Loving Your Neighbor
Sermon, April 27, 2007
Rabbi Bruce Kadden

In one of the most well-known stories from the Talmud, a heathen approached Shammai and said that he would become Jewish if Shammai could teaching him the entire Torah while standing on one foot.  Shammai, thinking that he was making fun of Judaism, chased him away.

He then approached Hillel, who responded to the challenge by saying:  “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor; this is the entire Torah, all the rest is commentary.  Now go and study.”

Hillel’s response is based upon the mitzvah that is the culmination of the Torah’s exhortation on being holy in parashat k’doshim, which we read this week.  “V’ahavta l’rei’echa kamocha/You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

According to Rabbi Akiva, this is the fundamental principle of the Torah.  Indeed, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon taught that this teaching was the source of many rabbinic commandments including visiting the sick, consoling mourners, attending to the deceased, providing a dowry for a bride, and showing hospitality to guests. 

As important and universally known as this teaching is, it is not altogether clear precisely what it means.  Indeed, the rabbis carefully examined each word, asking such questions as: 
--What does it mean to “love” your neighbor?
--Can love be commanded?
--Who is “your neighbor?”
--What does it mean to love another “as yourself?”

The Torah not only commands us to love our neighbor, but also to love the stranger and to love God.  In each case, the rabbis interpret love, not as an abstract feeling, but as being demonstrated through concrete actions.  The book Sefer HaChinuch, which explains each mitzvah of the Torah teaches that this mitzvah means we should behave toward our neighbor as we behave toward ourselves, such as protecting property and removing harm.  Furthermore, it says that when talking about others, we should offer words of praise to bolster their esteem, rather than finding “honor in the other’s disgrace.”

For the rabbis, love was not about how one felt toward another, but what one did.  They were much more interested in how one behaved toward others than how one felt about them.  The rabbis understood that it does not make sense to command feelings, for they flow naturally, and therefore the Torah must be commanding actions.

The rabbis also discuss to whom the word “rei’echa/your neighbor” refers?  Does it refer to one who lives in proximity, to one’s fellow Jew, or to all human beings?  Many rabbis assumed that this term referred to fellow Israelites.  They reached this conclusion because the first part of the verse, which admonishes us not to bear a grudge or show vengeance, is directed toward “b’nei ameacha/members of your people.”  They read the word “rei’echa” as a synonym for b’nei amecha. 

But in Hebrew, when words are used in parallelism, they do not always have the exact same meaning; the second word sometimes expands on the first.  If we examine the uses of the word rei’echa elsewhere in the Torah, we see that sometimes refers to anyone, not just to a fellow Jew.

Furthermore, even if in this verse it does apply only to other Jews, later in the same chapter we are commanded to love the stranger who resides with us as ourselves.  In fact, the inclusion of this teaching likely led the rabbis to conclude that loving one’s neighbor only referred to fellow Israelites since the rabbis assumed that the Torah was never redundant; every teaching had to offer a unique lesson.

The most challenging part of this teaching for the rabbis was the phrase “as yourself.”  Rabbi Akiva, for example, taught that when it comes down to it, our life takes precedence over someone else’s.  “How the, Nechama Leibowitz asks, “can the Torah legitimately demand that we love all our fellowmen, equally, as ourselves?” 

Rashbam, a medieval commentator, answers the question by limiting the text’s application.  He says that we must love our neighbor “if your neighbor is good,” but if he is wicked,” then we must follow the teaching from Proverbs (8:13), which says that “the fear of God is to hate evil.”

Rabbi Moses ben Nachman offered a different interpretation.  He pointed out that though we may wish our neighbors well in some things, we might not wish them well in everything.  And even if we do wish them well in everything, we may not want them to be equal to us.  Rather, we still want to be superior in some respect.  “It was this form of selfishness that the Torah condemned,” he concluded.

One of the important principles of the rabbis is that God would not command something that is beyond human capability.  Certain mitzvot might be difficult to fulfill, at least on a day to day basis, but not impossible to fulfill. 

A commentator known as the Biur, therefore concluded that the proper way to understand this verse was:  “Love your neighbor who is as yourself.  Every person was created in God’s image” and therefore is deserving of our love.  In other words, the passage does not speak of either the extent or the intensity of the love that we should show, but simply says that we should love others because they are human beings as we are.  This teaching is consistent with the teaching that all human beings are created in the Divine image and are therefore due or respect and love.

When Hillel summarized the Torah with the verse, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” he recognized that this teaching was the core principal of human behavior.  Only if we accept that all other human beings are created in God’s image will we be inclined to treat them properly.  And only when we do treat them properly do have any hope of bringing the world closer to redemption.

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