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"Love your fellow as yourself".

Article Excerpt
If one thousand or one million people, Jews and non-Jews in the United States, were asked what is the most famous and most important line in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, I think the answer of most persons would be words from Leviticus 19:18. The words are, "But love your neighbor as yourself"--in Hebrew, "V'ahavta l're'akha kamokha."

The pre-eminence of these words was asserted as far back as the second century when Rabbi Akiva declared, "This is a fundamental principle in the Torah." (1)

Even before Rabbi Akiva, in the Gospels (Matthew 22:36-39), when Jesus is asked what is the Torah's greatest commandment, he replies: "'You shall love the Lord your Cod with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (2)

Most of us take these words for granted. When asked, we would say that we know what they mean. But do we? What is the context of "Love your neighbor as yourself"? Who is the "neighbor," and what does it mean to "love" him? What if your neighbor is not a worthy person?

"Love your neighbor as yourself" is preceded by verses fisting some duties towards other people. Among them are: not stealing nor lying; (3) not delaying payment of a hired worker's wages to the next morning; (4) not cursing the deaf; (5) and not standing by indifferently when someone is in mortal danger. (6)

Leviticus 19:18 itself reads in full: "You shall not take vengeance nor bear a grudge against members of your people; but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord."

It seems clear that in contrast to what comes before--some behavior you are not to engage in "but love your neighbor as yourself" is the culmination, the statement of how you should feel and, especially, behave towards others: act lovingly.

Notice I said "feel" and "behave" rather than only "feel." As the Biblical scholar Jacob Milgrom has pointed out, "The Hebrew word [for "love," '-h-v] implies not only an attitude or emotion but also deeds." (7) Also, Jeffrey Tigay, in his commentary on Deuteronomy, wrote: "Nevertheless, love of God in Deuteronomy is not only an emotional attachment to Him, but something that expresses itself in action. This is in keeping with the fact that Hebrew verbs for feelings sometimes refer as well to the actions that result from them." (8)

"V'ahavta" ("But you shall love"), then, means feeling a deep affection for someone that results in willing, caring, responsible behavior to another.

But who is that "another"? That is, to whom does "l're'akha," commonly translated as "your neighbor," refer? Since the preceding verse speaks of "b'nei amekha" (literally, "children of your people"), it...

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