sign in sign up
<<
Home , Acharei Mot, Kedoshim, Scapegoat

NEWS YOU CAN USE IMPORTANT

INFORMATION TIME SENSITIVE RESPONSE REQUIRED

PARASHAT - LEVITICUS 16:1-20:27

This we will read two portions, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim. The topics covered in these Parashiyot ranges from the ritual requirement of sending a out to the desert on , to fundamental social legislation, reminding us somewhat of the Ten Commandments. In Parashat Kedoshim, we find perhaps the most famous line in the entire Torah, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). This verse achieved its fame not just because of its simple, powerful message but also because of the renowned anecdote in which Hillel a Talmudic sage, tells a potential convert this rule is the essence of the Torah, something a person can absorb while standing on one foot. The rest is merely commentary (Bavli, Shabbat 31a). This is an astounding statement; especially if we understand, Hillel to be saying how a person treats others outweighs in importance how a person deals with God.

Several verses later, in the same chapter another statement of prescribed "love" appears, this time mandating that one love the non-Israelite who lives among , a reference to someone who does not worship the God of Israel or assimilate into the people of Israel. The verse tells us, "When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him.... You shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of : I the Lord am your God" (vv. 33, 34). The Torah is already demanding when it tells a Jew to love all other but it verges on the absurd when it tells a Jew to actively love individuals that live among Jews but share no ties of religion or kinship with them.

If however, we return to Parashat Kedoshim and read both of these "love" verses in context, we see an altogether different meaning emerge. The few verses preceding "love your neighbor as yourself", tell us: do not render unfair decisions by favouring either the poor or the rich but judge fairly (v. 15); do not deal basely with your countryman and do not profit from his (v. 16); do not hate him but rather reprove him (v. 17); do not take vengeance or bear a grudge against him (v. 18).

These verses, which lead up to the concluding statement of this unit,––"Love him"––define for the reader what "love" means when it is mandated for one's fellow–man: in negative terms it means to refrain from treating him unfairly, or abusing or exploiting him, and in positive terms it means to seek his welfare actively, to make sure that no one mistreats him. If this is how one Jew loves another Jew, then "love" makes even more sense when directed towards a stranger living among Jews. The Torah says, do not wrong or oppress him; instead, we should "love" him, meaning, to seek his welfare, to protect an outsider from abuse by insiders.

It therefore seems when Hillel interpreted "love your neighbor as yourself" to mean "what is hateful to you, do not do unto others," he was providing us with the simple meaning of the verse. He was explaining to us in this context of loving Jew and non–Jew, the seeks to eliminate the exploitation and abuse of others. The two verses about love make the extraordinary statement that caring for self and family is not enough, and neither is avoiding abusing others. Jews must actively seek to eliminate injustice against Jew and non–Jew, wherever they see it. This is as powerful a social message as we find in the Bible.

Shabbat Shalom, Silvia