"Justice, justice you shall pursue."
- Deuteronomy 16:20
Said twice. The only commandment repeated in the same breath.
The Promise
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"The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt."
- Leviticus 19:34
This is who we were supposed to be.
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"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner."
- Leviticus 23:22
The economy was designed with margins for the stranger built in.
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The Fall
"You must destroy them totally."
- Deuteronomy 7:2
Same book. Different verse. Which one did we choose?
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2.5 million olive trees.
The Torah says leave the olives for the stranger.
"When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow."
- Deuteronomy 24:20
We uprooted the trees. We're starving the stranger.
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Hanging. 90 days. One law for them, another law for us.
"One manner of law for the stranger as for your own."
- Leviticus 24:22
We stopped reading at the comma.
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165 children. A school.
"Whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble..."
- Matthew 18:6
Yes, even THEIR book says the same thing ours does.
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@satan: I was wondering when you'd notice.
The Mirror
B'Tselem.
The name means "in the image of."
"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them."
- Genesis 1:27
They named their organization after our founding principle. While we forgot it.
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450 soldiers signed letters of refusal. Not desertion. Refusal.
"Here I am, send me."
- Isaiah 6:8
They answered the call. The call was: stop.
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Breaking the Silence. Soldiers who came home and said: this is not who we're supposed to be.
The most Israeli act possible - arguing with the command.
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Abraham: I argued with God about Sodom. They argue with the state about Gaza. Same tradition.
The Return
Teshuva. Return.
Not "repentance" - that's the Christian translation. The Hebrew means: come back.
The door was always open.
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"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life, that both you and your descendants may live."
- Deuteronomy 30:19
The choice is still available.
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Values Statement
Founding Principles - Organizational Mission
36x
Justice for the Stranger
Mentioned thirty-six times in the Torah. More than any other commandment. More than Shabbat. More than kashrut. More than prayer. The stranger is not the exception. The stranger is the test.
Lev 24:22
One Law for All
"You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born." Not a suggestion. Not aspirational. Constitutional. The original constitution had one law. We wrote a second.
Lev 19:34
Love the Foreigner
"Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt." The reason is built into the commandment. We know what it is to be the stranger. That was supposed to make us incapable of doing it to others.
Lev 23:22
Feed the Poor
"Do not reap to the very edges of your field." An economy with margins for the stranger built into the law. Not charity. Structure. We didn't leave the edges. We uprooted the field.
Lev 19:16
Don't Stand Idle While Blood Is Shed
"Do not stand by while your neighbor's blood is shed." Not optional. Not aspirational. A commandment. And we are standing. And the blood is being shed. And we know it.
Amos 3:2
Chosen = Higher Standard
"You ONLY have I chosen among all the families of the earth; THEREFORE I will punish you for all your sins." Chosen is a magnifying glass, not a shield. The standard is higher because the claim is higher. Every prophet said the same thing.
Contact Info
Location: From Sinai to everywhere. Currently: complicated.
Founded: Approximately 1312 BCE (traditional dating)
Status: Covenanted (non-revocable)
Relationship: It's complicated (with G-d, with the world, with ourselves)
Friends · 6
The ones who warned. Nobody listened then either.
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Jeremiah
The one who cried. Nobody listened then either.
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Isaiah
Saw the throne. Spoke to kings. Got sawed in half.
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Amos
A shepherd. Promoted to prosecutor. Against his own people.
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Ezekiel
Saw the chariot. Ate the scroll. Lay on his side 390 days.
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Micah
Said Zion would be plowed like a field. They told him to shut up.
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Hosea
Married the unfaithful. Loved her anyway. That was the message.
Six prophets. Six warnings. One pattern. You already know how this goes.
Work Experience
Light Unto the Nations
Universal Ethics Division
Sinai - Present (allegedly)
- Received 613 commandments, 36 of which concern treatment of strangers
- Introduced radical concepts: one law for all, edges of the field, love the stranger as yourself
- Invented the weekend (Shabbat applies to servants and foreigners too)
- Performance review: pending. Permanently pending.
Covenant Holder
Divine Partnership (Irrevocable Contract)
Abraham - Present
- Argued with God about Sodom (Genesis 18). Won the argument. Lost the city.
- Wrestled with the angel (Genesis 32). Got a new name. And a limp.
- Built a golden calf 40 days after Sinai. Got a second set of tablets anyway.
- The covenant was never conditional on being good. It was conditional on trying.
Endorsements
"Ethical Monotheism" - endorsed by the entire Western canon (often without credit)
"Arguing with Authority" - endorsed by Abraham, Moses, Job, and every Jewish mother
"Surviving Destruction" - endorsed by history (reluctantly, repeatedly)