אהבת לרעך כמוך - אמר רבי עקיבא: זהו כלל גדול בתורה
Especially in these days of danger from the outside, when the world once again seems to have taken a road that brings back memories of a harsh past, we must relearn the axiom of Rabbi Akiva: Love each Jew as we love our very self (kamocha). Let’s not fall into the trap of learning the lesson differently and loving only those Jews who are like ourselves (kamocha).
It would do us well to internalize the words of the Holy Klausenberger Rebbe zatzal, who reminded us of this lesson.
“There’s one thing I miss about the Holocaust. When I went through the death march, we were all clean-shaven, and our hair was shaved off, too. We all marched side by side, and no one knew if the person next to him or her was a Chassid or a Litvak. No one knew I was a Rebbe. We all just held our arms around each other and tried to keep warm and tried to keep our fellow Jews warm.”
In our polarized world, we are tempted to share our love for Jews who meet up to our standards of religiosity, but we must keep this lesson in front of us at all times. We are one nation – all sides must come together with respect and love. And then our Father in Heaven will look down at His children and bring us the elusive gift of peace that we pray for every day.
Written by R’ Avrohom Hillel Reich based on a lesson and story by Harav Ben Zion Sneh Shlita
