Commanding Love

            ...you shall love your neighbor as yourself ....

                                                          Leviticus 19:18

Rabbi Akiva says: this is a great rule of Torah

                                                  Torat Kohanim  4:12

Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, elucidating Rabbi Akiva’s comment, writes: “love your neighbor as yourself” “is the summarizing final maxim for the whole of our social behavior, in feelings, word and deed”.

Malbim notes the difficulty of commanding one to love, as well as the virtual (emotional) impossibility of loving another as one loves him/her self.

Sefat Emet has a most insightful comment. When a person is connected to his/her “own point of internal vitality”, when a person truly appreciates his own selfhood, then he realizes that there is no distinction between himself and others. At that level, one understands the common humanity and unity of all people and therefore, your neighbor is as yourself.

In light of Sefat Emet’s comment, it is not surprising that our verse ends with the words “I am God”. It is the realization of the fact that we are all equally God’s creatures which should bring us to love our neighbors as ourselves.