Kedoshim Sources 5780

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the LORD.

ואהבת לרעך כמוך THOU SHALT LOVE THY FELLOW MAN AS THYSELF —Rabbi Akiba said: “This is a fundamental principle of the Torah” (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 12; Talmud Yerushalmi Nedarim 9:3).

To "love your neighbor as yourself' means to love him in all of the ways that your mind and your heart agree are appropriate for people to act in loving ways with their neighbors, who are all other people. That is, for example, Reuven wants Shimon, who loves him to act in a faithful and loving way in all the ways that Reuven thinks are appropriate which are as follows:

1. That he should love me honestly and not in a fake way.

2. That he should always act towards me with honor...

3. That he should always inquire into my welfare.

4. That he should offer solidarity when I suffer.

5. That he should great me with friendliness when I enter his home.

6. That he should judge me favorably in all things.

7. That he should volunteer with his body for any small task for which I need his help.

8. That he should help me with a loan or gift of money should I need that assistance.

9. That he should not act superior to me.

And he will think in his mind and conclude with his heart other ways of showing love similar to these. But he would not think that Shimon should give him all of his money or property out of Shimon's love for him. For Reuven would not want that or espect that for logic cannot accept that and it makes no sense to obligate others in that way.

We see that all of these numbered ways that Reuven wants Shimon to act in a loving way are things that Reuven in turn is obligated to provide to Shimon...And this is the meaning of "loving your neighbor *as yourself.*" That is to say that the love for your neighbor should include all of these ways, just like you would want from a neighbor who loved you. And in this way the mitzvah is fulfilled in its entirety. There is no need for one to give all of his possessions or property or money to another out of love for him since he would not want that from someone else.

And now the problems that various commentaries have raised are resolved. They ask "how can the Torah command something that is against nature and that no person could ever live up to? And in response to this question many unsatisfactory answers were offered: "love your neighbor as yourself is a mere exaggeration, and some say you should give back the same benefit to your neighbor that you receive ...But none of this is necessary. For in truth we do not need any of these far fetched solutions because the word "as yourself" is not a challenging word to understand for the Torah commands us something very logical and natural and that every person can carry out...

(1) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.

To all the congregation of the Children of Israel: Our rabbis already said (Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 1) that this section was stated in assembly, since the majority of the corpus of the Torah depends on it - and this is the reason [it states,] "to all the congregation of the Children of Israel." However, it is mentioned here in Torat Kohanim (Leviticus), because it will mention the peace offerings in [this section] and because it will mention the judgement that it will command [about] what to do to those that do the abominations that are mentioned in it. And the sexual transgressions and the abominations are mentioned in this book because of the reason that we wrote at the beginning of the book. You shall be holy: "One should be separate from sexual transgressions and from sin, for any place that one finds a fence [before] sexual transgressions, one [also] finds holiness (kedusha)" - this is the language of Rashi. But in Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 1, Chapter 2, I saw only, "You shall be holy." And [so,] they learned there (Sifra, Shemini, Chapter 12:3), "'And you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, since holy am I' (Leviticus 11:44) - Just like I am holy, you should be holy; just like I am separate, you should be separate." But according to my opinion, this separation is not to separate from sexual transgressions, like the words of the rabbi (Rashi). But [rather], the separation is the one mentioned in every place in the Talmud where its [practitioners] are called those that have separated themselves (perushim). And the matter is [that] the Torah prohibited sexual transgressions and forbidden foods, and permitted sexual relations between husband and wife and the eating of meat and [the drinking of] wine. If so, a desirous person will find a place to be lecherous with his wife or his many wives, or to be among the guzzlers of wine and the gluttons of meat. He will speak as he pleases about all the vulgarities, the prohibition of which is not mentioned in the Torah. And behold, he would be a scoundrel with the permission of the Torah. Therefore, Scripture came, after it specified the prohibitions that it completely forbade, and commanded a more general [rule] - that we should be separated from [indulgence of] those things that are permissible: He should minimize sexual relations, like the matter that they stated (Berakhot 22a), "That Torah scholars should not be found with their wives [constantly] like chickens." And he should only have relations according to the need for his execution of the commandment. And he should sanctify himself from wine by minimizing it - just as Scripture calls the Nazarite, holy (Numbers 6:5); and mentions the evil that comes from it in the Torah with Noach (Genesis 9:21) and with Lot (Genesis 19:33). And so [too], he should separate himself from impurity - even though we are not prohibited from it in the Torah - as they mentioned (Chagigah 18b), "The clothing of ignorant people are [considered] midras (a type of impurity) for perushim." And just as the Nazarite is also called holy for his guarding [himself] from the impurity of the dead. And he should also guard his mouth and his tongue from becoming defiled from the multitude of coarse food and from disgusting speech, as mentioned by Scripture (Isaiah 9:16), "and every mouth speaks a vulgarity." And he should sanctify himself with this, until he comes to separation (perishut) - as they said about Rabbi Chiya, that he never spoke idle conversation in his life. For these [things] and similar to them comes this general commandment - after it listed all of the sins that are completely forbidden - until he includes in this general rule the command of cleanliness of his hands and his body. As they stated (Berakhot 53b), "'And you shall sanctify yourselves' - these are the first waters (to wash hands before the meal), 'and be holy' - these are the last waters (to wash hands after the meal), 'since holy' - this is fragrant oil (to ward off bad odors)." As even though these commandments are rabbinic, the essence of Scripture prohibits things like these; that we should be clean and pure and separate ourselves from the masses of people, who dirty themselves with those things that are permissible and with those things that are ugly. And this is the way of the Torah to state the particulars and [then] the general rules. And similar to this is when after the prohibition of the specific laws of trade among men - do not steal, do not burglarize, do not deceive, and all of the other prohibitions - it states the general principle, "And you shall do the straight and the good" (Deuteronomy 6:18), so that it places into a positive commandment, uprightness, compromise and going beyond the letter of the law towards the will of his friend - as I will explain (there), when I get to its place, with the will of the Holy One, blessed be He. And so [too] with the matter of the Shabbat, it forbade the types of work with a negative commandment and the exertions with a general positive commandment, as it states, "rest"; and I will explain this more (Ramban on Leviticus 23:24), with the will of God. And the explanation of the verse saying, "since Holy am I the Lord, your God," is to say that we merit to cling to Him by our being holy. And this is like the matter of the first statement in the ten statements (Ten Commandments - Exodus 20:3). And it commanded (Leviticus 19:3), "A man, his mother and father must fear" [here], since there (in the Ten Commandments), it commanded about honor, and here it will command about fear. And it said [here] "and guard my Shabbats," since there it commanded on the remembering [of the Shabbat] and here on the guarding and we have already explained the matter of both of them (Ramban on Exodus 20:8).