Parshat Kedoshim 5778-Love your neighbor

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April 27 2018
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Parshat Kedoshim-Love your neighbor’for I am the Lord’.


לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה ׃


. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the LORD


Rashi comments on this famous verse:


ואהבת לרעך כמוך. אָמַר רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא זֶה כְּלָל גָּדוֹל בַּתּוֹרָה (ספרא):


ואהבת לרעך כמוך THOU SHALT LOVE THY FELLOW MAN AS THYSELF —Rabbi Akiba said: “This is a fundamental principle of the Torah” (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 12; Talmud Yerushalmi Nedarim 9:3).


Interestingly Rabbi Akiva is the origin of the famous comment of כְּלָל גָּדוֹל בַּתּוֹרָה, as the pupils of Rabbi Akiva died during the Omer period precisely because they did not adhere to this guiding principle and did not honor each other in the correct fashion.


The Kli Yakar(17th century E.Europe) comments on this verse by referring to the famous story of Hillel in TB Shabbat 31a.


שוב מעשה בנכרי אחד שבא לפני שמאי א"ל גיירני ע"מ שתלמדני כל התורה כולה כשאני עומד על רגל אחת דחפו באמת הבנין שבידו בא לפני הלל גייריה אמר לו דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד זו היא כל התורה כולה ואידך פירושה הוא זיל גמור.


There was another incident involving one gentile who came before Shammai and said to Shammai: Convert me on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I am standing on one foot. Shammai pushed him away with the builder’s cubit in his hand. This was a common measuring stick and Shammai was a builder by trade. The same gentile came before Hillel. He converted him and said to him: That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study.


The Kli Yakar explains that the convert is not coming to mock Judaism but to find a guiding principle in life, as a convert to the Jewish faith. Hillel responds by saying to him the WHOLE pasuk of וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה even though the Talmud only references Hillel’s answer as saying the first part of the pasuk. Kli Yakar insists that ‘ani Hashem’ was also said to the convert, for the following reason.


At the end of TB Makkot(22a) the Gemara brings a discussion about finding a single concept to present as the fundamental of Jewish belief. The Talmud eventually settles on the statement of the prophet Habbakuk:


 וְצַדִּ֖יק בֶּאֱמוּנָת֥וֹ יִחְיֶֽה׃


But the righteous man is rewarded with life For his fidelity.


The Kli Yakar wonders if this is a contradiction to Hillel’s guiding principle in life of “Don’t do to others etc.”? He answers by saying that Habakkuk is referring to the Mitzvoth between man and God, which depend on the level of ‘emunah/faith of the individual’. When Hillel was asked for his guiding principle, he also refers to Mitzvoth between man and man and between man and God. The ‘man and man’ commands are covered by the part of the verse: ואהבת לרעך כמוך and the Mitzvoth between man and God are covered by the end of the verse: אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽהas based on the above Talmudic discussion in Makkot and the principle of faith as established by the prophet Habakkuk. Both elements of Jewish life are reflected by Hillel in that famous story.


Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman (Lithuania:killed in the Shoah in 1941) gives a different explanation to the answer given to the convert by Hillel. He maintains that the story does not relate that Hillel said the whole verse to the prospective convert, and if he didn’t refer to commandments between man and God, how can his answer to the convert have been an answer for all Mitzvot and not just those between man and man? He also argues that Rashi comments on the Talmud Shabbat that he did tell the convert an answer that applied to ‘rov Mitzvot’ and the question is;how? Surely ‘loving your neighbor’ is a guide to actions between man and man. How can it be a guide for actions between man and God?


Rabbi Wasserman explains that the Talmud in Kiddushin(40a) discusses the effect of every Mitzva and every Avera/sin.


Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, says: Since the world is judged by its majority, i.e., depending on whether people have performed a majority of Mitzvot or a majority of sins, and an individual is likewise judged by his majority, each person must consider that if he performs one Mitzva he is praiseworthy, as he tilts the balance of himself and the entire world to the scale of merit. Conversely, if he transgresses one prohibition, woe to him, as he tilts the balance for himself and the entire world to the scale of liability, as it is stated: “But one sin destroys much good,” i.e., due to one sin that this individual commits, he squanders much goodness from himself and from the entire world.


The Talmud is stating that the world is in balance between good and evil. Good comes from ‘holiness’/kedusha and evil come from impurity/tumah. When one performs a Mitzvah one increases holiness in the world, be it a Mitzvah between man and God or between man and man. This is reversed when a sin is performed. Rabbi Elchanan argues, therefore, that when a Jew performs any type of Mitzvah, this is both a benefit to the world and to his fellow man, as we all benefit from increased holiness in the world. The act of performing any Mitzvah becomes an act of ‘loving one’s fellow man’ and the verse can apply to all types of actions, be they between man and man and between man and God. (I would add that this is the real definition of ‘tikkun olam’ and is something which we can bear in mind every time any Mitzvah is done).


Rabbi Wasserman gives us a wonderful perspective on the life of observance of Mitzvot and is particularly relevant during the Sefira period when we perform a ‘cheshbon hanefesh’ on our spiritual lives in preparation for receiving the Torah on Shavuot.


May we take both Rabbi Wasserman’s and The Kli Yakar’s beautiful ideas to heart and help to bring Mashiach closer by every Mitzvah we perform.


Shabbat Shalom


Rabbi Ian Shaffer                 Cherry Hill/SCW      27th day of Omer 5778


Venue: Stern College Stern College

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Based on a wonderful shiur given by Rabbi Isaac Bernstein zal in London in 1994. Dedicated in memory of my father Mordechai ben Nechemya zal (Max Shaffer) whose yahrzeit was commemorated this week on 11th Iyar.

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    Learning on the Marcos and Adina Katz YUTorah site is sponsored today by Judy & Mark Frankel & family l'ilui nishmos מרדכי בן הרב משה יהודה ע"ה and משה יהודה ז"ל בן מאיר אליהו ויהודית and by the Polinsky Family to commemorate the 5th Yahrzeit of Gil Polinsky, Gedalyahu Gootmun Chaim ben Yaakov Dov