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Shabbat to Shabbat: Love Your Neighbor

05/04/2017 04:44:17 PM

May4

Beth Schafer

This week’s Torah portion, parshat Kedoshim, is also known as the holiness code. In many ways it is an expansion of the Ten Commandments. However one of the most important lines that comes from it states, “v’ahavta l’re’acha kamocha,” or “love your neighbor as yourself.” In these times, especially, we should proactively embrace our neighbors, especially the ones who are different from us; whether culturally, ethnically or religiously. The Holiness Code reminds us that to be holy is to recognize that we are each made in God’s image, but it is all of us together that complete humanity’s reflection of its Creator. Each person, no matter how different from his or her neighbor is a vital piece of the puzzle. 

I share with you a song from 2003 named for this parsha, Love Your Neighbor, to serve as a reminder that as easy as it is to love those who share the same lifestyle as we do, that appreciating those who we deem as “other” is really what the Torah asks us to do in order to consider ourselves holy.

Wishing you a Shabbat of joy, of connection and of peace,

Beth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu-pG9AzHMg

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784