YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT A

PERVERSION OF JUSTICE WITH MEASURES, WEIGHTS, OR LIQUID MEASURES. YOU SHALL

HAVE TRUE SCALES, TRUE WEIGHTS, A TRUE EPHAH, AND A TRUE HIN. I AM THE LORD, YOUR GOD, WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT.

(Vayikra 19:35-36)

It forbids us even to have an

imperfect weight or measure in our possession, it forbids us to be careless in measuring

or weighing our material even if there is no immediate idea of trading with it,

if there is the slightest possibility of its being bought or sold, it commands

us not only to exercise the utmost care in the manufacture of weights and measures,

but to be most conscientious in keeping them in good condition and repair, to

take meticulous precautionary measures against any change in weights, scales,

and measures due to wear… The reference to the Exodus from Egypt, with which

this command of honesty in measures concludes, shows what an important position

in the sphere of the Lawgiving it occupies. It is on the basis of the

redemption from Egypt and all that which it made known to us of God's

management amidst the earth, in the midst of the life of nations on

earth, as well as all that which thereby established for all time our special

relationship to God, and our duty towards Him, that God makes the demand: You

shall not commit a perversion of justice, etc. true scales, true

weights, etc. Hence, we find in the Torat

Kohanim on our verse: "I am the Lord,

your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt upon this condition: I

brought you out of the land of Egypt on the condition that you accept upon

yourselves the commandment regarding [fair] measures, for everyone who accepts

the commandment regarding measures accepts [the veracity of] the Exodus from Egypt, and anyone who rejects the commandment

regarding measures rejects the Exodus from Egypt." The "Law of

Measures" is considered as being on a level with the laws of arayot [prohibited sexual relations]… Just as in arayot we see the foundation of personal morality

and family life, so in the laws of measures is the foundation of social life…

It wants to make the feeling for right and the respect and consideration for

right and honesty to be a fundamental trait of the Jewish national character.

(Rabbi

S.R. Hirsch on Vayikra 19:35-36, following the Levy

translation)

The stranger who sojourns with you shall be as a native

Debbie Weissman

In

memory of my father and teacher,

Dr.

Nahum Weissman, z'l

who passed away on the seventh day of Pesach

5753

There

are tens of times that the Torah warns us not to exploit the stranger. It even

tells us to love him, as we read in parashat Kedoshim, When a stranger

I am the Lord, your God. (Vayikra 19:33). It would appear that here the plain meaning of the word ger ["stranger"] is "a person strange

or different to you," i.e., a non-Israelite. It is well known that the halakhic interpretation significantly restricted these

commandments' range of application, sometimes to the ger

tzedek [convert] and sometimes to the ger toshav – a

gentile who has taken upon himself the seven Noahide

laws. Neither of these is similar to our status in Egypt.¹ There we

were essentially "foreign workers."

Every

contemporary discussion of the status of the State of Israel's non-Jewish

citizens makes use of the category of ger toshav. Sometimes there is an attempt to claim that

Moslems, and even Christians, have taken the Noahide

commandments upon themselves, and that we must therefore allow them "quarter"

regarding whom Devarim 7:2 commands us, give them

no quarter.) Even so there are difficulties because they are prohibited

from residing in Jerusalem and some commentators insist that they must

recognize the right of the Jewish People to the entire Land of Israel, and in

any case, the status of ger toshav cannot be granted in the absence of the

Sanhedrin.² Despite all this, those who support a more "liberal"

approach to members of Israel's non-Jewish minorities usually mention the

category of ger toshav.

The

very discussion of these matters, in which the Arabs of the Land of Israel

are referred to as "strangers" can give rise to a

certain unease. They certainly see themselves as natives. The

term is arrogant and insulting and therefore it also not conducive towards improving

good-neighborly between us.

Is it possible to suggest a

more useful alternative approach?

It

is interesting to note that the expression ger

toshav is first heard from Abraham's mouth: Ger

ve'toshav ani imakhem – I am a stranger and an inhabitant with you (Bereishit

23:4). Vayikra

25:23 uses it to describe the status of the Israelites vis-à-vis the

Holy One blessed be He: The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land

residents with Me.

The Maggid Me'Dubonov writes:

Between

you and I – says the Holy One blessed be He – there is always a relationship of

strangers and residents. If you view yourselves as strangers in the world,

remembering that your presence here is only temporary, as in an entrance hall,

then I shall reside in your midst and my Divine Presence shall always be with

you. However, if you see yourselves as permanent residence in the world – than

I will be as a stranger amongst you. In any event, you and I are like gerim and toshavim:

either you are the strangers and I the resident, or you are the residents and I

the stranger.³

Our

self-recognition as strangers in the world may lead us not only to theological modesty

but also to ecological awareness accompanied by humility towards creation and a

sense of responsibility not to ruin or destroy it. These are important and

positive in themselves. Suppose we started to view both ourselves and the Arabs

as strangers and temporary residents in the same land, a land which at the end

of the day belongs to God. Would this influence our political

and social stances, and in what ways? Some Israeli Jews have already

suggested that both our people and the Palestinian people share in common the historical

experience of being refugees. This approach could serve as the basis for mutual

empathy.

Bradley

Burston wrote in his article, "Confessions of a

Jewish Refugee":

It was the experience of exile that forged the

Jews and the Palestinians both. We are who we are, in no small part, for the

hardships and longings and insecurities that displacement from home confers… For

the Jews, the insecurity manifests itself as fear, fear of being annihilated, fear of being cast out of here by force. For the

Palestinians, the insecurity finds expression in humiliation, a profound loss

of honor that stretches over the decades that the state of Israel has existed… We are, all

of us here, Jew and Arab, victims of our refugee mentality, the one we cannot

shake, the one that makes us into villain and victim

both.⁴

It

would be useful for both sides to strive for acquaintance with and recognition

of the other's narrative, narratives of suffering and exile. However, I do not

want to concentrate on the broader conflict between the Jewish People and the

Palestinian People. I want to talk about those Arabs who are citizens of the

State of Israel. Lately, and especially since Yisrael

Beiteinu joined the government, I have become aware

of a problem to which few people – even those of the left – have spoken about. This

is an issue that rests in the heart of the dilemma of a "Jewish and

Democratic State." Can non-Jewish citizens enjoy equal rights in a Jewish

state? If not, how can it be called democratic? Can Jewish tradition teach us

anything relevant to the solution of this dilemma?

Certain

verses of the Torah oppose the term ger to the

term ezrah [citizen/native]. For instance, in Vayikra 24:22 we read:

One

law shall be exacted for you, ger and ezrah alike, for I am the Lord, your God

As

used in the Torah, the word ezrah means "native"

and it refers to males alone. For example, when it is written, every ezrah of Israel

shall dwell in Sukkot (Vayikra

23:42), it is understood that

the commandment of sukka applies to Jewish males and

not to women. In today's Hebrew, the category of ezrah

is much broader. As a political concept it is quite new, based – at least in

the 20^th century – upon the notion of universal equality before the

law, an idea which applies to men and women, Jews and non-Jews. I believe that

when Rav Uzziel composed

his famous responsa on the rights of women to vote

and to be elected he paved the way for an expansion of the notion of ezrahut ["citizenship].⁵ Regarding

women, the rabbi writes:

Well, let us assume that they are neither qahal [community] nor edah

anything. But are they not creatures, created in the Divine Image and endowed

with intelligence? And do they not have concerns that the representative

assembly, or the committee it will choose, will be dealing with? And will they

not be called upon to obey these bodies regarding their property as well as the

education of their sons and daughters?

The

same logic clearly applies to Arab citizens.

Let

us return to the verse with which we began: The stranger who sojourns with

your God. Perhaps a double recognition can serve as the foundation upon

which true equality can be built for Israeli Arabs: on the one hand, we are all

gerim and toshavim

in the Hassidic-theological sense mentioned above, and we share a common

responsibility to protect the environment. On the other hand, we are all ezrahim in the modern sense of citizenship, all of

us sharing the rights we posses as human beings created in the divine image.

In

the end of June 206 I participated in a debate with Rabbi Shlomo

Kimhi, an educator who lives in Efrat,

on the future of Judea and Samaria.

We disagreed on many points. However, in conclusion to this article I shall

mention something I learned from him that can certainly contribute to the

understanding of our topic. Rabbi Kimhi quoted a

passage from the Torah commentary Or HaHayim

(by Rabbi Hayim ben Atar, Morroco 18^th

Century). It explains that the word ezrah is

composed of two words, ah – "brother" and zar

– "stranger." An ezrah is a zar who becomes an ah.

1.

In order to avoid the danger – God forbid – of "revealing improper

aspects of the Torah" I will emphasize that my article is only intended to

suggest a direction of thought at the theoretical level. Greater people than I

will have to derive its implications for halakhic practice.

2.  Rabbi Haim

Steiner: www.Yeshiva.org.il, "Yeshivat Lo Yehudim B'Eretz Yisrael."

3.  As quoted in A.Z. Friedman (editor) Ma'ayana shel Torah

(Tel Aviv: Pe'er) Vayikra

volume, pg. 147.

4.  Haaretz April

05, 2007 Nisan 17, 5767 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=%20705562&contrassID=2

5.  Mishpatei Uziel,

number 44 (1940). English translation from http://www.edah.org/backend/JournalArticle/1_2_debate.pdf

Debbie Weissman is a member of Kehillat Yedidya in Jerusalem

and works in education and interfaith dialogue.

The Scape-goat

as a Symbolic Bearer of Sins

From this argument of our Sages I deduce that he-goats were always

brought as sin-offerings, by individual persons and also by the whole

congregation, viz., on the Festivals, New-moon, Day of Atonement, and for

idolatry, because most of the transgressions and sins of the Israelites were

sacrifices to spirits (se‘irim, lit., goats),

as is clearly stated, They shall no more offer their sacrifices unto spirits

(Vayikra 17: 7).

Our Sages, however, explained the fact that goats were always the sin-offerings

of the congregation, as an allusion to the sin of the whole congregation of Israel:

for in the account of the selling of the pious Joseph we read, And they killed a kid of the goats (Bereishit 37:31). Do

not consider this as a weak argument; for it is the object of all these

ceremonies to impress on the mind of every sinner and transgressor the

necessity of continually remembering and mentioning his sins. Thus the Psalmist

says, And my sin is ever before me (Psalms. 51: 3). The above-mentioned

sin-offerings further show us that when we commit a sin, we, our children, and

the children of our children, require atonement for that sin by some kind of

service analogous to the sin committed…

The goat [of the Day of Atonement] that was sent [into the wilderness] (Vayikra 26:20, seq.)

served as an atonement for all serious transgressions more than any other

sin-offering of the congregation. As it thus seemed to carry off all sins, it

was not accepted as an ordinary sacrifice to be slaughtered, burnt, or even

brought near the Sanctuary; it was removed as far as possible, and sent forth

into a waste, uncultivated, uninhabited land. There is no doubt that sins

cannot be carried like a burden, and taken off the shoulder of one being to be

laid on that of another being. But these ceremonies are of a symbolic

character, and serve to impress men with a certain idea, and to induce them to

repent; as if to say, we have freed ourselves of our previous deeds, have cast

them behind our backs, and removed them from us as far as possible. (RaMBaM, Guide for the

Perplexed 3:46, Friedlander trans.)

Whoever gives, gleanings, forgotten sheaves, and the corners to the poor in the appropriate manner, is deemed as if

he had built the Holy

Temple and offered up his

sacrifices within it.

(Rashi on Vayikra 23:22, Judaica Press translation)

Do Gifts for the Poor Serve the Interests of the Giver? Of the Receiver? Of the World?

For God wants his Chosen People to be

bedecked with every good and precious virtue, and that they possess blessed

souls and magnanimous spirit. I have already written that deeds influence the

soul, making it good and allowing God's blessing to rest upon it. There is no

doubt that when someone leaves part of his produce out in the field so that the

needy may take it freely, his soul shall be satisfied and his spirit blessed

and proper, and that God will satisfy him with His bounty and his soul shall

dwell in goodness.

(Sefer

Ha-Hinukh Mitzvah #213)

You shall leave them for the poor and the

stranger – It is evident

that these laws are not made for the direct purpose of the actual maintenance

of the poor. Even the poor man himself has to leave his gleanings, the forgotten

sheaf, and the edge of the field from his own field for other poor

people! It is clear that, at once at the harvest, at the moment when a person

takes home that which Nature and his own hard-work has yielded to him, and puts

the proud and far-reaching words "my own" in his mouth, these laws

are to remind every member of the Nation, and to demand an act of recognition

from him, of the fact that this "my own" includes for everybody the

duty of caring for others who are needy… that in God's holy state the care

for the poor and the stranger without property is not a matter which is

left to the greater or lesser soft-hearted feelings of sympathy… but is

raised to a God-given right to the poor, and a God-ordained duty to the owners

of property from God.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch on Vayikra 19:10, Isaac Levy translation)

The Election of Israel – a

Moral Challenge with a Universal Goal

And I have distinguished you from the peoples, to be Mine If you are separated from them [through

your observance of Torah], you will be Mine, but if not,

you will belong to Nebuchadnezzar and his ilk. Rabbi Eleazar

ben Azariah says: How do we

know that a person should not say, "I find pork disgusting," or "It

is impossible for me to wear a mixture [of wool and linen]," but rather,

one should say, "I indeed wish to, but what can I do-my Father in heaven

has imposed these decrees upon me?" Because Scripture says here, "And

I have distinguished you from the peoples, to be Mine"-your very

distinction from the other peoples must be for My Name, separating yourself

from transgression and accepting upon yourself the yoke of the Kingdom of

Heaven.

(Rashi Vayikra 20:26)

So that in no wise does Jewish thought look on the choice of Israel

as a rejection of the rest of humanity. It regards the choice of Israel only as

a beginning, only the restarting of the spiritual and moral rebuilding of

Mankind, only the first step to that future where In that day many nations

your midst (Zechariah

2:15), where many nations will attach

themselves to God, and become His people, and Israel's sanctuary will not only

be the central heart of Israel but the center of Mankind who have found their

way to God.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch on Vayikra 20: 26, following Levy translation)

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