April 18th ano dos
Sunday Morning Meditation
In a rather timely fashion I came across some of the writings of Shlomo Riskin, the rabbi of Efrat.
And from him much of what follows originated.
So I asked, what of the Other?
And the Lord spoke... saying,“Speak to all...and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. "When a stranger dwells with you, a stranger in your land, do not cheat him. Like one of your [natural] citizens shall he be considered by you, that stranger who lives with you. You shall love him like yourself. I am the Lord your God" (Lev19:1,33,34)
How do we know this is important?
The Jewish scriptures return to this point over 20 times to stress to the Jews and by extension, Christians, we are to NEVER forget this. This is to be woven into the very fabric of our society. The moral fiber of a nation is revealed by the way in which it relates to the "stranger" or "other." It is not what your Declaration of Independence, or what your Constitution declare, but your actions that speak to and expose for all to see, the values upon which you live out your time.
Why is this important?
Cheating is to withhold something or to take something which rightfully belongs to someone else. Monetary cheating is the lesser, as it can be repaid, but verbal oppression, while a poison poured from the same bottle, is worse for words are far more potent for they have the ability to spread and implant ideas that are extremely toxic far and wide.
Why is this important to remember?
Treating the strangers among us with heightened sensitivity is never to be forgotten, because people experience pain when considered outsiders, aliens, strange and estranged. To go through life, “... being part of, but not belonging to” is a life inflicted with slow trauma. Even in modern times it is easy to go from being an alien to being a scapegoat, to move from be dehumanized to being decimated by the majority. The one who is different is often feared and usually denigrated; it is easy to see him as being less valuable and therefore "fair game" for the whims of a ruling class. The Scriptures want us to carry the pain of having been persecuted, of having been looked upon as inferior and unworthy, throughout our historical lives - so that we never do to anyone else what we experienced did to us.
What are we to remember?
That we are all children of the same God, so that no human dare view any other as strange or inferior. You shall love him because he is like you, because each of you contains a portion of the same God. You are the stranger and he is you, because the same God bestowed on each of you the life force which makes you distinctively human. If you see him as being less than you today, he can see you as being less than him tomorrow; your humanity is inextricably bound up in his. The 12th-century commentator Nahmanidesputs building on Exodus 22:20, says to every individual: "Do not oppress the stranger because you think he has no one to defend him; remember how Pharaoh learned that God defends the stranger. God is the shield of the oppressed, the one who sees the tears of those who have no one else to give them comfort. God will save every person from the hands of those stronger than he. God will always hear the cries of the widow and the orphan, the pleas of those who have no one upon whom to rely except their Father in Heaven". God hears the stranger because God is the consummate stranger, the One who is wholly other, forever apart. God is homeless in this world, waiting for us to make Him a home so that He may dwell among us. But God can only find His home among us if we leave room for every other human being. Only when we make this world into a loving home in which every human being can feel at home will God feel at home as well.
Luvyaall
bobb
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