Deuteronomy 22:1f If you see your fellow's [lit. "brother"] sheep gone astray, do not ignore it; you must take it back to your fellow. If your fellow does not live near you or you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home and it shall remain with you until your fellow claims it; then you shall give it back to him. You shall do the same with his donkey ...
"Your fellow's donkey." I understand this to be your fellow's donkey. How do we understand this [to mean] your enemy's? The Torah says, Exodus 23:4f "When you encounter your enemy's ox or donkey wandering, you must take it back to him. When you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden and would refrain from raising it, you must nevertheless raise it with him."
Why does it say [here] 'your fellow's,' to teach that the Torah speaks regarding the [evil] inclination."
For The Rabbis each person has an internal good inclination and an evil inclination. The purpose of God's commandments is to turn the evil inclination into the good inclination.
Torah Temimah says regarding this midrash, "... the essential point (ikar) of the commandment is in order to force the [evil] inclination, and accordingly the mitzvah [commandment] is regarding your enemy and not your fellow, therefore 'your fellow' is also written."
Our goal in life, according to this teaching, is not who seems to triumph in the competition of life, but who conquers his/her internal evil inclination that dictates we must triumph over others.
American life of "We're number one" is therefore totally at odds with our tradition. The very idea of triumphing over others is the enemy to be conquered. How humane is our God, and how evil the idea of American exceptionalism as currently viewed, that places America first in the world. Would that American exceptionalism meant the obligation to feed the world, to make peace in the world, to cure the diseases of the world, to conquer the world with humanitarian ideals rather than armies.
And for those who will simply respond, "You are naive. There are truly evil people out there." I agree, there are truly evil people. And we witnessed this in World War II. When we consistently engage in peacemaking, when humanity is our constant goal, then all will join together when pure evil raises its ugly head. It is when lied to about the face of evil that we oppose one another and debate the proper course. When our first inclination is to conquer the evil within ourselves, we can never go wrong and we will be united.
"If one attacks, two can stand up to him. A three-fold cord cannot be broken!"
Ecclesiastes 4:12
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