This weeks Torah portion, Kedoshim, begins with G-ds command to Moses to tell the Jewish people, You must be holy, since I am G-d your L-rd and I am holy. It contains a number of mitzvot (commandments) between a person and his fellow man, including the mitzva of ahavat Yisrael, loving your fellow Jew for no other reason than that he is Jewish. The Torah states, And you shall love your fellow as yourself. This is one of the basic foundations of Chasidism, as established by the Baal Shem Tov. Every Jew is obligated to treat his fellow Jew with ahavat Yisrael, giving of himself to others and influencing them in a positive way. When a Jew acts with ahavat Yisrael and draws his brother near, both parties derive benefit. The same relationship exists between the rich man who gives tzedaka (charity) and the poorer recipient. The poor man has profited in that he now has money, and the rich man has profited because G-d will surely grant him additional blessing. It pays for the wealthy man to observe the mitzva of tzedaka! Yet this is also true when the wealth involved is spiritual, when a person who possesses knowledge and good character traits shares them with another Jew. For not only does the recipient derive benefit, but G-d will certainly provide the donor with all he is lacking. How are we supposed to fulfill the commandment to love our fellow Jew? In the same way a clever merchant conducts his business. A successful merchant doesnt sit in his house and wait until the public hears he has something to sell. Rather, he opens a store in the best possible location and hangs up a big sign advertising his wares. But even that is not enough. The merchant then goes about promoting the quality of his merchandise and persuades people to become his customers. He tries very hard to interest them in buying large quantities of his product. So too must be our involvement in the mitzva of ahavat Yisrael. We cannot sit and wait to see if an opportunity to fulfill this commandment comes our way. We mustnt idly bide our time until others seek our help. Like the successful merchant, we must go out into the world searching for customers and convince them to buy. We must go out of our way to do a favor for a fellow Jew, explaining the importance of Torah and mitzvot and bringing him to the study of Chasidut. But even that is insufficient! Our influence on our Jewish brethren must be so effective that they in turn begin to exert their own positive influence on others. Moshiach NOW!!!
Posted on: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 12:38:07 +0000
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