(יד) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר,
אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי.
וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי.
וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתָי:
[Hillel] used to say:
A. If I am not for me, who will be for me?
B. And when I am for myself alone, what am I?
C. And if not now, then when?
Source number 1 presents us with a famous teaching of the proto-rabbi Hillel (1st century bce).
1. Give a title to each of three parts of Hillel's teaching:
A.
B.
C.
2. Why do you think it was important to teach all three parts of this lesson? What would change if Hillel had only taught part A? What if Hillel had only taught part B?
3. If we apply Hillel's teaching to a community instead of an individual, does it still apply?
“Judaism embodies a unique paradox that has distinguished it from polytheism on the one hand and the great universal monotheisms, Christianity and Islam, on the other. Its God is universal: the creator of the universe, author and sovereign of all human life. But its covenant is particular: one people set among the nations, whose vocation is not to convert the world to its cause, but to be true to itself and to God. That juxtaposition of universality and particularity was to cause a tension between [the Jewish people] and others, and within [Judaism] itself, that has lasted to this day. ”
--Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Crisis and Covenant p. 250
Source #2 is a contemporary teaching by the Emeritus Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom.
1. Rabbi Sacks points out a tension at the heart of Judaism--what is the tension?
2. Why is it potentially a great challenge?
"וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י ה'."
ר' עקיבא אומר זה כלל גדול בתורה.
בן עזאי אומר "זה ספר תולדות אדם", זה כלל גדול מזה.
"And you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am God" (Lev. 19:18).
Rabbi Akiva teaches: this is the fundamental principle of Torah.
Ben Azzai teaches: "this is the book of the generations of Adam" (Gen. 5:1) this principle is more fundamental.
The Sifra is the earliest rabbinic commentary on the book of Leviticus. Here, we find a debate about the most fundamental principle underscores a tension at the heart of Judaism.
1. For what reasons do you think Rabbi Akiva holds this verse from Leviticus to be the most fundamental principle?
2. Why might Ben Azzai argue that the verse from Genesis is more fundamental?
3. To whom does Rabbi Akiva's principal apply? Whom might it overlook?