Holy Intertextuality (5771/2011)

As we count the Omer from Pesach to Shavuot, we can treat ourselves to a glimpse of the Book of Ruth. Ruth – traditionally read at Shavuot – is a deceptively simple book. In four chapters of plain Hebrew, spanning one short harvest season, it tells of healing from loss through kindness and love.  A close reading of Ruth shows that there is more to the story. Ruth is filled with “intertextual” references – allusions and comments on other books of the Tanakh.

Parshat Kedoshim begins with the words, “You shall be holy, because I, your God, am holy.” It teaches that kindness and respect are holy. Its first ethical teaching is not to harvest the corners of a field, but to leave them for the poor. Its final ethical teaching is to treat the stranger who lives with you as one born among you.

These two teachings form the basis for the book of Ruth. Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi find healing when they are welcomed by Boaz, whose name means “In him there is strength.” Boaz’s strength derives from his practice of holiness: he leaves the corners of his field for the poor, and he respects the foreigner Ruth for her family kindness. When Ruth and Boaz marry, Ruth’s kindness and Boaz’s holiness become the foundation for a royal dynasty that lasts nine hundred years.

Intrigued? Join us for our “Intergenerational Women’s Lunch & Learn: The Book of Ruth” at Or Shalom. Please bring your lunch (and, if possible, something extra to share).

[Note: this program is not current; it took place in May 2011.]

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Love Your Neighbor As Yourself: The Dagwood Interpretation (5768/2008)

Adapted from Jacob Milgrom

“You shall not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your people.  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  I, HaShem, have spoken.” (Vayikra 19:18)

You shall not take revenge or bear a grudge. What is revenge or bearing a grudge?  Our sages say: On Tuesday, you ask your neighbor if you can borrow a tool.  And your neighbor says “no.”  On Wednesday, your neighbor comes by and asks to borrow your tool.  If you say, “No, you can’t borrow my tool, because you wouldn’t lend me yours” – that’s revenge.  And if you say, “Sure, you can borrow my tool – I’m not selfish like you,” that’s bearing a grudge.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. What do our sages mean? It is not easy to be nice and generous and giving all the time, because we are all carrying scars from times when others were not. But we should avoid acting out of our own pain. Instead, we should love our neighbors as ourselves: sincerely desire that good things will happen for them, just as we desire that good things should happen for ourselves.

I, HaShem, have spoken. How do we work not to act out of our own inner scars? We rely a principle greater than our regard for our own selves: God the creator, teacher, and conscience. We love not because we love ourselves or because others are like us – these can be true or not true at different times. Rather, we love because there is a God – always.

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Love Your Neighbor as Yourself: Rabbinic Teachings (5767/2007)

Midrash Rabbah: Rabbi Akiva says: This is the great principle of Torah.  Ben Azzai says: Rather, “When God created Adam, he made him in the likeness of God” (Gen 5:1) so that you should not say: “Since I despise myself, let my fellow be despised with me; since I am cursed, let my fellow be cursed with me.”  This is a more basic law.

Talmud: A certain non-Jew came before Shammai and said to him, “Make me a convert, on the condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot.”  Shammai chased him away with the builder’s cubit that was in his hand. When he came before Hillel with the same request, Hillel replied, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah while the rest is commentary; go and learn it.” (Bavli, Shabbat 31a)

Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov: “Love your fellow as yourself” is an elaboration and elucidation upon part of the Shema,  “You shall love the L-rd your G-d.”  When one loves one’s fellow one loves G-d, for one’s fellow contains a “part of G-d above” (Job 31:2). By loving one’s fellow, the innermost parts, one loves G-d.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi: Our sages have said: “Do not judge your fellow until you have stood in his or her place” (Pirkei Avot 2:4). Since the only person in whose place you can truly stand is yourself, this means that you are qualified to judge only yourself.