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Loving the Divine in Your Neighbor

By Toby Janicki | Comments (2) | Posted on August 19, 2008

A while back I wrote an article in messiah magazine 93 entitled "Who is my Neighbor?". One of the things I discuss in there is the connection the Master Yeshua draws between "loving God" and "loving your neighbor" when answering the question about which is the greatest commandment in the Torah:

And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)

The Master did not randomly draw these verses together but most likely used a common interpretative method called gezerah shavah, a hermeneutical principle where two verses are combined based on a common word found in both verses. Here the similar word is v'ahavta "And you shall love." This form of this verb only appears in conjunction with three Torah commands, and Master Yeshua sites two of them here. A similar connection is found in 1 John:

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. (1 John 5:2)

Although we do not find direct reference to this combination in early rabbinic literature we do find statements that imply a similar sentiment. For example in m.Avot 3:14 we read, "Beloved is the man who is created in the image of God." There are however examples of this combination in Pseudepigrapha book The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs:

Keep therefore the law of God, my children, and get simplicity, and walk in guilelessness, not prying over-curiously into the commands of God and the business of your neighbor; but love the Lord and your neighbor, have compassion on the poor and weak. (Testament of Issachar 5)

Love the Lord through all your life, and one another with a true heart. (Testament of Dan 5)

The other day I found one more example of this combination in Chassidic literature. Chabad Chassidim have a collection of sayings and customs that were compiled in 1942 by the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson on behalf of his father-in-law Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson. It is broken up into small daily readings and is therefore called HaYom Yom ("Today's Day"). The reading for last Wednesday the 12th of Av had a quote that was said to go back to the Baal Shem Tov:

"Love your fellow like yourself" is an interpretation of and commentary on "Love Hashem your God." He who loves his fellow loves God, because the fellow has within himself a "part of God Above." Therefore, when one loves another - i.e. his inner essence - one loves God.

I found it fascinating that here was another example of the combination of "loving God" and "loving your neighbor." The method of exegesis to arrive at this combination though is different than that of our Master but perhaps equally as valid.

Chassidic thought (along with the rest of Judaism) teaches that when God breathed into Adam his neshamah ("soul," see Genesis 2:7) in the Garden of Eden that God was in fact placing a part of God inside man and that every person since then has a piece of the divine inside of them. The "inner essence" spoken of above would be this neshamah which in a sense is not only a part of God but is connected to him. Therefore to "love you neighbor" is to love the element of the divine that is inside them, thus combining the two commandments.

At any rate it makes for an interesting comparison with Messiah Yeshua's words. I am continually excited when I see these connections within Judaism.

About the Author: Toby Janicki is a teacher, writer and speaker for FFOZ. He is also a writer for messiah magazine and the author of the Restoration Workbook and a new book on the Mezuzah.

Visitor Comments

When I first read this I was a little taken aback. It kind of reminded me of the Bhuddist idea of greeting people with the idea that the 'god in me greets the god in you.' But then I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 3:16: Do you not know that you are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. To me that sounds a little more like the Chassidic ideal than what I originally thought was being communicated.

**Toby's Comments:** Bill, I totally agree and that is the spirit in which we should take this concept. Thanks for the comment!

Posted by: Bill Beyer | August 19, 2008 3:25 PM

In Gila Manolson's book "Outside Inside A Fresh Look at Tzniut" chapter 5 begins with this statement, "Your soul is your essence. You have a body,ability, and causes, but you don't have a soul - you are a soul." Has anyone else read it? Although I don't agree with everything in it, I recommend it. To get an inner perspective on ourselves and everyone we meet is an act of love in itself.

Posted by: Florene | August 20, 2008 7:25 PM

With this all new Hebrew learning resource you can get started in learning Hebrew and drawing ever nearer to the Jewish Messiah as you master the Hebrew alphabet

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