Loving a convert: The Rambam's Interpretation

 Very interestingly, the Rambam teaches that a "convert" as defined by the Torah is not strictly one who joins the faith, but rather, any person who comes to a new place and feels like an outsider. That, the Rambam teaches is evidenced by the fact that we are commanded "to love the convert" because we - the Jewish people - were converts ourselves in Egypt. 

In this week's parsha, this commandment is uniquely juxtaposed with the reverence and worship of Hashem, and the directive to swear in His name. 

                For the LORD your God is God supreme and Lord supreme, the great, the mighty, and the                     awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe,

                but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger,

                providing him with food and clothing.—

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

               You must revere the LORD your God: only Him shall you worship, to Him shall you hold                       fast, and by His name shall you swear..

It is intriguing to note that the Rambam teaches that there's affirmative commandment, a positive commandment to swear in God's name, in other words, when somebody wants to vouch for the truthfulness of something, he should say, "The same way I know God to be true, I know this to be true as well. 

And as such, perhaps, we can gain a deeper understanding on the interrelationship between the different elements of our worship of the Almighty. For, in essence, love of the stranger - ger. in Hebrew - is an expression, as the verse teaches of reverence towards our creator. When someone places the stranger above himself, when in reality he could have so easily ignored the outsider's emotions and needs, he, has affirmed the sincerity of his worship of the divine, adhering to - and clinging to the very backbone of our faith, and lastly, publicly affirmed God's truth and oneness, the same way swearing in Hashem's name, according to the Rambam, fulfills that mitzvah. 

That, it would seem like, is accentuated in this week's Haftarah. The same way the Chofetz Chaim teaches in Ahavat Chesed that denying the value of kindness is tantamount to a denial of Hashem's presence in the world, likewise, we are taught in the Haftarah to always keep the image of Avraham Avinu, and our patriarchs, always before our eyes. 

            Listen to Me, you who pursue justice, You who seek the LORD: Look to the rock you were                    hewn from, To the quarry you were dug from.

            Look back to Abraham your father And to Sarah who brought you forth. For he was only one                when I called him, But I blessed him and made him many.

By the same token that loving an outsider affirms one's worship and devotion to Hashem, pursuing the underlying meaning of Avraham Avinu's message to the world, is an affirmation of Hashem's existence and dominion in this world. Those who seek Hashem - should "Look to the rock you were hewn from...to Abraham your father And to Sarah."

May you have a beautiful week! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Parshat Kdoshim makes us think twice about how we treat people who are mean to us. "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow man as yourself: I am Hashem." The sages teach that taking a revenge takes the following pattern. One man asks his fellow man to lend him a sickle because his has broken and he needs to harvest his wheat and trim the weeds that threaten his wheat. His friend says no. A month later the same scenario plays out, just this time, the one who refused needs one himself. His friend says no. Why, he asks himself, would he lend his friend a sickle if his friend didn't lend him one? The rationale even makes sense. In the business world, there's a new term, "coopetition," companies usually do compete but sometimes cooperate for their mutual benefit. The thinking makes sense when it comes to the nitty gritty of human relations; Nobel Prize winner, Professor Israel Aumann talks about w...
Read more

Can Moshe Have Misheard God?

Sometimes we hear something, but we don't really hear what has been said. Or, we understand a message differently from how it was intended. That was what happened in this past week's parsha, Shemini, when Moshe's wrath flared against Aharon's sons, Elazar and Itamar for not eating the he-goat of their sin offering. He chastised them. "Hashem gave it to you to procure forgiveness for the community's sin and to atone on their behalf before Hashem. Its blood was not brought into the sanctuary within; it should have been eaten in the holy domain as I had commanded." For a little bit of background, for Aharon HaCohen, it had been a fraught day to say the least; Elazar and Itamar's older brothers, Nadav and Avihu, had been eaten alive in a heavenly flame that took their lives but left their bodies intact. Moshe commanded Mishael and Elzaphan, their cousins, to then remove them by their tunics and place them outside of the camp. The day, in essence, ha...
Read more

What if God Was One of Us

The answer is, it would be pretty darn bad.  This week's parsha speaks to four different situations where one accidentally sins, and the consequent atonement process.  On Shabbat, a friend asked me, "Why does the verse  say, ' When a chieftain (i.e. leader) sins, unwittingly bearing guilt by performing an act Hashem has commanded him not to do (Vayikra 4:22)..?' Why doesn't the Torah say " If " like it says for all of the other transgressors, 'If the annointed priest sins...If the high assembly sins...If a layman sins..?' What distinguishes between the Nasi or tribal chief, or head of Israel, and every other potential sinner'"? I told him, "You see, it's like the expression, ' She'elat Chacham, Chatzi Teshuva ' (the question of a wise person, is already half the answer). A person who has to lead others, will inevitably get his hands dirty." You can't lead without making mistakes, you can't be human withou...
Read more