Acharei Mot – Kedoshim
Leviticus 16:1 – 20:27
Tucked in among the verses of the Holiness Code is one of the best-known proclamations in Torah: “Love your neighbor as yourself; I Am YHVH” (Lev. 19:18). This translation (which is the same in the French of my youth as it is in English) used to leave me perplexed. How can I be commanded to love? Is love something that can be controlled or imposed on someone? And if love for my neighbor is contingent on my love for myself, what about those days when I’m not on very good terms with myself? Surely God doesn’t intend for my neighbor to go unloved for such extended periods of time!
A closer look at the Hebrew in this verse reveals that the word “neighbor” is not a direct object of the verb “love.” The verse doesn’t say, “V’ahavta et reacha,” where et would be a “marker” word indicating that the next word is a direct object, i.e., “Love your neighbor.” Rather, it says “V’ahavta l’reacha,” where l’ means “toward,” i.e., “Love toward your neighbor.” So a better rendition of the verse would be, “Act lovingly toward your neighbor (as one) like yourself.” Furthermore, the Hebrew root of the word for “neighbor” can also suggest the words “evil/enemy,” or “friend/companion,” or even “shepherd.” That “neighbor” of ours could be our enemy as much as it could be our friend or a guiding presence in our life. The Hebrew leaves it open to interpretation.
In practical terms, how are we to “act lovingly” toward our neighbor? Christian teachings, such as in Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31, interpreted it as doing unto others what you would want them to do unto yourself. But it turns out that such an injunction is not as loving as it purports to be. There is a hidden problem that becomes apparent when we “do unto others” without obeying the second half of the commandment, “as you would have done unto you.” Sadly, many people take this verse as permission to impose their values, religion, ideology and worldview on others—never mind that they might not welcome the same imposition in return! Such an assumption of blanket permission has led to—and even justified—barbaric acts including forced conversions, crusades, and other violent expression of “loving” proselytization. Foreseeing the problem that such affirmative phrasing could cause, Rabbi Hillel (1st Century BCE) offered a different formulation long before the Gospel authors. Asked to distill the essence of Torah while standing on one foot, he chose to couch it in the negative: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor” (Babylonian Tractate, Shabbat 31a). It seems that we humans can agree much more readily on what we don’t want done to us than what we do! Consider the endless ways this critical teaching applies in our individual lives, all the way through to our global realities. How carelessly and devastatingly we fall short of Rabbi Hillel’s simple yet profound teaching!
A Chasidic tale takes the multi-layered possible translation of “neighbor” in our verse beyond the practical and into the deeply spiritual. The rebbe of Zloczow was once debating its meaning with the rebbe of Nikolsburg. The latter said he could understand why you would act lovingly toward a friend, but how can you act lovingly toward an enemy who has caused you harm? The rebbe of Zloczow responded:
“You and your fellow person are a single soul. That person has done you harm due to lack of awareness [with regard to this principle]. When you strike him back, you will be hurting yourself. Think rather that everything comes from God and that God has many emissaries…The soul of every person is, as we are taught, a part of God above. Have compassion for God, since one of His holy sparks has become trapped in such a shell!” (Told in Speaking Torah, Leviticus, A. Green et al., p. 296.)
The rebbe derived this teaching from the last words in the verse: “I Am YHVH.” YHVH is the “I Am” that is you and me, just as it is the “I Am” expressing through every “neighbor” in our lives, friend or foe. Those who act in evil ways toward others have tragically forgotten the Divine spark in themselves and in others, have buried it beneath the shells of the deluded separate sense of self. This powerful verse in Torah teaches us how to redeem our inner Divine spark from beneath our own ego-shell while maintaining healthy boundaries: “Act lovingly toward your neighbor as one who, like yourself, is ‘I Am,’ is YHVH.”