Parshas Acharei Mos-Kedoshim 5781
I often marvel at the amount of Torah that is available for perusal on the internet, particularly in the form of online databases. Between Otzar HaChochma, the Bar Ilan Responsa Project, and HebrewBooks.org, any Torah text you could possibly want to study or reference is just a few clicks away. Each of these databases represents the remarkable efforts of those who painstakingly transferred print sefarim into digital form and is made possible only by the advancements in technology that allow for the condensing of such vast stores of data into tiny microchips held by internet servers.
Still, Hillel’s task was harder.
The Gemara Shabbos (31a) famously tells of the would-be convert who approached Shamai declaring his intent to join the Jewish ranks, provided that he could be taught the entire Torah while he stood on one foot. Shamai would have none of it and shooed him out the door. The fellow persevered and proceeded to Hillel’s door, where he found a Sage more willing to take up the cause:
אמר לו, דַּעֲלָךְ סְנֵי לְחַבְרָךְ לָא תַּעֲבֵיד — זוֹ הִיא כׇּל הַתּוֹרָה כּוּלָּהּ, וְאִידַּךְ פֵּירוּשַׁהּ הוּא, זִיל גְּמוֹר.
גמ׳ שבת לא.
[Hillel] said to him, “That which you detest do not do unto your fellow. This is the entirety of the Torah; the rest is commentary upon it. Go and study it.”
Gemara Shabbos 31a
Move over Otzar HaChochma. In offering an Aramaic riff on the most famous pasuk of this week’s parsha—V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha—Love your neighbor as yourself—Hillel does not simply condense the totality of Torah into a small physical space; he distills the content of Torah itself down into one central theme, considering the rest to be mere elaboration.
It is difficult to take Hillel’s assertion seriously. Even if we are to view V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha as an overarching principle beneath which all mitzvos that relate to interactions between man and man could be classified, of what relevance is the other half of the Torah to this principle? If this verse serves as the motto for interpersonal mitzvos, what of those mitzvos between G-d and man? Was Hillel making a serious attempt at presenting a catch-all for the full gamut of mitzvos in the Torah, or was this simply an initial hook meant to engage a potential convert?
If we have trouble fitting the G-d-centered mitzvos into the V’ahavta l’reiacha framwork, perhaps we are failing to identify how much the two spheres of the Torah actually have in common. Performing mitzvos that relate to Hashem is about more than merely obeying His will; it is about building a relationship with Him. And the way we achieve this relationship is through much the same means that we employ in our relationships with other human beings: be considerate of His interests and desires, and value them at least as strongly as we would our own.
V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha sets the mitzvos that we perform in direct service of Hashem on a new wavelength. An act of eating matzah or taking a lulav is neither about blind obedience nor enjoying a personal religious high. It is about sensitivity and responsiveness towards Hashem and His wants. It is about engaging in the process of building a deep, meaningful relationship with Him. It is about love, and not just awe or fear.
And what does around comes around. In appreciating the mitzvos between ourselves and Hashem in this light, we simultaneously reframe the mitzvos between ourselves and our fellow man as well. If V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha can be applied to our relationship with Hashem, using the same precept to determine our relationship with people, forces a remarkable parallel: People must be valued and respected in a manner not altogether different from Hashem. The mitzvos between man and man are not just about creating a lawful, fair, and decent society. At their core, they are about recognizing the Divine imprint upon every human being and respecting them for it.
If Hillel saw the entire Torah encapsulated within the pasuk of V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha, Rabbi Akiva was not far behind, noting that this pasuk serves as a “Klal gadol baTorah—A great principle of the Torah” (Yerushalmi Niddah 30b). It is this time of year more than any other that we think about Rabbi Akiva and the plague that tragically consumed every one of his thousands of students, a catastrophe which the Gemara (Yevamos 62b) explains befell them because “לאנהגוכבודזהבזה—They did not demonstrate respect towards one another.”
While it is hard to imagine outright contempt or disrespect characterizing the entirety of a student body privileged to study under a giant of Rabbi Akiva’s stature, perhaps he himself spoke to the actual flaw of character that beset them when noting the centrality of V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha. Perhaps Rabbi Akiva’s students were not guilty of outright animosity towards another, but simply falling short of recognizing the innate holiness imbued in each of their peers.
The relationship we build with Hashem must be with no less care, concern, and love than that which girds our most important human relationships. And when acting towards another human being, how critical it is that we see the imprint of G-d concealed within.