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.