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What connects idol worship, oppressing the convert, and exploiting the widow and orphan? Rabbi Zweig develops a bold thesis: all three involve ratzeach—a form of murder or violence against God Himself. The Torah (תורה) prescribes death by sword (yochrom) for the idolater and promises that those who exploit the defenseless will see their own families rendered utterly helpless, measure for measure.
This shiur delves into the seemingly disjointed pesukim in Parshas Mishpatim (Shemos 22:19-23) that prohibit sacrificing to other gods, oppressing the convert, and afflicting the widow and orphan. Rabbi Zweig opens by pointing out a series of textual difficulties: Why does the parsha jump from idol worship directly to laws about the convert with a connecting vav? What is the relationship between these laws? Why does the convert appear twice in the same verse with different connotations—once as someone warmly received (the ger tzedek who converted) and once as the shunned stranger we were in Egypt? The Torah (תורה) commands us not to oppress the convert "because you were strangers in Egypt," yet we were despised strangers, while the convert is someone we are commanded to love even more than a fellow Jew. How does our experience in Egypt inform sensitivity to someone in a fundamentally better position? The shiur then examines the language of "lo tirtzah" (you shall not oppress) as it applies to the convert, which Rashi (רש"י) explains refers to monetary oppression, and "lo s'anun" (you shall not afflict) regarding the widow and orphan. Why does the Torah single out monetary harm specifically? Why is robbery highlighted as the particular wrong one might commit against these vulnerable populations? Rabbi Zweig explores Rashi's comment that "mum she'bach" (a defect that is in you)—that insulting a convert for his past is projecting one's own deficiency onto another. The Ibn Ezra is cited as reading "oso" (him) in the singular as referring to the orphan specifically, not to both widow and orphan together.
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Why does the Midrash connect Pharaoh's expulsion of the Jews to the mitzvah of shiluach hakan? The shiur develops a chiddush that Pharaoh's sin wasn't only drowning the children, but the insensitivity of expelling the parents afterward. The deeper analysis reveals that Pharaoh may have valued the Jews greatly and wanted to control them—making his expulsion an act of tremendous cruelty, not liberation.
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Shemos 22:19-23
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