This week’s parshiot are full of moral directives. The Torah gives us many commandments which govern how we are to live together. From those commandments we have a window into the attitudes which G-d wants us to have.

Rabbi Akiva said that “Love your neighbor as yourself” is a major principle in the Torah. There is a famous midrash that follows a parable of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai: Several people were sailing in a ship. One takes out a drill and begins drilling into the floor of the ship. “What are you doing?” the others asked. “Why should you care?” was the man’s reply. “Am I not only drilling under my seat?”

This example teaches us how dependent we really are on one another. When one of us breaks away and begins doing his own thing (like the man in the ship), he is not just affecting himself but the people around him too.

We are one nation, a singular unit which is referred to as “Klal Yisroel,” the Jewish people. We are like a tree which is only the sum of all of its parts. A tree needs all of its roots, leaves, branches, fruits, and seeds because it depends on them for its continuity. Any part which is severed becomes a non-entity because it cannot survive by itself.

Before we received the Torah on Har Sinai the following is stated: “And Yisroel (the Jewish nation) camped there.” The commentaries notice that the word “and Yisroel camped” is written uncharacteristically in the singular form. This is because Israel had achieved a perfect unity at that time. It was because of that unity that they merited receiving the Torah.

When G-d gave Moshe and Israel the directive to build the Tabernacle, He said “Build me a sanctuary and I shall dwell among them.”The goal was to share His Presence on the people as a one entity.

This is the meaning behind Rabbi Akiva’s statement “Love your fellow as yourself; this is a major principle in the Torah.” This is because it emphasizes that the Torah’s main goal is to maintain unity. Unity is the first requirement to the fulfillment of our destiny as Jews. When we unify as a people we become stronger and more confident in our individual identity and as a nation as a whole.

Shabbat Shalom,

Dania Halperin