The Mitzvah of Loving Your Fellow as Yourself - Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Vilshansky shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 The mitzvah of “Love your fellow as yourself”: its definition, its details in halacha, and the Rebbe’s teaching in volume 17 of Likkutei Sichos, among other things. Let’s begin with the well-known teaching of our Sages that everyone knows. Hillel said, as recorded in the Gemara in Tractate Shabbos, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” He even said, “This is the entire Torah; the rest is its explanation.” We need to understand why this is so central that he calls it the entire Torah. But first of all, we certainly hear that this mitzvah has special importance: do not do to your fellow something you find hateful. Rabbi Akiva, who came after him, addresses the verse containing the mitzvah “Love your fellow as yourself.” His teaching appears in Toras Kohanim and the Jerusalem Talmud, and also in Rashi’s commentary on the Chumash. “Love your fellow as yourself”—Rabbi Akiva said, “This is a great principle of the Torah.” In other words, its special importance is emphasized by defining it as a great principle of the Torah. What does “a great principle of the Torah” mean? At a simple level, we understand it to mean a very important, very central, very broad mitzvah. That is how many explain Rabbi Akiva’s intent: to emphasize its importance to us. But when we look at the Jerusalem Talmud and Toras Kohanim, which the Rebbe cites in the Likkutei Sichos I mentioned, in Parshas Kedoshim, volume 17, the passage continues with another Tanna saying that “This is the book of the generations of Adam” is an even greater principle. What does that verse say? “On the day G-d created Adam, He made him in the likeness of G-d.” The commentators explain—and this is also cited by commentators on Rashi—that once you know a person is in the likeness of G-d, you must take that into account and understand what it means to hurt someone who is in the likeness of G-d. So we are speaking here about the importance of this mitzvah

03:08 Speaker 2 and how central it is. Its centrality also points us to another meaning of “great principle”: “Love your fellow as yourself” is a general mitzvah with particular details. We need to spend at least a few words on those details. “Love your fellow as yourself” is a mitzvah of the heart. Are there actions a person must take because of it? Is the emphasis on the love in one’s heart? On one’s actions? On both? There are halachos concerning all of these. So one question is: What does this mitzvah mean for us? What does it demand of us? There is also the question of how. How do we get there? How can a person actually come to love someone else? What will bring him to love that person? As the Frierdiker Rebbe says in his sichos, the Baal Shem Tov revealed the farvos—the “why”—of loving a Jew. People had known to love a Jew who was learned in Torah. The Baal Shem Tov came and revealed all the good qualities Jews have. He pointed out the good qualities of simple people and showed why they should be loved for what is within them. So there is the question of why to love. But there is also, as I briefly mentioned, the question of how to get there, and that is a much deeper question. “Love your fellow as yourself” is a commandment. It is a mitzvah, not just advice on proper conduct meant to encourage a person to try. There is a command here: “Love your fellow as yourself.” That raises a very simple question: How can you command a person to have a feeling in his heart? How can you command him to feel love? How can you come to someone and say, “Love him”? Why should I? And if I don’t love him, can I be obligated to love him?

05:56 Speaker 2 Take a very simple example. Someone serves a food at the table and says, “Come on, this is such good, tasty food—love it.” But I don’t love it. At most, you can tell someone, “You have to eat it,” and perhaps he’ll eat it even if he doesn’t like it. But love it? He doesn’t love it. Some people like it and some don’t. Can you obligate someone to love it? When the Rebbe raises this question in his commentary on Rashi, he writes that it parallels the well-known question discussed often in Chassidus about the mitzvah “You shall love Hashem your G-d”—the love of Hashem. There, too, the question is: How can you command a person to feel love in his heart? How can there be a commandment concerning that feeling? The Rebbe says the same question applies here, to “Love your fellow as yourself.” How can it be commanded? The Maggid of Mezritch said that the commandment to love Hashem means being told to contemplate with your mind and intellect. Contemplate the things that lead a person to, and awaken within him, love of Hashem. Contemplate the greatness of Hashem. Contemplate how good Hakadosh Boruch Hu is to you. All these things will awaken love within you. The Rebbe explains that we can interpret “Love your fellow as yourself” in the same way: contemplate. The commandment concerns contemplation, thinking about this in order to awaken love for a Jew. So what can a Jew think about to awaken that love? Again, when we ask how, we are asking what he should actually do. And now that we’ve raised this question, it becomes a question about Rashi in particular. What is the question about Rashi? There is a principle concerning Rashi, which Rashi himself stated in his commentaries on the first parshiyos of Bereishis: “I have come only to explain the plain meaning of the verse.” Everything Rashi includes in his commentary is needed to understand that plain meaning. The Rebbe gave us many explanations of Rashi’s commentary—a whole approach with many principles, built on this central foundation: Rashi includes only what relates to understanding the plain meaning. Even when Rashi brings something from Midrash, it is because, in that instance, understanding the plain meaning calls for something from Midrash. So the question arises: When we learn the verse “Love your fellow as yourself,” what difficulty in its plain meaning requires Rashi to bring Rabbi Akiva’s teaching? If Rashi also offered words of moral guidance and inspiration to explain the mitzvah’s importance, that would be perfectly understandable. He would be telling us, “Know how important this mitzvah is.” But that is not Rashi’s purpose. His purpose is to explain the plain meaning and answer questions that arise from it. So why does Rashi bring this teaching? What does he mean by it? That is one question. Second, Rashi is addressing a five-year-old learning Scripture, since we are talking about its plain meaning. The Mishnah says a child begins learning Scripture at age five. That means Rashi’s commentary is meant to provide answers and explanations for a five-year-old learning Scripture. It does not mean the five-year-old can already read Rashi on his own. Rather, his teacher studies Rashi’s explanation so he can answer the child’s questions. And he needs to give the child an answer he can understand. So our first question was: What question arises from the verse? The additional question is: How will a five-year-old understand that he is required to love his friend, to love his fellow, and to love him as himself? Self-love comes naturally to a person. He loves himself without having to do anything to awaken that love.

08:26 Speaker 2 What Rashi brings in his commentary is only what is needed to understand the plain meaning. The Rebbe gave us a great many explanations of Rashi’s commentary—a complete approach, with many principles, built on one central foundation: Rashi brings only what is relevant to understanding the plain meaning. Even when Rashi brings something from the Midrash, it is because the plain meaning calls for something from the Midrash in that particular case. So the question is: What difficulty do we encounter when we learn the verse “Love your fellow as yourself”? What is difficult about its plain meaning that Rashi needs to bring us Rabbi Akiva’s statement? If Rashi also brought words of moral guidance or inspiration to explain the importance of the mitzvah, that would certainly be understandable. He would be telling us, “You should know how important this mitzvah is.” But that is not Rashi’s purpose. Rashi’s purpose is to help us understand the plain meaning—to answer questions that arise from it. So why does Rashi bring this? What does he mean by it? That is one question. Second, Rashi is addressing a five-year-old learning Scripture, because we are talking about the plain meaning of the verse. The Mishnah says that a child begins learning Scripture at age five. In other words, Rashi’s commentary is meant to provide answers and explanations for that five-year-old. That does not mean the child can already read Rashi on his own. Rather, his teacher learns the plain meaning from Rashi so he can answer the questions the child has raised. And he has to explain it in a way the child will understand. So we have already asked, first, what question arises here? The additional question is: How is a five-year-old learning Scripture supposed to understand that he is being asked to love his friend, to love his fellow, and to love him as himself? Self-love comes naturally to a person. He loves himself and does not have to awaken anything in order to feel that love.

11:02 Speaker 2 Hakadosh Boruch Hu created a person with this feeling, and by nature, one person is separate from another. Loving someone else is no simple matter—certainly not loving him as yourself. So how can Rashi come and tell a child that this is “a great principle of the Torah”? He hasn’t actually explained to the child what this mitzvah means. How can a child understand it? In this sicha on Parshas Kedoshim, the Rebbe sets out to explain Rashi in a way that fits the plain meaning of the verse. As is his way, the Rebbe also brings many details in his footnotes—how the matter works according to halachah, and so on. Anyone who wants to can look in the sefer and see how the Rebbe cites the sources, discusses them in depth, and examines the issues. Today we’ll focus mainly on the halachos in the Rambam, what the other commentators say about them, and how they appear in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. In volume one of the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, section 156, there are several paragraphs about a person’s conduct. They include these laws concerning Ahavas Yisroel: the mitzvah to love another person as yourself, as your own body. So let’s sum up the question about Rashi: How do you explain to a child that there is a mitzvah concerning the heart, and that the love must be “as yourself”? And the question for everyone is: How do we reach that point? How can there be a commandment about a feeling in the heart? We tell an adult that he needs to contemplate. Contemplate what? And if we say that “you shall love” means to contemplate, why doesn’t the verse say that? Why doesn’t it explicitly say: Contemplate loving the other person; work at it, invest in contemplation? Why does it say, “You shall love”? It speaks about the heart, but it has to pass through the mind. How can we say it speaks about

13:43 Speaker 2 the heart? And how can the love be “as yourself”? This isn’t just a question a child might ask. It is a question that the great Rishonim and Acharonim discuss very explicitly. It appears in the Ramban’s commentary on this verse. The Ramban says that the Torah’s word “as yourself” is an expression of exaggeration. In everyday language, it’s something of an overstatement. It tells us the ultimate point we should strive for, but in truth, it isn’t possible for the other person to be literally like you yourself. The Ramban also says—and others make this point too—that the verse doesn’t say, “You shall love your fellow”; it says, “You shall love for your fellow.” Love what belongs to him, what concerns him, and so on, as you would for yourself. The Ramban brings a further proof. The Gemara speaks of two people walking in the desert who have run out of water. They have only one flask left between them, and they are on the verge of death, rachmana litzlan—a real matter of saving a life. If they split the water, neither will survive. If one drinks it, it may keep him alive. Who gets it? “You shall love for your fellow as yourself”—the two of you are equal. So who takes the water? Rabbi Akiva, the very Rabbi Akiva who says that “You shall love for your fellow as yourself” is a great principle of the Torah, says: “Your life takes precedence.” That means it isn’t literally “as yourself,” says the Ramban. And indeed, that is how the Ramban understands it. Before we begin reading from the Rambam and the Alter Rebbe, I want to add another introduction. Every morning before davening, we customarily accept upon ourselves the positive mitzvah of “You shall love for your fellow as yourself.” The Magen Avraham, in his commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, says to accept this mitzvah upon oneself as a preparation for davening. And the Alter Rebbe includes it in the siddur.

16:30 Speaker 2 There is a well-known principle that a siddur is meant for everyone; this applies to everyone, and everyone should follow it. Although it comes from the writings of the Arizal, from Pri Eitz Chaim, the Alter Rebbe established it for every individual. At the start of Shacharis, before saying “How good are your tents, Yaakov, your dwelling places, Yisroel,” the Alter Rebbe writes: “It is proper to say, ‘I hereby accept upon myself the positive mitzvah of “You shall love for your fellow as yourself.”’” The Alter Rebbe is saying to express it aloud. “It is proper to say”—there is an emphasis here on saying, “I hereby accept upon myself the positive mitzvah of ‘You shall love for your fellow as yourself.’” In the Shulchan Aruch, it says to accept the mitzvah upon oneself. If we understand “You shall love for your fellow as yourself” simply as something in the heart, then a person can accept upon himself to work on feeling love in his heart for every person. But the Alter Rebbe wants us to say it as well. That needs explaining: Why must it be said? There is a very interesting explanation from the Frierdiker Rebbe about the connection between “it is proper to say” and its placement immediately before the verses of “How good are your tents.” After saying “I hereby accept upon myself,” we say the verses “How good are your tents, Yaakov.” “I hereby accept upon myself” is an acceptance in the heart that a person voices and expresses; then comes the action. Here you have an element of action in the verses of “How good are your tents.” You are already beginning to practice Ahavas Yisroel. People often use that expression today, “to practice Ahavas Yisroel.” The verse says, “How good are your tents, Yaakov, your dwelling places, Yisroel.” There are several interpretations of it. One is that he saw that the openings of their tents did not face one another. Look at their tents: the entrances weren’t opposite each other, so that one person wouldn’t peer into another’s home. How beautiful that is. There is another interpretation of “How good are your tents, Yaakov, your dwelling places, Yisroel”:

18:50 Speaker 2 it refers to the study halls and shuls they go to, where they learn, and so on. The Frierdiker Rebbe says: Let’s take these two interpretations of the same verse and connect them. A person is told that he must fulfill the mitzvah of “You shall love for your fellow as yourself,” and he is guided in how to do it: Look at the other person where he is at his best. Look at him where you see him behaving well. Don’t go peering into his home, into how he conducts himself in private, where you might see things that aren’t so good. Look at him when he goes to shul or to the study hall, when he comes with his children. There he davens, there he learns Torah, and there you see him at his best. Look at his good qualities, and then you can love your fellow. So a person accepts upon himself “You shall love for your fellow as yourself,” and he is told: Here is a way to do it. You are already taking this upon yourself—to look at him favorably. There is a particular, interesting emphasis here: when we say “You shall love for your fellow as yourself,” we should look at the other person favorably and awaken the feeling in our hearts. And there is something special about saying it. With Hashem’s help, we’ll explain that too. But we haven’t even begun to explain the verse itself, “You shall love for your fellow as yourself.” Beyond the question of what “as yourself” means, does “you shall love” mean only love in the heart? Is that all? Does it mean simply arousing a feeling in the heart—“I love him”—and that’s it? Does the mitzvah end there? Certainly not. This mitzvah encompasses other mitzvos, as we’ll soon discuss. And “your fellow”—does he have to be your friend? If he isn’t your friend, does the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel not apply? We have all known since we were little children that we must love every Jew. Certainly anyone in Chabad knows how much

21:13 Speaker 2 The Baal Shem Tov said how much one must love a Jew who is somewhere far away, someone you don’t even know, whose identity you know nothing about, whom you’ve never heard of. You have to awaken love for him within yourself. The Maggid of Mezitch added something. He once told Reb Melech—his student, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, author of Noam Elimelech—“Listen to what they say Above: one must love a complete rasha just as one loves a complete tzaddik.” Love has to extend to everyone, even to a complete rasha as to a complete tzaddik. And the Alter Rebbe goes further. The Alter Rebbe says this in Tanya, chapter 32, a foundational chapter explaining Ahavas Yisroel as required according to Tanya, and it also contains halachic principles: one must love each and every person as oneself. If we say to love a complete rasha like a complete tzaddik, that still implies a distinction. True, the complete tzaddik is special; the complete rasha doesn’t measure up to him. But you’re told to love even the complete rasha like the complete tzaddik. The Alter Rebbe says, “as yourself”—no matter whom, everyone as yourself. How can that really be? What is actually required of us? And our Sages say that “your fellow” means someone who is your fellow in Torah and mitzvos. There’s also this question of who “your fellow” is. Rashi discusses the statement of our Sages, of Hillel the Elder, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” Who is the “fellow” Hillel the Elder is talking about? One of Rashi’s explanations is that he actually means Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “Your fellow” refers to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. How is Hakadosh Boruch Hu a fellow? Yes, the verse says, “Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend.” So Hillel is telling him: You’re asking what the whole Torah is? What you would hate to have done to you, do not do to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Don’t do things that Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not want. So, of course, you must keep all

23:34 Speaker 2 His Torah. There’s another explanation: when Hillel said “your fellow,” he really meant the mitzvos between one person and another. In that case, when Hillel the Elder answered, “This is the whole Torah,” he didn’t mean something that literally encompasses the entire Torah. If “Do not do to your fellow” refers to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, it encompasses all the mitzvos. But here he was pointing to the mitzvos between one person and another, which have something special about them: in a particular way, they embody the whole Torah. This is explained extensively in Chassidus. But first we’ll address the halachic points we mentioned. So “your fellow” can mean Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but there’s also “your fellow” in Torah and mitzvos. What does that mean? How do these fit together? Here it says, “Love your fellow as yourself,” while our Sages tell us that “your fellow” means your fellow in Torah and mitzvos. How does that work? And when we look at the Rambam, it says: “It is a mitzvah for every person to love each and every Jew as himself, as it says, ‘Love your fellow as yourself.’” Do you hear the wording? It’s a mitzvah. As we emphasized earlier, this is not just a matter of conduct, guidance in upright ways, a matter of piety, chassidic conduct, or going beyond the letter of the law. It’s a mitzvah. A mitzvah means a positive commandment. It applies to every person; everyone is included in this mitzvah to love each and every Jew. And the degree of love must be “as himself,” as it says, “Love your fellow as yourself.” He does not adopt what the Ramban says. The plain meaning of the Rambam’s words is unlike the Ramban’s explanation that this is merely an emphatic expression. Then the Rambam says, “Therefore”—this must find expression in practice. There’s a practical point here: one must speak in his praise and care for his property as one cares for one’s own property. The Rambam is telling us that you should speak well of a person. Say good things about him. Speak of his

26:01 Speaker 2 virtues; praise him as you would want others to speak well of you. Speak in his praise, and care for his property as you care for your own. Look after his property. If, G-d forbid, you see something that might cause him a financial loss, protect it. Take care to safeguard his property, and see that he gains what he should, just as you would for yourself. And just as you care about your own dignity, care about his dignity too. See that he is treated with respect and that, G-d forbid, no one harms his dignity. And here the Rambam adds a harsh statement: “One who gains honor through his fellow’s disgrace,” the Gemara says, “has no share in the World to Come.” That means someone who gains honor through another person’s disgrace. Sometimes someone is insulted, and so on, and you use that to put yourself above him. No. May Hashem protect us from such a thing. Stand with him as though it were happening to you. And if we look in the Chumash—the Ramban explains this at great length—it begins with the verse, “Do not hate your brother in your heart.” That, too, is a command concerning an emotion of the heart: not to hate your brother in your heart. The emphasis here is that there should be no feeling of hatred in the heart. Again, a command concerning an emotion of the heart. The Rebbe says something interesting here: don’t ask how one can be commanded about an emotion of the heart. Why? Because to observe the Torah’s prohibitions, what makes a person careful to keep them is fear of Hashem. This is explained particularly in Chassidus. Love of Hashem is the root of keeping the positive commandments—doing what Hashem says to do. The root of keeping the prohibitions is fear of Hashem. The Rebbe cites a maamar in Chassidus that says it is possible to awaken fear in a person’s heart. You can awaken fear in someone’s heart. You can tell him, “You need to be afraid of this,” and he

28:30 Speaker 2 will become alarmed and afraid. A warning can bring this about. “Be careful here, be careful”—a person is stirred by a warning. So if fear of Hashem needs to be awakened in order not to hate, then the command not to hate in one’s heart is understandable. That is possible. But this prohibition against hating in one’s heart also has many, many qualifications. One of them is that, first of all, you are told, “Do not hate in your heart”—don’t keep it inside. “You shall surely rebuke your fellow.” Go to him and tell him what’s in your heart about him, so that you aren’t simply hating someone. First, let him know; then he can look for a way to make it up to you, to reconcile with you. Don’t just carry it silently in your heart. “And you shall not bear sin because of him.” The Ramban gives several explanations of this. If you didn’t do that, you could be held accountable because of him. Then, following on from this, as we said, comes “You shall surely rebuke your fellow.” It actually follows from “Do not hate your brother in your heart.” After that it says, “Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against the members of your people.” If you find yourself hating someone, it might stir up a desire to take revenge on him. Know that the Torah does not allow it. The Torah says there is no such thing. Try to uproot that hatred, and, G-d forbid, don’t reach the point of taking revenge or bearing a grudge against him. No, no, no. Be careful. What should there be instead? “Love your fellow as yourself.” You need to awaken love within yourself. Then, if someone really has caused you a problem, speaking with him will help you. It will make things easier. There must be “Love your fellow as yourself.” Bring love for the other person into your heart. And the Rambam explains this in considerable detail. What you are being told, essentially, is: be happy for him when he has the same things you have. Don’t always look to be a little

30:55 Speaker 2 above him. Let him have things too; let people honor him too. It shouldn’t bother you if he receives no less honor than you do. That is how all these verses follow one another. But the Rambam emphasizes more. The Rambam places much stronger emphasis on the mitzvah to love another as oneself. The Rambam also specifies the need to speak in his praise and to care for his property as one cares for one’s own. Interestingly, these same points appear in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. The Alter Rebbe first says that when one person wrongs another, the wronged person should not harbor resentment and remain silent. Rather, it is a mitzvah to tell him, “Why did you do such-and-such to me?” That is the plain meaning of “You shall surely rebuke your fellow.” And if a person wants to forgive him without rebuking him, that is an act of piety. He isn’t obligated to rebuke him. Do I have to rebuke him? No. If you want to forgive him, go ahead. The Torah is particular only that there be no resentment. Resentment in the heart—that is not allowed. Later, in paragraph seven, the Alter Rebbe also discusses various details of the mitzvah of rebuke. Before that, in paragraph five, the Alter Rebbe quotes the Rambam’s wording: “It is a mitzvah for every person to love each and every Jew as himself, as it says, ‘Love your fellow as yourself.’” Exactly as it is written. “Therefore, one must care for his dignity and his property as one cares for one’s own dignity and property.” He skips the instruction to speak in one’s fellow’s praise. He doesn’t include those words, but he does include the same idea, the same substance: to care for another person’s dignity and property as you care for your own dignity and property. And to this he adds the words, “One who gains honor through his fellow’s disgrace has no share in the World to Come.” So here, too, we need to pause and ask why the Alter Rebbe left out the point about speaking in one’s fellow’s praise. So is speaking in his praise not included in the mitzvah…

33:11 Speaker 2 Speaking in praise of one’s fellow? That is included in the mitzvah according to the Rambam. The Alter Rebbe does not mention it. Why? With Hashem’s help, we’ll spend some time on that too. But first, let’s add a little detail to what we’ve just learned from the Rambam and the Alter Rebbe, and note the wording the Rambam uses in his Sefer Hamitzvos, positive commandment 206. I’ll read it in Sephardic pronunciation to make it easier for everyone to understand: “That we were commanded to love one another”—that each of us should love others as we love ourselves. He adds: “That my compassion and love for another should be like my compassion and love for myself, regarding his money, his person, everything in his possession or anything he desires.” In other words, to love the other person as I love myself—in regard to his money, his person, everything he has or wants. “And whatever I want for myself, I should want for him as well; and whatever I would hate for myself or someone close to me, I should hate for him too.” And this is what Hashem says in the Torah: “You shall love...” Sefer Hachinuch, in Parshas Kedoshim—in the standard edition, mitzvah 243—puts it in its own words: “To love every Jew with a love of the soul.” That is, to care about a Jew and his property as a person cares about himself and his own property, as it says, “You shall love...” It immediately adds what our Sages said: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow,” as it says in the Gemara in Shabbos. As we mentioned, Rashi explains who “your fellow” is: “Do not forsake your father’s friend”—that is Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Do not transgress His words; after all, you would hate it if your fellow transgressed your words, so do not transgress the words of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Another interpretation, Rashi says, is your actual fellow human being, as in matters of robbery, theft, adultery, and most of the mitzvos. So we understand here that there is

35:56 Speaker 2 an element of action, but there is also a very strong emphasis on “a love of the soul”: caring about a Jew and his property as a person cares about himself and his own property. This love of the soul is not simply “I love him”; it is a love that has to find expression. There is something interesting to pause over here. I already said we need to consider why the Alter Rebbe does not include the wording about speaking in praise of one’s fellow. But first let’s look at the expression, “Every person is commanded to love.” The Alter Rebbe also copies the wording “Every person is commanded to love.” Earlier, in section 3, the Alter Rebbe discusses the mitzvah of “walking in the ways” of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and also cites the mitzvah of “cleaving to Him.” There he uses the wording “This is a positive commandment from the Torah.” Here, regarding Ahavas Yisroel, he writes “a mitzvah.” He does not write “a positive commandment.” Why not? What changed? The Rambam, too, uses the wording “a mitzvah.” So does the Sefer Mitzvos Gadol, the Smag, regarding “Love your fellow as yourself.” The distinguished Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi, a"h, who was the rabbi of Kfar Chabad, examines this precise wording in his notes on Orach Chaim, section 156, and offers a very beautiful idea. He says: Let’s look at Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, chapter 2, law 1. There the Rambam writes about the mitzvah to love and fear Hashem. He uses the wording “There is a mitzvah to love and fear Him.” Later he continues, “Knowing this matter...” Anyone who studies the Rambam knows how strongly he emphasizes that one has to invest effort in knowing and understanding this. “Knowing

38:19 Speaker 2 this matter is a positive commandment,” as it says, “I am Hashem your G-d,” and so on. Regarding knowledge of the Torah, too, he writes that knowing the entire Torah is a positive commandment of the Torah. What do we see? In Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, when he speaks of knowledge, that is not a physical action either. But it is knowledge that requires you to engage your mind, to do something—so he calls it a positive commandment: to contemplate. When he speaks of the mitzvah in the heart, “There is a mitzvah to love and fear Him,” he does not say “a positive commandment,” because the word “positive” does not quite fit a feeling in the heart. That fits very nicely. So we understand why he does not say “a positive commandment” here: he wants to emphasize the central foundation of the mitzvah, which begins as a mitzvah in the heart. Yes, there is a command here concerning the feeling in the heart. It is not called a positive commandment, but the command exists, and it has to find expression. That is why one must do this and that. But if we’re examining the wording carefully, when he says “a mitzvah” and we emphasize that he means the feeling in the heart, the love in the heart, he then says, “Therefore,” one must care about the other person, and so on. What do we hear in that? He is emphasizing that actions are required here too. He defines them as particular actions through which the feeling is expressed. “Therefore”—what do we understand? There is a feeling in the heart, and there is action too. So which is primary? I might say the feeling in the heart is primary, and that fits precisely with his saying “a mitzvah.” On the other hand, he says “Therefore,” indicating that it includes other things as well. If this reading is correct—and it certainly sounds right—then let’s ask a question. We mentioned earlier that the Alter

40:52 Speaker 2 Rebbe himself writes in his Siddur: “It is proper to say before davening, ‘I hereby accept upon myself the positive commandment of “Love your fellow as yourself.”’” He does write “positive commandment.” So what is the point? What is going on here? Before we continue, I’d like to suggest an idea we can see here, which perhaps we’ll sharpen later. It occurred to me that both elements are certainly central. There is no question that this is not just about acts of love. It explicitly speaks of love in the heart—that is what it says. And as a result, you truly have to express that love in deeds. If you do not express it in action, then it is not really genuine love. If you truly love someone, it cannot be that you do not care about him. Do you love him or not? That is why we are told: it must find expression. The particular examples brought here, where we see what it means to love someone “as yourself,” relate to his person. The Rambam and the Alter Rebbe express “as yourself” as “like his own person.” These really are matters connected with a person himself: how much you care about your honor and your property, the pain you feel over harm to them, something you want. These bring us very close to the emotional dimension of caring about what belongs to someone else. Without getting into all the various details of acts of Ahavas Yisroel, this expresses the emotional side of it, and it truly has to be expressed in action. But if you call it a “positive commandment,” people might miss the sense that there is a command here concerning a mitzvah in the heart. If so, why does the Alter Rebbe himself say, before “Mah Tovu Ohalecha Yaakov” in the Siddur, “It is proper to say before davening, ‘I hereby accept upon myself the positive commandment’”? Here we come to an idea that may have something to it

43:37 Speaker 2 Amazing. And that’s why I already mentioned earlier what the Frierdiker Rebbe says. Where is the action of Ahavas Yisroel here? In “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov,” a person is already guiding himself in how to awaken himself to look at a fellow Jew. So that’s why he writes “a positive mitzvah.” Because here, the point is not merely to take it upon yourself, but to take it on as something positive—to do something in that direction. I came to this understanding from what the Rebbe explains: Why does it say here “it is proper to say,” rather than, as the Shulchan Aruch says, simply to take it upon yourself? After all, we’re talking about something in the heart. The Rebbe says that what the Alter Rebbe wants here is for you not just to accept it in your heart, but to say it. Saying it is itself already a kind of action. It says in halachah, in the Gemara: “Moving one’s lips is considered an action.” The Alter Rebbe wants you, when speaking about the action, about the mitzvah of love in your heart, to connect it immediately with an action. Speak about it too; say it, so that there will be an action here. Then there really is an action of speech: I’m already speaking, and the heart is already expressing itself in a way that fulfills a positive mitzvah. We can call it a positive mitzvah because of the instruction to say it, and certainly according to the Frierdiker Rebbe’s explanation, you’re already beginning to act. That is a subject in its own right—these fine points and explanations. But all of this brings us into the spirit of these ideas, while we’re still only beginning to explain the details of the halachos involved. And what comes out of this? That the two things really come together. Yes, the root of it is that you should have love for another person. Love for another person has to find expression. Therefore. That means this love has an expression, and to care for

46:24 Speaker 2 the other person’s money as you care for your own can’t happen without feeling. It’s not something where you can simply be told: Help him lift the heavy load; “you shall surely help him”; go and do an act of kindness for him. You can do that like—excuse the expression people use today—a robot. It’s an action. What is being expressed here is that this feeling in the heart has to be given expression, and then there really is feeling in the heart. So the mitzvah does indeed include the feeling, both parts together. In the halachah, what the Alter Rebbe wants to emphasize to us is this point: he brings us to an awareness of both things together, the action and the feeling, the feeling and the action. But a person might certainly come and say, “I don’t feel it yet.” No. The point is not that he should wait until he feels it. When we speak to a young child, we certainly tell him, “Love your fellow as yourself”; we don’t mean that he should wait for something. But we’ll get to the age of a young child, and how the Rebbe speaks to him, shortly. In any case, everyone understands that with “Love your fellow as yourself,” a person can’t say, “I don’t feel it yet.” The two things come together and are connected to each other. And it’s worth mentioning here what Hayom Yom says about the great virtue of Ahavas Yisroel. There is something in the Chofetz Chaim, and in [unclear]. They discussed which is greater, Ahavas Yisroel or love of Hashem. They were sitting at a farbrengen, and chassidim said l’chaim, wishing that Hashem would help them have true love of Hashem. The Alter Rebbe’s son, who later became the Mitteler Rebbe, was sitting there, and he said l’chaim, wishing that Hashem would help them have true Ahavas Yisroel. Then a debate began over which was higher, which was greater. At a certain point they decided to go before the Alter Rebbe and ask him the question, and the Alter Rebbe answered that both things, love of

48:49 Speaker 2 a fellow Jew and love of Hashem, are engraved in the soul of a Jew as an essential engraving. They come together from the very essence of a Jew; he has them within him. And there is a special virtue in the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel, because it expresses what the verse says: “I have loved you, says Hashem.” Someone who loves a Jew loves the one whom his beloved loves. He doesn’t only love Hakadosh Boruch Hu; he loves the one whom Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves. So if Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves a Jew, then my deep love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu means loving the one He loves too. If I have Ahavas Yisroel, it expresses this great virtue. It goes beyond love of Hashem on its own, just love of Hashem; it reaches the level of loving what He loves. Is there another explanation? Another statement of the Alter Rebbe’s is that Ahavas Yisroel is a vessel for love of Hashem. Someone who awakens Ahavas Yisroel within himself as he should can become a vessel for love of Hashem. Perhaps we’ll explain this a little more later, based on what is written in Tanya. But one of the things this expression tells us, as the Rebbe puts it in one of his sichos, is that you love another person because we all have one Father. Because all of us have our source, as the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, in the same origin, the same root, and therefore the Jewish people are called actual brothers. So all the souls are together. Each and every person contains the entirety of all the souls together. When you love a Jew, you’re not only loving him; you’re loving yourself. And especially as it relates to what we began to say, that it is a vessel for love of Hashem: every soul has a Divine spark within it. Every soul is “literally a part of G-d above,” and all the souls come

51:22 Speaker 2 from there. This is what we said earlier: it connects the entire Jewish people together. The G-dliness within each person—and “a part of G-d above” is written in the verse, while the Alter Rebbe adds “literally” in Tanya. Do you know what that means? Every Jew has a G-dly part. You come to a Jew and tell him: “Know that you have G-dliness within you.” Yes! Of course. That is, he is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and within him is a spark—or, in the language of Chassidus, an essential spark. And there is [unclear]: when you grasp part of it, you grasp all of it. In essence, through his soul, a Jew is united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The soul contains the Divine spark, though it descends through successive levels and so on; at its core, it is rooted there. Do you love a Jew? You love the G-dliness within him. To love a Jew is to love Hashem. So to love a Jew is to love the one Hashem loves. That is a deep love and a love of Hashem. To love a Jew is to love Hashem. These are the special virtues of Ahavas Yisroel. And here again we have a very interesting explanation the Rebbe gives. We mentioned earlier Rashi, who cites the verse, “Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend.” There are two explanations. According to one, it refers to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: don’t transgress Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s words, don’t cause Him pain; love Him as you love yourself, and don’t do to Him what you wouldn’t want done to you. “What is hateful to you”—don’t do it to Him. According to the second explanation, it’s speaking about a fellow Jew: love every Jew. In fact, the two explanations come together. To love every Jew is to love Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There is something here that joins the two explanations together. It’s the point we made earlier: when you love a Jew, you love Hakadosh Boruch Hu; when you love Hakadosh Boruch Hu, you love a Jew. So the two explanations of the same

53:39 Speaker 2 The verses “Love your fellow as yourself” and “Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend” come together here: Ahavas Yisroel has a special quality. Ahavas Yisroel is a vessel for love of Hashem—the special love a Jew awakens in his heart for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and the love he awakens in his heart for another Jew. How do we do that? As we said, it finds expression in action. And here we can add that, as the saying goes, attitudes follow actions. We can understand that the same applies here: a person begins to act with love. These have to be acts of caring for another person; they cannot be without feeling in the heart. But when he actually begins doing good for the other person, he is drawn into it. It becomes something he truly does with all his heart. Attitudes follow actions. Chassidus explains, in connection with awakening feeling in a person’s heart, that there are really two ways. One is contemplation in the mind: he contemplates, and since the mind rules the heart—rules the emotions in the heart—it awakens feeling in the heart. One can also begin from the bottom up. You start with actions, and by engaging in them, you become accustomed to them. You begin to live them, and that awakens what is in the heart. So we can certainly say that these things are intertwined and work together. There is the mitzvah in the heart, and there is action—action from the heart and action in practice. All of this is part of the mitzvah incumbent on each and every person to love his friend, to love his fellow, each and every one as himself, as it says, “Love your fellow as yourself,” and so on. This is in the laws of business dealings, section 156 of the Shulchan Aruch. For many years, various questions arose

56:14 Speaker 2 about certain things the Alter Rebbe did not include there, in that section. Recently, a bichl—that is what it is called, a handwritten volume—was discovered. It had been at Tel Aviv University and came to the Rebbe’s library, and the librarian, Rabbi Levin, published it. It is a handwritten copy of the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch—not in the Alter Rebbe’s own handwriting, but a copy of the text from which the printed editions were produced. Rabbi Avraham Alashvili had the merit to study it. He searched and leafed through it again, and found details in that same section 156 that appear in the manuscript but not in our Shulchan Aruch. The assumption is—and he will probably publish more about this and intends to examine the subject from various angles—that it was due to censorship at the time. The printer they apparently used was known to have a very strict censor. So anything that could imply one rule for a non-Jew and another for a Jew, and things of that sort, was omitted by the censor. They found several of those omitted passages here, and today we will focus on at least one of them, from that same subsection 5 of the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch where we began earlier. Here the Alter Rebbe continues: “And he is not called ‘your fellow’ with regard to love in the heart, ‘Love your fellow as yourself.’” We said that one must love each and every Jew as oneself, and he spells out how this applies to safeguarding the other person’s honor, and so on. And as we said, if he is speaking specifically about feeling in the heart, there is no question about it. This additional passage makes it clear: there is love in the heart, but as for being obligated to love someone in your heart, that does not apply to everyone. “Your fellow” in this respect means only someone who is your fellow in Torah and mitzvos. So you see that the Alter Rebbe is addressing the limitation our Sages place on who is “your fellow” in Torah and mitzvos. He says that the limitation on love—on “you shall love”—applies specifically to this point, to love in the heart. But, he says, a wicked person who does not accept rebuke—yes, there is a mitzvah to hate him. Here he begins to discuss the wicked person. He does not merely say that such a person is not included in “Love your fellow as yourself”; there is a mitzvah to hate him. It is a mitzvah. “A wicked person who does not accept rebuke”—every word here is precise. What is the source for this mitzvah? As it says, “Fear of Hashem is hatred of evil.” The Rambam does not mention this mitzvah here, in the laws of Torah study. He mentions it in the laws of murder: there is such a mitzvah to hate the wicked person. He does not mention it here in the laws of Torah study. That helps us understand that the Rambam does hint that the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel applies to everyone. If there is someone whom it is a mitzvah to hate, that is a very specific case. The Alter Rebbe includes it here because the Alter Rebbe does give us the rules: it is someone who does not accept rebuke. And anyone who looks in Tanya, chapter 32, will see that he brings what King David, peace be upon him, said: “Do I not hate those who hate You, Hashem, and quarrel with those who rise up against You? I hate them with an utter hatred.” The Alter Rebbe says this applies only to someone who does not accept rebuke: you see that your friend has sinned and rebuke him, but he refuses to listen; you even go to his teacher to have him rebuke him, and he still refuses to accept rebuke. Then there is a mitzvah to hate him. Otherwise, the Alter Rebbe’s words there are perfectly clear. He even says, “Even those who are distant from Hashem’s Torah and His service”—meaning an utterly wicked person—there is a mitzvah to love him. As we learned earlier, the Maggid said to love an utterly wicked person as one loves

58:47 Speaker 2 an utterly righteous person. An utterly wicked person, yes. Whom, then, do we exclude—and not only exclude, but even have a mitzvah regarding? First of all, the mitzvah applies only to someone who is wicked and does not accept rebuke. There are such people, too. But “your fellow” includes even him. In what sense? We are commanded to save his life. Even that person, if you see him in a life-threatening situation, you have a mitzvah to save him: “Do not stand idly by the blood of your fellow.” Although it says “your fellow,” we are commanded to save him as well. We are also warned to protect his property, just as we protect the property of other, upright Jews. You do not have to rush to care for him to the same extent, with that same feeling. But no—if you see his property, you must protect it. You must not let it come to harm. And you certainly may not take it from him. As it says, “If you see the donkey of one who hates you.” Even the donkey of one who hates you. What does it say there? “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden,” you might think, “Will you refrain from helping him?” No: “You shall surely help him.” On the contrary, there is a special point here: compel yourself. If you have a choice between helping the one who hates you and helping someone else, go to him first. You have an obligation toward the other person as well. This actually resolves a difficulty for us. Tractate Sotah says, regarding “Love your fellow as yourself,” that if a person has been sentenced to death by a court, “Love your fellow as yourself” means: choose a humane death for him. If you are going to execute him, do it in a way that gives him a more humane, less painful death, and so on. Who are we talking about? A person who incurred the death penalty before Hakadosh Boruch Hu and was sentenced to death by a court—and of him they say, “Love your fellow as yourself.” What about the requirement that he be “your fellow” in Torah and mitzvos? Here is the answer: the obligation to have a special feeling of love for him does not apply, but the obligation to do good for him does. Unless he committed a transgression out of spite or

1:01:08 Speaker 2 A complete tzaddik. A complete rasha, yes. Who do we exclude? And not only exclude—there is even a mitzvah. First of all, that applies only to someone who is a rasha and does not accept rebuke. There are people like that, too. But “your fellow” includes even him. In what sense? We are commanded to save his life. Even if you see that person in mortal danger, it is a mitzvah to save him. “Do not stand idly by the blood of your fellow.” Even though it says “your fellow,” we are commanded to save him, too. We are also obligated to protect his property, just as we protect the property of other upstanding Jews. You don’t have to run to look after him with that same depth of feeling. But no, no—if you see his property, you have to safeguard it, not let anything happen to it. And certainly you may not take it from him. As it says, “If you see the donkey of someone you hate.” Even the donkey of someone you hate. What does it say there? If you see the donkey of someone you hate lying under its load, you might think, “Should I refrain from helping him?” No: “You shall surely help him.” On the contrary, there is a special obligation here: push yourself. If you have a choice between helping someone you hate and helping someone else, go to him first. There is an obligation to help the other person, too. And this actually answers a question for us. Tractate Sotah says, regarding “Love your fellow as yourself,” that if a person has been sentenced to death by a beis din, “Love your fellow as yourself” means: choose a humane death for him. If you are going to put him to death, do it in a way that makes the death easier for him, and so on. Who are we talking about? Someone who has committed an offense against Hakadosh Boruch Hu and been sentenced to death by a beis din—and of him we say, “Love your fellow as yourself.” So what about the idea that “your fellow” means someone who is your fellow in Torah and mitzvos? Here is the answer: the special feeling of love does not apply to him, but all the acts of kindness do, even toward him. Unless he committed a transgression out of spite, or

1:03:37 Speaker 2 That someone who has rejected the entire Torah has the status of a non-Jew. Of course, that is why the censor removed it. If he committed a transgression out of defiance and does not want to accept atonement, and so on, someone who has rejected the entire Torah has the status of a non-Jew. And toward a non-Jew, we are not commanded in this mitzvah. But an ordinary person who is completely wicked—and as for us, certainly in our times, when the vast majority of Jews are like children who were taken captive—love applies in the clearest possible way. And if we are talking about love in the heart, about awakening your feeling of love, then you need to awaken it even for a Jew you have never seen, who lives at the other end of the world. He is a Jew. There is the feeling of love in the heart, there is the responsibility, and there are all these mitzvos whose foundation is, in fact, “Love your fellow as yourself.” Now, as I said earlier, we will turn to the sicha in which the Rebbe explains Parshas Kedoshim for a five-year-old learning Chumash. What does Rashi mean when he says, “A great principle in the Torah”? The Rebbe tells us that there is a question the child asks here. Here is the mitzvah, “Love your fellow as yourself,” but just before it he learned, “You shall not take revenge or bear a grudge against the members of your people”; “You shall not hate your brother in your heart”; “You shall not deny” and “You shall not lie to one another.” He learned in the Ten Commandments, “You shall not murder,” “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness against your fellow.” He learned in Parshas Mishpatim, “If you lend money to My people.” He learned, “If you see the donkey of someone who hates you,” “You shall surely help him.” So many mitzvos have to do with helping another person and refraining from causing him distress. “You shall not curse a deaf person”; “You shall not place a stumbling block before a blind person”; “You shall fear your G-d.” So what is this mitzvah here, “Love your fellow as yourself”? And if we have the mitzvah “Love your fellow as yourself,” why do we need all the other mitzvos? What is the point of all that detail? That one mitzvah already tells you everything. And the Rebbe says that this is what Rashi tells

1:06:31 Speaker 2 the five-year-old learning Chumash: Know that “Love your fellow as yourself” is a mitzvah that serves as a general principle. There are general mitzvos and there are particulars. The Torah can give a mitzvah as a general principle and then spell out its particulars. The mitzvah “Love your fellow as yourself” is the general principle, and all the mitzvos we mentioned earlier, plus all those we did not mention, are particulars of that same mitzvah. The child begins to understand. So this is what the Rebbe is telling us here: it is “a great principle in the Torah.” Certainly, that also means it is an extremely important mitzvah. But what does Rashi mean by the words “a great principle”? That it encompasses everything. And the Chinuch, when presenting the mitzvah, also spells this out: a person needs to have that feeling toward every person, and this mitzvah includes all these actions. That is how he explains the word “principle,” and that is Rashi’s meaning: “a great principle”—a mitzvah that serves as a general principle. So why does Rashi say “a great principle”? Clearly, every word is precise, and Rashi answers every question the child might ask. The child says: I understand that there are general principles and particulars, and the Torah adds the particulars to add mitzvos and to impose further obligations through positive commandments and prohibitions, and so on. But that is when they appear together: a general principle and its particulars. Here, these things are scattered across several books of the Torah, and many appear much earlier. What kind of general principle is this? They tell him: Yes, there is also this kind of general principle—a great principle. It is called a great principle because it has many particulars, scattered throughout the Torah. So what have we learned here? First of all, by “a great principle,” Rashi means a mitzvah that includes many particulars. So we also understand that when we speak about

1:08:44 Speaker 2 this mitzvah, the point is not to place the main emphasis on love in the heart. That would seem to be the central issue here, because how can one be commanded to have a feeling of love in the heart? Rather, what is being emphasized? The command is about these actions. But of course—and here I am adding words of my own—we are talking about acts of love, acts that express a feeling, acts that awaken a feeling, acts that cannot simply be done mechanically; acts that, as we said earlier, will bring a person to that feeling. They tell the child: Are you being told to love? Yes. Start doing things; act. And of course, this message is very clear for us too. People talk about Ahavas Yisroel and start discussing whether they love someone more or less. Act. Do the things Ahavas Yisroel calls for; do more of them, add to them. Keep away from “You shall not hate,” so that there is no hatred in your heart. You cannot forgive him in your heart? Go and tell him. Do the concrete things Ahavas Yisroel requires of you. That is how you fulfill the mitzvah. It is a great principle. You really will find very, very many particulars included in that one principle. And if the child asks—or at least, a child might ask—fine, but what does “as yourself” mean? How can it be “as yourself”? Self-love is not such a simple matter. All right, but “as yourself”? So the Rebbe says that the answer given to the child is: This is Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva said it. Rabbi Akiva says, “Love your fellow as yourself”—every single person, as yourself. But “as yourself” means only as yourself. For as the Ramban points out, that same Rabbi Akiva said, as we mentioned earlier—and let us repeat it—that if two people are traveling together and there is only one flask of water, enough water to keep just one of them alive, and they are on the brink of death, rachmana litzlan, in a life-threatening situation, the question is who should receive it. From the perspective of Chassidus, each would tell the other, “You take it.” But what does halachah say? Your own life takes precedence. So that is what “as yourself” means. And that is what Rashi hints at by telling the child who said it. This is one of the principles for learning Rashi: Rashi does not quote the name of the person who made a statement for no reason. If he gives the person’s name, it is to answer a question. That is the answer to the question. Look, they tell the child’s teacher, look at what Rabbi Akiva says. You will find that Rabbi Akiva says, “Your own life takes precedence,” and then you will know how to answer the child: Rabbi Akiva said “as yourself”; he did not say “exactly the same.” Not exactly. So at the child’s level of understanding, they tell him it does not mean exactly the same. The emphasis is on doing these things. And of course, as I said earlier, they go together with feeling and bring about feeling, and so on. Still, the child asks: But even so, how can I really awaken a feeling for another person, for every single person? And then there is the word “your fellow,” which, as we mentioned, some understand to mean your fellow in Torah and mitzvos. Rashi does not bring that interpretation. If Rashi does not bring it, that means he is teaching us the plain meaning of the verse. And that is how the child learns it: “your fellow” means every single person. Even someone wicked? Even him. How? I do not do things like that. How? Once again, they tell him—tell the teacher—to look at what Rabbi Akiva says. The Rebbe quotes Rabbi Akiva: “Beloved are the Jewish people, for they are called children of Hashem.” Ah, we are all children of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We are all brothers. We are all brothers, so you have this love in your heart. It is part of your nature. This is not a matter of trying to find a connection with someone completely unrelated to you. He is your brother; you simply do not know it. But in truth, he is your brother. So you have the ability to awaken that feeling. Therefore, do the things you need to do and behave as you should. That is how you fulfill “Love your fellow as yourself.” This is guidance for a five-year-old learning Chumash. And as I said earlier, this sicha of the Rebbe’s is foundational for the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel, for the particulars of “Love your fellow as yourself,” and for the particulars of “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” This is part of Rashi’s explanation of the whole point, with many notes and references that explain it. Here, in essence, we hear the general principle expressed in action. And we also saw that halachah does emphasize the obligation to love. There we are already speaking about an older person, who really does need to contemplate it and love. But he too needs to begin with actions. That is what emerges from this whole discussion. “You shall not hate” is an explicit verse, and it appears here in both the Rambam and the Alter Rebbe. The Rambam writes that anyone who hates a fellow Jew violates a prohibition, and he gives all the details. The Rambam writes that it is permitted to hate someone whom one is commanded to hate in Hilchos Rotzeach, not here. What does that tell us? These are all nuances the Rebbe points out in various places. The Rebbe tells us there is an interesting nuance here. Some say that the idea of hating a wicked person, expressed in the verse “Fear of Hashem is hatred of evil”—we read that verse earlier—or “Those who hate You, Hashem, I hate,” actually fits with “Love your fellow.” They say it applies only to someone who is with you in Torah and mitzvos, excluding someone who is not. There is no obligation of Ahavas Yisroel toward him.

1:11:17 Speaker 2 Enough water to keep one of them alive, when both are on the brink of death, G-d forbid. It’s a matter of saving a life. The question is whom to give it to. From the perspective of Chassidus, each one would tell the other, “You take it.” But what does halachah say? “Your life takes precedence.” So that’s the meaning of “like yourself.” That’s what Rashi hints to the child by saying who taught this. It’s one of the rules for studying Rashi: Rashi doesn’t cite the author of a teaching for no reason. If he names the author, it’s to answer a question. This is the answer. He’s telling the child’s teacher: Look at what Rabbi Akiva says. You’ll find that Rabbi Akiva says, “Your life takes precedence,” and then you’ll know how to answer the child: Rabbi Akiva said “like yourself,” not “exactly the same.” Not exactly. So at the child’s level of understanding, we tell him it doesn’t mean exactly the same. The emphasis is on these actions. And of course, as I said earlier, they go together with feeling and bring about feeling, and so on. But the child still asks: How can I actually arouse a feeling for someone else within myself—for each and every person? And then there’s the word “your fellow,” which, as we mentioned, some understand to mean your fellow in Torah and mitzvos. Rashi doesn’t bring that. If Rashi doesn’t bring it, that means he’s teaching us the plain meaning of the verse. That’s how the child understands it: “your fellow” means each and every person. Even a wicked person? Him too. How? I don’t do things like that. How can I feel this way? Again, we tell the teacher: Look at what Rabbi Akiva says. The Rebbe cites Rabbi Akiva: “Beloved are the Jewish people, for they are called children of Hashem.” Ah, we’re all children of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We’re all brothers. We’re all brothers, so you have this in your heart. It’s part of your nature. It isn’t

1:13:27 Speaker 2 a matter of trying to find a connection with someone completely unrelated to you. He’s your brother; you just don’t know it. But he really is your brother. So you have the ability to awaken that feeling. Do the actions, then, and behave as you should. That’s how you fulfill “Love your fellow as yourself.” Here we have guidance for a five-year-old learning Chumash. And as I said earlier, this is a foundational sicha of the Rebbe on the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel, on the details of “Love your fellow as yourself” and “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” This is part of Rashi’s explanation of the whole point. There are also many notes and references that explain these things. What we hear here, essentially, is the guiding principle: action. We’ve also seen that halachah emphasizes the mitzvah to love. There, of course, it’s speaking about an older person, who really needs to reflect on this and come to love. But even for him, it begins with actions. That’s how the whole subject becomes clear to us. “Do not hate” is an explicit verse, and it appears here in both the Rambam and the Alter Rebbe. The Rambam writes: “Anyone who hates a fellow Jew transgresses a prohibition,” and so on, with all the details. The Rambam writes elsewhere, in the Laws of Murder, not here, about when it is permitted to hate someone whom one is commanded to hate. What does that tell us? These are all points the Rebbe examines in various places. The Rebbe points out an interesting distinction here. Some people say that the idea of hating a wicked person—which relates to the verse “Fear of Hashem is hatred of evil”; we quoted that verse earlier, or the verse “Do I not hate those who hate You, Hashem?”—fits with “Love your fellow.” They understand “your fellow” to mean only someone who is with you in Torah and mitzvos, excluding someone who isn’t. The mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel does not apply to him.

1:15:57 Speaker 2 The Rambam deliberately does not present these one after the other, because he holds that the mitzvah to hate someone does not mean that person is excluded from “Love your fellow as yourself.” “Love your fellow as yourself” includes even a wicked person, according to the Rambam too—or, at least, that is how the Rebbe helps us understand it. Only a wicked person who does not accept rebuke is someone whom there is a mitzvah to hate, because of another verse, not because he is excluded from “your fellow” in the Torah and mitzvos. And he emphasizes this: that wicked person, to whom “The fear of Hashem is to hate evil” applies, is excluded from love in the heart. But that does not exclude him entirely from the verse “Love your fellow as yourself.” That verse encompasses all the general obligations, and they apply to him too. This helps us understand “Love your fellow as yourself,” even where it clearly does not refer to [unclear]. Actually, we have already answered the questions we raised earlier. We have explained the two aspects of this mitzvah: both love in the heart and the actions that flow from it. There is the emotional aspect, the command concerning the heart, and there is the matter of actual practice. There is the way the matter is presented to a young child through the plain meaning of the verse, and there is what we find in halachah; the two very much complement each other. What the Rebbe says about the plain meaning helps us understand the halachah, especially where he himself points out certain details in his notes, as we mentioned, in Likkutei Sichos, volume 17, Parshas Yisro. Continuing with the sicha we studied, the Rebbe explains Rashi’s words “a great principle”: Rashi means a principle comprising many particulars, and this mitzvah actually encompasses all the other mitzvos. So I wanted to quote the wording of the Sefer HaChinuch on this mitzvah

1:18:14 Speaker 2 of Ahavas Yisroel. The Chinuch says: “To love every Jew with a heartfelt love—that is, to care about a Jew and his property as a person cares about himself and his own property, as it says, ‘Love your fellow as yourself.’ And our Sages, of blessed memory, said: ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.’ And the Sifri says: Rabbi Akiva said, ‘This is a great principle of the Torah.’” Here is the emphasis that the Rebbe explains is what Rashi means: “That is, many mitzvos of the Torah depend on it. One who loves his fellow as himself will not steal his property, commit adultery with his wife, or wrong him financially or with words.” Someone who loves his fellow as himself would never consider stealing from him. There would be no question of committing adultery with his wife or wronging him financially or with words. “He will not encroach on his property or harm him in any way. And many other mitzvos depend on this, as is clear to anyone with understanding. The root of the mitzvah,” the Chinuch adds, “is well known: just as he treats his fellow, so his fellow will treat him, and this brings peace among people. The laws of this mitzvah are encompassed by the mitzvah itself.” What does that mean? “The overall rule is that a person should treat his fellow as he treats himself: protect his property, keep any harm from him, and, if he speaks about him, speak in his praise. He should care about his honor and not gain honor through his disgrace. Of one who treats his fellow with love, peace and friendship, seeks his fellow’s benefit and rejoices in their good fortune, the verse says, ‘Yisroel, in whom I take pride.’” And the Chinuch adds that this mitzvah applies in every place and at every time. Someone who transgresses it and fails to take care to protect his fellow’s property—all the more so if he causes him financial harm or hurts him in any way, and does so knowingly—has failed to fulfill this positive commandment. That is in addition to his obligation, if he caused him harm, to pay for it as the circumstances require.

1:20:41 Speaker 2 But he has also failed to fulfill this positive commandment. It is interesting that the Chinuch says when a person is considered to have failed to fulfill it: when it finds expression in some action, such as failing to take care or to protect the other person’s honor, and so on. He does not say that a person transgresses the positive commandment over a thought in his heart. Because, apparently—perhaps it is obvious—if a person is told to have love in his heart, he must not have hatred. He must also love anyone whom the mitzvah requires him to love. But to say that he has failed to fulfill the positive commandment—that is through a deed, an action. As for the emotional part of this mitzvah concerning the heart, perhaps as long as he has not taken any action, he has not transgressed it. This too is something worth discussing, and there is room to judge someone favorably if he has not managed to overcome his feelings, despite his efforts and so on—though of course he tries with all his strength to love the other person. We will return to this distinction. Another very interesting point is a difference between the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch and the Rambam’s wording. The Alter Rebbe generally follows the Rambam and explains his position. The Rambam writes that one should speak in his fellow’s praise as one of the things that follows from the mitzvah to love him as oneself, along with caring about his property and his honor. The Alter Rebbe omits the words “speak in his praise.” Why? The Rebbe explains this in one of his notes. The Alter Rebbe holds that there is the teaching of our Sages not to begin speaking in someone’s praise, because praise can lead to criticism. One has to be careful. You do not just start talking about someone. Once you bring him up, naturally people begin discussing him, and there can always be people who start saying, “But he has this flaw and that flaw,” and so on. That happens a lot, so one must be careful about speaking in someone’s praise. The Alter Rebbe rules that the prohibition applies when speaking in front of people who are not his friends, because then there is cause for concern. But in front of people who are his friends, the Alter Rebbe rules that it is permitted. The Rambam, however, holds not only that it is permitted. The Rambam says—if these are not people about whom you have particular reason to worry that the praise will lead to criticism—that there is even a mitzvah to speak in your fellow’s praise. But the Alter Rebbe does not present it as a mitzvah. One could explain that a mitzvah is an obligation upon everyone. It may be permitted, and perhaps sometimes the person would even want you to speak in his praise, but not everyone knows how to be careful enough for it to be made an obligation upon everyone. That is how the Rebbe understands it.

1:23:20 Speaker 2 It is permitted, but not a mitzvah, so the Alter Rebbe does not list it as one. The Rambam does write that it is a mitzvah for every person, and that one should also speak in his fellow’s praise. He includes that point. So this is one point on which the Alter Rebbe and the Rambam differ regarding speaking in someone’s praise. There is a very, very interesting point here in the Rambam’s statement that one should speak in his fellow’s praise. These words appear in chapter six, concerning the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel, which applies to every Jew: each person must love every Jew and speak in his praise, and so on. Earlier in the Rambam’s Hilchos De’os, in chapter five, he discusses the particular conduct expected of a Torah scholar, with various details of how a Torah scholar should behave. He then says

1:25:45 Speaker 2 that among a Torah scholar’s practices is greeting everyone first so that people will be pleased with him, and judging every person favorably. That is conduct expected of a Torah scholar. He speaks in his fellow’s praise and never in his criticism; he loves peace, pursues peace, and so on. What does that mean? the Rebbe asks. Is it the Torah scholar who judges a person favorably and speaks in his fellow’s praise? Is that some special practice of his? Later you say it is a mitzvah for everyone to speak in his fellow’s praise. So what is distinctive about the Torah scholar here? It is part of the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel. The Rebbe says there are actually further questions. “Judges every person favorably”—is that only for a Torah scholar? Everyone is obligated to do so. “Never in his criticism”—is it only a Torah scholar who is forbidden to speak critically of someone? So how are we to understand this? The Rebbe offers a particular explanation. The Rambam is telling us about the distinctive way a Torah scholar conducts himself toward a person whom he judges favorably. This is someone who has a fault that calls for judging him favorably and thinking it through: put yourself in his place; do not judge your fellow until you have reached his place. Try to understand whether his circumstances led him to sin, and all such considerations, and judge him favorably. Awaken love, and, Heaven forbid, do not focus on his… or speak about his shortcomings. Judge him favorably, and so on. Not speaking about someone’s shortcomings is, after all, already a prohibition. Rather, what is being discussed here, as I began to say, is a person who has a fault, and you see that fault. If you see it, you say that you were shown it from Heaven so that you would notice it and try to correct it. This is a point the Rebbe speaks about often.

1:28:33 Speaker 2 This is discussed at length in Likkutei Sichos, vol. 10. When a Jew sees a shortcoming in someone else, he needs to understand that if he was shown it, that means it has something to do with him: either he should look within himself to see whether he, too, has something like it to correct, or, in any case, he needs to help correct it. This follows from what the Baal Shem Tov said: there’s no such thing as seeing something in another person for no reason. Clearly, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is showing it to you so you’ll know to do something about it. So a Torah scholar sees a fault in another Jew. I mentioned in passing earlier that the Rambam rules that one must rebuke him: if you see someone doing something wrong, or see that your fellow has sinned or is following a bad path, it is a mitzvah to bring him back to the right path and let him know that he is sinning against himself, as it says, “You shall surely rebuke your fellow.” He sees something and knows he has to address it. So does he need to go over and tell him, “Listen, you have a problem; you’re doing things wrong”? The Torah scholar comes along and says: Is there a special way to make sure that person no longer has that fault? To eliminate the fault within him altogether? How? By speaking of his fellow’s virtues. And here there is a special idea that the Rebbe explains in Likkutei Sichos, vol. 27, Parshas Emor. There is a well-known teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov explains why it says that lashon hara “kills three,” including the person being spoken about. What has he done wrong because others are talking about him? Why say that he is, as it were, killed? The Baal Shem Tov explains that the very act of speaking harms him—“kills,” as it were. This is because speech has the quality of revealing

1:31:00 Speaker 2 what is hidden. When you speak to a person to awaken a desire in him, and so on, you stir those things within him. And sometimes, when you praise him, you awaken that quality in him. Speech brings things to light. When you speak about your fellow’s bad qualities, a Jew’s words have the power to reveal what is hidden. And by speaking about another person’s bad qualities, you harm him. That bad quality may be hidden within him and not very apparent, but you bring it to the surface. You “kill” him by bringing out the bad within him, because a person’s speech has power. There is also the well-known account in Hayom Yom about two householders who were shouting at each other. One shouted about the other, “I would tear him apart like a fish.” The Baal Shem Tov then told his students to place their hands on one another, as was the practice, and the first of them placed his hands on the two beside him. He showed them a vision. What did they see? That man standing there, tearing the other apart. The Baal Shem Tov told them that the man’s words had an effect in the spiritual realm. A Jew’s speech has tremendous power, and, G-d forbid, it can harm another person. Then the Rebbe says: The measure of good is greater than the measure of punishment. If this is true of the negative, it is certainly true of the positive. When you seek out a Jew’s virtues and speak about them, you bring those virtues to the surface. You awaken the good within him, and then the good in him overcomes the bad. His “do good” moves him away from evil. If there is a fault in him, it falls away; there is no need to speak of his faults at all, or even to tell him about them and rebuke him. Devoting yourself to speaking of another person’s virtues awakens the good within him. The Rebbe explains

1:33:23 Speaker 2 this also in Likkutei Sichos, I believe in vol. 5, Parshas Noach, in explaining the words, “The memory of a righteous person is for a blessing”: “Having mentioned him, he spoke in his praise.” What is the connection between mentioning him and speaking in his praise? “For a blessing” here means praising him. When you praise him, you help him in his service as a righteous person. You awaken those qualities within him and help him grow stronger in his righteousness—even a righteous person benefits from this. Here, then, he is telling us that there is a way to awaken a person and diminish the negative qualities within him. And when we learn these ideas in the Rebbe’s sicha, the Rebbe is giving us a guiding principle. After all, we need to learn from a Torah scholar; we need to learn to conduct ourselves in these ways. I would point out another detail here. It says that a Torah scholar greets every person first so that people will feel at ease with him. What is the source? Some say the source is what it says in Pirkei Avos: “Be the first to greet every person.” So the commentators ask: Why does the Kesef Mishneh write it this way? After all, Pirkei Avos addresses everyone. Why write this specifically about a Torah scholar? Why present it as a practice of a Torah scholar? The Rebbe explains that the source for the law concerning a Torah scholar, as has already been noted, is the Gemara in Berachos. The Gemara says on page 17a: “Abaye was accustomed to say: Increase peace with every person, so that you will be well regarded by people.” It also says there: “They said of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai that no one ever greeted him before he greeted them.” What do we see here? Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai and Abaye were Torah scholars, and they greeted everyone first. That is why the Rambam wrote this regarding a Torah scholar. Well, what about Pirkei Avos? Pirkei Avos teaches matters of piety—ways in which everyone

1:35:42 Speaker 2 should conduct themselves like a Torah scholar. For a Torah scholar, it is an obligation. The Rambam writes laws that are obligatory; he does not include matters of piety. But when we study these teachings of piety, we know that greeting every person first is one of them, and that we need to conduct ourselves that way. The same goes for this practice: when you see a shortcoming in a Jew, speak of your fellow’s virtues. Start speaking of his virtues, and then there will be no faults to speak of at all, nothing to bring to light. This has a message for people sitting in a teachers’ room discussing a student. Someone might say, “You’re not allowed to mention a student’s shortcomings. If you see faults in him, that’s your own problem; he’s your mirror.” That isn’t right. If you see a shortcoming and immediately start talking about it, then perhaps you do have that problem yourself. That is why you notice it: it stirs something in you, and you immediately pick it up in someone else, projecting onto him problems you sometimes have with yourself. But if you see it because you need to correct it, then it is your duty. It is your duty to address it—to speak with another teacher, with the principal, and with whoever else is needed. How can we help this child behave properly, follow instructions, listen, learn better, and so on? You are trying to help him improve. So one of the things to do is to work toward that goal. And when you later speak to him and consider how to encourage him, always look for his virtues, for the good and beautiful qualities within him, and bring them out. Speak about those things. That awakens the good within him and helps him overcome his whole problem from within. And certainly today, everyone understands that this is how you should speak to a child at home, and how you should speak with friends. Always

1:37:41 Speaker 2 Look for ways to emphasize the good in him. That is essentially the message the Rebbe gives us here in the sicha on Parshas Emor, and it resolves what we just learned in the Rambam. Here the Rambam says this about every person: speak in praise of your fellow. There, he is speaking about a Torah scholar; it is the conduct of a Torah scholar. A Torah scholar speaks in praise of his fellow and not of his faults at all. That is a particular way of conducting oneself: speaking in praise of your fellow. Let’s go back and consider this a little, in connection with what we began discussing earlier. There is a difference between the Rambam and the Alter Rebbe: the Alter Rebbe does not present speaking in praise of your fellow as a mitzvah; he only says it is permitted. So does this practice—speaking in praise of your fellow in order to correct his faults, rather than speaking of them, which we understand from the Rebbe is how one should act—apply according to the Alter Rebbe too? Surely the Rebbe would not give us such guidance, as is clear from the sicha, where he explains it to everyone—the Rebbe even says that this is the meaning of Parshas Emor: to speak in praise of your fellow, and so on. There is a whole lengthy discussion of this in the sicha. So we can understand it quite simply, following on from what I said earlier. To say that it is a mitzvah for everyone to speak in praise of his fellow—even someone who does not know exactly how to be careful in speaking, how not to get drawn into a conversation in which people will speak ill of him, and so on—that we cannot say. It is permitted for someone who knows how to be careful and speaks about it with the appropriate people. But speaking in praise of your fellow and not of his faults at all—that is a case where someone is told, “You see a person here with a shortcoming; help him correct it.” That is why you speak in praise of your fellow. First of all, a Torah scholar certainly knows how to be careful. There is no problem. But any other person too,

1:39:58 Speaker 2 even according to the Alter Rebbe, when someone is occupied with helping another person correct a shortcoming, is he going to get drawn into speaking ill of him? The whole reason he is involved in this—why did he come here? He came to speak in praise of his fellow, to bring out his virtues and correct his shortcomings. Surely he is not there to dwell on the shortcomings; the moment people start talking about them, he undermines everything he is trying to accomplish. Certainly, according to the Alter Rebbe, this too is a practice of middas chassidus, for each and every person to act this way. And this is how the Rebbe teaches us to act: to respect the other person, have compassion for him and help him improve. Not necessarily through rebuke, but rather in a different way: speaking to him pleasantly, showing him how you feel about him, and speaking of his good qualities. That is what lifts him up, educates him and helps him. We should at least mention that, in the same sicha, the Rebbe explains the difference between “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow” and Rabbi Akiva’s “Love your fellow as yourself.” Hillel the Elder’s statement, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow,” speaks from the perspective of the root of the souls of the Jewish people: at their root they are united and included within one another, for “they all have one Father,” as explained in Tanya, chapter 32. There is a wonderful explanation by the Rebbe of this point—of the Ahavas Yisroel that awakens among Jews—in Likkutei Sichos, volume 31, Parshas Beshalach, explaining the Tanya. There the discussion is about the root of the souls, about how things are from Above. And that is indeed bound up with the entire connection of the Jewish people with Hakadosh Boruch Hu and with the Torah, through which the Jewish people connect to Him. The Torah, the Jewish people and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are all together.

1:42:12 Speaker 2 It really is connected with the entire Torah. Rabbi Akiva comes and speaks about how it applies to us here in practice, where we say, “Love your fellow as yourself.” In a sense, this places some limits on it. Because if we learned only according to the way Hillel sees it from the perspective of the root, you might say that it is like saving a life, before which the entire Torah gives way. Rabbi Akiva speaks about how it is down here in practice, with souls and bodies that must act according to the Torah’s rules. He explains, with all the guidelines and details, how the Torah tells us to conduct ourselves down here and what the love of “Love your fellow as yourself” should look like. So, as I said, I am only giving a reference. Anyone who wants to look into it can see the discussion in the sicha itself. Let’s add another interesting point. A book by Rabbi Levi Bistritzky z”l, who was the rabbi of the Chabad community and the rabbi of the holy city of Tzfas, was published: the responsa Ar’a D’Galil. In the introduction, they relate something from when he was a young bochur. He was always sitting and diligently studying, and so on. He went into yechidus with the Rebbe and asked the Rebbe a question. They bring the question and the answer as he recorded them. He was seventeen years old. What was the question? A halachic question about sending mishloach manos, “gifts of food from one person to another.” Among the mitzvos of Purim are mishloach manos and gifts to the poor. Gifts to the poor mean that a poor person receives something and has what he needs for the meal, and so on. We know that with tzedakah, even if a coin fell from you and a poor person found it, what matters is that he received it. The outcome is what matters: you have fulfilled the mitzvah. But mishloach manos, from one person to another—what is its purpose? To increase the love between people. That is the simple understanding. The—

1:44:35 Speaker 2 The Chasam Sofer gives another reason here as well: to help your fellow have what he needs for his Purim meal. So he asks: What would the ruling be if you sent mishloach manos to someone and left it by his door without his knowing who it came from? Have you fulfilled the mitzvah of mishloach manos or not? According to the reason that it is to provide for his meal, fine—you have fulfilled the mitzvah. But as for fulfilling the mitzvah of sending from one person to another, he does not know who sent it. It does not, at least not in any obvious way, create a connection that increases the love and friendship between you. Have you fulfilled your obligation in that case too? The Rebbe’s answer was yes, you have fulfilled your obligation. The Rebbe gave two explanations. First—I am repeating it as it appears there—mishloach manos and gifts to the poor are written together. Consequently, since with gifts to the poor it counts even if the recipient does not know who gave them, this teaches us that with mishloach manos too, it counts even if the recipient does not know who sent them. So there is a source for saying that the mitzvah is fulfilled. And the Rebbe added: it increases love. Giving mishloach manos to your fellow increases love. Let’s understand this: What is the Rebbe saying here? The recipient does not know who sent it. Seemingly, it does not increase the love between the two of you. What does it mean that it increases love? In light of everything we discussed earlier, we can understand this too. The fact that you think of another person and take care to bring him mishloach manos—an act of love from one person to another—awakens love within you. That is part of Ahavas Yisroel: instilling love for a Jew in your heart. There is a mitzvah

1:46:41 Speaker 2 to love each and every Jew, even if you do not know who he is, even if he does not know you. Even if you have only just met him for the first time, or have not met him at all, you are fulfilling the mitzvah by awakening the love in your heart. And that, seemingly, is the simple meaning of those words. And we can continue along the lines of what we said earlier: when the other person receives it, he too feels that someone loves him, and that awakens in him a feeling toward another Jew. In addition, we can perhaps add that it is not only about the giver awakening love within himself, or about the recipient reflecting on the fact that someone loves him. There is also, perhaps, another point we can add—though apparently it was not mentioned; at any rate, it is not brought there as something the Rebbe told him. In chapter 46 of Tanya, there is the idea of “As water reflects a face, so one person’s heart reflects another’s.” A person reflects and awakens love for another, and that love is awakened in the other person too, especially if he sees it face to face. In other words, even if the other person does not see it face to face, it awakens a feeling of love in him. The moment you awaken love within yourself for another person, that automatically awakens love in him too. So Ahavas Yisroel includes the mitzvah in the heart and the action; the action gives expression to the mitzvah in the heart. The mitzvah in the heart must find expression in action, or at least in speech—even in resolving to do so and beginning to look at the other person differently. There are the effects these things bring about, all of which are your part in relation to the other person. There is the result that the other person receives from it. And there is the overall result: it increases peace

1:48:40 Speaker 2 So that you, too, will receive, and one person loves another and increases peace. And this is “Love your fellow as yourself,” which Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants to see among all of us. It is a fundamental principle of Chassidus that the Baal Shem Tov established. It is fundamental to bringing the Geulah, and this also finds expression in the Rebbe’s first maamar, “Basi Legani 5711.” There he gives the remarkable example of how our Rebbeim devoted themselves to matters of Ahavas Yisroel. The Rebbe places particular emphasis on what they did, and also on how it affected their bodies: “Their skin shriveled on them, [unclear], their skin shriveled on them.” It affected the body—not only the feelings in the heart, but the body as well. That is the point. The Rebbe speaks about the fundamental task of making a dwelling for Hashem in the lower realms and bringing the Geulah, and emphasizes Ahavas Yisroel. As the Rebbe stresses in many places, and as we all commonly say, “Through Ahavas Yisroel we will bring the Redeemer.” The sicha on Vayakhel also speaks about the unity of the Jewish people and the special sense of unity that arises from our shared source, so that each person feels he is half of the other. And with that, we speak about the ingathering of the dispersed of Israel, which will bring us to see the revelation of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, immediately, truly right now. We will go to greet him and proclaim: Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach Leolam Vaed.