“You shall love your fellow as yourself” – 19:18). Rav Nachman of Breslav (Likutei Moharan, 1:165) offers a remarkable interpretation of this pasuk, suggesting reading the word רעך to mean “your evil,” the רע in a person’s life, the hardships and challenges that a person endures. We are to “love,” to accept and embrace, not only the countless blessings that we enjoy, but also the רע, the difficulties that we face. This pasuk concludes אני השם “I am Hashem,” using the name Havaya which connotes God’s quality of mercy and compassion. Even the רע in our lives is a manifestation of Hashem’s kindness. When we surrender entirely to the divine will, and fully place our trust in God, then we will be able to embrace even רעך life’s hardships and struggles. Rav Nachman explains the word כמוך to mean that the hardships we endure are for us, precisely what Hashem decided that we need to experience in order to get to where we need to go, to achieve what we are to achieve, and to become the people that we are supposed to become. As difficult as it may be to realize while we are struggling, while we are going through whatever ordeal we are dealing with, the challenges we face help build us and facilitate our growth.
ואהבת לרעך כמוך We are to embrace life’s challenges because they are precisely what we need to realize our potential. Rav Nachman here teaches us to try to “love” even that which is painful in our lives, to recognize the value of life’s challenges, and appreciate the important role they play in bringing us to where we need to go. The more we reinforce our faith that everything that happens is, ultimately, a manifestation of Hashem’s unlimited kindness, the more we will be able to embrace and love life’s hardships, as we will firmly believe that they, no less than our blessings and good fortune, are a critical part of our lives and of the process of becoming the great people that we are meant to become.
Rabbi Efrem Goldberg
