Who are the people in your neighborhood?

The pasuk says "Reyacha" - your neighbor. How do we define neighbor – to whom does this pasuk apply? Is the way we are supposed to treat people we know, or strangers? Jews, or non-Jews? Fellow citizens of our own country, or the whole world? 

It is possible to interpret this pasuk in a narrow way to refer only to other Jews, since the word "brother" is used earlier in the same pasuk. It is reasonable therefore to assume that the Torah is only asking us to worry about our fellow Jew

However, we see that this is not the case. Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, eighteenth century author of Noda B'Yehuda, ruled:

I emphatically declare that in all laws contained in the Jewish writings concerning theft, fraud, etc., no distinction is made between Jew and Gentile; that the legal categories goy, akum (idolater), etc., in no way apply to the people among whom we live.

According to Rabbi Landau's ruling we are commanded to act justly to all people with whom we live, Jew or non-Jew, without restriction. 

Avot De Rebbe Natan takes this one step further. We see in chapter 12:

מלמד שיהא אדם אוהב את הבריות, ולא יהא שונא את הבריות. שכן מצינו באנשי דור הפלגה, שמתוך שאוהבין זה את זה, לא רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לאבדן מן העולם, אלא פזרן בארבע רוחות העולם.  אבל אנשי סדום, מתוך שהיו שונאים זה את זה, איבדן הקדוש ברוך הוא מן העולם הזה ומן העולם הבא.

Loving mankind. What does this mean? It teaches that a man should love his fellow creatures and not hate them, for so we find it among the men of the generation of the Dispersion. Because they loved one another, the Holy One, blessed be He did not wish to destroy them, but dispersed them to the four corners of the earth. Because the men of Sodom, on the other hand, hated one another, the Holy One, blessed be He destroyed them from this world and the World to Come

It's not enough to avoid abusing others, but rather Jews are obligated to protest injustice being perpetrated by others. We must not only love everyone, we must also actively promote love between people.

This is a powerful message indeed.

 


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