LUBAVITCHER REBBE ON RASHI – Lekutei Sichos 17, pg 215ff
“Love your fellow as yourself” VaYikra 19,18
Over 40 years ago, the Lubavitcher Rebbe chose twelve core-Torah teachings for young children to memorize. One of them is the verse in Torah with the commentary of Rashi: “‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ Rabbi Akiva taught, ‘This is a great general principle of the Torah.’”
Most of us are also familiar with the classic story of the prospective convert whom Hillel told, “What is hateful to you do not do to your friend. This is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary. Now go and learn.” (Shabbos 31a)
Beautiful as that story is, it raises several questions:
- Hillel is paraphrasing the Torah’s command, “Love your neighbor as yourself;” why did he state it in the negative?
- The command itself is problematic: How can love be commanded? And how can we love another person as ourselves? Seemingly, our fundamental self-interest would prevent that from happening.
- How can loving your fellow man be “the entire Torah”? How does it relate to Shabbos, kashrus, tefillin, and all the other Mitzvos between human beings and G-d?
Now, Rabbi Akiva lived several generations after Hillel, and, seemingly, his teaching is included in Hillel’s. What did it add?
Moreover, we find that in his commentary on the Torah, Rashi included Rabbi Akiva’s teaching, but not Hillel’s. What is the reason for his choice?
The Rebbe focuses on these questions and more in the sichah, answering them as outlined below with an explanation of the essential bond connecting every Jew to G-d and the Torah, and, as a result, to every other Jew.
Understanding Rashi
Rashi Questions Explanations (and allusions) in Rashi
- זה כלל – This is a general principal
Why is it necessary for the Torah to state separate prohibitions against theft, robbery, taking revenge etc.? Isn’t it sufficient to just state this general principal?
This verse is a general principal, and many times in the Torah states a general principal and then the details.
Can feelings of the heart be turned on at will? How can one love another like loving oneself?
This command is carried out by performing the actions of the details.
Why isn’t fearing G-d mentioned here similar to other places where we are commanded about feelings of the heart?
It is evident that the charge to fear G-d also applies to all the matters to which it is relevant. - גדול בתורה – Great in Torah
Why are the particulars not mentioned in connection to the general principal?
Since this a great principal with many details, it is applicable throughout the Torah. - רבי עקיבא – Rabbi Akiva
How is it possible to love like yourself?
Rabbi Akiva rules that “your life takes precedence over the life of another.” Therefore, “like yourself” does not mean exactly like yourself.
In most cases one’s life is not involved, so how can one love another like yourself?
Rabbi Akiva also taught, “cherished are the Jewish people, for they are called the children of the Omnipresent.” Thus, we are siblings and can be naturally aroused with feelings of love towards the other.
What happens when your fellow has not conducted their life properly?
Rabbi Akiva expressed himself to Turnas Rufus the wicked regarding the Jews’ downtrodden state, that G-d is like a king who became enraged with his child, but still referred to him as his child.
Why is this a general principal mentioned in Parshas Kedoshim, long after the giving of the Torah and the erection of the Mishkan?
Rabbi Akiva’s approach is that the general principals and the details were all related at Sinai and repeated in the Tent of Meeting.
The Two Approaches of Rabbi Akiva and Hillel
Rabbi AkivaHillel“This is a great general principle in the Torah” means that Ahavas Yisrael is even a “great” general principle, but it is still only one general principle. (It is not the general principle of the entire Torah.)Ahavas Yisrael as “the entire Torah.” The remainder is merely commentaryTwo sayings of Chaza”l: “G-d’s conception of the Jewish people precedes all matters,” even the Torah. Saying that the Jews have precedence implies that they are superior to the Torah.The Zohar states, “The Jews connect themselves to the Torah, and the Torah connects to the Holy One, blessed be He.” That seems to imply that the Torah is superior to the Jewish people.Explanation: The souls of the Jewish people transcend the Torah, “a Jew... even if he sins, remains a Jew. Regardless of the extent to which one transgresses (G-d forbid), one does not forfeit his Jewishness, for the bond between the essence of a Jew’s soul and G-d is not dependent on his observance of the Torah.The connection of a Jew (on the physical plane) to G-d is through the Torah, it is impossible for the essential quality possessed by a Jew to remain an isolated entity.Ahavas Yisrael is actually carried out in day-to-day practice, loving a fellow Jew by showing concern for him as he exists on this material plane, a soul enclothed within a body, according to the limitations of the Torah as it is applied in actual life.Ahavas Yisrael is an expression of the source of the Jewish souls, the level at which “the Jews precede the Torah.” At this level, the entire Torah exists only for the sake of the Jewish people.