Love-Your-Neighbour
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Throughout this site I may use any of the following three versions of
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Colour coded details of the - TaNaKh:
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of Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, prophecy of Daniel, and
history of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles I & II.
Please Note: Some alterations or (additions) have been made relating to ‘Names’ and ‘Attributes’ of אֱלֹהִים - Elohim, having been corrected like it once was pre the “Masoretic Text”.
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Remember the following truth
from our beloved Torah!
“Ye
shall NOT ADD TO THE WORD which I command you, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH FROM IT, that ye may keep the commandments of יְהוָה
אֱלֹהֵיכֶם - the LORD your Eloleichem, which I command you”. Davarim -
Deuteronomy 4:2.
With Rabbi, Dr.
“… thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am יְהוָה”. Vayikra –
Leviticus 19:18. (JPS-1917 version from the Torah).
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Moshe has been told to speak to the whole community and say to them:
“And יְהוָה
spoke unto Moshe, saying: “Speak unto all the
congregation of the children of
The heart of the Torah, is “Love your neighbour as
yourself” (Vayikra 19:18). However, the truth be told, it does seem, that many of us
are constantly striving for the exact opposite , for we tend to desire others
to love us.
Sadly always
seeking love can have a profound impact on our lives. So often we act or hold
back actions, consciously or subconsciously, with great consideration as to how
a decision will affect our popularity. However, when our main mission is to
love, not to be loved, we are free to choose what is right, even if it is not
necessarily the popular choice.
Who is
Beloved? He who Loves all Creatures
To be loved, of course, one must also love. There is story I read once, about a rabbi Chaim in the olden days, that he had to pass with his students through a forest. But then suddenly, a band of robbers surrounded them and declared their intention to rob them of the little money they would have had and then murder them. The rabbi requested that the robbers wait a few minutes, so that he and his students may prepare for their imminent death. His request was granted, the rabbi’s spent this time with his gaze concentrated on the leader of the robbers’ face. After a few minutes passed, the leader yelled at the rabbi and told him and his students to flee, and rabbi Chaim and his students escaped. When the students asked the rabbi how the miracle happened, he explained as follows: when the robbers said that they were going to murder us, I became filled with hate and anger. I did not want to leave this world with feelings of hate and anger, so I wanted to overcome my negative emotions, by working on empathy for the band of robbers. Apparently no one had ever looked at the leader with such loving eyes, with so much empathy. Therefore, he could no longer harm us. We can also learn this idea from Sefer Mishlei.
“As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man” Mishlei - Proverbs 27:19 (JPS).
Thus just as with water when a person looks
and sees his eyes smiling it is smiling and if his are distorted it is
distorted, so too is the heart of man is to his fellow man, if he shows love
this to him, he will also feel that love!
Love
to the Near and Far:
There are those who have charged Judaism that the command to “Love your neighbour” limits to love only to “your neighbour”, while love must truly be spread to all of mankind. This claim is refuted a few verses later when the Torah explicitly writes:
And if a stranger sojourn
with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. and
thou shalt love him as thyself … for ye were strangers in the
Thus we are commanded to love our neighbours
and the strangers in our land separately, since love must start
naturally from a place of closeness; only from there it can spread to distant
places. The truth of the matter is that the Torah comes to remind us that love
must start from an even smaller circle. The love for “your neighbour” must be
“as yourself”. From here we see that man must first love himself. Someone who
is not at peace with himself, who hates himself and is not accepting of himself, will ultimately come to relate similarly towards
others.
As we will be well aware we are living in a time where the world is full of evil, hatred and malice, and we need to remind ourselves of our blessed mitzvah to love. Many have the custom each morning to recite, “I accept the obligation of fulfilling my creator’s mitzvah in the Torah: Love your neighbour as yourself”. I hope that as Hebrews we take this obligation seriously, and through this wonderful teaching, in holiness, we transform our world into one of sacred relationships between each other and strangers of course, and between us and our beloved אֱלֹהִים - Elohim, blessed be He!
I suggest that you read both Vayikra - Leviticus Chapters 19 & 20:
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Please Note: “hebraicstudies.net”
links are located down the page!
This site was originally created, for those who desired to return to our blessed and wonderful faith. Thus be wise and work on your faith and pray at least two or three times a day (if possible) and always seek our beloved אֱלֹהִים - Elohim’s guidance, for His love is always with us, especially when we seek Him, blessed be He! However this site has become very much a teaching site with hundreds of studies!
Remember what אֱלֹהִים - Elohim, blessed be He, said the
following via several of our prophets...
“Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith צְבָאוֹת- יְהוָה- the LORD of hosts”. Mal’a’chi - Malachi 3:7. (JPS).
And Remember ...
Enjoy your Sabbath Rest, Shabbat Shalom!
אֲנִי
יְהוָה
אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, בְּחֻקּוֹתַי
לֵכוּ; וְאֶת-מִשְׁפָּטַי
שִׁמְרוּ, וַעֲשׂוּ
אוֹתָם
וְאֶת-שַׁבְּתוֹתַי, קַדֵּשׁוּ; וְהָיוּ
לְאוֹת, בֵּינִי
וּבֵינֵיכֶם-לָדַעַת, כִּי
אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
“I am אֱלֹהֵיכֶם יְהוָה - the LORD your Eloheichem;
walk in My statutes, and keep Mine
ordinances, and do them; and hallow My Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign
between Me and you, that ye may know that I am אֱלֹהֵיכֶם יְהוָה - the LORD your Eloheichem”.
Yechezkel - Ezekiel 20:19-20. (JPS).
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“Hebraic Studies” motto is as
follows;
“The More Torah, the
More Life”
For אֱלֹהִים יְהוָה - the LORD Elohim, Blessed be His Sanctified Name,
He
is the one who gave us our Life!”
May the שָׁלוֹם - Shalom = Peace of צְבָאוֹת- יְהוָה= the LORD of hosts. be with you, and please always uphold our blessed שַׁבָּת - Shabbat, as well as the מוֹעֲדִים - Mo’a’dim - Feasts, and continue saying your daily תְּפִלָּה - Tefeelah’s (Prayers) and regular בְּרָכָה - Be’ra’chah’s (blessings) before food and drinks, etc!
שָׁלוֹם
עֲלֵיכֶם - Shalom Aleichem - Peace be
with you!
Rabbi, Dr. Reuven Ben Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
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