Yair Zanardo’s D’var Torah 12th Iyyar 5785/ 10th May 2025

My parsha is about a set of rules that God has given us. Some rules are between us and God, like

not making molten gods and rules about sacrifices.

But then there are rules between us and our fellows, like in Lev 19:10, "You shall not pick your

vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and

the stranger." and Lev 19:12 "You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with

one another." Arguably, the most essential part of this chapter is that God wants us to be holy,

which shows that he cares for us. This Torah portion links us to being "Kadosh" holy.

But there's a problem. We can't be "holy" only because of how God created us. In fact, we are not

always "holy." How do we navigate trying to be holy while simultaneously being human? God

has created us with the temptations to be unholy.

You saw that in the Amidah, when it says, "Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh," we rise to try to be as

close to God as possible, but often, we don't succeed.

Amos said that God is disappointed with us because we are not trying to be holy enough. In fact,

God tells us that we Jews are replaceable. God brought up the Philistines from Captor and the

Arameans from Kir, in the same way He brought us from Egypt.

But we see in verse 14 that God tells us that He will restore His people, Israel, and He also relies

on us to rebuild Israel. We are in partnership with God!

My parsha also has one of the most important quotes of the Torah: "Love your neighbour as

yourself."

I would like to propose a question to the congregation. What if there are two people in a desert,

but there is only one piece of bread, and both need one to survive? Let's assume I am one of these

two persons. If I eat the bread, you will starve, so I should give it to you, but if I give it to you

and I starve, I am treating you better than myself.

So, how do I not break the rules of the Torah but still stay alive? And wouldn't I be breaking one

of the 10 commandments by killing my neighbour because I didn't give them the bread?.

God tells us not to make an unfair decision. So, does eating the bread make an unfair decision?

Let's look at the commentary on this verse.

Hillel, Akiva, and Rashi, some of the most influential commentators on the Torah, all say that

"Love your neighbour as yourself" is the most important commandment. They also say it means:

"What is hateful to you, do not do to another."

So the problem seems solved, but I am a Jew, so the first thing I am going to do is ask questions.

Let's look at it from a different perspective. If we truly believe that "What is hateful to you do not

do to another," it means that if we eat that piece of bread, we are being hateful.

Let's see what other commentators say.

Ibn Ezra says that the commandment means, "What you love for yourself, you shall love for

another." It means that one should love what is good for one's neighbour as he does for himself.

I think here there is a contradiction with the commandment "You shall not covet your neighbour's

house: you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or male or female slave, or ox or ass, or

anything that is your neighbour's." [Exodus 20:14]

If we want something for our neighbour, we would like it for us; this is how human nature works!

It's impossible to love for us what we love for another!

Ramban agrees: "It is impossible to wish for others precisely the same you wish for yourself; you

always want a bit more, so this commandment is an order to limit jealousy." He also notes that we

aren't "Kadosh"—which means holy—we are not perfect, and God knows that.

He sets ideals for us to strive for.

Maimonides reads this passage: "You shall love in the same way you love yourself, but it's

difficult. So it means: If something hurts me, I should not want it for my neighbour".

Returning to my bread scenario, Maimonides encourages me to starve not to hurt my neighbours.

To Sforno, the commandment means, "Judge yourself like you judge others." This links into a well

-known Shadal saying: "Look at the verse! It starts by forbidding revenge, so "Love your

neighbour as yourself "must mean, "Do not take revenge."

Let's look at Sforno and Shadal's commentary together. We see that we should not take revenge on

our fellows because we should judge everyone equally. But you can break the rules if you are in

trouble and at risk for your life.

In this example, you should eat one piece of bread, and your neighbour will starve.

So, in the end, what is my opinion? I think God forgives us and asks us again to be His partners in

rebuilding a just society. You should eat the bread because you are risking your life, and God will

forgive you.

But once -God forbid!- you find yourself in a similar situation, you should form your own

opinions.

God does care about us. That's why He gave us these rules. They are for us to prove ourselves to

him. Even if we fail to keep them, he made Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement. Because we are

his people, Israel, and He will always care for us, as Amos said!

Yair Zanardo.