Justin Opell I found out I didn’t sign up for the blog right so I’m writing from Emory’s account.

I found out I didn’t sign up for the blog right so I’m writing from Emory’s account.

Justin Opell

Vayikra חי׃טי

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Probably the most important commandment in the Bible, stemming across Judaism as well as Christianity, being a common theme for both, “Love thy neighbor as yourself”, speaks volumes to me. The Torah gives us many strange laws like what to do when your slave woman has sex with someone else or how one should not boil a baby goat in its mother's milk, but this law is pretty clear cut, it's the golden rule; Do unto others as you would want them to do to you, treat them like yourself. There are three main points I can interpret from this commandment. One, the first part warns against holding grudges against one’s people. It seems that this verse recites two seperate commandments but in fact they are one. On the surface it appears to be prohibition on gossip, yet “bear[ing] a grudge against… your neighbor” represents a lot more. It is meant to describe all interaction between humans. Yes, we shouldn't gossip but this could also mean literally holding a grudge, or going behind someone's back. Anyway in which one person can hurt another, is encompassed under the umbrella term of grudge. In other words it really means a transgression against another. Secondly, the more important part of the commandment is, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. This is what I consider to be the theme of Judaism. It encircles many things like welcoming the stranger and giving tzedakah; they all come back to this singular theme of loving ones neighbor. Love, ahava, is what brings the world together. Love can change the world. We’ve seen the power of love throughout history, most significantly in my opinion, the counterculture movement of the 1960s. It encompassed a wide range of issues including civil rights and the onset of the war in Vietnam. Love eventually prevailed shaping a generation. This by no means is saying love and everyone. There are certainly some who would disagree, but we shouldn’t be forced to love everyone. But it's better to love your fellow man or the stranger before they do something to rescind that love. You should love people until they give you a reason not to. But lastly, both parts of the commandment come together to form what is commonly referred to as the golden rule. “Do unto others as you want done unto you.” in other words, “love your neighbor as yourself.” This idea is the centric idea (in my opinion) of the entire Tanakh.” Whether it be between a stranger or a parent, expect to be treated the way you treat others. Respect with respect and vice versa. It’s not love unconditionally, but rather an acknowledgement that for every action there is a reaction, and most of the time that reaction is dictated by our actions.

Once again, this commandment has dictated our entire peoplehood. This is by far the most important jewish value. And a way to apply this in everyday life is to treat everyone with respect. We don’t have to love everyone, but people should be treated with basic respect. And I want to apply this to my life as well. I’d like to get to know people before I make assumptions off of first impressions. Also, I want to treat everyone with the same respect and dignity as myself, no matter how different they are from myself.