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Love ye therefore the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:19) | |
Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes. And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread out his hands towards heaven and he said— Moreover concerning the stranger that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for Thy name’s sake— for they shall hear of Thy great name and of Thy mighty hand, and of Thine outstretched arm— when he shall come and pray toward this house; hear Thou in heaven, Thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee for; that all people of the earth may know Thy name to fear Thee, as doth Thy people Israel, and that they may know that Thy name is called upon this house which I have built. (I Kings 8:41-43) | |
‘Thy priests are clad in righteousness.’ This verse of the Psalms refers to righteous men of all nations. They are priests to the blessed Holy One. (Eliyahu Zuta 20, Warsaw ed.) | |
I call heaven and earth to witness that whether it be Gentile or Israelite, man or woman, slave or handmaid, the Divine Spirit rests upon all of them according to their deeds. (Eliyahu Rabba, ed. Friedmann p. 48) | |
The Gentiles, by wisdom and knowledge and understanding, may well attain to the very essence of the Torah, and love God with perfect love, whether He sends them happiness or sorrow. (Leviticus Rabba 3.7) | |
Judaism looks upon all human beings as children of one Father; thinks of them all as created in the image of God, and insists that a man is to be judged not by his religion, but by his action. (Samuel David Luzzato, Sefer Yesodei HaTorah 36.1) | |
Thou shalt love the stranger, is one of the noblest insistences of true religion. Man’s untutored tendency is to love himself, and to consider his own conduct the proper rule of life. He is prone to feel contempt for strangers, and to despise strange ideas. All people tend to group the rest of humanity under the term ‘barbarians.’ Thus humanity chronically breaks up into sharp divisions, nation against nation, race against race, man against man. | |
The faith of Israel began very early to combat the natural intolerance of men. The lesson of mutual tolerance was natural to it, for the religion of Israel grew up under stress. The sons of Jacob had been slaves under hard taskmasters. They had felt the bitter pain that is often the lot of the stranger. Thus they understood readily the behest of their leader: Love ye therefore the stranger, for strangers were ye in the land of Egypt. | |
Judaism developed the concept of God the Creator, the Universal Father to whom all men are children. Thence grew the conviction that the Lord is good to all and His tender mercies are over all His works. The royal builder of God’s first sanctuary on Mt. Zion, dedicated the Temple with the prayer that God hearken to the supplication of the stranger who may come to seek His presence. | |
When, therefore, we consider ourselves the people chosen for God’s service, we must accept our task in humility. It must not be a cause for haughty superiority. While we consider our faith to be true, we must not consider other faiths false. We must respect the soul of the stranger, although his faith seem foreign to us, although his prayers seem improper. No bitterness should ever make us forget that, though men be strangers to each other, they are children to God. | |
O Exalted Power who inhabitest eternity, what can we say in Thy presence? Our might is as naught before Thee; our pretensions are empty; our human superiorities vain. When we forget Thee, we boast of our strength. We dream illusory dreams of greatness. We are childishly proud of ourselves, and scornful of our fellow men. But in Thy presence our vauntings cease. At Thy throne, all men stand in humble equality. | |
We thank Thee this day for the visions of ancient days; that Thou didst teach Thy seers to dream of all Thy children standing humbly in reverence before Thee, joined in mutual friendship. We thank Thee for all the ancient behests to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to love the stranger. | |
Heavenly King, Thou hast lovingkindness abundant for all Thy children. Grant us, we pray Thee, a measure of Thy goodness, and of Thy tolerance, so that no hatred may ever blind us to each other’s godliness. May all of us be ever conscious of standing together in Thy great Presence. | |
O Source of all strength, grant us the power to endure adversity in patience, to meet harshness with gentleness, and to answer prejudice with serene tolerance, so that men may recognize that Thy Presence dwells in our midst, and through our humanity, learn of Thy divine mercy. Amen. |
“Tolerance” is the twenty-fourth prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 83-86. Unfortunately, we do not yet know of a resource providing clear attribution of authorship for any of the prayers in this volume.
Source(s)
“Tolerance, a prayer against bigotry and prejudice (CCAR 1923)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication.
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