I have the amazing fortune of spending Shabbat at a class reunion with friends from my yeshiva days. I’m reconnecting with buddies from Massachusetts, Israel, Greece, Miami, London, and beyond. It’s so special.
More special than the fond memories and nostalgia is hearing their successes and life stories. It truly feels so uplifting as each one fargins the other and celebrates their families and journeys.
Some are Rabbis. Some are businessmen. Some are professionals.
But, we are all brothers. And the farbrengens betray a true sense of pride we have in each other.
This week’s double parsha of Acharei-Kedoshim includes the famous words, “Love your fellow as yourself.” The Torah doesn’t just tell us to love our fellow. It tells us how much we should love our fellow – just as much as we love ourselves.
But, if we are working on the assumption that we love ourselves more than others, then why doesn’t the Torah start with that. It should state, “Just as much as you love yourself – you should love others.”
A saying common amongst Chassidim of old goes like this: “The piece of bread that I have is yours just as much as it is mine.”
Let’s remember that a piece of bread was a treasure. Sometimes, it was a life-saving treasure.
Rabbi Yosef Y. Schneerson, the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, pointed out that the primary message of this saying is the order. They would say “yours” before “mine.” It wasn’t “my” bread that I was sharing with you equally. Rather, it was your piece of bread. Because we are all one, it might also be my piece of bread…
This turns the whole perspective of loving one’s fellow on its head.
In fact, Rabbi Yosef Y. Schneerson wonders about this command to "Love your fellow as yourself." Why only as much as yourself?
His response is that, indeed, Chassidim have always maintained that the meaning of the verse is the exact opposite of how it is commonly understood. Despite all that you know about yourself, the Torah is saying, you should try to love yourself as much as you love your fellow...
About your fellow, you don’t know everything. Therefore, you need to always give him or her the benefit of the doubt. Judge them favorably!
But, about yourself… you know too much… You may very well be inclined to shy away from loving yourself.
So, the Torah is telling us to Love your fellow! And… to love ourselves as much as we love each other.