Love Your Neighbor

The Torah commands us to love our neighbors in the same way that we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18b), but that could mean a lot of things. Is the Torah talking about getting a warm, fuzzy feeling when we look in a mirror? That doesn’t make a lot of sense. R. Yeshua says this is the second commandment that the entire Torah is based on (Matt. 22:40), so I don’t think it’s talking just about warm fuzzies.

The Talmud tells a story about a man who came to Rabbi Hillel. The man asked R. Hillel to explain the entire Torah in one phrase, and R. Hillel answered “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets, and the rest is just commentary” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a). Yeshua says nearly the exact same thing in Matthew 7:12, “Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” (HNV). The Apostle Paul sums the Law up by saying “love your neighbor as yourself” in Romans 13:9, and James says basically the same thing in James 2:8.

These two are the same commandment. What it means to love your neighbor as you love yourself is to treat them the way you want to be treated. If you don’t want people to talk behind your back, then don’t talk behind theirs. If you don’t want to be put down, don’t put others down. This isn’t an easy thing to do. It isn’t something I can say I’m very good at. But it is the right thing to do.

In Leviticus 19, there’s a reason why “love your neighbor” comes right after “Do not take revenge.” If we really love our neighbors we won’t take revenge on them. That’s not saying we won’t get angry, but when we do get angry, we should think about all the things that we do that might frustrate other people. If I take revenge, I’m being a hypocrite, because I do things that deserve to be avenged just as much. I can’t get back at someone for ruining my weekend because I’ve ruined other’s weekends before.

Matthew 5:2-12

2 He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the gentle, For they shall inherit the eretz.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, For they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

11 "Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Blue Letter Bible. "Gospel of Matthew 5 - (HNV - Hebrew Names Version)." Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2010. 21 Dec 2010. < b="Mat&c="5&t="HNV">

The Greatest Commandment

Duteronomy 6:4 says, “And you shall love HaShem your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your strength.” According to Rabbi Yeshua, this is the most important of all the commandments (Mark 12:30), but what does it mean to love HaShem?

According to Rabbi Israel Meir Cohen (of blessed memory), this means meditating on God and learning about Him in order to understand and to know Him. This would include daily prayer and study, but R. Yeshua implies that it is more than this. In Matthew 22:40 R. Yeshua says that this is one of the two commandments that the entire Law and Prophets is based on. All of the other commandments go back to this and “love your neighbor as yourself.”

When R. Yeshua says that the laws hang on this one, he means that this is the reason behind the laws. For instance, the commandments against idolatry. We shouldn’t worship other gods if we really love God. It’s the same for all the other commandments.

R. Cohen goes on to say that we have a duty to fulfill this commandment every single moment of every single day. We do this by keeping God in mind, as well as His laws. In that way, everything we do, and even what we don’t do becomes a part of this mitzvah. If we don’t steal, then we fulfill this commandment, because God said “You shall not steal,” and we keep that in mind. This goes hand-in-hand with an idea common in Judaism that a law is only really fulfilled if we intend to fulfill it. You may give to charity, but if you don’t do it for the purpose of keeping the commandment to give to charity, then it is not fulfilled.

To summarize, the essence of this commandment is to live thoughtfully. Instead of stumbling through life without thinking, we should live every day with careful intent. This will even help us in our relationships with other people, if we think carefully before we speak or act.

Luke 4:16-22

¹⁶He came to Natzeret, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the day of Shabbat, and stood up to read.

¹⁷The book of the prophet Yesha`yahu was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,

¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim release to the captives, Recovering of sight to the blind, To deliver those who are crushed,

¹⁹And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

²⁰He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him.

²¹He began to tell them, "Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

²²All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, "Isn't this Yosef's son?"

Blue Letter Bible. "Gospel of Luke 4 - (HNV - Hebrew Names Version)." Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2010. 21 Dec 2010. < b="Luk&c="4&t="HNV">

Introduction to the Future

The vision of this blog is to empower, educate, and interest other young Messianics. Most of the content will come from your peers, and we're open to content submitted by readers. If you have a problem, a question, an issue that you want to see dealt with, let us know. There is no point in this blog existing if it stops being relevant to your life in your world.

Features you can expect:
1) Monthly posts on the issues. These will address current issues among Messianics, in the news, seasonal thoughts, entertainment, etc.

2) Weekly halacha. This is daily living. What does it mean to be Messianic in the real world from day-to-day? How do we connect to something more than 2,000 years old without losing sight of the modern world?

3) Daily Portion. It's easy to find daily portions of the Torah, and of any number of other religious texts. These are important and helpful, but we want to provide a daily portion from the gospels, so that we don't lose sight of the important words of the King Messiah.


"The proletarians have nothing to lose but their shackles. They have a world to win." Karl Marx