LEV675 Scripture bids us, "You shall love your fellow-man as yourself" [this verse]. Self-love, a person's concern, acceptance, and affection for himself, needs no justification, excuses, or reasons. It is self-evident, axiomatic: I love myself because I am myself. So should we accept a friend without questions or reasons, with concern for his welfare as for our own.

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LEV664 In order to fully understand the relationship between the self and the other in the moral system of Judaism, we must first submit to careful scrutiny of two classic formations of the general principle of man's duty to his fellow man. The first, of course, is "And Thou shalt love thy fellow man as thyself"] this verse].… The second is the formulation apparently given to the command by Hillel in his famous response to the would-be convert's request for a concise expression of the essence of Judaism: "That which thou despisest, do not do to thy fellow man" (Shabbat 31a, see also Targum Jonathan ben Uzziel on Leviticus 19:18). Maimonides in his treatment of this mitzvah speaks exclusively of behavioral rather than emotional implications. Although the Torah here speaks only of "love," which is a human feeling, the rabbis, either on the basis of grammatical considerations or because of the psychological difficulty of legislating emotions, saw the fulfillment of this command as primarily involving certain kinds of behavior (See comments of Nachmanides and Malbim, on Leviticus 19:18. The verb "to love" is usually used in the Hebrew in the accusative case (as in Deuteronomy 6:5), with the article et, which denotes a more direct object, but in this case the object stands in the dative case (le ...), which generally signifies a more indirect relationship. Thus, this passage should perhaps be translated as, "Be loving to thy fellow man" with the emphasis on deeds or works of love rather than emotions. Toward God one is directed to develop a more personal and intense love. See Rambam, Hilkhot Teshuvah 10:3).

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LEV704 We suggested earlier that the moral rule "Love thy neighbor as thyself" posits a standard of impartiality and equality between the self and the other. "Do not do to your fellow man what you would not want done to yourself." Nachmanides makes it clear that this rule cannot be a requirement for the individual to become as involved with the other, and as devoted to him, as he is to himself (Commentary on this verse). We all obviously have certain duties to ourselves that take priority. As Rabbi Akiva said, "Thy life is prior to the life of others" (Bava Metzia 62). What the rule does require is that we cherish the person and property of the other even as we do our own, so that we do not cause any harm to him or damage to his property. The rule further implies that we must be concerned with his needs when it does not necessitate the neglect of our own. It also implies that we should desire for our fellow all that we wish for ourselves and not be envious of him.

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LEV655 Effective medical care... not only involves the cost of a physician and hospitalization, but also requires a support system to alleviate the effects of illness on the peace of mind of the sick person and on the family unit. Modern medicine recognizes such a support system as an intrinsic part of communal health care and therefore expects home care and personal counseling to be funded either by the patient's health insurance or by the state. Such supports have always been part and parcel of the Jewish welfare system. The following ruling of Maimonides shows this support system to be legally binding and not just desirable. “It is a rabbinic commandment, incumbent on all, to visit the sick... and this may be done many times in the day... except in those cases where it is a bother to the sick. He who visits the sick removes part of his illness and eases his situation. He who does not visit the sick, it is as though he has shed blood [since visitors took care of all the patient’s needs, by refraining from such visits, one is harming the patient, perhaps even fatally.] Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Eivel, chapter 14, halakhot 1-5. See also Talmud Bavli, Nedarim 40a. Maimonides goes on to rule that visiting the sick is an act of righteousness performed with one's body, and thus without legal limit in its fulfillment (in contrast to monetary acts of righteousness, which the sages had limited to 20 percent of one's wealth). He sees the visiting of the sick as a fulfillment of the Torah’s commandment “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” [Leviticus 19:18]. This support system, like most moral and ethical injunctions in Judaism, is not left to the choice of the individual, to be observed or not according to his degree of religiosity.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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).

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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.

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