By Rabbi Moshe Pogrow
V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha, ani Hashem.
These are the words that must guide all interactions—in thought, words, and actions. The noblest of our feelings toward G-d and man is ahava, love.
It does not say v’ahavta es reiacha. That would mean loving the personality of the other person as much as we love ourselves—something impossible. The love we are discussing here is how we are required to treat everyone, yet love that relates to the personality of another depends on conditions that are hard to find. Such love is based on harmony and affinity between souls, such as that between David and Yonasan. Of their friendship, it is said: v’nefesh Yonasan nikshera b’nefesh David, vaye’ehaveihu Yonasan b’nafsho.
A similar saying of Hillel’s is well-known: d’alach sani, l’chavercha lo saavid. It was his response to the request of a non-Jew to teach him the whole Torah on one foot: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.” Hillel then added, “Zu hi kol haTorah kulah, v’idach pirusha; zil gemur.” This is the entire Torah. Everything else is commentary; now go and study (Shabbos 31a).
This saying is merely a negative form of “v’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha.” “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor” proclaims the equality of all our fellow human beings, and all our fellow creatures.
In this sense, Hillel’s saying is truly the essence of the entire Torah: it keeps us from anything that is sani, detrimental to our welfare and that of everyone who shares this world. At the same time, it also defines for us what is sani, what is harmful. We are not to rely on our subjective judgment, on our vague feelings and limited insight, to determine what is inimical. Rather, our standard is set by the Torah, revealed by G-d’s wisdom and insight. This is what Hillel called “pirusha”; the explanation of alach v’al chavercha sani which must be learned from the Torah.
If, however, one interprets Hillel’s saying as “Do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you,” he transforms the words into an adage of common experience: “If you do not want others to do you harm, you must not do them any harm. For violence begets violence and wrong begets wrong; if you do not want anyone to wrong you, you must do no wrong.”
But such a statement not only fails to convey Torah content, it says nothing at all of ethical value. The essence of this statement is pragmatic; it makes self-interest the guiding principle of all human conduct.
Based on the commentary of Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch zt”l on Chumash, with permission from the publisher.
