The Significance of a Jewish Brother

“Do not hate your brother in your heart.” (19:17) There are many different words to describe the next person. Your friend, a person, a neighbor, a stranger – are some of the ways we can describe an individual. In this pasuk the Torah uses the word brother.

The Torah is telling us - that when a person does something bad to you - you might not consider him your friend. You might not want to consider him your neighbor. You might not even consider him to be a person. But remember he is your brother.

Just like one cannot disown a brother, one cannot disown a fellow Jew. (Rabbi Samshon Refoel Hirsh)

Reprinted from the Parshas Kedoshim 5784 email of R’ Yedidye Hirtenfeld’s whY I Matter, the parsha sheet of the Young Israel of Midwood in Brooklyn.