embittered our lives for hundreds of years. A society that crushes the vulnerable betrays God’ s image. Second: Egypt had a structure, and we lived within it for generations. Our suffering came not from the existence of borders or law, but from cruelty and injustice.
Judaism does not idealize statelessness. Avraham negotiates for land. Yosef administers a national economy. Moshe establishes courts and officers. The Jewish story is not anti-structure; it is antioppression.
” ה ו י מ ת פ ל ל בשלומה של מ ל כ ו ת“: teaches Pirkei Avot— Pray for the welfare of the government( Avot 3:2). And the principle of dina d’ malchuta dina— the law of the land is law— affirms that legal order has religious weight. To respect just law is not merely civic; it is spiritual.
Thus, when we say,“ We were strangers in Egypt,” we do not learn that borders are immoral. We learn that power must never be abusive, and that memory must cultivate compassion. The Torah commands both empathy and structure.
A society may welcome the stranger— but through law, not through disregard for it. A person seeking to enter a community honors that community by honoring its laws. And a community honors God by ensuring its laws are just, humane, and applied without cruelty.
40