(יח) לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י ה'
(18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
(ז) בן עזאי אומר: "זה ספר תולדות אדם," זה כלל גדול בתורה.
ר' עקיבא אומר: "ואהבת לרעך כמוך," זה כלל גדול בתורה.
שלא תאמר הואיל ונתבזיתי יתבזה חבירי עמי, הואיל ונתקללתי יתקלל חבירי עמי.
אמר רבי תנחומא: אם עשית כן, דע למי אתה מבזה, בדמות אלהים עשה אותו.
(1) Ben Azzai teaches: “These are the generations of Adam" is a great principle in the Torah.
(2) Rabbi Akiva said: This is a great principle of the Torah: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
(3) Thus, one should not say, “Since I have been humiliated, I will humiliate my neighbor as well; since I have been cursed, I will curse my fellow as well.”
(4) Rabbi Tanchumah said, if you act thus, realize who it is that you are willing to have humiliated - "the one who was made in the likeness of God."
(יח) ואהבת לרעך כמוך אהוב בעד רעך מה שהיית אוהב בעדך אם היית מגיע למקומו. ]
(18) Express love toward our neighbors in the same way that we would want applied to ourselves if we were their situation.
וטעם ואהבת לרעך כמוך הפלגה כי לא יקבל לב האדם שיאהוב את חבירו כאהבתו את נפשו ועוד שכבר בא רבי עקיבא ולמד חייך קודמין לחיי חבירך (ב"מ סב)אלא מצות התורה שיאהב חבירו בכל ענין כאשר יאהב את נפשו ... פירושו להשוות אהבת שניהם בדעתו כי פעמים שיאהב אדם את רעהו בדברים ידועים להטיבו בעושר ולא בחכמה וכיוצא בזה ואם יהיה אוהבו בכל יחפוץ שיזכה רעהו האהוב לו בעושר ובנכסים וכבוד ובדעת ובחכמה ולא שישוה אליו אבל יהיה חפץ בלבו לעולם שיהיה הוא יותר ממנו בכל טובה ויצוה הכתוב שלא תהיה פחיתות הקנאה הזאת בלבו אבל יאהב ברבות הטובה לחבירו כאשר אדם עושה לנפשו ולא יתן שיעורין באהבה
(18) The phrase “Love your neighbor as yourself” cannot be meant literally, since man cannot be expected to love his neighbor as himself. Moreover, Rabbi Akiva has ruled that “Your life comes first.” The Torah here enjoins us that we should wish upon our neighbor the same benefits that we wish upon ourselves...Indeed, sometimes a person may wish upon his neighbor certain benefits, but only wealth, not wisdom and the like. But even if he wishes his cherished friend well in everything, i.e. wealth, honor, learning, and wisdom, he will not do so unstintingly; he will still insist on a larger share of the benefits. It is this shortcoming that the Torah condemned. Rather, a man should wish his fellow well in everything, just as he does in his own case, and he should place no limitations on his love...
(יח) ואהבת לרעך כמוך - רעך הוא אם טוב [הוא], אבל לא אם הוא רשע, כדכתיב: יראת ה' שנאת רע.
(18) ואהבת לרעך כמוך, if he is truly your colleague, friend; however, if he is wicked you need not love him. As it says in Proverbs 8,13 יראת ה' שנאת רע, “to fear the Lord is to hate evil.”
ונעביד לה חמי האור משום דר"נ דאמר ר"נ אמר קרא (ויקרא יט, יח) ואהבת לרעך כמוך ברור לו מיתה יפה
[In a specific case of the death penalty, the Gemara proposes that in situation X, logically,] Let us execute her with boiling water heated by fire.
[The immediate rebuttal: we do not do this] due to the statement of Rav Naḥman, as Rav Naḥman said that the verse states: “And you shall love your fellow as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). When executing someone, select for him a kind death. [Even when someone must be executed, his dignity should be protected and suffering should be minimized.]
There are a number of other such citations in the Talmud, in which this neighborly "love" to which we are seemingly commanded, is understood as meaning the most comfortable (humane? dignified?) form of capital punishment. (i.e. Sotah 8b, Ketubot 37b). Do we understand this as demanding only minimal humanity? Or does it mean that the obligation applies even in extremis when it would seem to be irrelevant?)
(לד) כְּאֶזְרָ֣ח מִכֶּם֩ יִהְיֶ֨ה לָכֶ֜ם הַגֵּ֣ר ׀ הַגָּ֣ר אִתְּכֶ֗ם וְאָהַבְתָּ֥ לוֹ֙ כָּמ֔וֹךָ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲנִ֖י ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
(34) The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the LORD am your God.
(לד) ואהבת לו כמוך: הגוים הקדמונים לא היו אוהבים רק את בני עמם, ולא היתה הונאת הנכרים נתעבת בעיניהם, לפיכך אמר כאן ואהבת לו כמוך, התנהג עמו כמו שתחפוץ שינהגו אחרים עמך אם היית גר, והוא על דרך מה שכתבתי למעלה (פסוק י"ח) על ואהבת לרעך כמוך.
(34) LOVE HIM LIKE YOURSELF: The nations of the ancient world would only love their own people, and they would defraud other peoples because they saw them as despicable foreigners. Therefore, it says here, that you need to love him like yourself, and act toward him just as you would want. You should act towards him as you would want other people to act toward you if you were a foreigner. This is in accord with what is written several verses earlier (Leviticus 19:18): "Love your neighbor as yourself"
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Faith in the Future, p. 78
"The Hebrew Bible contains the great command, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18), and this has often been taken as the basis of biblical morality. But it is not: it is only part of it. The Jewish sages noted that on only one occasion does the Hebrew Bible command us to love our neighbour, but in thirty-seven places it commands us to love the stranger. Our neighbour is one we love because he is like ourselves. The stranger is one we are taught to love precisely because he is not like ourselves.”
(יט) וַאֲהַבְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־הַגֵּ֑ר כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
(19) You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
(יט) כי גרים הייתם. מוּם שֶׁבְּךָ אַל תֹּאמַר לַחֲבֵרְךָ (בבא מציעא נ"ט):
"For you were strangers" — Do not reproach your fellow man for a fault which is also yours. (cf. Rashi on Exodus 22:20; Bava Metzia 59b).
(יז) וַיִּשְׁמַ֣ע אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־ק֣וֹל הַנַּעַר֒ וַיִּקְרָא֩ מַלְאַ֨ךְ אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶל־הָגָר֙ מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר לָ֖הּ מַה־לָּ֣ךְ הָגָ֑ר אַל־תִּ֣ירְאִ֔י כִּֽי־שָׁמַ֧ע אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶל־ק֥וֹל הַנַּ֖עַר בַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר הוּא־שָֽׁם׃
(17) And God heard the voice of the lad; God's messenger called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her: ‘What ails you, Hagar? Fear not! For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
(ב) באשר הוא שם. לפי מעשים שהוא עושה עכשיו הוא נדון ולא לפי מה שהוא עתיד לעשות, לפי שהיו מלאכי השרת מקטרגים ואומרים רבונו של עולם, מי שעתיד זרעו להמית בניך בצמא אתה מעלה לו באר והוא משיבם עכשיו מה הוא, צדיק או רשע, אמרו לו צדיק, אמר להם לפי מעשיו של עכשיו אני דנו וזהו באשר הוא שם...
(2) "From where he was" - (Rosh HaShanah 16) - Based on the actions that [Ishmael] was doing then, he was judged — not according to what he would (or might) do in the future.[At this time] the angels urged otherwise, saying "Creator of the Universe! In the future his offspring will kill your children through thirst, and you're giving him a well [to drink from]?God replied: "What is he now, righteous or wicked?"
They said: "He's a righteous person."
God said to them, "I judge people according to their actions now. [not what they may someday do.]
בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם
...In every generation a person must regard himself as though he personally had gone out of Egypt
Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Festival of Freedom: Essays on Pesach and the Haggadah
The standard text reads, “In each generation, one is duty-bound, lirot et atzmo, to consider himself, as if he had been delivered from Egypt bondage.” Instead of the reflexive verb lirot et atzmo, signifying an inner experience, Maimonides substitutes the verb, l’harot et atzmo, to demonstrate, to behave in a manner manifesting the experience of finding liberty after having been enslaved for a long time.
התחיל לקבץ עפרו מד' פנות העולם אדום שחור לבן ירקרק. אדום זה הדם שחור אלו הקרבים ירקרק זה הגוף. ולמה מד' פנות העולם שאם יבא מן המזרח למערב ויגיע קצן להפטר מן העולם שלא תאמר הארץ אין עפר גופך משלי חזור למקום שנבראת אלא כל מקום שאדם הולך משם הוא גופו ולשם הוא חוזר:
God gathered the dust [of the first human] from the four corners of the world - red, black, white and green. Red is
the blood, black is the innards, and green for the body. Why from the four corners of the earth? So that if one comes
from the east to the west and arrives at the end of his life as he nears departing from the world, it will not be said
to him, "This land is not the dust of your body, it's of mine. Go back to where you were created." Rather, every place
that a person walks, from there she was created and from there she will return.