We are out of sync!
Reform Jewish congregations in the U.S. that follow the Israeli calendar of
Torah readings are reading and are studying Parashat Kedoshim this week. The
rest of the diaspora is a week behind, reading Parashat Aharei Mot.
Kedoshim contains the famous commandment, "You
shall love your neighbor as yourself." Most often people take this "Golden Rule"
out of its context. Verses 17 and 18 of Leviticus 19 read:
You shall not hate your kinsfolk (lit: brother) in your heart. Reprove
your kinsman but incur no guilt because of him. You shall not take vengeance or
bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love
your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
These commandments go
together: If someone in your social circle (brother) does something you object
to, and you don't tell him/her the truth of your reaction, you may come to
resent that person. Therefore you must "surely reprove your kinsman,"
tell him/her that you disagree with his/her conduct. If you do not, you will
bear a grudge or even seek vengeance, which will result in hatred. All of which
is covered by the general and inclusive commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself," meant to avoid negative
social interactions and teach us how to live in community.
The Rabbis recognized
that no one can "love his neighbor as himself." Therefore, Hillel reformulated the statement to
be more realistic: "What is hateful to you do not do to your
neighbor." Understanding Hillel's statement, only those actions which we
find negative are excluded in our conduct toward others. If I love swimming, I
don't have to force my neighbor to go swimming just because I want to "love my neighbor as myself." But,
if I find your constant unsolicited advice to me to be a burden, I should (1)
tell you, (2) not hold a grudge or take revenge, and (3) refrain from doing to
you what you have done to me. That will keep me from hating those in my social
circle (my kinsfolk), and enable me to avoid negative emotions toward those
closest to me.
In Jewish tradition, "Love your neighbor" addresses
relations with other Jews. What about relations with non-Jews? Genesis 5:1
speaks to that issue:
This is the book of the
generations of Adam; on the day of God's creating Adam, He made him in His
likeness.
A midrash teaches
that God took different colored clay from earth's four corners to create
humanity, so that no one person could claim superior ancestry.
In Midrash Sifra (the
halakhic midrash on Leviticus) 4:12, we read:
This is the book of the generations of Adam: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Rabbi Akiba
says, "This is a great general
principle in the Torah." Ben Azzai says, "This is the book of the
generations of Adam..." is an even greater principle.
In the Jerusalem Talmud,
relating to the mitzvah in Leviticus, "You shall not seek vengeance or
bear a grudge," the midrash says, "If one hand cuts the other, would
it enter into your mind that the second hand should [take revenge and] cut the
first hand in retaliation?" The meaning is clear, as it says in Midrash
Rabba to Genesis (24:7) "Hence, you must not say, 'Since I have been put
to shame, let my neighbor be put to shame.'" R. Tanhuma said, "If you
do so, know whom you put to shame, [for] In
the likeness of God made He him."
Through simple,
quotable language, like "Love your
neighbor as yourself," and "This
is the book of the generations of Adam; on the day of God's creating Adam, He
made him in His likeness," our sages laid out for us the complexity of
human relations, and how to deal with both our community and strangers. Obviously,
in this election cycle and in our daily lives hatred has become a constant
theme. The Torah makes clear the result of such hatred. It's never justified
because in the end, just as one hand cutting the other, we will all end up wounded
and bleeding.
God willing, we will
see that the result of hatred is destruction, and turn from these ways and
live.
What was the cause of
the destruction of the Second Temple? Baseless hatred! As Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. wrote, "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish
together as fools." Ken yehi ratzon – May it be God's will.
Shabbat shalom.
