LEV661 If you are a religious person, be aware that envy will make it impossible for you to fulfill one of the most important biblical commands, "Love your neighbor as yourself" [this verse]. You can't both love someone and feel envy and hostility toward him (an occasional pain of envy is common). Therefore, as noted in the preceding paragraph, when you envy someone, focus on what it is in that person that you find good and lovable. If you are a relatively good person, it is unlikely that the person whom you envy is devoid of virtue; good people don't envy the Adolf Hitler's of the world, no matter how powerful, affluent, or otherwise "successful" they are. Also, try to counter your hostile thoughts (most envious people wish that those they envy will suffer a significant decline in fortune) by offering prayers to God on behalf of those you envy. At first, when you offer a prayer like this, it may be difficult to be sincere. Therefore, before you pray, spend a minute concentrating on your desire to fulfill the command to "Love your neighbor as yourself." Offer the prayer on a daily basis for several weeks, or until you feel your envy start to decline.

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

LEV697 The Talmud teaches us that all of us, on almost a daily basis, say or imply unfair things about others (Bava Batra 165a). Therefore the battle against lashon hara is one that we must fight one day at a time. Our goal should be to observe as much of these laws as we can, even if our efforts are not always successful. Although some people are disturbed that Jewish law includes a commandment that cannot be fully observed, this is not the only law of which this is true. How many of us can claim that we never violate the Torah's most famous command, "Love your neighbor as yourself" [this verse]? Yet this law causes many of us to act on a higher ethical level than we would otherwise. In the same way, the prohibition against talebearing helps restrain us--even when tempted--from speaking ill of others; even if we do say something we shouldn't, we share it with fewer people.

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

LEV656 Even though the Torah ascribes no special significance to the verse "Love your neighbor as yourself," Jewish sources have long understood this commandment as having special --and in some ways preeminent--significance. Rabbi Akiva (second century) declared that the injunction to love your neighbor "is the major principle of the Torah"(Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim 9:4). More than a century before Akiva, Hillel presented a negative formulation of this law, "What is hateful to you, do not do your neighbor." He also declared this to be Judaism's central teaching: "This is the whole Torah! All the rest is commentary" (Shabbat 31a). Occasionally, I have heard people describing Hillel's formulation of the Golden Rule as representing a lower, more pragmatic ethic than the positive but vaguely phrased "Love your neighbor." But, in fact, Hillel was concerned with offering people practical guidance on how to make this law part of their daily behavior, and he understood that it is first necessary to teach people what not to do. ... In defining Judaism initially by what one shouldn't do, Hillel may have been emulating God's articulation of the Ten Commandments. Thus, my friend Dr. Isaac Herschkopf notes that "God did not command us to be honest, truthful, and faithful. Rather, He commanded us, 'Don't steal,' 'Don't bear false witness,' 'Don't commit adultery.' It might be less positive, but it is undeniably more effective."

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

LEV693 The medieval biblical exegete Rashbam commented on the words "Love your neighbor" that "if your neighbor is good [love him], but if he is evil, 'The fear of the Lord is to hate evil'" (Proverbs 8:13). Nechama Leibowitz, perhaps the greatest Bible teacher of the twentieth Century (see also pages 21-23) has argued that although Rashbam's fame for his "strict adherence to the plain sense of the text," in this instance he has violated his own principle since "the text itself affords no hint of any such distinction between a good and evil man. On the contrary, it employs a neutral comprehensive term, 'neighbor.'" (Leibowitz, Studies in Yayikra (Leviticus), 195.) [Although I prefer Rashbam's understanding of the text to that of Leibowitz's, the fact that he does not define what he means by "evil" is problematic. Thus, on occasion, I have heard some observant Jews refer to Jews who don't observe Judaism's ritual laws as resha'im, evil people, and who seem to believe, in consequence, that the law commanding love of neighbor does not apply to them. This is very unfortunate and morally wrong. The word "evil" should apply in the general sense in which people use this term, as referring to people who engage in cruel and harmful behavior to others. In modern times, the ultra-Orthodox sage, the Chazon Ish, ruled that since God is not as evident in the world today as He was, for example, during the revelation at Mount Sinai, observant Jews should not regard non-observant Jews as apikorsim, heretics, people who knew God and rejected Him. The late Rabbi Joseph Lookstein often said that he loved all Jews except for Jews who didn't love other Jews.] In this instance, it could be argued that Leibowitz herself is being overly literal. "Love your neighbor" is given as a general command without restrictions, in the same way as "Honor your father and mother." However, does Leibowitz assume that this law enjoins a child to act lovingly and respectfully toward a parent who, for example, sexually abused her? Sixteen verses after "love your neighbor," the Torah similarly places no restrictions on the command to love "as yourself" the stranger whose resides with you [this verse]. This implies, for example, that Israeli Jews have a biblical obligation to love Arabs who live among them in peace. But I suspect that Leibowitz does not believe that this command also applies to those Arabs who engage in acts of terror or who support groups or countries that seek to destroy Israel. To insist that a child is obligated to love and respect a father who sexually abused her or that an Israeli must love a "stranger" who commits acts of terror is to turn a beautiful and generally applicable Torah law into a self-destructive statute. In short, as Rashbam teaches, we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves in a large majority of instances, but not all.

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

LEV701 There is no specific verse in the Torah commanding us to visit the sick. Maimonides cites the obligation to do so, along with obligations such as extending hospitality and comforting mourners, as logical outgrowths of the commandment [this verse]. "[These words imply that] whatever you would like other people to do for you [such as visiting you when you are sick], you should do for your fellow ... ("Laws of Mourning" 14:1). Although Maimonides' language suggests that he understands the commandment ordaining love of neighbor as applying only to fellow Jews, twice in his code he specifies that Jews should visit non-Jewish sick as well ("Laws of Mourning" 14:12; "Laws of Kings" 10:12).

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

LEV703 We can all imagine that if we were unfairly imprisoned, how much we would want people to speak out, exert pressure, and offer money on our behalf; therefore, this verse obligates us to do the same for others.

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

LEV668 It was taught: R. Akiva said: "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself" -- this is an all-embracing principle in Torah (Yerushalmi Nedarim 9:4)

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

LEV669 It was taught: Whence is it derived that those put to death by the sword are cut at the throat? R. Nachman said in the name of Rabbah b. Avuhah: "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself" -- choose a humane death for him [i.e., the one which is least painful] (Kethuvoth 37b)

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

LEV645 … one who sees his neighbor sinning secretly and reveals it to others, sins thereby. For it may be that the sinner has since repented of his evil way, and he should have revealed it only to a discrete sage, who would not shame him so that he might turn from his repentance. He should, however, keep himself from his company until he knows that he has repented of his evil way. And if the sinner is a Torah scholar and a God-fearing man, he should be considered to have repented of a certainty (Berachos 19a), and even though his evil inclination may have ensnared him once, he assuredly regretted it thereafter. The slanderer is punished for the injury and shame he caused his fellowman, and in addition, for having rejoiced in his neighbor's shame, for it is written [this verse]: "And you shall love your fellowman as yourself." Just as one is solicitous of his own honor, he should be solicitous of his fellowman's (see Avos 2:10). And it is written (Mishlei 17:5): "He who rejoices in calamity shall not go unpunished." And there is a respect in which the sin of one who slanders with the truth is greater than that of one who slanders falsely. For when one speaks the truth against someone, he is apt to be believed and the object of the slander may be demeaned in the eyes of men even after he has regretted his sin and repented of it and been forgiven. But false slander is sensed as such by most people, and they will not believe it. For the most part, however, offenses through falsity carry a greater penalty than offenses through truth.

SHOW FULL EXCERPT

LEV651 A man must take great care not to rejoice in something which is good for him but injurious to others. So that if one has much grain, he should not rejoice in dearness and famine, and not allow his good to bring him joy through the hardship of others. Nor should he rejoice in a man's death, though he stands to gain an inheritance or other benefits through it. In sum, one must not rejoice in any man's discomfiture for the sake of his pleasure. About this it is said [this verse]: "And you shall love your fellowman as yourself." And one should teach himself to be happy when good befalls others, especially when he sees them pursuing mitzvos to do the will of the Blessed Creator.

SHOW FULL EXCERPT