Jewish views on love
Similarly, another significant commandment is to “not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:16), which can be exhibited in many forms.
Some Jewish sources have emphasized the importance of self-sacrifice in regards to putting our needs second to another's, but Rabbi Akiva's teaching of "Your own life takes precedence to that of another," contradicts his own principle of loving thy neighbor as thyself.
Commenting upon the command to love the neighbor[5] is a discussion recorded[6] between Rabbi Akiva, who declared this verse in Leviticus to contain the great principle of the Law ("Kelal gadol ba-Torah"), and Ben Azzai, who pointed to Genesis 5:1 ("This is the book of the generations of Adam; in the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him"), as the verse expressing the leading principle of the Law, apparently because verse 5:1 gives the term "neighbor" its meaning as including all humans.
"[7] Hillel also took the Biblical command in this universal spirit when he responded to the heathen who requested him to tell the Law while standing before him on one foot: "What is hateful to thee, thou shalt not do unto thy neighbor.
[11] Hatred of fellow-creatures ("sinat ha-beriyot") is similarly declared by R. Joshua b. Hananiah to be one of the three things that drive man out of the world.
is an inexact translation of the rabbinical formula, which is only a formal logical interrogation introducing the opposite view as the only correct one: "You might deduce from this verse that thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I say to you the only correct interpretation is, Love all men, even thine enemies.
"[4] According to Ahad Ha-am, the Torah's phrasing of "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" is negative because it creates a "perfect equilibrium, with no leaning either to your side or to your neighbour's.
And even though it is indeed a positive commandment to despise evil, the true tzaddik understands that the existence of even the most wicked human beings are in accordance with the Creator's will.
According to R' Nachman, this is the sod of "Ad delo yada bein arur Haman le'varuch Mordechai".
A later Musar movement leader, the 20th-century rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler is frequently quoted as defining love from the Jewish point-of-view as "giving without expecting to take".
[18] The synod at Leipsic in 1869, and the German-Israelitish Union of Congregations in 1885, stood on old historical ground when declaring that "'Love thy neighbor as thyself' is a command of all-embracing love, and is a fundamental principle of the Jewish religion.
As a way to extend one's hand to the community, one can give Tzedakah, or charity, which comes from the word Tzedek meaning justice, compassion and mercy.
These acts are centered on ideas widely associated with love in many different traditions such as kindness, respect, compassion, and empathy.
Hence, it is forbidden to save one’s life by committing murder.” Some interpretations state that each person is of different value based on a set of variables that are difficult to quantify.
Thus, for example, the Jewish philosopher Lenn Goodman speaks of how laws regarding the suffering of animals ideally "create a sensibility of love and kindness.
"[26] Tirosh-Samuelson thought about the possible meanings when this model was expanded to include the earth as a whole, showing the importance of treating all living creatures with respect.
There is a story in the Talmud on how Judah HaNasi was struck with pain because he did not show mercy to a calf being led to slaughter, and only after saving a mouse's nest he was forgiven.
[28] Love of God is accentuated as the highest incentive of action by Baḥya ibn Paḳuda, in "Ḥobot ha-Lebabot" (see Jew.
[28] In Duties of the Heart, the Jewish philosopher maintained that love of God is the ultimate goal and must be the aim of all virtues.
[29] Bahya defined this love as the soul's longing for the creator and this is also made possible through the fear of God, which allows people to abstain from worldly desires.
[29] It appears that fear is linked to love in the sense that it stems from the contemplation of God's power and greatness, which could result to emotional attachment seen in parts of the Psalm and elsewhere in the Bible.
These arguments led some observers to describe Bahya's concept of love towards the creator as more focused on the emotion instead of putting emphasis on the rational or mystical aspects.
[30] Love towards other people and even animals could fall within Bahya's framework when approached from his view that we cannot know God as He is in Himself and that it is only through his creatures that we can gain an apprehension of the Divine.
4, with reference to Sifre, l.c., declares that love of God involves the study and observance of the Law without regard to gain or expectation of reward; so also Baḥya ben Asher, in his "Kad ha-Ḳemaḥ," under "Ahabah.
"[28] R. Eleazar of Worms, in his ethical work "Roḳeaḥ," begins with the chapter on love, referring to Sifre, Deut.
[28] Still more extensively does Elijah de Vidas, in his ethical work "Reshit Ḥokmah" (part 2), dwell on love of God as the highest aim and motive of life.
[28] Still greater importance was attached to love when it was rendered a cosmic principle in the philosophical systems of Hasdai Crescas and, through him, of Spinoza.
Instead of rendering the creative intellect the essence of the Deity, as did Maimonides and all the Aristotelians, Crescas, like Philo, makes love the essential quality of God.
This intellectual love is identical with the Biblical "to him [God] shalt thou cleave"[34] and gives rise to the "imitatio Dei."
[28][35] Abravanel's view of love as the principle of the world appears to have exerted some influence also upon Schiller in his "Philosophische Briefe" (1838, x.
