(לד) כְּאֶזְרָ֣ח מִכֶּם֩ יִהְיֶ֨ה לָכֶ֜ם הַגֵּ֣ר ׀ הַגָּ֣ר אִתְּכֶ֗ם וְאָהַבְתָּ֥ לוֹ֙ כָּמ֔וֹךָ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
Rayacha, it says. Your neighbor. Not your fellow Israelite. Not your friend. Your neighbor. The one you happen to live next to, whether you like them or not.
Rabbi Akiva (c 50ce-135), one of the greatest Jewish teachers of all time, stresses the importance of this directive in times of conflict. (The text also notes that generations later the great scholar Rabbi Tanchuma affirms Rabbi Akiva's position.) Rabbi Akiva says:
... רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אוֹמֵר (ויקרא יט, יח): וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ, זֶה כְּלַל גָּדוֹל בַּתּוֹרָה, שֶׁלֹא תֹאמַר הוֹאִיל וְנִתְבַּזֵּיתִי יִתְבַּזֶה חֲבֵרִי עִמִּי, הוֹאִיל וְנִתְקַלַּלְתִּי יִתְקַלֵּל חֲבֵרִי עִמִּי. אָמַר רַבִּי תַּנְחוּמָא אִם עָשִׂיתָ כֵּן דַּע לְמִי אַתָּה מְבַזֶּה בִּדְמוּת אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אוֹתוֹ.
...Rabbi Akiva says: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) – that verse represents the central tenet of the Torah, [as it teaches] that you should not say: Since I have been scorned, let someone else be scorned along with me; since I was cursed, let someone else be cursed along with me.
Rabbi Tanḥuma said: If you do act like that, know who it is that you are disgracing: “in the likeness of God He made him” (Genesis 5:1).
(א) זֶ֣ה סֵ֔פֶר תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת אָדָ֑ם בְּי֗וֹם בְּרֹ֤א אֱלֹהִים֙ אָדָ֔ם בִּדְמ֥וּת אֱלֹהִ֖ים עָשָׂ֥ה אֹתֽוֹ׃
(1) This is the record of Adam’s line.—When God created humankind, it was made in the likeness of God;
Note: Love your neighbor like yourself is not the entire Biblical phrase. The whole verse actually says:
V’ahavta l’rayacha kamocha, ani YHVH
Love your neighbor like yourself, I am God/dess/exx
The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Hasidic movement taught:
It says “I am God” at the end of this sentence. “Love your neighbor like yourself,” to remind you of the mystical truth that “God is your shadow” (Psalms 121:5): the way you treat your neighbor is the way God treats you, like a shadow echoing your every movement.
(5) The Divine is your guardian,
the Divine is your shadow
at your right hand.
I’ve always been struck by the word kamocha in the verse:
V’ahavta l’rayacha kamocha
Love your neighbor like yourself
The text could have just said: love your neighbor.
Kamocha, “like yourself,” adds an essential ingredient. It tells us: you cannot love your neighbor if you do not love yourself. You must love yourself, so that from that love, you love your neighbor. It tells us: if you are finding it impossible to love your neighbor, that might point to an essential lack of self-love. The relationship we have with ourselves and the relationship we have with our neighbors is reflective and interactive. The more we blindly hurt our neighbors, the deeper harm we inflict on ourselves.