Kavod: respect for fellow man

(10) Rabbi Eliezer says: The honor of your fellow should be as precious to you as your own...

(1) Ben Zoma says: Who is honored? He who honors the created beings, as it says, "For, those who honor Me, I will honor; and those who despise me will be held in little esteem" (I Samuel 2:30).

It was taught before Rabbi Nahman bar Isaac: He who shames a fellow person in public is as though he shed blood. Rabbi Nahman replied: Indeed! In the face of the embarrassed person, we see the redness depart and paleness take its place.

One day sages in the house of study were divided on the following question: At what stage in its manufacture are a sword, a knife, a dagger, a spear, a handsaw, and a scythe deemed to be finished utensils and thus susceptible to uncleanness? ...Rabbi Yohanan said, 'after then have been tempered in a furnace.' Resh Lakish (his brother-in-law, a former Roman gladiator) said, ' only after it has been cooled in water.'

Rabbi Yohanan retorted, " A robber is an expert in his trade."

Resh Lakish responded, "What special benefit have you bestowed upon me (by teaching me Torah)? I was called 'master' as a robber, and am still called 'master'?

Rabbi Yohanan, "I bestowed upon you the benefit of bringing you under the wings of the Presence."

Nevertheless, Rabbi Yohanan was mortified by the sharpness of their exchange, while Resh Lakish was so overcome by sadness that he became ill. Thereupon Resh Lakish's wife (Rabbi Yohanan's sister) wept before Rabbi Yohanan, "Forgive him for the sake of my sons... for the sake of my widowhood!"

Soon after that, Resh Lakish died.

For Rabbi Yohanan, no friend ever matched Resh Lakish. He cried, "Where are you son of Lakish?" The sages were never able to console him.