After the last couple of weeks parasha, concerning the spiritual diseases received when speaking Lashon Hara, this weeks parasha comes to teach the exact opposite lesson. What is Lashon Hara, gossiping or speaking negatively about someone, essentially what your doing is hurting your fellow man. This weeks parasha, contains the famous line, V’ ahavta Leircha Kamocha, lover your fellow as you love yourself.
It seems first glance that the message is complete identical ” don’t hurt your fellow man, bad things will happen.” The one difference here is that the Torah add two extra words juxtaposed to this infamous phrase, Ani Hashem, I am Hashem.
What a great message, today a lot of people, teenagers specially go through a religious routine everyday. And to most thats all it is. It starts off with Modeh Ani, then to Netillat Yadayim, Birchot Haschar, Shachrit…etc. Why? Because thats how they were raised, how they grew up, and were taught. The Torah is reminding us, the best way to do a Mitvah is doing it because Hashem commanded us to do it. Don’t daven because you have to, daven because you want that ultimate connection with God. Don’t resist helping your fellow man, because after all, We are all branches of Hashems holiness and purity.
My wish for all of Am Yisrael this week, is that we use the power and energy of this Shabbat to connect with God, then by default connecting with our fellow man.
Yosef Nemanpour