“I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites” (Shemot 3:8).
The implication of the Torah is clear. The Land of Israel is a much wider and spacious land than that of Egypt. This is a rather strange claim to make considering that ancient Egypt was some 65 times larger than ancient Canaan. Moreover, it is very likely that for much of the time the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, Canaan was actually a province of Egypt, making the notion that Israel was larger than Egypt physically impossible[1].
But the Torah is not talking in physical terms but in spiritual ones. Egypt was a very narrow land in all but its physical features. The word Mitzrayim comes from the word tzar meaning narrow, an apt description of Egyptian culture. Egypt was a place of the very narrow minded, fearful of and hateful towards foreigners. Yet at the same time no one could leave Egypt, forcing them to live in “narrow” straights. The rise of Joseph and the Exodus of the Jewish people are the exceptions that prove the rule.
Pharaoh's butler introduces Yosef as a young, hebrew slave, certain that his status would mean his words would be dismissed. And surely they would have been if not for the fact that they helped concentrate even more power in the hands of Pharaoh. And in a land where citizens have no inherent rights, where the Pharaoh rules with an iron fist, any which way to get even more power is going to be used. And when Joseph had served his purpose he was to be forgotten.
Yet even when Joseph was at the height of power the Egyptians would not eat with him or his family. “They served him [Joseph] by himself, and them [the brothers] by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, for the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, since that would be toevah, abhorrent to the Egyptians” (Breisheet 43:32). The art of bread making was developed in Egypt and to eat this special Egyptian food with foreigners was in the eyes of the Egyptians, nothing less than abhorrent. Even Yosef could not join in. Is it any wonder that we celebrate the Exodus by refusing to eat, or even own, bread?
How different was the land of Israel to be! “When strangers reside with you in your land, you shall not wrong them. Rather, the stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for you were strangers in the land of Mitżrayim: I am the Lord your G-d” (Vayikra 32:33-34).
That the Torah has a specific mitzva to love the ger, the stranger, is rather remarkable. Remarkable but not surprising. Over and over again, and over again the Torah warns not to oppress the stranger “because you were strangers in the land of Egypt".
“Rabbi Eliezer, hagadol, the Great says [2]: For what reason did the Torah issue warnings in thirty-six places, and some say in forty-six places, with regard to causing any distress to the stranger?" (Bava Metzia 59b).
In many of these warning it is ambiguous if we are referring to a convert to Judaism or a non-Jewish resident alien. Such ambiguity is not by chance[3]. Convert or stranger, Jew or non-Jew, we may not mistreat others.
While some verses may technically be referring to converts, the expression often used, “ki gerim, because (or despite[4] the fact that) you were slaves in Egypt” clearly refers to strangers, not converts. The Israelite slaves did not covert to Judaism; the reason they were slaves was because they were born Jewish.
But truth be told it matters little even if gerim were to refer only to converts. The fact that a non-Jew can become an equal member of the Jewish people is quite remarkable. And with all these exhortations in the Torah, one violates many more prohibitions when one wrongs a convert than one born Jewish.
The teaching of Rabbi Eliezer the Great appears in the Gemara’s discussion of the prohibition of ona’ah, oppressing others. One of the examples of ona’at devarim, the prohibition to oppress someone with words, the Mishna teaches is that "If one is the child of converts, another may not say to him: Remember the deeds of your ancestors, as it is stated (Shemot 22:20): ‘You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt’” (Bava Metzia 58b).
Furthermore, it is worse to cheat a non-Jew than a Jew. In addition to the moral wrong, and the negative impact on one’s character, cheating a non-Jew almost always involves a chilul Hashem, a desecration of G-d’s name. “Those money hungry Jews would run over their mother to make a few extra dollars” might be one of the milder things a cheated non-Jew might say. Let us recall that the one sin for which no atonement is possible before death is that of chilul Hashem (Rambam Hilchto Teshuva 1:4).
The Haggadah exhorts us “that in every generation one in obligated to see themselves as if they had left Egypt”. Leaving Egypt required signs, wonders and divine intervention. It was G-d Who physically took us out of Egypt. But it is the Jewish people who must ensure that we spiritually leave Egypt behind us. Doing so begins by ensuring we dare not mistreat others, especially the stranger.
[1] If one wants to take the Torah at face value and interpret it literally one would note that while Egypt was very big and wide, the inhabited area of ancient upper Egypt was a “narrow” area close to the Nile River. In any event the Jews lived in the much wider Lower Egypt.
[2] The fact that the discussion of ona’at devarim concludes with this teaching of Rabbi Eliezer hagadol, the great, is most striking. This teaching comes immediately after the Talmud had described the excommunication of Rabbi Eliezer. By placing that story in the midst of the discussion of oppression, the editors of the Talmud are signalling that it was wrong, a violation of ona’at devarim, to have excommunicated him.
What better way to conclude the discussion that by quoting a teaching, regarding oppressing others no less, by none other than Rabbi Eliezer, and by referring to him as Rabbi Eliezer hagadol, the great Rabbi Eliezer.
[3] If one believes that the Torah is Divine then when the Torah is ambiguous it must be so on purpose.
[4] The word ki is another example of an ambiguous Biblical word. While we generally translate is as because, the Talmud explains that it has at least four meanings, if, when, because and despite.
Some who suffer become more sensitive to others, not wanting others to have to endure what they did. Others become less sensitive ignoring the pleas of those enduring hardship saying if I managed to move on from suffering why can’t you? Hence whether because or despite being slaves don’t mistreat others.
