Dear Friends,
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18)
Arguably this is one of the most familiar, and misunderstood, verses in Torah.
And, it bears a powerful emotional charge for so many, as its counterintuitive charge stirs and even refreshes us, returning us to our most basic core.
From this week’s double Torah portion (Acharei Mot/Kedoshim), this verse is the anchor of what we know as the Holiness Code of Leviticus, which commands us to live with intentional and abundant kindness and decency among our community. In many ways, “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the capstone of the many commands in this Code, including leaving the corners of our fields for the hungry, not to steal or act deceitfully, to pay wages in a timely fashion, not to insult the deaf nor taunt the blind, nor to ignore a neighbor in travail. If we do those commands, we come near to loving our neighbor.
But, “as yourself?”
What if we do not love or treasure ourselves? What if one struggles with one’s own worth? Should one love another just as limitedly? Is one licensed to overlook this command? Is “yourself” something other than the simple or parochial understanding?
Torah teaches at its very outset that we are created in God’s image. Commonly, this suggests that we bear at least a trace of divinity within ourselves, but more. It speaks not merely of our existential qualities, but of our obligatory roles, that we are to reflect that Godliness in the world. Hence, “yourself” is not merely oneself as a solo entity, but at least an amalgam of our seemingly individual selves and our sharing in the Divine Being called God. Hence, when we love another as ourselves, we are to love another the way that God would do so.
This understanding allows us to transcend any circumstantial or chronic self-doubt, or challenges to inner esteem. Living in God’s image and behaving in God’s image elevates us to a sacred partnership, and “yourself” is thus not so simply confined. It is a shared existence with the Divine Source of existence.
Love your neighbor as yourself, and as God!
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18)
Arguably this is one of the most familiar, and misunderstood, verses in Torah.
And, it bears a powerful emotional charge for so many, as its counterintuitive charge stirs and even refreshes us, returning us to our most basic core.
From this week’s double Torah portion (Acharei Mot/Kedoshim), this verse is the anchor of what we know as the Holiness Code of Leviticus, which commands us to live with intentional and abundant kindness and decency among our community. In many ways, “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the capstone of the many commands in this Code, including leaving the corners of our fields for the hungry, not to steal or act deceitfully, to pay wages in a timely fashion, not to insult the deaf nor taunt the blind, nor to ignore a neighbor in travail. If we do those commands, we come near to loving our neighbor.
But, “as yourself?”
What if we do not love or treasure ourselves? What if one struggles with one’s own worth? Should one love another just as limitedly? Is one licensed to overlook this command? Is “yourself” something other than the simple or parochial understanding?
Torah teaches at its very outset that we are created in God’s image. Commonly, this suggests that we bear at least a trace of divinity within ourselves, but more. It speaks not merely of our existential qualities, but of our obligatory roles, that we are to reflect that Godliness in the world. Hence, “yourself” is not merely oneself as a solo entity, but at least an amalgam of our seemingly individual selves and our sharing in the Divine Being called God. Hence, when we love another as ourselves, we are to love another the way that God would do so.
This understanding allows us to transcend any circumstantial or chronic self-doubt, or challenges to inner esteem. Living in God’s image and behaving in God’s image elevates us to a sacred partnership, and “yourself” is thus not so simply confined. It is a shared existence with the Divine Source of existence.
Love your neighbor as yourself, and as God!
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
