#Bible verse about kindness to strangers free

As a people, we have experienced otherness. The rabbis tell us to be kind to the strangers because we were strangers and have been in need of such kindness. Our tradition commands us to be welcoming. Will they like you? Will they be welcoming? Will they help to support your relationship to ensure that there is goodwill and nurturing? Anyone who has married into a new family knows that there is anxiety and stress when meeting your partner’s family. We need to include those that want to join our people. Anyone who subjects converts to bullying, disdain, or cold indifference has no place in our community. For what purpose do we subject converts to such treatment?Īs we approach the Jewish festival of Shavuot, it is important to recall the most famous convert to Judaism, Ruth, who declares to her mother-in-law, Naomi: “your people shall be my people, your God, my God.” Was Naomi condescending or discouraging? Absolutely not.

I grow saddened by stories (which, unfortunately, I hear almost weekly) about the dismissal, embarrassment, coldness, and discouragement that converts experience. This was not the case for hundreds of years - for most of Jewish history, in fact. I think it is an incredible outcome that in the modern world there are non-Jews that sincerely want to convert and join our community. Sometimes, disparaging words are used against converts, accusing them of only wanting to convert in order to marry into our community. We should encourage them and confirm that we accept them. Our Jewish community wants these people to succeed. I need to be unequivocable: converts who are sincere and want to be Jewish belong with us. Often, their families may feel like they are losing them, adding to their burden.Īs a rabbi, my job is to guide converts through this enormous life choice and to support them. They feel that they are inadequate and need to do more to prove themselves. They often feel crippling doubt about their choices and religion. Genuine converts - people who really want to join the Jewish people - encounter many internal challenging obstacles themselves. This does not mean that anyone should be allowed in, but it also does not mean ignoring, much less “othering” prospective converts under the guise of “conversion requirements”. While Jewish law requires that we must turn the prospective convert away three times, in order to ensure their sincerity, every interaction during this process should be courteous. Some rabbis believe that conversion should be a difficult process because the requirements of living a Jewish life are difficult. While joining the Jewish people is a serious commitment and requires genuine consideration, that should not preclude people within our faith from welcoming the convert. As a rabbi who works closely with multifaith and multicultural communities, and who runs a conversion program out of the Ark Centre, it is my job, my calling, to live by this commandment. We are commanded to show consideration and compassion to them.

This verse provides a Torah commandment on how we are to treat converts and strangers. As Leviticus 19:34 tells us: “the stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as the home-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself …” Despite our tradition imploring us to welcome the stranger and convert, there is still work to be done. Whenever we encounter people from outside our community or who are different to us, we have the obligation to extend kindness. The importance of being open, therefore, and welcoming to “strangers” cannot be understated.

#Bible verse about kindness to strangers free

In Egypt we were slaves, and with the Exodus we became a free people. And no wonder: the Jewish people have firsthand experience at being outsiders. The commandment to be kind to the stranger appears more times in the Torah than any other commandment. Our tradition requires us to open our hearts and minds to those who are outsiders. The obligation to welcome the stranger is one of Judaism’s central tenets.