Kedoshim: Be Holy
Dear Friend,
Every so often I have the privilege of being home for bedtime, which usually includes a story—often from the Talmud.
My four-year-old’s favorite character is the famous first-century sage Hillel, who is famous for spending a snowy night on the roof of his yeshivah, where he had climbed up to hear the Torah conversations inside. Other stories describe his patience, love and concern for others.
In this week’s Torah portion, Kedoshim, we have the commandment “Love your fellow as yourself.” Rabbi Akiva comments that “this is a great principle of the Torah.”
This echoes a famous statement of Hillel’s, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah.”
Hillel and Rabbi Akiva summarized the Torah to its essence. God wants His children to love each other.
The statements are quite different (and according to Rashi, unrelated), but the message is clear: keeping Shabbat, eating matzah, laying tefillin—while truly important mitzvahs—are dwarfed by how we treat others.
What better time is there to be able to apply this than after the lessons of humility from matzah, followed by the introspection of the Sefirat HaOmer?
Share these stories with your kids. But more than that—let’s be the role models that they can emulate.
Moshe Rosenberg,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
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Simplicity Thanks for such a comforting and encouraging article. We must remember the simple fact that all the Laws of HaShem are meant to teach us how much He loves us, and how to love Him and our fellow. If we miss that point, we have missed the mark.
Dear Mr. Rosenberg
Did I understand correctly: according to Rashi, if a man neglects to keep Shabbat, putting on teffilin etc but treats his fellow human being beautifully, HaShem will look kindly upon him
Your note was a great blessing and very meaningful. Indeed Torah is not in heaven as said but a way of life here on earth.
How can I know my jewish birthday and my kids, too? I feel fascination for the jewish culture, specially ceremonies, I would really appreciate informacion about the Bart Mitzvah and the jewish birthday. Thank you very much!!
I was truly blessed by your note. Sometimes it is so easy to focus on the things that are not as crucial as loving others - because loving others is often harder. Thank you, for inspiring me this morning.
Just wanted to say thank you for today's message. I needed the message and I am very grateful to have your posts coming right to my phone.
email and article Dear Editorial Team, Thank you for this spiritually uplifting email and for the excellent article entitled 'Are all Believers Insane?' As a practicing Roman Catholic I am in total agreement with the sentiments expressed in both. In particular I apprecite the call to dialogue. Thank you so much.
I loved this Editors note! It's so easy to forget these basic yet so fundamental principles.So easy to fall it the pitfalls of pettyiness,irritations and going as far as to hate. If anyone were to go as far as to expend these kind of energies towards me I'd be so hurt.
Are All Believers Insane? I was attracted by this title and say: Yes: All Believes are Insane if they do not preach and teach that there is the human we need to believe in. For each one to think, do and enable doing good. It is the power in me to think, write and do good in what I believe and pay trust to others being similar to me.
Thank you so much for imparting and living the best of Judaism.
Fran
Loving your Neighbor As Yourself If you look at the Context in which it is found in the Torah [this week's Parsha by the way] You'll notice several verses, which could be in and of itself each an example of a way to Love your fellow man... indeed right in the very verse itself, it tells us not to be a gossiper among your people. In linking the 2, we can better understand the great principle. Ben Azzai gives another gem and tells us the real truth when he says And G-d creates Man in his own image [Genesis 1:26-27] . With the Teaching comes yet another teaching by the Rebbe Rayatz who tells us to use the Right eye to see the good of your fellow man and the left eye to see what you need to correct in yourself.
"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah.”
If this rule were to be followed, baby boys would not be circumcised. It is excruciatingly painful and removes healthy, erogenous tissue.
Someday, the practice will stop.
sharing and love
If we want to encourage all jews to come closer to appreciate the Torah and its teachings then we must not make judaism an exclusive club where only religious jews are welcomed , this alienates less knowledgable jews from learning more about Torah and its benefits to a better way of life.
To help hasten the coming of the Moshiach we must find ways to encourage jews from all backgrounds to embrace Torah teachings. We must not just pay lip service to the teachings of love and sharing of the Torah
What I admire about Judaism is that it appears to be the most rational and sensible of all religions. Since Jews rarely kill each other, if all nations of the earth were Jewish, there would no longer be wars or even the threat of wars.
I would recommend that we discreetly reach out to the descendents of Anusim as is already done by Shavei Israel. Perhaps as much as ten per cent of the population of Spain, Portugal and Brasil have Jewish ancestors. We could greatly increase our influence as well as bringing greater tranquility to the earth.
The unloving repeating of scripture?
If I were guilty of pride, what would you say to me?
If I am to do unto others as I would have them do unto me....would you repeat scripture daily to me?
The Prophets stated that each of us should lead a righteous life, be judicious in your dealings, and offer assistance to those in need. Their message preceded the statements of the Rabbis quoted.
Hillel
Many years ago I was told this story: "A man came to the famous rabbi Hillel and told him, 'I am searching for a religion in which I can truly believe; so far none have sufficed for me. If you can explain your religion to me while standing on one foot, I will convert and follow it." The rabbi immediately stood on one foot and recited as you have noted above, that which we now call "the Golden Rule"; he then put his other foot down and stated, "the rest is commentary". The man converted.
As a personal footnote, I am little more than a "Yom Kippur Jew" but treasure my heritage and, although I am now in Colorado, support Chabad Montana, as rabbi Chaim (who shares my Hebrew name) has brought an important Jewish resource to the entire state. (And I am preparing to travel to the Boston area for a bar mitzvah of a 3rd generation-from me-cousin at Chabad.)
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