Usually, we think of the Exodus as the foundation of Judaism’s social justice practice. We are supposed to remember our experience of being oppressed and enslaved and therefore act to ensure that others are free. We are commanded each day to remember  the Exodus and to tell and even re-experience the story at the seder .
         Yet, in this week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, we are told: “You shall not wrong a stranger (ger) or oppress the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Ex. 22: 20). This commandment is repeated a number of times in the Torah, emphasizing its importance. It does not instruct us to free the enslaved because we were enslaved. It reminds us that we were strangers in the land of Egypt. 
         I want to suggest that the foundation for social justice in Judaism is that we were strangers in Egypt. Our story is an example of how vulnerable to persecution strangers are. They are seen as different, threatening, or untrustworthy. Most of all, strangers are not us. Whoever is not you is a ger. The word ger comes from the root meaning to sojourn. Paradoxically, Bible scholars interpret ger to mean someone who is not a native but a temporary resident. The Torah seems to be telling us that even someone who is not a long-time resident still needs to be treated as someone with rights like the natives.
         Why this emphasis on strangers rather than the slavery of Egypt? Most people have not experienced slavery even in a metaphorical sense but we all have experienced the feeling of being strangers in our life and not just if we move to a new place or go to college. We are strangers when we feel left out of a group that we thought of as our colleagues or our friends. We are strangers when called upon to act in ways we feel incompetent or uncertain about. We are strangers when we feel judged by others. No one alive has not experienced the alienation that comes from feeling like a stranger.
         The Torah asks us not to take advantage of that vulnerability. Instead, we are to treat everyone as equals. We need to listen to the cry as God says: I will hear their outcry as soon as they cry out to me. (Ex. 22:22). Hearing the outcry is not just those who are “obviously” in need. We all are. Everyone feels excluded;---those who feel society must change more and those who feel society has changed too much. 
         If America is going to move forward, we need neither the wise child who believes she holds all the truth, nor the wicked child whose only criteria is how it benefits him, nor the child who thinks there are simple solutions to our complex problems. We need the fourth child, the one who is unsure of the answers but still believes in the conversation, the one who hopes for a time when even  “strangers” will sit unafraid beneath their fig tree.