Just Be Nice!

If you’ve ever heard of the group Schlock Rock, they have a popular song based on one line in today’s parasha,  it goes like this:

Be kind to your friend on the street,

V’ahavta l’reicha kamocha

Zeh klal gadol ba-Torah

Says Rabbi Akivah

So the next time you meet anyone

Just Be Nice!!!!

Perhaps you can tell that it is a parody of line 18 in chapter 19 of Leviticus which says, “  You shall love your fellow as yourself…I am G-d.”  This line is part of the holiness code found in parshat Kedoshim.  It is designed to teach each individual how to be holy, how “to harmonize with G-d’s plan for the world.” (Rav Kook)  Rav Kook points out that the holiness code “does not require detachment from the world.”  Instead, “kedusha (holiness) demands that one knows how to be completely involved with life and society.”

This line was commented on by two very famous Rabbis of the past, Hillel and Akiva.  Hillel’s take on it was, “What is hateful to you, don’t do unto others.  That’s the whole Torah!”  Akiva stated that the rule, “You shall love your fellow as yourself, is a great rule in the Torah.”  In many ways, Hillel’s understanding was more comprehensive than Akiva’s, it was based on the principle that all human beings are created in the image of G-d.  The term, one’s fellow, from Hillel’s perspective, refers to each and every single human being, without consideration of their race or religion.   Hillel’s interpretation recognizes the fact that each individual has self-worth just because he or she is created with a little bit of G-d within.  Akiva’s understanding of the statement, is based on the idea that loving one’s fellow refers to loving one’s fellow Jews.  It’s not that Akiva didn’t recognize the preciousness of all of humanity, it’s that he felt it was necessary to act in ways that would immediately affect one’s family and community first before extending one’s efforts to the rest of humanity.

So much of Jewish tradition is based on this statement in the Torah.  Yet, the Torah doesn’t tell us that we must visit the sick, comfort mourners, or offer hospitality to others. Such behaviors are an outgrowth of the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself as developed by our Sages. 

What happens if an individual has low self-esteem, little regard for his or her own self.  Does this fact  give that individual permission to abuse others?  Of course the answer is NO!  The unwritten expectation is that you must also love yourself because such love will make it possible for you to be “patient, forgiving, and generous to others.” (Telushkin)

Danny Siegel, who once visited our community to share his knowledge about tzedakah and gemilut chasadim (acts of loving kindness) expressed the idea of how to love another as oneself in concrete terms.  He said, “As I would not want to suffer hunger, homelessness, joblessness, ill health, and disease, and personal tragedies of every kind, so too I would not wish that on others. And I would have to act to prevent these misfortunes from happening to them.”  Loving is not expressed through emotions, but through behaviors.

Do you think this statement in Leviticus also applies to loving evil people as much as you love yourself?  Are there limitations to whom you should love and whom you should not love?  Do you believe we are required to love individuals who engage in cruel and harmful behaviors toward others?

The Talmud, in ketubot 37b, states that “the law of love of neighbor applies even to a prisoner sentenced to be executed.  According to the Rabbis, this law dictates that the sentence be carried out as quickly as possible; what society owes the prisoner is a mitahyaffa, ‘a good death, which Jewish law understands as meaning a quick one.”  (Telushkin/Love Your Neighbor As Yourself).  That’s the reason that crucifixion was not permitted according to Jewish law.

The statement that one should love your neighbor as yourself, could lead to years of study, leading to a lifetime of good deeds.  I suggest reading Joseph Telushkin’s book, Love Your Neighbor As Yourself, to begin the process.  It certainly is a subject that spawns many questions that our Sages have tried to answer over the years.

Shabbat Shalom.