DEUT1224 In Deuteronomy the Torah states [this verse]. Shortly thereafter, Moses repeats the command about the Amalekites, adding a significant detail: (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). (Continued at [[EXOD7]] Exodus 1:9 numerous SACKS 99)

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DEUT1226 See [[EXOD220]] Exodus 15:9 pursue SINAI3 196-7

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DEUT1227 See [[EXOD549]] Exodus 21:14 neighbor SPERO 126-30

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DEUT1223 Don't point to an institution's imperfections as reasons for not acknowledging the good it has done you. The Talmud teaches, "Cast no mud into the well from which you have drunk" (Bava Kamma 92b). Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik taught that if you study at a school, even if you come to disagree with the school's approach later, don't "throw mud at it" and condemn it because of those aspects of the institution with which you now disagree (Rabbi Soloveitchik's teaching is cited in Weiss, Insights, vol. 1, 66). This dictum is relevant as well for those who have changed their religious orientation. For example, some Jews who grow up Orthodox later leave it for other denominations, while others who grow up Reform, Conservative, or unaffiliated later become Orthodox. Such people often speak with bitterness of the movements in which they were raised, but they should also acknowledge whatever good they gained from their earlier experiences. And those who claim that their experience was entirely negative should reflect on what is perhaps the most unusual of the Torah's 613 commandments: "You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land" [this verse]. Although the experience of Egyptian slavery included oppression and the drowning of Israelite newborns, the Israelites were commanded not to hate Egyptians; rather, they were to remember--along with the recollections of slavery--how Egypt originally admitted them (at the time of Joseph), saved them from famine, and treated them with generosity. If we are commanded to remember the good even when mingled with such evil, then we are certainly obligated to recall the good done for us by institutions and denominations with which we later come to disagree.

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DEUT1228 The Midrash comments that the words "a time for hating" (Ecclesiastes 3:8) refer to "the time when a war is being fought" (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 3:8). The implication of both the biblical verse and the midrashic comment is that when the war is over, the hatred should end. As Winston Churchill said, "I oppose the pacifists during the war, and the jingoists after the war." This is consistent with what was noted earlier; after the Exodus from Egypt--but not during the time Jews were enslaved there-- Jews were instructed not to hate Egypt [this verse].

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DEUT1225 See [[EXOD26]] Exodus 1:22 throw TELVOL2 265

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DEUT1229 R. Yossi opened [his discourse] in honor of the host, expounding: Now if of the Egyptians, who befriended Israel for mercenary motives only, as it is written (Genesis 47:6): "And if you know of capable men among them, then make them overseers of my cattle" -- Scripture writes: "You shall not despise an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land" -- then one who is host to a Torah scholar, and feeds him, and gives him to drink, and treats him of his possessions -- how much more so! (Berachoth 63b)

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DEUT1230 Do not refrain from marrying the third generation of an Edomite convert. Do not shun the descendants of Esav, for their subjugation of us, as the Egyptian enslavement, is a decree from Heaven. Therefore, we are forbidden to hate them for what they do to us. If they convert to our faith, we regard them as our brothers and eventually their descendants can marry as any other Jew. By contrast, the men of Amon and Moav are forever forbidden to marry Jewish women, for although they caused us suffering only once, their deed revealed the repulsive degree of inhumanity, as explained earlier [Deuteronomy 23:4 congregation CHINUCH 359-60].

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DEUT1231 See [[EXOD549]] Exodus 21:14 neighbor SPERO 126-30

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DEUT1232 Gratitude for what others have done was indicative of the health of the soul. The Rabbis expressed this in a proverb: "Into the well from which you have drunk, throw no stones". (B.K. 92b) Does not scripture tell us not to despise the Egyptian "because thou wast a stranger in his land"? [this verse]. It is imperative that we ourselves do not suffer from the defects of which we complain in another. (B. Metz. 107b; B.B. 60b: ["Rabbi Natan used to say: Whatever defect is in you, do not call your fellow"] -- Is it not ridiculous when the pot calls the kettle black? We must take care to speak about a thing only when we know it for certain; at no time must you repeat anything about another, especially if it be derogatory to him and of which the truth is doubtful. (Yeb. 65b).

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