, is the form of the sensitive soul that repays good and is never ungrateful or ever called a scoundrel. This is why the Al-mighty accustomed us in this mitzva:

Do not despise the Edomite... Even though you ought to despise him, because he went out with the sword for you; and the Egyptians also, even though they drowned your male [children] in the Nile, do not detest them, because they provided you a lodging in an hour of distress and fled to them in the days of famine and were treated with great honor.... And it is said of both of them, "Thou shalt not detest," the Edomite that met them with the sword, and the Egyptians that drown them in the water, whereas with Ammon and Moab, the sin made them loathsome, and Scripture says, "Do not inquire for their well-bring or their good."