LEV659 Honoring others… does not mean giving up the power and practice of exercising judgment, but puts the focus on moving away from unwise, useless, habitual, and even destructive acts of judgment. We start to move in that direction when we recognize the root of the problem lies in our own fears about our own inadequacies, of which we are only too aware, that make us fear that others will not give us the honor we feel we want and need. Our test is to recognize, internalize, and act upon the teaching of the sages: "The person who judges his neighbor in the scale of merit is himself judged favorably." (Shabbat 127b). The same Rabbi Akiva whose twenty-four students died in just over the period of a month because they did not give each other mutual respect was a great proponent of the teaching, "Love your neighbor as yourself," [this verse] calling it "the first principle of the Torah" (Sifra, Kedoshim 45. The Sifra is a collection of midrashic thought on the book of Leviticus/Vayikra. In this case, the commentary is to Parshat Kedoshim (19:1-20:27)).