In a two-part installment discussing exactly whom one is Commanded to love in the verse in VaYikra 19:18 “…Thou shalt love ‘Reiacha’ as thyself…”, the author writing under the pseudonym “Philologus” (Mosaic Magazine, December 16, 30 2015 http://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/2015/12/the-bible-says-to-love-your-neighbor-as-yourself-but-what-does-neighbor-mean/ and http://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/2015/12/is-it-asking-too-much-to-love-your-neighbor-as-yourself/) presents a scholarly, interesting and meaningful treatment of a subject to which I have devoted both thought and Shiurim over the years, but admittedly not from this perspective. Particularly because R. Akiva, in Yerushalmi Nedarim 9:4, states, “And you will love ‘Reiacha’ like yourself—this is a/the major rule of the Tora,” as well as it being generally agreed that when Hillel responds to the potential convert’s request in Shabbat 31a, “Teach me the entire Tora while I stand on one foot”, with “What is hateful to you, to your ‘LeChavercha’ do not do,” he is presenting the converse of VaYikra 19:18, again suggesting that this verse serves as the basis of accepting upon oneself a life of Tora and Mitzvot, it is important to try to define who the “other” in these two passages actually is, in order that we can strive to define our actions to be consistent with the Tora’s dictates.
Loving “Reiacha” as Oneself—Who is the Tora Commanding Us to Love?
30 Wednesday Dec 2015
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