Justice/Peace
Self-Definition (Internal)/ Self-Definition (External)
Responsibility/Carefree
תני תנא קמיה דרב נחמן בר יצחק כל המלבין פני חבירו ברבים כאילו שופך דמים א"ל שפיר קא אמרת דחזינא ליה דאזיל סומקא ואתי חוורא
A tanna recited before Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak: Anyone who humiliates another in public, it is as though he were spilling blood. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said to him: Well put! Because we see the redness depart and the paleness take its place.
Midrash Sifra, Kedoshim 4:12
"באהבת לרעך כמוך" – רבי עקיבע אומר זה כלל גדול בתורה. בן עזאי אומר "זה ספר תולדות אדם" – זה כלל גדול מזה.
“You should love you fellow as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18) Rabbi Akiva says this is the greatest rule of the entire Torah. Ben Azzai says, “‘This is the record of Adam’s line- when God created man, He made them in the likeness of God.’ (Genesis 5:1) No rule is greater than this.”
Bablyonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a
תנו רבנן: מעשה בגוי אחד שבא לפני שמאי, אמר לו: כמה תורות יש לכם? אמר לו: שתים, תורה שבכתב ותורה שבעל פה. אמר לו: שבכתב אני מאמינך, ושבעל פה איני מאמינך. גיירני על מנת שתלמדני תורה שבכתב גער בו והוציאו בנזיפה. בא לפני הלל - גייריה, יומא קמא אמר ליה: א”ב ג”ד, למחר אפיך ליה. אמר ליה: והא אתמול לא אמרת לי הכי? אמר ליה: לאו עלי דידי קא סמכת? דעל פה נמי סמוך עלי!
שוב מעשה בגוי אחד שבא לפני שמאי. אמר לו: גיירני על מנת שתלמדני כל התורה כולה כשאני עומד על רגל אחת. דחפו באמת הבנין שבידו. בא לפני הלל, גייריה. אמר לו: דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד: זו היא כל התורה כולה, ואידך פירושה הוא. זיל גמור.
Our Rabbis taught: A certain non-Jew once came before Shammai and asked him, “How many Torahs have you?” “Two,” he replied: “The Written Torah and the Oral Torah.” The non-Jew answered, “I believe you with respect to the Written, but not with respect to the Oral Torah; make me a convert on condition that you teach me the Written Torah [only]." [But] he (Shammai) scolded and repulsed him in anger. When he went before Hillel, he accepted him as a convert. On the first day he taught him alef, bet, gimmel, dalet; the following day he reversed [them] to him. “But yesterday did you not teach me thus?” he protested. “Must you then not rely upon me?” Hillel answered. “Then rely upon me with respect to the Oral [Torah] too.”
On another occasion it happened that a certain non-Jew came before Shammai and said to him, “Make me a convert on condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot.” Thereupon he repulsed him with the builder’s cubit which was in his hand. When [the non-Jew] went before Hillel, he accepted him as a convert and said to him, “What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah, while the rest of just commentary. Go and learn it."
Mishneh Torah, Laws of Torah Study, 5:1, Maimonides
Even as a person is under command to honor his father and fear him, so is he obliged to honor his teacher, but fear him yet more than his father; his father brought him to life upon this world but his teacher who taught him wisdom, brings him to life in the world to come. If he chances upon a lost article of his father and a lost article of his teacher, reclaiming that of his teacher precedes the one of his father. If his father and his teacher are burdened with a load, he should unburden the load of his teacher first and then that of his father. If his father and his teacher be incarcerated in a prison, he should free the teacher first and afterward free his father. If his father was a Torah scholar, he should free his father first. Likewise if his father be a Torah scholar, even though not as great as his teacher, he should reclaim the lost article of his father first and after that reclaim the lost article of his master.
Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Sanhedrin, 24:10, Maimonide
וְאַל יִהְיֶה כְּבוֹד הַבְּרִיּוֹת קַל בְּעֵינָיו שֶׁהֲרֵי הוּא דּוֹחֶה אֶת לֹא תַּעֲשֶׂה שֶׁל דִּבְרֵיהֶם וְכָל שֶׁכֵּן כְּבוֹד בְּנֵי אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב הַמַּחֲזִיקִין בְּתוֹרַת הָאֱמֶת שֶׁיִּהְיֶה זָהִיר שֶׁלֹּא יַהֲרֹס כְּבוֹדָם אֶלָּא לְהוֹסִיף בִּכְבוֹד הַמָּקוֹם בִּלְבַד שֶׁכָּל הַמְבַזֶּה אֶת הַתּוֹרָה גּוּפוֹ מְחֻלָּל עַל הַבְּרִיּוֹת וְהַמְכַבֵּד אֶת הַתּוֹרָה גּוּפוֹ מְכֻבָּד עַל הַבְּרִיּוֹת. וְאֵין כְּבוֹד הַתּוֹרָה אֶלָּא לַעֲשׂוֹת עַל פִּי חֻקֶּיהָ וּמִשְׁפָּטֶיהָ.
The dignity of others should not be taken lightly in your eye for behold, preserving the dignity of others has the right to override a rabbinic commandment. This is all the more true regarding the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that hold to the Torah of truth. One must be very careful as not to disrespect and should only add to the honor of God. One who disrespects the Torah becomes profaned and one who honors the Torah will be honored by others. The honor of the Torah is achieved through doing its rules and laws.