וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה אַחֲרֵ֣י מ֔וֹת שְׁנֵ֖י בְּנֵ֣י אַהֲרֹ֑ן בְּקָרְבָתָ֥ם לִפְנֵי־יְהוָ֖ה וַיָּמֻֽתוּ׃
The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they drew too close to the presence of the LORD.
לֹֽא־תִשְׂנָ֥א אֶת־אָחִ֖יךָ בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָ הוֹכֵ֤חַ תּוֹכִ֙יחַ֙ אֶת־עֲמִיתֶ֔ךָ וְלֹא־תִשָּׂ֥א עָלָ֖יו חֵֽטְא׃
You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kinsman but incur no guilt because of him.
(יח) לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה׃
(18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the LORD.
The weekly energy is all about the concept of spirituality. How do we become spiritual? In this week’s portion, its written “Love they neighbor as thyself.” This energy is available for all of us to strengthen our ability to “love they neighbor.”
The following parable can help us understand the importance of being desperate to grow spirituality. A doctor tells his patient that he has three days to live but thats only because the prescription needed to survive is outside what the doctor believes his patient would be willing to do. After much begging, the doctor finally agrees to discuss the solution with the patient. “Bring one thousand people to the center of town and help them spiritually and that will cure you,” the doctor advises. The question for is: how can you motivate someone to desire change spiritually?
Reaching Others to Help Ourselves
Our life’s goal is to love another person. But it’s not our life’s goal to count how many people love us. We are meant to count, rather, how many people are we capable of really loving. Love is not a statement. Love is concept of risking your comfort for another person.
Spirituality is the life of the soul. If we are not helping people spiritually then we are not really helping them at all. How many people will be helped because of you? How many people started learning about spirituality and started transforming because of you? If you don’t ask yourself this question then what are we really doing in this life?
In this week’s portion, the Torah discusses the two sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu. Nadav and Avihu were the highest souls that have ever come to this physical universe. They went into the holy of holies in the Tabernacle and they both die. The brothers were the reincarnation of the first Adam. Adam “sinned” in two basic categories. Sex and eating (grapes or wheat). The sexual sin is related to masterbation while the sin related to eating was the eating of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Aaron’s sons therefore went into the Tabernacle unmarried (ie related to masterbation) and drunk from wine (ie the grapes of the Tree of Knowledge). They were attempting to do a sacrifice in the temple to fix Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden in these two overarching categories of sin where many of us fall. They were trying to do the spiritual work for us. They sacrificed their lives to give us the lesson that its impossible to fix these issues alone. We need to be paying attention to where others are as well and help them rather than fixing things for them.
A man needs a woman’s (wife, mother, daughter, sister, etc) influence in their life. This is not a sexist statement but a scientific one. The woman is the only force that can manifest a man. This is akin to a seed being worthless without manifestation through the earth. The seed needs the earth but the earth doesn’t need the seed. The Creator is two forces combined male and female.
Many times we think we are right. Nadav and Avihu felt they were right but we have to remember that just because something seems or feels right, doesn’t mean that it is actually right.
How can i serve humanity? And how can i do this with the knowledge that it helps me more than it helps the person I’m serving?
Story about the baal shem tov. One saturday night after Shabbat some friends were spending time with a group. Someone new arrives and wants to join but he can only join if he brings a new drink. They pass out and the Baal Shem tov arrives in the morning. The group blames the new entrant on their lazy behavior. The baal shem tov explains that he had a vision from heaven that there was unconditional love in the universe from that groups fun but their problem was that they didn’t bring with them.
We have two yardsticks for life: how much spiritual growth are we achieving personally and and how many people are we helping with their spiritual achievements. How are we reaching more people out there? How much desperation do we have for this goal?
in the Torah, God says “I am holy so you are holy.” Rav Brandwein writes that this means that whenever we face challenges in our spiritual journey, we shouldn’t give up because we can remember that we are the spark of the Creator. We should preserver not because of our own merit but rather because we are part of the Creator and thus within us is already the answer. There is always a string between us and the Creator that we must keep activated. The string is always there for us to connect to our roots.
A story about Rav Elimelech of Lisensk. A very poor student of Rav Elimelech one day begged the Creator for money. Rav Elimelech channels the answer by saying that God doesn’t need your study or prayer, but God wants you to be positive and spiritual in the midst of your hard times. That is our work. Love thy Neighbor is about doing the right think when everything around us is going wrong and seemingly working against us.
To connect to the divine, we have to find a way to climb back to God. The tool is to offer something that we are uncomfortable giving. The spiritual process begins when we make a true effort for others.
We are now in a time of chaos and struggle. Are we behaving better than before? Or do we feel that because we are in a difficult time that justifies worse behavior and a relaxing of our spiritual efforts?
Kedoshim means “holy.” The holiness of the Creator wants to dwell within us. But we cant taste a fine wine in a dirty vessel. We can clean our “vessel” in three engines: fear, respect and love. We can fear punishment. We can respect ourselves enough to change. The highest is to change due to a simple love of the Creator. Every person is meant to have incredible things in our lives but our vessels are incapable sometimes of holding it.
The world is currently in a time of struggle. We are currently being given an opportunity to practice “love they neighbor” specifically in a time of struggle. But everyone is still hating and fighting. Has one of your enemies called you recently and apologized for hurting you? We are missing the message. Pick up the phone and make peace with your enemies. Pick up the phone and call people you love and help them in their spiritual journey.
The Ramban writes about how to truly love thy neighbor as thyself. The Ramban gives us a way thats practically useful. The Ramban says that love they neighbor simply means to wish well for your friends both in times when you’re doing well and times when you’re not. It’s so important to have a true friend in this life. You wish well for them regardless of your circumatance.
The Or Hachaim also opines on this subject. The Or Hachaim simply says to love thy neighbor for one simple reason: the Creator commanded us as such.
During this time, let’s make a promise to ourselves that we will do whatever we can to get close to people.
The following parable can help us understand the importance of being desperate to grow spirituality. A doctor tells his patient that he has three days to live but thats only because the prescription needed to survive is outside what the doctor believes his patient would be willing to do. After much begging, the doctor finally agrees to discuss the solution with the patient. “Bring one thousand people to the center of town and help them spiritually and that will cure you,” the doctor advises. The question for is: how can you motivate someone to desire change spiritually?
Reaching Others to Help Ourselves
Our life’s goal is to love another person. But it’s not our life’s goal to count how many people love us. We are meant to count, rather, how many people are we capable of really loving. Love is not a statement. Love is concept of risking your comfort for another person.
Spirituality is the life of the soul. If we are not helping people spiritually then we are not really helping them at all. How many people will be helped because of you? How many people started learning about spirituality and started transforming because of you? If you don’t ask yourself this question then what are we really doing in this life?
In this week’s portion, the Torah discusses the two sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu. Nadav and Avihu were the highest souls that have ever come to this physical universe. They went into the holy of holies in the Tabernacle and they both die. The brothers were the reincarnation of the first Adam. Adam “sinned” in two basic categories. Sex and eating (grapes or wheat). The sexual sin is related to masterbation while the sin related to eating was the eating of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Aaron’s sons therefore went into the Tabernacle unmarried (ie related to masterbation) and drunk from wine (ie the grapes of the Tree of Knowledge). They were attempting to do a sacrifice in the temple to fix Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden in these two overarching categories of sin where many of us fall. They were trying to do the spiritual work for us. They sacrificed their lives to give us the lesson that its impossible to fix these issues alone. We need to be paying attention to where others are as well and help them rather than fixing things for them.
A man needs a woman’s (wife, mother, daughter, sister, etc) influence in their life. This is not a sexist statement but a scientific one. The woman is the only force that can manifest a man. This is akin to a seed being worthless without manifestation through the earth. The seed needs the earth but the earth doesn’t need the seed. The Creator is two forces combined male and female.
Many times we think we are right. Nadav and Avihu felt they were right but we have to remember that just because something seems or feels right, doesn’t mean that it is actually right.
How can i serve humanity? And how can i do this with the knowledge that it helps me more than it helps the person I’m serving?
Story about the baal shem tov. One saturday night after Shabbat some friends were spending time with a group. Someone new arrives and wants to join but he can only join if he brings a new drink. They pass out and the Baal Shem tov arrives in the morning. The group blames the new entrant on their lazy behavior. The baal shem tov explains that he had a vision from heaven that there was unconditional love in the universe from that groups fun but their problem was that they didn’t bring with them.
We have two yardsticks for life: how much spiritual growth are we achieving personally and and how many people are we helping with their spiritual achievements. How are we reaching more people out there? How much desperation do we have for this goal?
in the Torah, God says “I am holy so you are holy.” Rav Brandwein writes that this means that whenever we face challenges in our spiritual journey, we shouldn’t give up because we can remember that we are the spark of the Creator. We should preserver not because of our own merit but rather because we are part of the Creator and thus within us is already the answer. There is always a string between us and the Creator that we must keep activated. The string is always there for us to connect to our roots.
A story about Rav Elimelech of Lisensk. A very poor student of Rav Elimelech one day begged the Creator for money. Rav Elimelech channels the answer by saying that God doesn’t need your study or prayer, but God wants you to be positive and spiritual in the midst of your hard times. That is our work. Love thy Neighbor is about doing the right think when everything around us is going wrong and seemingly working against us.
To connect to the divine, we have to find a way to climb back to God. The tool is to offer something that we are uncomfortable giving. The spiritual process begins when we make a true effort for others.
We are now in a time of chaos and struggle. Are we behaving better than before? Or do we feel that because we are in a difficult time that justifies worse behavior and a relaxing of our spiritual efforts?
Kedoshim means “holy.” The holiness of the Creator wants to dwell within us. But we cant taste a fine wine in a dirty vessel. We can clean our “vessel” in three engines: fear, respect and love. We can fear punishment. We can respect ourselves enough to change. The highest is to change due to a simple love of the Creator. Every person is meant to have incredible things in our lives but our vessels are incapable sometimes of holding it.
The world is currently in a time of struggle. We are currently being given an opportunity to practice “love they neighbor” specifically in a time of struggle. But everyone is still hating and fighting. Has one of your enemies called you recently and apologized for hurting you? We are missing the message. Pick up the phone and make peace with your enemies. Pick up the phone and call people you love and help them in their spiritual journey.
The Ramban writes about how to truly love thy neighbor as thyself. The Ramban gives us a way thats practically useful. The Ramban says that love they neighbor simply means to wish well for your friends both in times when you’re doing well and times when you’re not. It’s so important to have a true friend in this life. You wish well for them regardless of your circumatance.
The Or Hachaim also opines on this subject. The Or Hachaim simply says to love thy neighbor for one simple reason: the Creator commanded us as such.
During this time, let’s make a promise to ourselves that we will do whatever we can to get close to people.
לא תקום וגו'. רז''ל (תו''כ כאן יומא כג.) אמרו נקימה הוא שעושה לו כמעשהו הרע נטירה שלא יאמר לו לא אעשה לך כמעשיך. וכפ''ז נתן טעם הכתוב למצוה זו בסמיכות ואהבת לרעך כמוך, פירוש כי ה' חפץ שתהיה אוהב רעך כמוך ואם אתה אומר לו כן הרי גלית דעתך כי טמון היה בלבך מעשהו בלתי הגון לך, ונתן טעם לדבר אני ה', פירוש על דרך אומרם (זוהר ח''ג טז) שבאמצעות יחוד הלבבות מתייחד שמו יתברך להיות שכנסת ישראל הם ענפי שם הוי''ה ב''ה דכתיב (דברים ל״ב:ט׳) כי חלק ה' עמו.
לא תקום ולא תטור, "Do not take vengeance and do not bear a grudge." Yuma 23 defines vengeance as someone responding in kind to a hateful act by his neighbour he has experienced, whereas the "grudge" is defined as repaying a hateful act with a kind act pointing out, however, that one is morally superior to the person who committed the hateful act. The proof for this is the verse following that one should "love your neighbour as yourself." The reason the Torah has to say this is to indicate that it is G'd's wish that we relate to our fellow Jews with the same love we have for ourselves. If the person described as bearing a grudge told his neighbour that despite the fact that the latter refused to lend him his spade, he in turn was willing to lend him his own spade, he indicated that he had harboured resentment against his neighbour first. G'd tells us that the reason we must not bear a grudge is because the Lord is our G'd. This means that by means of individual Israelites experiencing a unification of their hearts, G'd's Unity itself is enhanced. This is all based on the kabbalistic concept that all Jewish souls are branches of the Holy name of G'd (י־ה־ו־ה) based on Deut. 32,9 "for His people are part of Him" (compare Zohar volume 3 page 16).
לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך בעבור שדרך השונאים לכסות את שנאתם בלבם כמו שאמר (משלי כו כד) בשפתיו ינכר שונא הזכיר הכתוב בהווה ואמר הוכח תוכיח את עמיתך מצוה אחרת ללמדו תוכחת מוסר "ולא תשא עליו חטא" שיהיה עליך אשם כאשר יחטא ולא הוכחת אותו ולזה יטה לשון אונקלוס שאמר ולא תקבל על דיליה חובא שלא תקבל אתה עונש בחטא שלו ואחרי כן צוה שתאהוב אותו והנה השונא את רעהו עובר בלאו והאוהב לו מקיים עשה והנכון בעיני כי "הוכח תוכיח" כמו והוכיח אברהם את אבימלך (בראשית כא כה) ויאמר הכתוב אל תשנא את אחיך בלבבך בעשותו לך שלא כרצונך אבל תוכיחנו מדוע ככה עשית עמדי ולא תשא עליו חטא לכסות שנאתו בלבך ולא תגיד לו כי בהוכיחך אותו יתנצל לך או ישוב ויתודה על חטאו ותכפר לו ואחרי כן יזהיר שלא תנקום ממנו ולא תטור בלבבך מה שעשה לך כי יתכן שלא ישנא אותו אבל יזכור החטא בלבו ולפיכך יזהירנו שימחה פשע אחיו וחטאתו מלבו ואחרי כן יצוה שיאהב לו כמוהו וטעם ואהבת לרעך כמוך הפלגה כי לא יקבל לב האדם שיאהוב את חבירו כאהבתו את נפשו ועוד שכבר בא רבי עקיבא ולמד חייך קודמין לחיי חבירך (ב"מ סב)אלא מצות התורה שיאהב חבירו בכל ענין כאשר יאהב את נפשו בכל הטוב ויתכן בעבור שלא אמר "ואהבת את רעך כמוך" והשוה אותם במלת "לרעך" וכן ואהבת לו כמוך (פסוק לד) דגר שיהיה פירושו להשוות אהבת שניהם בדעתו כי פעמים שיאהב אדם את רעהו בדברים ידועים להטיבו בעושר ולא בחכמה וכיוצא בזה ואם יהיה אוהבו בכל יחפוץ שיזכה רעהו האהוב לו בעושר ובנכסים וכבוד ובדעת ובחכמה ולא שישוה אליו אבל יהיה חפץ בלבו לעולם שיהיה הוא יותר ממנו בכל טובה ויצוה הכתוב שלא תהיה פחיתות הקנאה הזאת בלבו אבל יאהב ברבות הטובה לחבירו כאשר אדם עושה לנפשו ולא יתן שיעורין באהבה ועל כן אמר ביהונתן (שמואל א כ יז) כי אהבת נפשו אהבו בעבור שהסיר מדת הקנאה מלבו ואמר (שם כג יז) ואתה תמלוך על ישראל וגו' וענין הנקימה והנטירה כבר פירשוהו רבותינו (תו"כ קדושים ד י יא) שהוא בדבר שאין בו חיוב ממון השאילני מגלך השאילני קרדומך כי בדבר שנתחייב לו חברו ממון כגון בנזיקין וכיוצא בהן אינו מחוייב להניח לו אבל יתבענו בב"ד וישולם ממנו מפסוק כאשר עשה כן יעשה לו (להלן כד יט) והוא מעצמו חייב לשלם כאשר ישלם מה שלוה או מה שגזל וכל שכן בענין נפש שיהיה נוקם ונוטר לו עד שיגאל דמי אחיו מידו על פי בית דין המורים במשפטי התורה
You shall not hate your brother in your heart: Since it is the way of haters to hide their hatred in their hearts, as it stated (Proverbs 26:24), "A hater makes his lips foreign," the verse mentioned what is common. And [then] it stated, "you shall surely rebuke your kinsman," [as] a separate commandment to teach him ethical reproofs. And "and you shall not carry sin for him" [is] that there will be guilt upon you if he sins and you had not reproved him. And the language of Onkelos inclines to this [understanding], as he says, "that you not receive liability for what is his" - that you do not receive punishment for his sin. And afterwards (Leviticus 19:18), it commanded that you love him. And behold, one who hates his neighbor transgresses a negative commandment and one who loves him, fulfills a positive commandment. And what is correct in my eyes is that "you shall surely rebuke your kinsman," is like "And Avraham rebuked Avimelekh" (Genesis 21:25). And the verse states, "You shall not hate your brother in your heart" in his doing to you that which is not like your will; but rather, rebuke him [by saying], "Why did you do like this to me." [Hence the meaning of] "And you shall not carry sin for him" [is] to cover up your hatred for him in your heart and not to tell him. As in your rebuking him, he will make amends with you or repent and admit his sin, and it will be atoned for him. And afterwards it warns that you not take revenge from him and not bear a grudge in your heart [about] what he did to you. As it is likely that he will not hate him but he will remember the sin in his heart. And therefore it warns him that he erase the crime and sin of his brother from his heart. And afterwards it commands him, "and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." The phrase "love your neighbor as yourself" is an exaggeration, since the heart of a person will not accept that he love his fellow as he loves himself. Moreover, Rabbi Akiva has already taught (Bava Metzia 62), "Your life comes before the life of your fellow." Rather, the Torah here enjoins us that one should love his neighbor with every item with which he loves himself, [to receive] every benefit [that he wish upon himself]. It is likely that this is the reason for the dative (literally, "to your neighbor") instead of the accusative form of the verb phrase; we find the same in "and you shall love to him as yourself" (Leviticus 19:34) regarding the convert - the understanding of which is to equalize the love of both of them in his mind. As sometimes a person may wish upon his neighbor certain benefits, but only wealth, not wisdom and the like. But even if he wishes his cherished friend well in everything, i.e. wealth, honor, knowledge, and wisdom, he will not make him equal to him, but rather he will still desire in his heart a larger share of all the benefits. And [so] the Torah commanded that there not be this petty jealousy in his heart. Rather, a man should wish his fellow well in everything, just as he does in his own case, and place no limitations on his love. Therefore, in the case of Yonatan and David (I Samuel 20:17), it stated that Yonatan "loved him as his own soul," since he had removed all jealousy from his heart, and stated "and you shall rule over Israel, etc." (I Samuel 23:17). And our Rabbis have already explained the matter of vengeance and grudges (Sifra, Kedoshim Chapter 4 10-11), that it is with something that has no monetary liability [such as if he says], "Lend me your sickle, lend me your spade." As with something that his fellow has a monetary liability to him, such as with damages and similar to it, he is not obligated to leave him alone. Rather, he should make a claim against him in court and be paid by him, from the verse (Leviticus 24:19), "as he has done, so shall it be done to him." And when he pays that which he borrowed or which he stole, he himself is obligated to pay [it]. And all the more so with the matter of souls, that he take vengeance and a grudge through a court that instructs with the laws of the Torah, until he redeems the blood of his brother from his hand.