Anon asked Staff ago Hello!
In Deuteronomy 10:19 it is written, “Love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
In Deuteronomy 23:8 it is written: “Do not hate the Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not hate the Egyptian, for you were strangers in his land.”
1. In both cases it is noted that the people of Israel were strangers in the land of Egypt.
This means that the word “stranger” is given to a nation which lives among another nation, and doesn’t always accept the host nation’s lifestyle, since the people of Israel, according to the Torah, lived in Egypt for many years and did not accept the Egyptian way of life or religion. They continued to observe their religion, did not change their names, etc.
The question arises as to why Chazal interpreted “stranger” as a non-Jew who accepts upon himself the Jewish lifestyle. It is plainly stated that the people of Israel were strangers in the land of Egypt and they did not accept upon themselves the Egyptian religion or their culture…
What did the Scriptural text really refer to when it commands us to love the stranger. Who are we commanded to love? Who are those strangers?
2. “Do not hate the Edomite, for he is your brother.” The Edomite is, according to this verse, the brother of the Hebrew.
If so, why did Chazal say that when the Scriptures command one love his brother, when the Scriptures command “Do not loan to your brother at interest, be it money, food, or anything upon which you take interest” the Scriptures referred only to Jews?
It is clearly stated that the Edomite nation is the brother of the Jew.
Perhaps the Scriptural author was confused and did not crystallize an opinion about who is a brother and who is a foreigner.
In my opinion, the Scriptural author used “brother” to mean any nation which loves Israel, helps Israel, makes peace with Israel, etc.
I would very much like to hear your opinion on the matter.
Why did Chazal interpret things as they did, and what did the Scriptural text really mean?
I hope to get answers to my questions.
Thank you,
Yigal (Igor)
jsadmin Staff answered 22 years ago
Dear Yigal,
Chazal believe that only the Oral Torah is the foundation of the Torah and the commandments. The Written Torah is a branch of the Oral Torah, and its significance and contents are determined by the Sages, even in contradiction to the plain meaning of the Scriptures. (Thus did the Jewish people accept upon themselves during the period of Yavne, after the destruction of the second Temple in 70 CE.) The current Orthodox public is the direct descendent of the Sages of Yavne, the Mishnah, and the Talmud. Therefore there is no call to ask why the Sages interpreted something in contradiction to what is written in the Torah; they purposely did this the whole way along. To strengthen my words, see what the Vilna Gaon wrote in his book Aderet Eliyahu, on the portion of Mishpatim: “Halacha uproots [the plain meaning of] the Scriptures…in several sections of the Torah, and this is the greatness of our Oral Torah, which is tradition given to Moses at Sinai. The Torah changes [its meaning] like clay, as is said [in the Gemara] (Makkot 22b): How foolish are most people, who stand for a Torah scroll but not for scholars, for in the Torah scroll it is explicitly written ‘give 40 lashes’ (Deuteronomy 25:3) and the Sages came along and decided to remove one of the lashes, making it 39 lashes.” Note the words of the Vilna Gaon, “and this is the greatness of our Oral Torah.”
Daat Emet fights today’s Orthodox outlook and clearly shows that the Sages treated the Torah as their own, to distort and disfigure it based on their own understanding and the needs of their times and places. Today the Chief Rabbinate and the religious public continue, in their evil, the Halachic rulings of Chazal’s era.
Sincerely,
Daat Emet
jsadmin Staff answered 22 years ago
Dear Yigal,
A “stranger” in the Torah is sometimes defined as an alien who lives under Jewish sovereignty and sometimes as a convert and can be interpreted according to the reader’s understanding. Nachmanides wrote (Exodus 20:9) “And the stranger within your gates — in simple meaning an alien who lives under our rule, in our city, and has accepted the seven Noachide commandments; he is called ‘an alien who eats carcasses’ (Avodah Zarah 64b)…when it is written (below, 23:12) ‘the son of your maidservant and the stranger shall rest’ it refers to a convert who has become a Jew and return to our teachings. He has been commanded about the Sabbath and all other commandments, as is said: there shall be one teaching and one law for you and for the stranger who lives with you (Numbers 15:16), for the stranger and the citizen of the land (ibid. 9:14), but we have found amongst our rabbis those who explain it the opposite way…”
This is also the rule in interpreting the words “your brother.” Sometimes it means the son of your mother or your father: “Do not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is the nakedness of your brother” (Leviticus 18:16). Sometimes it means the whole Jewish community, “You may dun the foreigner, but you must remit whatever is due you from your brother” (Deuteronomy 15:3). Sometimes it even includes gentiles (who were the brethren of our ancestors; Esau was the Edom, who was the brother of Jacob) “Do not hate the Edomite, for he is your brother.”
If you’d like to read Biblical commentary using scientific interpretations, it is recommended you read the Miqra Israel series published by Am Oved in cooperation with Magnes Publishing.
Sincerely,
Daat Emet