The Curious History of Loving Your Neighbor
‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:9-10
17 ‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:17-18
A quote of a quote of a quote.
"Love your neighbor as yourself"
This is a very well-known phrase. Even folks who don't read the Bible know it. Many aspire to practice it. I wonder if the curious history of that quote made it so well known. It's a quote of a quote of a quote by the three most famous characters in Judaism. God spoke it, Moses quoted it, Hillel quoted Moses, and Yeshua quoted them all, together, for a reason. How do I know?
Or is it so famous because it's so obviously aspirational yet maddeningly elusive?
This chapter, Lev 19, is titled "Kidoshim" קדושים, Holy (people)" God says - "you shall be holy as I am holy." Really? What does it mean to "be holy"? A way of acting? A membership to a religious group? Hardly. The phase is from the nineteenth chapter of Leviticus. This inscrutable tile, "Leviticus" would read much differently under its Hebrew title, Vayikrah which means “And God Called”. In this chapter, God calls us to a "holiness" that is something you DO for others. It is not a list of things you DON’T do. It is not the way you act or think and certainly no what you SAY.
Moses quotes God (He says so two times), Hlllel quotes Moses, and Yeshua quotes Hillel. Herein lies the reason this phase is so famous. Knowing the history behind it will make it even more significant.
Hillel died in 10 CE in Jerusalem. He was the head of one of the two great schools of rabbinic Judaism. The other great school of thought at Hillel’s time was led by a rabbi named Shemmai. Hillel had some famous debates on biblical subjects.
A simple question.
A story is told that a gentile came to Shammai and said he would follow God if Shammai could explain how to do so while standing on one foot. In other words, what is it really about? Summarize it for me. Shammai was outraged at such a question. He held that it takes a lifetime of study to understand the Jewish faith in all its scrolls, writings, commentaries, and practices. Some tellings say he hit the man with a stick and chased him off.
A simple answer.
I love a saying by Curt Vonegot, from Ice Nine, “If you can’t explain it to a five-year-old, you don’t understand it”. Shemmai's visitor wanted an answer, enough so to make a second inquiry. He went to Hillel and asked the same question. Explain the Law to me while I am standing on one foot. Hillel answered him with the very scripture we just read. and said that all of the Torah could be summarized by this verse:
ואבתה רעך כמוך
“Love your neighbor as yourself" Hillel quoted from Leviticus 19 and added "the rest is just commentary”
In a story told three times in the Gospels, the Pharisees, disciples of Hillel, approached Yeshua in the Temple. They asked him the very same famous question that Hillel was asked. They all would have known well how Hillel answered. But Yeshua answered in a way they didn’t expect…
"One of the Pharisees (disciples of Hillel, more than likely) a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 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.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:35-40
This "love your neighbor" idea was not meant to be an attitude. Nor was "holiness". It's something you DO. The first part of the portion commands that farmers and vineyard keepers not harvest all of their fields to leave the "gleanings" for the poor and the strangers to come and gather. The economics of agriculture are such that these "gleanings" really challenged profitability for growers. It was generosity that hurt a bit. It would be so easy to just clean the fields completely and add that margin to the bottom line that was full of risk and unpredictability in the ancient world. Leaving the margins for others to take is a true act of generosity. Margins of fields and vineyards, profit margins.
Did Yeshua quote Hillel?
I'll give you another little clue that Hillel and Yeshua's worlds overlap. When faith in Yeshua began to explode among Jews in Jerusalem after His resurrection, a dispute arose among the religious Council of Jerusalem. A leader stepped forward during the heated debate and warned not to quash this burgeoning Messianic faith. He said, if it's just a movement, it will fade away. but "but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God Himself" Acts 5:39 This prescient leader was open-minded enough to entertain the possibility that Yeshua was who he claimed He was.
That leader was Gamaliel. the teacher of Rav Shaul, Paul, the author of much of the New Testament. He was also the head of Hillel'school. And...
Gamaliel was Hillel's grandson!
Antiquated "Holiness"
Right after this commandment in Leviticus is one to farmers to leave the margins of their fields and vineyards for the poor and strangers to glean. God interjects "I am the Lord your God".
Holiness = generosity.
Generosity = holiness.
In God's calculation, this is what "holiness" is. The generosity of a loving spirit. Not a way of behaving.
So let me summarize while standing on one foot: want to be "holy"? Go, help those in need, do good for your neighbor, love God.
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