Kaisipang Hudyo sa Levitico 19:18: Yesod Mora VeSod HaTorah, Akeidat Yitzchak & Duties

"And there are others whose wisdom lies in the intricacies of language, knowing the grammar rules, their divisions, the serving and root letters, the names and verbs, those that stand alone and those that are derived in various ways. They understand the nuances of pronunciation, the meanings of words, and how actions are connected. Truly, it is a splendid wisdom, for its possessors know how to speak with clarity in writing or in poetic form. Many nuances are explicitly derived from the structure of language, such as the commandment 'Love your neighbor as yourself' (Leviticus 19:18), which does not include the word 'את' as it appears in the commandment 'Love the Lord your God' (Deuteronomy 6:5), and the faithful testimony that is written concerning the stranger, 'You shall love him as yourself' (Leviticus 19:34), without adding 'the stranger' as it appears in 'Love your neighbor' (Deuteronomy 10:19). The reason for this is deeply rooted, as explained in its proper context. The truth is that it is good for the discerning one to study this wisdom, but not to immerse oneself in it day after day, reading the books of Rabbi Yehuda the Meticulous, the first book of Rabbi Marinus, and the twenty-two books of Rabbi Samuel the Nagid. Regarding such endeavors, Solomon said, 'Of making many books there is no end' (Ecclesiastes 12:12)."

We read in Leviticus 19,18, "Love your fellow man like yourself." This teaches that all love is measured against the yardstick of self love. Time is measured in terms of the revolution of the earth around its own axis. A complete revolution equals a day. All other measurements of time are fractions of a day. Similarly, love for one's fellow man is measured by how nearly it equals the love one feels for oneself. Perfect love, i.e. love which does not require an object or a person to requite it, is the love which existed between Jonathan and David. We have numerous examples proving that their love exceeded the love of self, and that they were prepared to lose their lives rather than to have the quality of their relationship questioned (Samuel I Chapter 18). Their kind of love, as explained in Chapter 21, cannot exist between more than two people at a time. Just as it is more difficult to deny assistance to members of one's family, and just as it is more difficult to hit one's father than to hit a stranger due to the bonds of love that exist between father and son, so injustice at the hands of members of one's family is harder to accept gracefully than injustice suffered at the hands of a complete stranger. The Torah, in dealing with the enticer (Deut. 13,7-13), adds the admonition not to have pity on him nor to help him cover up his sin, since it was in the nature of his crime that it be committed by a close family member. The Torah describes such family member as being "like your own soul." It is difficult to betray such love by informing against the beloved to the authorities. When David executed the murderers of Ish Boshet with what appears to be excessive cruelty, he did so because the hideous nature of their crime was heightened by the fact that the murderers were members of the same tribe as their victim, and they thus violated the natural bonds that should have existed between them (Samuel II Chapter 4). When the prophet Nathan told David a parable to show him that his conduct with Bat Sheva had been improper, David reacted violently, emphasizing that the characters in Nathan's story denied natural bonds of love, thus making their crime much worse. The fact that the rich man had exploited his position to take advantage of the poor man, drew David's greatest ire (Samuel II Chapter 12).

It is commonly supposed that "peace" is the restoration of harmony between parties that have been at odds with one another. People who conceive of "peace" as being merely that, deprive the concept of much of its value. If "peace" does nothing more than restore a balance where there had previously been an imbalance, it can hardly be considered a blessing. Shame is not a virtue, since it presupposes that an unworthy act had been committed which the perpetrator is now ashamed of. Actually, peace is more like the silver thread that joins two people or two entities combining them into a unified whole. Why is one of the names of G'd shalom, peace? Because He ties together worlds, keeps them united and preserves their appearance and format. (Midrash Chazit chapter 1) When we read in Samuel II 11,7, "David enquired after the "peace" of Yoav, the "peace" of the people, and the "peace" of the "war," there is certainly no reference intended to the cessation of the war. This war was still very much in progress. David merely asked Uriah whether these people or affairs were all well and proceeding according to plan. The word "peace" in that context describes that there was a common bond between the people or the animals described. A city of people who do not quarrel with one another, who tolerate each other's idiosyncrasies, cannot be said to be at peace with each other as long as they do not share a common purpose or goal. Furthermore, when there is no bond joining people, there is a degree of separateness which may eventually lead to disintegration, decay etc. Isaiah 45,7, has this in mind when he contrasts "fashions light, or creates darkness, makes peace or creates evil, I the Lord do all these." The relationship of ra, evil, to shalom, peace, is like the relationship between darkness and light. Peace, i.e harmony, is the fruitful interaction of the various energies of different bodies, elements. It was Aaron's special talent to have understood that it is the task of a leader to weave that thread, the fabric that binds people to one another, and thus help them to establish harmony by desiring for them what one desires for oneself. Moses, on the other hand, was concerned primarily with the intellectual approach. He believed that without the benefit of Torah, whatever man does is of insufficient value to prolong our days on this earth. Without Torah, no degree of harmony can be achieved that would be capable of overcoming the dichotomy due to the fact that this physical universe has been made up of four distinctly different elements. The Talmud Shabbat 89, illustrates this line of thinking when it describes Moses' arrival on Mount Sinai before he had received the Torah. Moses is described as finding G'd "tying crowns to the letters." G'd asks him: "Moses, is there no "peace" in your city?" (are you people not in the habit of extending greetings of "peace be with you" where you come from?) Moses replies: "how can a slave contribute to the "peace"' of his Master?" G'd replies: "at any rate you should have assisted Me." Immediately, Moses said "now let the strength of the Lord become great as You have said." The lesson contained in that Midrash is, that even without the benefit of Torah, man's effort to weave the thread of togetherness, i.e. civilisation, is sufficient to improve his lot down here on earth. This is shalom; peace. When Hillel advised people to emulate the virtue of Aaron, namely to strive for peace, he was quite correct, inasmuch as this is a most positive character trait. Similarly, when Hillel said "do not separate yourself from the community," he was merely describing the other side of the coin. Tzibbur, community, after all, is what has been united by shalom, peace. The holiness of G'd depends on the community. Venikdashti betoch beney Yisrael, I will be sanctified within the community of Israel. When the community sins, one must abandon it. (Jeremiah 9,1) When only an individual sins, the community must see to it that the individual repents, or they must place him outside the tzibbur, into cherem quarantine. Since peace therefore is of vital importance to the existence of the community, it is clear that precisely at the time the tabernacle was put into service, G'd would pronounce the blessing of peace, as we have noted in our opening Midrash.