44 | SEPTEMBER 8 • 2022 

K

i Teitse contains more laws than 
any other parshah in the Torah, 
and it is possible to be over-
whelmed by this embarrass de richesse of 
detail. One verse, however, stands out 
by its sheer counter-intuitiveness: “Do 
not despise an Edomite, 
because he is your brother. 
Do not despise the Egyptian, 
because you were a stranger 
in his land” (Deut. 23:8).
These are very unexpected 
commands. Examining and 
understanding them will 
teach us an important lesson 
about society, in general, and leadership, 
in particular.
First, a broader point. Jews have been 
subjected to racism more and longer than 
any other nation on Earth. Therefore, we 
should be doubly careful never to be guilty 
of it ourselves. We believe that God cre-
ated each of us, regardless of color, class, 
culture or creed, in His image. If we look 
down on other people because of their 
race, then we are demeaning God’s image 
and failing to respect kavod ha-briyot, 
human dignity.

If we think less of a person because of 
the color of their skin, we are repeating the 
sin of Aaron and Miriam — “Miriam and 
Aaron spoke against Moses because of the 
Cushite woman whom he had married, for 
he had married a Cushite woman” (Num. 
12:1). There are midrashic interpretations 
that read this passage differently, but the 
plain sense is that they looked down on 
Moses’ wife because, like Cushite women 
generally, she had dark skin, making this 
one of the first recorded instances of color 
prejudice. For this sin, Miriam was struck 
with leprosy.
Instead, we should remember the lovely 
line from Song of Songs: “I am black but 
beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like 
the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of 
Solomon. Do not stare at me because I am 
dark, because the sun has looked upon 
me” (Song of Songs 1:5).
Jews cannot complain that others have 
racist attitudes toward them if they hold 
racist attitudes toward others. “First cor-
rect yourself; then [seek to] correct oth-
ers,” says the Talmud. (Bava Metzia 107b) 
The Tanach contains negative evaluations 
of some other nations, but always and 

only because of their moral failures, never 
because of ethnicity or skin color.

COMMANDS AGAINST HATE
Now to Moses’ two commands against 
hate, both of which are surprising. “Do not 
despise the Egyptian, because you were a 
stranger in his land.” This is extraordinary. 
The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites, 
planned a program against them of slow 
genocide, and then refused to let them go 
despite the plagues that were devastating 
the land. Are these reasons not to hate?
True. But the Egyptians had initially 
provided a refuge for the Israelites at a 
time of famine. They had honored Joseph 
when he was elevated as second-in-com-
mand to Pharaoh. The evils they com-
mitted against the Hebrews under “a new 
King who did not know of Joseph” (Ex. 
1:8) were at the instigation of Pharaoh 
himself, not the people as a whole. Besides 
which, it was the daughter of that same 
Pharaoh who had rescued Moses and 
adopted him.
The Torah makes a clear distinction 
between the Egyptians and the Amalekites. 
The latter were destined to be perennial 

Against Hate 

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

