Love Your Neighbor As Yourself/2

Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

Exegetical Approaches

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Actions

Loving another as one's self entails treating the other as we would want to be treated.

Sources:R. Akiva in Bavli ShabbatShabbat 31aAbout the Bavli,¹R. Yosef Bekhor ShorVayikra 19:18About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, RambamHilkhot Eivel 14:1About R. Moshe b. Maimon, Sefer HaChinukh243About Sefer HaChinukh, RalbagVayikra 19:18About R. Levi b. Gershom, HaKetav VeHaKabbalahVayikra 19:18About R. Yaakov Mecklenburg, R. D"Z HoffmannVayikra 19:18About R. David Zvi Hoffmann

"ואהבת את רעך" vs. "אָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ" – R. D"Z Hoffmann asserts that the difference between these formulations relates to the nature of the love being commanded.  The "לְ" connotes love which is expressed through actions rather than emotions, as it is something you do "to" the other. 

Can you command an emotion? The idea that one cannot, at will, simply feel the emotion of love for any stranger is one of the motivations for this approach. R. D"Z Hoffmann points out that though one cannot be expected to love any fellow, one can be commanded to do acts of loving kindness to anyone, and thus this is the essence of the command.

"כָּמוֹךָ" – According to this position the word "כמוך" teaches only that you should treat another as you would want to be treated.² However, commentators debate whether the command obligates one to do for the other even if doing so conflicts with one's own self interest:

• Ralbag asserts that one must always prioritize one's self.  Thus, for example, no one is expected to help another in his work at the expense of his own.³
• Shadal questions such an outlook, noting that any act done for the other will conflict with doing for the self.  Giving from your money or time to another, of necessity means lacking it for yourself. The Torah teaches, that even so, one must do for the other. ⁴

Context – One might suggest that, according to this approach, the command to love another is the flipside of the prohibition against taking revenge and bearing a grudge.  Taking revenge entails harming another as they harmed you.  Torah teaches do not do that, but instead treat him as you wished he treated you.

What actions are included

• These commentators point to a wide range of deeds which are included in the mitzvah, from acts of kindness such as visiting the sick, inviting guests, comforting mourners (rambam) to simple courtesy such as greeting one another with a pleasant demeanor, giving one the benefit of the doubt, or acting respectfully (HaKetav VeHaKabbalah).
• R. Akiva in Bavli Shabbat formulates the rule in the negative, "do not do to the other what you would not want them to do to you" and Sefer HaChinkuh notes, that as as such, it also includes many prohibitions mentioned elsewhere in Torah such as do not steal, commit adultery, physically or verbally damage another and the like.

Generosity of Spirit

The verse commands that we should want for the other what we would want for ourselves.

Sources:Ibn EzraVayikra 19:18About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, RambanVayikra 19:18About R. Moshe b. Nachman

Love

The law demands that one should feel love for one's neighbor, just as one does for one's self.

Sources:Moses Mendelssohn

Can you command an emotion

"לְרֵעֲךָ" – who is included?

"כָּמוֹךָ"

"ואהבת  את רעך" vs. "אָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ"

Context

Comparable verses

¹ Though R. Akiva does not explicitly mention the command of "ואבהת לרעך כמוך", his words have been understood by many commentators to refer to it.

² According to these commentators, as the command does not entail emotionally loving another, it says nothing of the degree of love you must feel for another, for Torah does not expect an individual to love another as he loves himself.

³ He writes, "אלא שהמצוה בזה היא באופן שלא יגיע בה נזק לאוהב מפני זאת האהבה; וזה, שלא יחוייב לאדם להניח מלאכתו מפני מלאכת חבירו, כי אהבת עצמו קודמת לאהבת זולתו."

⁴ HaKetav VeHaKabbalah offers a middle position, suggesting that one need only do for the other what would expect the other to do for ones self. Thus, though one might give a present to another though it it a cost to one's self, one need not give all one's property or even just an exorbitant sum as he would never expect the other to do the same for himself.