In our last piece, we saw that Avodat Hashem also mandates care for other people. This care includes many levels.
All People
The Torah prohibits the murder of and theft from any human being. In addition, we should act respectfully towards every human being because we are all created in Hashem’s image.
How Jews Treat Other People
As Jews, we are called to a unique level of sensitivity towards others, guided by two distinct reasons and expectations from Hashem.
The servitude we experienced in Mitzrayim should sensitize us to human suffering. We know what being a foreigner feels like and should thus care for those in similar situations.
We must also be more careful about how we treat others because we are Hashem’s people; our behavior either sanctifies or desecrates His name. For this reason, halacha prohibits even actions that are technically permitted.
How Jews Treat Other Jews
The Torah also commands us to show extra care for other Jews. Though we value and respect all human beings, Jews are special because they are also Hashem’s children, and therefore our family. These distinctions require us to show additional consideration towards every Jew.
This consideration includes avoiding causing any damage or pain to other Jews, their property, and their feelings, as well as offering support and assistance to and even developing feelings of love for all Jews.
Let us study each of these areas.
Avoiding Damage and Pain
The Torah commands us to go to great lengths to avoid damaging or hurting other Jews. In addition to prohibiting assault, the Torah exceeds accepted societal norms by also prohibiting giving bad advice, impinging on another Jew’s livelihood, and even speaking meanly to or about other Jews. The prohibition of ona’at devarim prohibits direct verbal abuse, while the prohibition of lashon hara (rechilut) prohibits speaking badly about other Jews. We should be concerned about not only the physical welfare of other Jews but also their emotional welfare and reputation.
In addition, the Torah prohibits charging ribit (interest) on loans made to other Jews. Interest is an integral part of most economies. Just as people charge for rented property, they also collect interest for the use of money. Capital is a resource, and interest is the motive for investment. Though this is understandable and inherently permissible, we are prohibited from taking interest from other Jews because it is an improper way to treat our Jewish family. We do not want to add to the “bite” that a loan already takes from a family member forced into debt.
Support and Assistance
In addition to avoiding the bite, free loans are an example of the assistance the Torah commands us to offer other Jews. Other examples are the mitzvot to endeavor to return items lost by other Jews and help Jews load and unload their donkeys.
Beyond these situational mitzvot, the Torah commands us to support other Jews. Though tzedakah is the prime example of this support, our responsibility extends beyond giving money. We must help the poor and needy get back on their feet by facilitating their self-sufficiency and restoring their confidence and strength.
Similarly, the Torah also commands us to be especially sensitive to the needs and suffering of widows and orphans. We need to offer additional support and show extra care for those who are lonely and vulnerable.
Empathy and Love
In addition to supporting those in need, the Torah commands us to empathize with them. Like Moshe Rabbeinu, who identified with the pain of his brothers enslaved in Egypt, we, too, should feel the pain of all members of our broader Jewish family.
The Torah demands even more on the emotional plane – it prohibits hating and mandates loving all Jews. Hashem wants His children to love each other. The story of Yosef and his brothers should sensitize us to the danger of hating our brothers and inspire us to endeavor to love each other instead.
How To Generate Love and Care
As love and hate are emotions of the heart, these last two mitzvot are the hardest to achieve. How do we combat hate? How do we foster love?
Giving
The Gemara addresses the first question in its discussion of the mitzvot to help load and unload donkeys. We generally prioritize assisting with unloading before loading in order to relieve the pack animal. The exception is when we dislike the one loading. In such a situation, we help the one loading first to counter our negative feelings. The Gemara assumes that assisting others dispels the hatred we might feel towards them. Helping others reinforces the compassion Hashem instilled within our nature. Circumstances may have separated or even driven a wedge between us and others; assistance jogs our conscious.
Benjamin Franklin observed this effect over a thousand years later. He noticed that a fellow Pennsylvania state legislator disliked him. None of Franklin’s attempts to ingratiate himself succeeded until he borrowed a manuscript from him. After lending Franklin the manuscript, his colleague began acting friendlier towards him. It was the other legislator’s, not Franklin’s, act of kindness that changed his own heart. Franklin summarized this experience with a principle: “He that has done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.
In addition to dispelling hate, helping others can also foster love. Rav Eliyahu Dessler proved this from parents’ love of their children. Mothers and fathers spend decades caring for their children without receiving much in return. Yet, parents feel great love for their children. This is because giving fosters love. Rav Dessler added that one can see this idea in the root of the Hebrew word for love – ahava. The word revolves around its two middle letters, heh and bet, which spell the word “hav” (to give). Giving fosters love.
Learning
Rav Nachman MiBreslov suggests an additional way to foster love – learning from others. We love what we appreciate – what we feel adds to or improves our lives. The more we learn from others, the more we appreciate them. Fulfilling the dictum of the Mishna in Pirkei Avot (4:1), which encourages learning from all people, helps us appreciate and ultimately love them.
May our appreciation of the G-dliness of all humanity and our personal relationship with all Jews inspire us to care for and treat each of these groups with the appropriate respect and appreciation.
