Oral Law Assignment
The verse I chose for this assignment was “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the Lord am your God” Leviticus 19:33.
I chose this verse because I felt it is the most relevant to our world today. I can really relate to this quote in many ways. I interpret this commandment as telling us to be accepting of all people and to treat everyone, even strangers, like you would yourself. It reminds me of the golden rule, ‘treat others the way you want to be treated’. This seems so simple. But it goes as far as to tell us to treat a stranger as one of your citizens. This to me really has modern day value. We hear all the time about immigrants coming to United States. This commandment furthers me in my belief that we should be welcoming these immigrants with open arms. America was built upon immigrants and foreigners. Just like the Jews were once strangers in Egypt. I think we should practice this concept by, being open minded about immigration and welcoming foreigners to our country.
I chose a photo of the Tzuba hotel sign because I feel at home here. At one time, I felt like a complete stranger in Israel and even in Tzuba. I didn’t know anyone very well and I certainly didn’t know the area. But, within days, Tzuba became a place that I loved. Not just because I got used to it, but because the people here make me feel at home. All my friends are here on this one Kibbutz. The community here is so close and welcoming. I realized that Tzuba was really special to me when we came back from Yam lYam. After having an exciting two weeks away, I was still relieved to be back in my home. I never thought I’d feel so comfortable in a place so far away from my home town.
I chose this verse because I felt it is the most relevant to our world today. I can really relate to this quote in many ways. I interpret this commandment as telling us to be accepting of all people and to treat everyone, even strangers, like you would yourself. It reminds me of the golden rule, ‘treat others the way you want to be treated’. This seems so simple. But it goes as far as to tell us to treat a stranger as one of your citizens. This to me really has modern day value. We hear all the time about immigrants coming to United States. This commandment furthers me in my belief that we should be welcoming these immigrants with open arms. America was built upon immigrants and foreigners. Just like the Jews were once strangers in Egypt. I think we should practice this concept by, being open minded about immigration and welcoming foreigners to our country.
I chose a photo of the Tzuba hotel sign because I feel at home here. At one time, I felt like a complete stranger in Israel and even in Tzuba. I didn’t know anyone very well and I certainly didn’t know the area. But, within days, Tzuba became a place that I loved. Not just because I got used to it, but because the people here make me feel at home. All my friends are here on this one Kibbutz. The community here is so close and welcoming. I realized that Tzuba was really special to me when we came back from Yam lYam. After having an exciting two weeks away, I was still relieved to be back in my home. I never thought I’d feel so comfortable in a place so far away from my home town.
I agree that we should welcome everyone with open arms, especially in America. However, our religion is not the ruling religion in America, in fact far from that. I question why other religions do not welcome others in as much as we do. I understand that they do not define themselves as "strangers in the land of Egypt," but social justice and love is valued in so so so many religions.
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