דף ל, א פרק ט הלכה ד משנה
ועוד אמר ר"מ
פותחין לו מן הכתוב שבתורה ואומר לו
אילו היית יודע שאתה עובר על
(ויקרא יט) לא תקום ועל לא תטור
ועל לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך
ואהבת לרעך כמוך
וחי אחיך עמך
שמא יעני ואין את יכול לפרנסו
ואמר אילו הייתי יודע שהוא כן לא הייתי נודר
הרי זה מותרRabbi Meir further said:
We may open for him {his vow} from that which is written in the Torah, and say to him:
If you had known that by doing so you thus violate
(Vayikra 19:18)and {violate the previous pasuk}:
יז לֹא-תִשְׂנָא אֶת-אָחִיךָ, בִּלְבָבֶךָ; הוֹכֵחַ תּוֹכִיחַ אֶת-עֲמִיתֶךָ, וְלֹא-תִשָּׂא עָלָיו חֵטְא. 17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart; thou shalt surely rebuke thy neighbour, and not bear sin because of him. and {violate}and {Vayikra 25:36}:
for perhaps he will become poor and you will be unable to support him {because of your vow}.
And if he says: Had I known that it were so I would not have vowed,
He is then permitted.
Thus, ideals like veahava lera'acha komocha, "love your neighbor as yourself" are not just nice platitudes, but have force to the extent that one can violate them, and halachic force to the extent of being a consideration which is able to cancel someone's vow.
The gemara in the Yerushalmi, upon this Mishna:
Meanwhile, there is another, similar statement by Hillel. When a convert asked him to summarize the Torah and teach it to him while standing on one foot, Hillel replied (see Shabbat 31a):The gemara in the Yerushalmi, upon this Mishna:
כתיב לא תקום ולא תטור את בני עמךהיך עבידא?
הוה מקטע קופד ומחת סכינא לידוי
תחזור ותמחי לידיה?
(ויקרא יט) ואהבת לרעך כמוך.
רבי עקיבה אומר זהו כלל גדול בתורה.
בן עזאי אומר (בראשית ה) זה ספר תולדות אדם
זה כלל גדול מזהIt is written
(Vayikra 19:18):How so?
If he was cutting a kupad and {accidentally} stabbed his hand
Would he turn and stab the hand {that did the stabbing}?!?
{Similarly, if he loves his neighbor as himself, it makes no sense to take vengeange upon his fellow, just as he would not take revenge upon his own hand.}
(Vayikra 19:18):
Rabbi Akiva says: This is a major principle in the Torah.
Ben Azzai says: (Bereishit 5:1)This principle is even greater than that one
א זֶה סֵפֶר, תּוֹלְדֹת אָדָם: בְּיוֹם, בְּרֹא אֱלֹקִים אָדָם, בִּדְמוּת אֱלֹקִים, עָשָׂה אֹתוֹ. 1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him;
{of Rabbi Akiva. Perhaps because it emphasises the commonality of all humanity, or perhaps because it emphasizes how all of humanity was created in the "image" of God}.
דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד - זו היא כל התורה כולה, ואידך - פירושה הוא, זיל גמורThat which you hate, do not do to your fellow - this is all of Torah. And the rest - it is explanation, go and learn it.
Which can be understood in a similar way to the statement of Rabbi Akiva/the pasuk in Vayikra. Indeed, people often understand these statements as the flip side of the other, and generally having the message of treating others as you want to be treated.
This statement of Hillel also occurs in Tobit, an apochryphal book, of Jewish origin, but not included in Tanach. In Tobit 4:15:
This idea of "treating thy neighbor as you would like to be treated" is often taken to be a Christian concept. If fact, Jesus got this, and other similar statements, from well-known and accepted statements of the "Pharisees."
Consider Matthew 22:34-39:
22:34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 22:38 This is the first and great commandment. 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
This is mentioned also in Mark 12, where he first says it and a "scribe" knows of this saying, and in Luke 10, in which the "lawyer" is the one who first says this, with Jesus being the one who agrees.
In the gospel of Thomas, we have the same statement as that of Hillel/Tobit: "Do not lie; and that which you hate, do not do". And in Matthew 7:12, we see "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." We have here the same statement, written in the positive and the negative, with "for this is the law and the prophets" echoing the "this is is the entirety of the Torah" of Hillel or "this is a major principle of the Torah" of Rabbi Akiva.
They all come down to the basic idea of veahavta lereacha kamocha - Love Your Neighbor As Yourself - treating others with kindness and respect. One can state it in the negative, and one can state it in the positive, but it really amounts to the same message. How one then takes and applies the message, of course, is another matter.
Update: Confucius also formulated Hillel's statement in the negative:
This statement of Hillel also occurs in Tobit, an apochryphal book, of Jewish origin, but not included in Tanach. In Tobit 4:15:
"Do that to no man which thou hatest: drink not wine to make thee drunken: neither let drunkenness go with thee in thy journey."It is not immediately clear who got from whom. It depends when you date the writing of Tobit - it may precede or follow Hillel. This chapter of Tobit is in the class of wisdom literature, but such wisdom can be accumulated from the wise sayings of the time period. Further, we see that Chazal often cite psukim to get their point across - as did Rabbi Akiva and ben Azzai above. Occassionally we see them cite seforim chitzonim, literature from outside the canon, such as Ben Sirach. And so, Hillel might have taken it from there, stressing its importance as a general principle, which encompasses the basic message of the whole Torah.
This idea of "treating thy neighbor as you would like to be treated" is often taken to be a Christian concept. If fact, Jesus got this, and other similar statements, from well-known and accepted statements of the "Pharisees."
Consider Matthew 22:34-39:
22:34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 22:38 This is the first and great commandment. 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
This is mentioned also in Mark 12, where he first says it and a "scribe" knows of this saying, and in Luke 10, in which the "lawyer" is the one who first says this, with Jesus being the one who agrees.
In the gospel of Thomas, we have the same statement as that of Hillel/Tobit: "Do not lie; and that which you hate, do not do". And in Matthew 7:12, we see "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." We have here the same statement, written in the positive and the negative, with "for this is the law and the prophets" echoing the "this is is the entirety of the Torah" of Hillel or "this is a major principle of the Torah" of Rabbi Akiva.
They all come down to the basic idea of veahavta lereacha kamocha - Love Your Neighbor As Yourself - treating others with kindness and respect. One can state it in the negative, and one can state it in the positive, but it really amounts to the same message. How one then takes and applies the message, of course, is another matter.
Update: Confucius also formulated Hillel's statement in the negative:
Zigong asked: "Is there any single word that could guide one’s entire life?
The Master [Confucius] said: Should it not be reciprocity? What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." --- Analects XV:24
When a gentile, who wanted to convert, came to Hillel and presumptuously demanded, "Teach me the Torah in the time it takes to stand on one foot," Hillel answered, "What is hateful to you, do not do to another. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and learn." (Talmud Shabos 31a).
The central principle of the Torah is "Love your neighbor." This is worded in positive (i.e. active) language. Why did Hillel use negative language (ie. do not do)?
Hillel saw that this person was not able to take on as heavy an obligation as to actively do good for others. It was enough to tell him not to hurt anybody. To tell him to do good or to love another unconditionally as himself would have been over this man's understanding. So all that could be asked of such a person is to not do any harm (Chidushay Harim).
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