Leviticus 16:1 to 20:27

Like Yourself

 

No doubt the most famous verse in this week’s double reading, Aarei Mot-Kedoshim, is Lev 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor like yourself.” Rabbi Akiva declared that this verse is nothing less than the “great general principle in the Torah” (Sifra Kedoshim 4), Even before him, ancient Jewish scholars had noticed that there are two verses in the Torah that begin with “And you shall love,” and taken together the two may be seen to embody the whole of the Torah: “You shall love your neighbor like yourself” in this week’s reading and the verse in the Shema that begins, “And you shall love the Lord your God…”

 

But what exactly is “You shall love your neighbor like yourself” telling people to do? Does loving your neighbor mean that if, for example, you win the lottery, you can only fulfill this commandment by picking someone else, your “neighbor” or your “fellow,” and splitting the money 50-50?

 

And who is your neighbor? Any fellow human being? Any fellow Jew? The Jews of the Dead Sea Scrolls sect were told not to share their community’s interpretations of the Torah with the members of any other Jewish group, lest the latter learn the Torah’s correct meaning, which only their group should know. In fact, they looked forward to the great “day of retribution,” when God would strike all other Jews down. But how could they reconcile this with our verse? Apparently, they interpreted it as meaning, “You shall love your neighbor-who-is-like-yourself,” that is, anyone who was a member of their community was to be loved. Everyone else deserved the opposite.

 

If that’s not the intended meaning, then what is? The traditional rabbinic interpretation holds that this verse is intended in a rather limited sense: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” So you don’t have to split the money you won 50-50, but you can’t do anything to your neighbor that you wouldn’t want done to you. This sounds a bit less lofty than actually loving your neighbor—but the rabbis had a good exegetical reason for interpreting in this sense.

 

Actually, the words quoted from Lev 19:18 are only part of the verse. The whole verse reads, “You shall not take revenge or hold a grudge against your countrymen, and you shall love your neighbor like yourself: I am the Lord.” The rabbis apparently interpreted the latter part of the verse in light of the former. How so?

 

Taking revenge or holding a grudge sounds pretty serious, like the blood feuds that still go on in the modern Middle East, sometimes lasting for generations. But the rabbis of Mishnaic times interpreted “revenge” here in a very down-to-earth way. Suppose, they said, you ask to borrow your neighbor’s scythe, but he says, “No, it’s a very delicate instrument, I’m afraid I can’t lend it out.” Then, sometime later, he asks to borrow your shovel and you say, “You didn’t lend me your scythe, I’m not going to lend you my shovel”—that’s taking revenge. No blood feud, just a little nasty pettiness.

 

But if that’s revenge, then what’s “holding a grudge”? It sounds like it’s the same thing, but the rabbis said: Not quite. Suppose he refuses to lend you his scythe, and later he asks to borrow your shovel. If you say, “Sure, take it! I’m not a cheapskate like you!”—you may not be taking revenge, but you’re still guilty of holding a grudge.

 

In light of these two examples, what do the words that follow them, “And you shall love your neighbor like yourself,” seem to imply? This is indeed a great general principle in human relations, but it doesn’t require you to do the impossible. Instead, what is demanded is that you take the high road and not do anything to your neighbor that you wouldn’t want done to you—in fact, even if your neighbor has already done it to you.

 

Shabbat shalom!