Active empathy can be life-changing
- sciart0
- Apr 14, 2025
- 1 min read
Excerpt: If there is one command above all others that speaks of the power and significance of empathy, it is the line in this week’s Parsha: “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger: You were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 23:9).
Why this command? The need for empathy surely extends way beyond strangers. It applies to marriage partners, parents and children, neighbors, colleagues at work, and so on. Empathy is essential to human interaction generally. Why then invoke it specifically about strangers?
The answer is that “empathy is strongest in groups where people identify with each other: family, friends, clubs, gangs, religions or races.”
The corollary to this is that the stronger the bond within the group, the sharper the suspicion and fear of those outside the group. It is easy to “love your neighbor as yourself.” It is very hard indeed to love, or even feel empathy for, a stranger.