By Marco Del Monte
Adapted from a lecture by Rav Yona Metzger (Shalit”a)
“Love your neighbour as yourself; I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18)
It is written in the Talmud in Tractate Pesachim 75a: “Rav Nachman says that the verse means: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ – you shall choose a good death for him.”
At a first reading, the verse seems disturbing: it discusses the case of the application of the death penalty and how to choose the most "benevolent" one. As we know, the Torah always has deep, hidden meanings that constantly represent messages of life, as it is said "Torat Chayim", the Torah is Life! So how should this verse be interpreted in relation to the love of one's neighbour?
To understand this message, we must read another passage of the Talmud in Masechet Shabbat page 31a, which deals with the famous story of that Gentile who turned to Beit Shammay and then to Beit Hillel. This Gentile wanted to convert and learn the whole Torah "al regel achat", that is, in the time he could stand on one leg. After Beit Shammay dismissed him, he turned to Beit Hillel, who told him: "Love your neighbour as yourself, go and study, all the rest is commentary." Hidden within this teaching is a very deep Kabbalistic principle. Arizal Z”ZL tells us in his writings (Shaar HaGilgulim, the Gate of Reincarnations) that a person who does not fulfil one of the Mitzvot must necessarily return to this world, through a gilgul, a reincarnation, to complete them. The same mechanism follows each time, and this could result in having to return to this world over and over again. What lies behind the phrase "To learn the Torah in the time one stands on one leg"? We learn from Balaam's donkey that the term it uses, "Shalosh Regalim", meaning "three feet", should be read as "three times". Therefore, the term "leg" means "time". The Gentile is actually asking Beit Hillel: "How can I fulfil the entire Torah in a single time", that is, in a single lifetime without having to constantly return to this world? Beit Hillel answers, "Love your neighbour as yourself." The Chachamim explain that there is a principle stating that "Am Yisrael Arevim Zeh LaZeh", meaning that the people of Israel are guarantors for one another—in other words, when we love our neighbour feeling them to be like oneself, even the mitzvot that cannot be performed personally but are performed by another person can be "pooled" and considered as part of our spiritual repertoire. Thus, the Talmud of Pesachim cited above is actually telling us that loving our neighbour protects us from the judgement of reincarnation, as it makes it possible to complete the Mitzvot in a single time, that is, in a single lifetime, by pooling the potential of the entire people of Israel.
Therefore, union is strength, and consequently: "All for one and one for all"!
Shabbat Shalom Umevorach
Translated from the Italian with Google Gemini. The Italian text is the original.