Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
Omer Day 28
Shabbat Aharei Mot - Kedoshim
Torah: Leviticus 16:1 - 20:27
Haftarah: Amos 9:7 - 9:15
“Love Your Neighbor”
Dear Friends,
What does it mean to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’? Sounds rather simple, but in reality it is a real challenge. This week’s Torah portion includes the Holiness Code – a long list of ethical and moral dos and don’ts that begin with the proclamation, “You shall be holy, for I the Eternal your God am holy.” Some of the rules include: don’t eat rotten food, revere your mother and father, don’t curse the deaf or cause the blind to stumble, and reprove your fellow if you see him about to commit a sin. The long list ends with the commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The simple part of this commandment comes when the people around you are very similar to yourself. It’s easy to love those with whom you have so much in common. What about loving those who are not as kind or considerate as you are or hope to be? The Torah commentator Pinchas Peli summed it up this way. “It does not take much effort to love good people, nice people. The test of the fulfillment of the commandment is in loving those who are not as good and lovable in one’s eyes. ‘Love your fellow human -- as yourself,’ as you accept yourself with all your faults and shortcomings, accept others the same way.”
Zay a Mentsch – Be a good person.
Shabbat Shalom,
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