Torah for our Times: Immigration - Welcoming the Stranger

They said, Step back out of the way! They said, This one came as an immigrant, and now he wants to be a judge. We will now deal worse with you than with them. They pushed hard against Lot, and came near to break the door.

Behold! I have two daughters who have never known a man, I will bring them out to you, and do with them as you please; only do nothing to these men, since after all, they came under the shelter of my roof.

האחד בא לגור, “is there even a single man who can be audacious enough to get away with this?”

ויאמרו גש הלאה AND THEY SAID, STEP BACK — Get you away over there — as much as to say, Take yourself aside and keep away from us. Similarly wherever the word הלאה occurs in Scripture it has the meaning of further away. For example: (Numbers 17:2) “Scatter (הלאה) yonder”; (1 Samuel 20:22) “Behold the arrows are beyond thee (הלאה)” Thus גש הלאה signifies, withdraw yourself further away (old French Retire-toi de nous). It is an expression of contempt, signifying, “we do not take any notice of you!” Of a similar character are: (Isaiah 65:5) “Stand by thyself (אל תגש בי) come not near unto me”, and (Isaiah 49:20) גשה לי “Give place to me that I may dwell” which means “withdraw aside for my sake (לי) that I may dwell where you are now”. — They really meant to say to Lot: “You intercede for these strangers; how dare you!” In reply to what he had said to them regarding his daughters they answered: “Get out of the way” — a somewhat gentle expression — whilst with regard to his advocacy for the strangers they retorted, האחד בא לגור THIS MAN CAME TO SOJOURN — You are the only strange man amongst us, for you have come to sojourn here, וישפוט שפוט and you make yourself a Reprover of us!

You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.

אח נפש הגר [FOR YE KNOW] THE SOUL OF A STRANGER — how hard it is for him when people oppress him.

When strangers reside with you in your land, you shall not wrong them.

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

AND IF A STRANGER SOUJORN WITH THEE. Scripture mentions the stranger after the old man. It does so to, as it were, to say, as I warned you to respect the old Israelite because he has no strength, I warn you not to wrong the foreigner because you are stronger than he is, or who has no power because he is in your country and subject to you.

כי גרים הייתם FOR YE WERE STRANGERS [IN THE LAND OF EGYPT] — "Do not reproach thy fellow-man for a fault which is also thine” (cf. Rashi on Exodus 22:20).

אני ה' אלהיכם I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD — Thy God and his God am I! (אלהיכם “your” God — the God of both of you).

When strangers reside with you in your land, you shall not wrong them.

You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

(49) Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquillity; yet she did not support the poor and the needy. (50) In their haughtiness, they committed abomination before Me; and so I removed them, as you saw.

Rabbi Jehudah said: They made a proclamation in Sodom (saying): Everyone who strengthens the hand of the poor or the needy with a loaf of bread shall be burnt by fire. Peleṭith, daughter of Lot, was wedded to one of the magnates of Sodom. She saw a certain very poor man in the street of the city, and her soul was grieved on his account, as it is said, "Was not my soul grieved for the needy?" (Job 30:25). What did she do? Every day when she went out to draw water she put in her bucket all sorts of provisions from her home, and she fed that poor man. The men of Sodom said: How does this poor man live? When they ascertained the facts, they brought her forth to be burnt with fire. She said: Sovereign of all worlds ! Maintain my right and my cause (at the hands of) the men of Sodom. And her cry ascended before the Throne of Glory. In that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said: "I will now descend, and I will see" (Gen. 18:21) whether the men of Sodom have done according to the cry of this young woman, I will turn her foundations upwards, and the surface thereof shall be turned downwards, as it is said, "I will now descend, and I will see whether they have done altogether according to her cry, which is come unto me" (ibid.). "According to their cry" is not written here (in the text), only "According to her cry."

There are four types of character in human beings: One that says: “mine is mine, and yours is yours”: this is a commonplace type; and some say this is a sodom-type of character. [One that says:] “mine is yours and yours is mine”: is an unlearned person (am haaretz); [One that says:] “mine is yours is yours is yours” is a pious person. [One that says:] “mine is mine, and yours is mine” is a wicked person.

There was a young woman who would take bread out to the poor people in a pitcher so the people of Sodom would not see it. The matter was revealed, and they smeared her with honey and positioned her on the wall of the city, and the hornets came and consumed her. And that is the meaning of that which is written: “And the Lord said: Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great [rabba]” (Genesis 18:20). And Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Rabba is an allusion to the matter of the young woman [riva] who was killed for her act of kindness. It is due to that sin that the fate of the people of Sodom was sealed.