A Tutorial in Role Reversal

“The imperative of memory echoes like a leitmotif throughout biblical prose: the verb zachor, remember, appears no less than 169 times. Memory in this sense is role reversal: do not harm the stranger because you were once where he is now. See the world from his perspective because it is where your ancestors stood, and you have never ceased to recall and re-enact their story. Biblical ethics is a prolonged tutorial in role reversal.”

Not in God’s Name, p. 184