Many people are familiar with the teaching in Leviticus 19:18 וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ (V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha) meaning “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It is found as part of the Torah’s Holiness Code. This code redefines moral laws as ritual and spiritual laws and is directed to the entire Israelite Community with the framework of Leviticus 19:2 קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יי אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (K’doshim tihyu ki kadosh ani Adonai Eloheichem) meaning “You shall be holy, for I, Adonai your God, am holy.” It is a powerful combination and call to all of us to do God’s work in the everyday.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” These words teach us to honor in every human being the divine spark that we recognize in ourselves. This sentiment holds a central place in our common culture, for the Golden Rule, a sort of midrash on the biblical commandment, reshapes “Love your neighbor as yourself” as: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” From the Jewish tradition, the great sage, Hillel, similarly teaches, “That which is hateful to you do not do to your fellow. This is the entire Torah; the rest is interpretation. Go and learn!” In other words, the verse, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” can and should apply to everyone, and it is a strong Jewish value to spread love throughout the world in whatever ways we can.
Yet there is more to this commandment when applied to the Jewish community and our own congregation. Leviticus 19 opens with, “The Eternal spoke to Moses saying, ‘Speak to the whole community of the Children of Israel.’” This phrase, כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (kol adat b’nei Yisrael), “the whole community of the Children of Israel,” implies that this message is meant for everyone who can hear it. Not just the Children of Israel, but their entire community. Who does that include? It includes all the Hebrew men and women who left Egypt during the Exodus. It also includes the so-called “mixed multitude,” the Egyptian women and men who joined the Israelites on their journey out of Egypt. And it includes the גֵרִים (gerim), the non-Israelite strangers that accompany the People of Israel through their wanderings. In other words, the community of Israel includes everyone—Hebrew and non-Hebrew alike—who is present to hear God’s word.
So, while the commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself” is intended for the Jewish community, these words teach us that that community itself must be open to those who might not at first glance seem to fit the expected mold. There have always been multiple ways to be part of the Jewish people, and individuals with various connections to the community are just as present today as they were three thousand years ago. Some people are born into the community and never choose it for themselves. Others convert into the community, professing their commitment to the ideals and the peoplehood of the Jews. And some join the community without ever calling themselves Jewish.
These individuals may be spouses of Jewish members, such as Moses’ own wife. These individuals may be parents, siblings, or children of Jews who, though they do not consider themselves Jewish, do consider themselves connected to the Jewish community and Congregation Beth Ahabah.
All of these people—born Jews, converts, and non-Jewish members of our community—are our “neighbors,” and each one of them is commanded to love everyone in his or her own group as well as everyone in all the other groups. Every person who wants to join a Jewish community should be welcome, whether that person is Jewish or not. Anyone who attaches herself to the Jewish people and their practices is a part of the entire community of the Children of Israel and we are called to treat them as such.
There are many more ways other than religion that someone who is part of the entire community of the Children of Israel might feel disconnected from the community at large. Skin color, sexual orientation, gender identity, income, and even geography could be isolating factors. So, we are reminded again and again to love and recognize everyone as neighbor – that is as a valuable part of our community.
Isaiah teaches us that God welcomes the worship of all people and dreams of a day when “all peoples” shall unite in common community. God tells us that Judaism is something that can be successfully practiced by anyone with the passion to do so and God urges us today to accept and welcome all who yearn to be a part of it as beloved neighbors.
It is a fact that there are members of the Jewish community who feel as if they don’t belong. So many of us can identify personally with that that feeling, for at one time or another most of us did not feel as though we fit in well somewhere at some time. That is why it is especially important to love your neighbor as yourself. During this month of Elul as we prepare ourselves to enter the New Year let us also prepare to let the other enter our hearts and community as well. Let us be good neighbors and let Love abound.
Amen and Shanah Tovah!
Rabbi Scott Nagel
