The Commandments to Love One's Neighbor and Follow the Creator's Ways
1. The Torah contains two commandments that are similar yet distinct:
- “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus, 19:18);
- “Follow His ways” (Deuteronomy, 28:9).
The first commandment obligates us to love our neighbor with all our heart and, out of that love, to cause him no pain, not to humiliate him, and to try to protect him from any harm, whether physical or financial.
The second teaches that we must improve our character traits and treat people as the Almighty treats them—and this is achieved by continually helping others.
Thus, there are sometimes cases in which a person may be exempt from the first commandment, but everyone is obligated to fulfill the second, which includes, for example, visiting the sick, burying the dead, bringing joy to the bride and groom, and so on.
****
Once, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, the rabbi of Jerusalem, was delayed for a long time after the morning prayers.
His daughter was sent to find out what was the matter. She found her father in a nearby courtyard: he was standing beside a well, helping little boys draw water with a bucket.
“Papa, have you decided to become a water carrier?” the girl asked in surprise.
Rabbi Sonnenfeld answered her:
“These boys are still very young and could fall into the well, and there is no one to help them. Their father is ill, their mother recently gave birth, and the water carrier refuses to bring them water because they have no money to pay him.”
“But what will people say?” his daughter asked. “That a rabbi is compromising his dignity like this?”
“And what will they say in Heaven?” her father replied. “That this rabbi sits calmly eating his breakfast while poor Jewish children put themselves in danger to bring water to their ailing parents? Can I really watch this in silence and do nothing?”