GEN529 The Talmud Shabbat 31a insists that the Golden Rule pronounced by Hillel: “What is hateful unto thee, do not to they fellow”, is a cardinal principle of Jewish Law which is applicable to all men.  It is instructive to understand why the Rabbinic Golden Rule is couched mostly in the negative, and not in the positive form advocated elsewhere. Judaism is primarily a discipline aiming at the curbing of unbridled instincts. Such discipline concerns itself more with what people must not do rather than with what they should do.  Rabbi Akiba, who elaborated the teachings of Hillel, was more explicit: “Whatever thou hatest to have done unto thee, do not do unto thy neighbor”.  Hence do not hurt him; do not speak ill of him; do not reveal his secrets to others; let his honor and his property be as dear to thee as thine own. Avot 4:15 and Abot de R. Nathan 26.  In this vein spoke also Ben Azzai: “The Torah, by beginning with ‘This is the book of the generations of Adam’ [this verse] makes it clear that the command ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’ Leviticus 19:18 refers to all people who must be included as ‘thy neighbor’.” Genesis Rabbah 24 (end).  “All righteous people, not only Jews”, says another sage, “shall enter the eternal Kingdom.” The Psalmist (118:20) did not specify the Jew, when he said: “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter into it.”  All citizens, irrespective of belief, are entitled to a share in the amenities of a township on which the maintenance of concord depends. All the poor of the town must be supported; all their dead given a decent burial; all their mourners comforted; and all their sick visited. Gittin 64a.  No Jew can be called righteous who is not good unto all. Kiddushin 40a. So important is the respect we must pay to all our fellow-pilgrims on earth that most of the Biblical prohibitions may be transgressed on its account. Kiddushin 40a; Berachot 19b; Avot 4:3; Bezah.32b.  LEHRMAN 57-8