Parashat: Mishpatim

Parashat: Mishpatim
Torah Reading: Exodus 21:1–24:18

“You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

— Exodus 22:20

Of the Torah concepts incorporated into what it means to be a believing, observant Jew in the modern world, this concept rises to the top alongside very few other mitzvot. The instruction to protect the stranger, the warning against their oppression is rooted in our own insistence on keeping the memory of our own suffering in mind, even when it centers on a Biblical story, a narrative of millennia ago. Still, the obligation to be involved in the protection of the stranger — the one who resides among you but does not come from your place — calls to us across the generations. It was true when some (though not all) in the Jewish community involved themselves in the struggle for Civil Rights in the 1950s and beyond. It was true when we stood alongside others in myriad struggles for human rights over the second half of the twentieth century. And it must be true in our own current moment, when we are called to feel the pain, fear and anxiety of vulnerable populations in our own country, our own community today – and to stand against their oppression and abuse. We were the stranger, the vulnerable, the targeted — and so we must stand in solidarity and protection with the stranger today.

— Rabbi Craig Axler