Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D
There are different ways to relate
to others. The best, I believe, is to have empathy for someone else. What is
empathy? According to Carl Rogers, a prominent American psychologist, it is
“the accurate understanding of the other person’s world as seen from the
inside.” It is like getting into the other people’s shoes and view the world
through their eyes. It is stronger than sympathy, which is simply understanding
your neighbor’s plight. When you empathize, however, you get into their skin!
This usually has three components: cognitive, emotional, and compassionate.
An example of empathy comes from the
Babylonian Talmud, which attributes a saying to Moses, “Since the Jewish
people are suffering (in Egypt), I too will be with them in their suffering” (Taanit
11a).
But there is even an older text in
the Hebrew Bible, which states, “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you
know the feelings (literally, the heart) of the stranger, for you were
strangers in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 23:9). Here the word for “stranger” in Hebrew is
GER, and it means, a resident alien, a sojourner. (For the Rabbis, later on, a
GER is a convert). In another Biblical text we are reminded that “we used to
eat fish free in Egypt” (Num.11:5). Life was good there!
Note that the law in Ex. 23:9 is in
conflict with another statement in the Bible which reminds us that “we were
slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt” (Deut. 6:21). So, were we sojourners having a good
time in Egypt or were we slaves suffering under the yoke of the Egyptians? The
answer is simple: the text is Exodus is early (c.9 cent. BCE). Things changed
by the time Deuteronomy was put together in the 7th cent. BCE.
The original message is still compelling.
The law in Exodus is telling us, when you see a stranger, treat him/her with
kindness and care, for you must remember that, once upon a time, you yourself
were a stranger in Egypt. Now, this teaching applies to us and those we deal
with in our daily life. We need people who care for others. And for that we must
develop an empathic personality. Our lives will be enriched, and we will find
pleasure in our achievements.
SONSINO’S BLOG,
rsonsino.blogspot.com
