What Does “Love Thy Friend as Thyself” Give Us?
Rabash's article "What Does 'Love Thy Friend as Thyself' Give Us?"
What does the rule ( Klal [1]), "love thy friend as thyself" give us? Through this rule, we can come to love the Creator. If this is so, what does keeping the 612 Mitzvot give us?
First, we need to know what a rule is. It is known that a collective ( Klal) consists of many individuals. Without individuals, there cannot be a collective. For example, when we refer to an audience as "a sacred audience," we are referring to a number of individuals who have gathered and formed a unit. This is called a Minian (ten/quorum) or a "congregation," for at least ten people must be present, as written in TheZohar, "Wherever there are ten, Divinity dwells." This means that in a place where there are ten men, there is a place for the dwelling of Divinity.
It therefore follows that if we keep the 612 Mitzvot, we will be able to achieve the rule, "Love thy friend as thyself." It turns out that the particular elements allow us to achieve the collective, and when we have the collective, we will be able to achieve the love of the Creator.
However, one cannot keep all 612 Mitzvot alone. For if one's first-born is a girl, he cannot keep the Mitzva of redemption of the first-born. Likewise, women are exempt from observing time-dependent Mitzvot, But because "all of Israel are responsible for one another," through everyone, it is as though everyone keeps all the Mitzvot together. Hence, through the 612 Mitzvot, we can achieve the rule, "Love thy friend as thyself."
[1] Translator's note: In Hebrew, the word Klal means both "rule" and "collective." The author alternates between the two meanings.
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Rabash's article "What Does 'Love Thy Friend as Thyself' Give Us?" >>