1. conversions
harvey gefen , |
toronto |
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(11.08.14) |
the biblical law is that one must love the GER who is a foreigner; a stranger ;someone from another country like yourself because you were a foreigner in the land of egypt,it told israel you know how egypt treated you as a foreigner dont do that to them,the real lesson is that g-d is telling jews that you and the stranger are children of the one g-d and equal in worth ,we have mutual and reciprocal duties and obligations to each other.g-ds laws are universal,history teaches us men are tribal as they fear ; distrust and even hate the stranger,every jew after abraham was a convert,if abraham and jews after him did not welcome converts we would not have a nation,g-d states the laws of the torah will save man and his soul,if we have such a precious medicine is it not incumbent on us to welcome converts as abraham welcomed our forefathers, the commandmets to love thy brother; neighbour and stranger like yourself again reaffirm our duties to each other as children of g-d, to love someone is not only to refrain from hurting them.the qn, is do we use abrahams and g-ds universal stds, based on love or the tribal std. of the rest of the nations, g-d demands we love the stranger not because he is one of us but because he a child of g-d borne as us in the image of g-d,
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