BS"D

LONG LASTING LOVE: PARSHAT KEDOSHIM

Shira Smiles shiur 2022/5782

Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein

One of the most famous quotes from the Torah is, "Ve'ahavta lereiacha kamocha/Love thy neighbor (peer/friend) as yourself." What is seldom included is both the first part of the verse and the conclusion: "You shall not take revenge, you shall not bear a grudge... I am Hashem." Interestingly, several other mitzvoth in this section relating to man's interaction with his fellowman also end with, "I am Hashem." Certainly there must be a deeper meaning to the repetition of this phrase than mere emphasis.  Further, as the Ramban observes, it is humanly impossible to love your friend as you love yourself. Therefore, Ramban says, the Torah means that whatever [good] you wish for yourself, you should also wish for your friend. [I believe Ramban's interpretation comes from the unusual terminology ve'ahavta lereiacha/you should love to your friend. We say in Shema and elsewhere, ve'ahavta et Hashem... CKS]

However, the Torah's adding Ani Hashem precisely after these interpersonal mitzvoth underscores Hillel's insistence that loving your fellowman is indeed the basic premise of the Torah upon which all else was built. As Rabbi Roberts points out, loving Hashem and loving mankind are interconnected and of equal importance. That is why, while the cherubim guarding the Ark of the Covenant faced each other, their wings tilted upward toward Heaven.

When Hashem first introduced Himself to Moshe at the burning bush, He introduced Himself with these same words, Ani Hashem, I am trustworthy and can be counted on to reward the righteous and punish the evil ones judiciously. While we understand that reward and punishment in their truest sense refer to the world to come, how are we to understand them in this world, asks the Tosher Rebbe in Avodat Avodah. The Tosher Rebbe answers that while all good deeds are rewarded in the World to Come, your love and good deeds toward your fellow man have a positive impact in this world as well and serve as a model for others. Therefore, the reward is also built into this world. You have changed the reality of this world, and Hashem allows you to see the fruit of your labor.

In reality, writes Rabbi Egbi in Chochmat Hamatzpun, there is no distinction between the "social" mitzvoth and the "spiritual" mitzvoth. If you believe that Hashem is the Creator and nothing exists outside of Him, everything is about Hashem and part of one reality. We ourselves are a reflection of that all encompassing reality. Within this context, one avoids jealousy, understanding that Hashem has made and choreographed all the conditions of my life as well as those of my fellow man. There is no room for jealousy, the condition that prevents love. As Rabbi Miller reminds us, citing Rabbi Tzadok, love of God, love of Hashem and love of Torah must coexist, for Yisroel, Torah and Hakodosh Boruch are one chord with three strands. We are all beloved of Hashem, and our love of God is thus reflected in our love of others and in our love of Torah, adds Rabbi Wolbe.

Rabbi Chaim Vital makes a beautiful observation that sharpens this idea and connects our love for each other with our love for Hashem. Ahavah is equal to 13. If two Jews treat each other with love, we are adding 13 and 13, equaling 26, the numerical equivalent of Hashem's ineffable name YKVK. [Perhaps we can also add that just as Hashem is Echad/One/Unique, also equal to 13, so each of us, created in His image, is unique. Again when we add two unique individuals together, we get a stronger presence of the truly Unique One Who loves us all. CKS] We are creating a greater manifestation of Hashem's presence in the world.

In a similar homiletic vein, The Mishchat Shemen writes that a Jew is called a "Yid", the Yiddish pronunciation of the letter "yud." When you find two "yidden" together as equals, side by side, you have God's name. Conversely, when you put one above the other with an egotistical bent, you've created a schwa, the sound of nothingness. Ani Hashem is integral to all the mitzvoth, especially to those between man and his fellow man. Since nothing else exists without God, everything I do, whether in the social realm of chesed or the intellectual realm of Torah study, must lead me closer to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.

Although many mitzvoth are dependent on loving others -- not stealing, not killing -- to actually love another as one loves oneself is impossible. After all, I know so many good things about myself, but I cannot know all the good things about another. Therefore, explains Rabbi Reiss in Meirosh Tzurim, Ani Hashem; if you shift your paradigm from the egocentric view of what you know to the Theocentric view from God's perspective, you will see in the other human being that same image of God imprinted in him as you see in yourself. Recognizing the godliness within each of us creates the connection and love between us all. All my interactions with others will then be informed by that recognition. Loving my fellowman is merely an extension of my love of God.

Even love of self should be a reflection of love of God, writes Rabbi Yitzchak Katz in Letitcha Elyon. My love of self should be based on the Godly soul within me rather than on my individual qualities, a soul that exists within each Jew and all together creates Knesset Yisroel/Congregation of Israel unbroken from our beginning to eternity.

Hashem manifests His presence in the world through His attributes. Therefore when we mirror these attributes through our actions, we should recognize the Divine sparks of God emanating from within ourselves and from within others who are acting according to these attributes. Each of us may reflect a different spark. One may be highly sensitive to others, another may have great analytic intelligence, a third my be artistic while a fourth may be mechanically inclined. Perhaps the hardest, attribute may be the ability to maintain tremendous self control. Each of us has a spark of Godly attributes within ourselves. Sometimes we can learn some of the profoundest truths from a simple conversation with an ordinary Jew [or from a child, CKS], adds Rebbetzin Tzipporah Heller.

The Talmud tells us that Yerushalayim was destroyed because Bnei Yisroel did not rebuke one another. Bnei Yisroel walked around like sheep, not looking at each other face to face to see the inner glow, but head checking out the back end of each other. Instead of seeing the good attributes of the other, admiring it and trying to emulate it, they noticed only the negative characteristics, leading to baseless hatred and destruction, writes Rabbi Svei. It is so much easier to be critical than to admire another. But just as God looks at us with loving eyes, so should we also observe each other with love.

There are two approaches to learning to love another human being that goes beyond obeying God's command to actually feeling the love. Rabbi Akiva famously uses the verse in our current discussion as the basic building block of this love. We should see our people as one unified body, each individual as another limb or organ of that total body. If we can achieve that unity, as we did when we stood at the foot of Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, we will realize that we are to love each other and be responsible for each other just as we would feel love and responsibility toward each finger or toe of our own bodies.  We would automatically love each other because the other is a part of me and symbolically a physical manifestation of God Himself.

Rav Azai takes a different approach. When the Torah goes into the details of the creation of Adam, the Torah writes, "This is the accounting of the descendants of Adam on the day that God created Man..." The Medrash says that during the process of creation, Hashem showed Adam all that would descend from him through all eternity, how each generation would find its leaders and its ways of serving Hashem. The souls of every future human being was contained within the original Adam, and each has its mission of service toward Hashem as part of that body. It is the responsibility of each individual to respect and work toward maintaining his role in the account of the generations of Adam. It is only through our individual attributes that we can collectively properly serve Hashem, each generation having its own unique purpose in furthering Hashem's vision for mankind, to bring Godliness to the world. We cannot fully actualize that potential as individuals. We can only achieve that potential collectively, with each other.

We cannot live only for ourselves without regard for the well being of others. That would be like a passenger on a ship drilling a hole under his personal seat, not caring that the safety of everyone on the ship is interconnected.

The realization of our interconnectedness is nowhere more apparent than in the Shemoneh Esrei, the Silent Prayer in which we ask for so many blessings. Each of these requests is couched in the plural, for we do not request blessings only for ourselves, but for the entire body of Bnei Yisroel, writes Rabbi Weissblum in Heorat Derech. Our job is to build each other up so that we each have the confidence to serve Hashem to the best of our ability. The success or failure of one is a reflection of the success or failure of us all.

Rabbi Yoffe sums up the message of our verse beautifully: "Ve'ahavta lereiacha kamocha Ani Hashem, If you love your fellowman as yourself, then I am Hashem Who will love you as a reward for loving others.