EXOD648 In a Jewish society, it is the non-Jew who is the stranger, the one who is most different. The mitzvah most often repeated in the Torah is not the commandment to keep the Sabbath, kashruth, or any ritual law. The commandment repeated 36 times is the mitzvah to love the stranger and to treat him or her properly. Bava Metzia 59b. The Torah is replete with references to this effect. (A few of the verses are this verse, Leviticus 19:34, 25:35; Deuteronomy 10:18 – 19, 24:17.) The Torah emphasis against mistreating a stranger, that is, discriminating against him because he is different, cannot be explained because non-Jews were so prevalent in ancient Jewish society. We know the opposite to be true--there were relatively few "strangers" living among the Jewish population. Why, then, does the Torah choose to stress this commandment more than all the others? The Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah #63 explains that the purpose of this mitzvah is to teach ourselves not to do evil against or not even to think evil about the most helpless and defenseless in society. The non-Jew, the stranger, is the easiest and safest target since it is difficult to fight back. That is why the Torah emphasizes this mitzvah 36 or 46 times. How we treat a stranger, the most defenseless, becomes a moral barometer of society in general. If we can be sensitive to treat the most defenseless person fairly and with kindness, it is clear that we will treat everyone else with his sensitivity as well. Thus, by commanding Jews to love this stranger and relate to him or her without prejudice, we will develop this feeling of kindness to all people in society.