Warren Zev Harvey Professor Harvey is a member of the Department of Philosophy and of the Department of Jewish Studies at McGil University. This essay is excerpted from a Sheloshim lecture in memory of the author's father, Robert B. Harvey, z.i., delivered at the Young Israel of Montreal on January 21, 1975. LOVE: THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF TORAH There is, of course, in Judaism no offcial list 'Of dogmas. But there have been many attempts to sum up the spirit of Judaism in one general principle, one concept, sometimes in one Biblical verse or in one commandment - to teach the whole Torah while standing on one foot. I intend here to discuss two such general principles which, as we shall see, overlap. The two prin- ciples are (1) love of neighbor and (2) imitatio Dei. The area in which they overlap is gemilut hasadim, acts of love. Let us begin with. the main Biblical source texts of the two principles. ( 1) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord" (Lev. 19: 18). When the Gentile in the famous aggadah chal- lenged impatient Shammai, "C'Onvert me on the condition that you teach me the whole Torah in its entirety while I stand on one foot!", he was chased away with a builder's cubit, but when he similarly challenged kindly Hilel, he was converted and told, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your comrade; this the whole Torah in its entirety; the rest is its commentary: go learn!"! In his negative formula, Hillel may be understood as rephrasing our affrmative verse, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"; that is, he may be understood as saying that "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is the whole Torah in its entirety.2 Final- ly, Rabbi Akiva - that hero of love who taught "that the whole world in its entirety is not as much worth as the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel"3 - stated explicitly that the affrmative commandment "Love thy neighbor as thyself' is 5 TRADITION: A Journal of Orthodox Thought the "great rule in the Torah."4 (2) As for our second general principle, imitatio Dei, the imitation 'of God, or in the Biblical idiom, "walking in the ways" of God, there is a group of .no less than five relevant verses in the Book of Deuteronomy. One might even say that the major theme in Moses' Repetition 'Of the Law is: to walk in God's ways. The five verses are the following: first, Deuteronomy 8: 6, "And thou shalt keep the commandments .of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him"; second, Deuteronomy 10:12. "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. to keep the commandments. ."; third, Deuteronomy 1 i :22, "If you diligently keep all this commandment, which I command you to do it" - to do what? - "to love the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave unto Him," then you will inherit the Land of Israel, etc.; fourth, Deuteronomy 13:5, "After the Lord thy God ye shall walk, and Him ye shall fear, and His commandments ye shall keep, and unto His voice shall ye heark- en, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave"; fifth, Deuteronomy. 28: 9, "The Lord will establish thee for a holy people . if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways" - this last phrase, "and walk in His ways/' is taken as a positive commandment: Walk in His wayslrí Note that in all five verses the charge to walk in His ways is connected with the charge to keep the commandments. In the first four verses, it is connected also with the charges to fear or love God, or with the charge to cleave unto Him. In the fifth verse, it is connected with the notion of holiness. The focal text for the connection of imitatio Dei with holiness is of course Leviticus 19: 2, "Ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy."6 So we have two general principles which are two positive commandments: Love thy neighbor! (ve-ahavta le-re'akha ka- mokha!), and Walk in God's ways! (ve-halakhta bi-derakhav!). How do we fulfil these commandments? How can we be com- manded to love? How can we be commanded to imitate the Inimitable? 6 Love: The Beginning and the End of Torah As for the commandment to love our neighbor, it has various aspects. One already mentioned is the formula of HilleL. There are many others. I should like here to focus on one aspect as it is developed by Maimonides in his Laws of Mourning: It is a positive commandment according to the words (of the Rab- bis) to visit the sick, to comfort mourners, to take out the dead (to burial), to cause the bride to enter (under the marriage canopy J. and to escort guests; and to busy oneself with all the needs of the burial, to carry (the dead) on one's shoulder, to walk before (him), to eulo- gize, to dig (his grave), and to bury (him); and likewise to make merry the bride and the bridegroom, .and to provide them with all their needs. These are acts of love (gemilut hasadim) performed with one's person ( she-be-gufo), for which there is no fixed measure (cf. Yer. Peah 1: 1). Although aU these commandments are according to the words (of the Rabbis), they are included in (the explicit com- mandment of the Torah) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself": all the things that you would want others to do for you, do them for your brother in the Torah and the commandments!7 We love our neighbor by doing acts of love which fulfil his needs. This is gemilut hasadim. It is enabling the bride and groom to wed, caring for the sick, comforting mourners, burying the dead. A II the things that you would want others to do for you, do them for your brother in the Torah and the commandments! Human beings, because of the human condition, often find themselves in need; by fulfillng such needs of others, we fulfil one aspect of the commandment to "Love thy neighbor as thyself," the aspect of gemilut hasadim. What now about our other general principle, the command- ment to walk in His ways? This commandment too has various aspects, and here too I should like to focus on but one: At the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang, "This is my God ve-anvehu" (Exod. 15:2). No one knows for certain what ve-anvehu means ("I will praise Him," "I will beautify Him," "I wil build Him a sanctuary," "I will be His sanctuary, H etc.). Abba Saul says: "'This is my God ve-anvehu.' I wil imitate Him (addameh 10)! As He is merciful and gracious (Exod. 34:6), so you be mt;rciful and gracious 1"8 7 TRADITION: A Journal of Orthodox Thought Rashi explains that Abba Saul is interpreting anvehu as a com- pound of ani and hu, I and He. Writes Rashi: Hani ve-hu: I shall make myself like Him (e'eseh 'atsmi kamata), to cleave unto His waysJt9 (cf. Deut. 11:22; 13:15, quoted above). The ways of God are mercy and graciousness: one imitates Him, according to this exegesis of Abba Saul, not by denying one's humanity, one's flesh, fasting, chastising oneself, escaping into rarefied spirit; rather, by walking in these ways of mercy and gracious- ness. A still more explicit explanation of this aspect of imitatio Dei is found in the following dictum of Rabbi Hama bar Hanina: Said Rabbi Hama bar Hanina: "What is the meaning of the text, 'After the Lord thy God ye shall walk' (Deut. 13:5)? Is it possible for a man to walk after the Shekhinah? Has it not been said, 'The Lord thy God is a devouring fire' (Deut. 4:24 )?! Rather, walk after the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He. As He clothes the naked - as it is written, 'And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin, and clothed them' (Gen. 3: 21 ); so you clothe the naked! The Holy One, blessed be He, visited the sick - as it is written, 'And the Lord appeared unto (Abraham, who was recovering from his circumcision J by the terebinths of Mamre' (Gen. 18: 1); so you visit the sick! The Holy One, blessed be He, comforted mourners - as it is written, 'And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son' (Gen. 25: 11); so you comfort mourn- ers! The Holy One, blessed be He, buried the dead - as it is written, 'And He buried (Moses) in the valley' (Deut. 34:6); so you bury the dead!lO Clothing the naked, visiting the sick, comforting mourners, bury- ing the dead: to imitate God, according to this dictum of Rabbi Hama bar Hanina, is to do the very acts of love which, as we have seen, are included in the commandment to love our neigh~ bar! To imitate God is to love our neighbor through gemilut hasadim: to clothe him when he is naked, visit him when he is sick, comfort him when he moiirns, bury him when he dies.