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From our Torah portion this week (i.e., parashat Mishpatim) we are reminded not to wrong or oppress the "stranger," because we were also once strangers in Egypt (Exod. 22:21). The unspoken assumption here is that since we can understand how it feels to be oppressed and wounded, our suffering can be transformed into compassion for others (including ourselves). But how? How are we set free from our inner pain so that it no longer is a destructive force but rather a means of healing? By understanding our pain is carried by others, too.
To acknowledge the pain of others means we also acknowledge our own. We let go of the weapons of blame and retribution when we give voice to the "stranger" within ourselves, when we realize that others share in our suffering: "Do not oppress a sojourner, for you know the soul of a stranger (וְאַתֶּם יְדַעְתֶּם אֶת־נֶפֶשׁ הַגֵּר), for you were strangers..." (Exod. 23:9). The Hebrew verb used here (i.e., yada, to know), implies intimacy, personal and direct understanding. You "know the soul" of the stranger by reliving their place, and by using the "good eye" to see how they share common our pain, joy, hope, and so on.
Being sensitive to the suffering of others helps us find our own healing: We are brought out of our "inner Egypt" into freedom and wholeness. Remembering what it was like to be a stranger helps us extend compassion to ourselves, and that brings healing to our hearts.
Hebrew Lesson
Deut. 10:19 Hebrew reading:
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