LEV640 If we look again carefully at that central verse commanding the Jew to treat all people like he would want to be treated, we see that the verse ends with the words "I am God" [this verse]. Why end the most man-to-man verse in the Torah with "I am God"? God is teaching us that every action between men is also an action between man and God. Why and how is this so? Just as man shows honor to an artist by admiring his painting or respecting his work, by treating a human being with honor, Jews also showed respect to the "Artist," the Creator of that human being-God. Thus, every act towards man also brings with it respect for God, the Artist, and transforms it into a man-to-God act as well. One contemporary thinker compared how Jews treat each other to the treatment between siblings, because God is called the Father of the Jewish people (and of all people, for that matter) and Jews are His children (Malachi 2:10). What would any parent prefer experiencing: a child who shows love and devotion to the parent exclusively, or two siblings who show love and devotion to each other? Just as any normal parent would certainly prefer the latter, God also prefers for Jews to demonstrate love for one another, even more than love for Him. This idea seems to be echoed by King Solomon when he tells us that God prefers justice and Tzedaka (charity) between men over man's sacrifices to God, and the Rabbis reiterate this idea as well in the Talmud (Proverbs 21:3, Sukkah 49b). Apparently, how Jews behave towards each other will help them endure until the Messiah arrives. One prophet predicts (Zephaniah 3:13) that the only Jews who will survive the onslaught of Jewish history and endure the test of assimilation and anti-Semitism will be those Jews who do not hurt their fellow Jews, who do not speak lies and deceive one another, and who feed those that are hungry.