02 May ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

Rav Aryeh Levin was
known as the tzadik of
Yerushalayim, the
righteous man of
Jerusalem. He was
incredibly pious, kind,
and a great scholar. He
lived in the quaint area of Nachlaot, right
behind the shuk in Machaneh Yehudah. There
was a young man who grew up in the
neighborhood whom R’ Aryeh knew well but
he felt the boy was avoiding him. One day,
they bumped into each other in the narrow
alleys of Nachlaot and Rav Aryeh confronted
him and said, “I can’t help but feel you are
avoiding me, tell me how are you?” The
young man sheepishly replied that it was
true, he was avoiding the great rabbi as he
had grown up observant but had chosen to
walk away from observant life altogether.
He said, “Rebbe, I was so embarrassed to
meet you since I have taken off my kippa and
am no longer observant.” Rav Aryeh took the
young man’s hand into his own and said the
following. “My dear Moshe. Don’t worry. I
am a very short man. I can only see what is in
your heart, I cannot see what is on your
head.”
Our Parsha commands us V’ahavta l’reiacha

kamocha, to love our neighbor as ourselves.
“Kamocha” doesn’t mean love your neighbor
as you love yourself, which is unrealistic, if
not impossible. It means love you neighbor—
why? Because “Kamocha,” he or she is
similar to you. You both possess the same
spark of life, the same Godly soul, you both
have strengths and weaknesses, you both
have virtues and faults, you both have things
to be proud of and areas to work on.
We cannot love others, certainly not all
others as much as we love ourselves, but we
certainly can learn to love more. Why should
we and how can we? Kamocha, because if
you can cut away their different kippa or their
lack of a kippa, if you ignore how they dress
differently, act differently, think differently,
if you cut away their idiosyncrasies and
habits that drive you crazy, you will find they
are kamocha, just like you.
Rebbe Akiva witnessed thousands of his
students fail this lesson. They focused on
their differences rather than choose to
embrace their similarities and the result was
that they couldn’t see themselves in one
another, they could not relate or identify.
They saw their fellow student as different,
the other, and that caused them to disrespect
one another. Rebbe Akiva attended thousands

of funerals and delivered thousands of
eulogies as his students were cut down by a
punitive plague and he turned around and
כלל גדול the is ואהבת לרעך כמוך ,taught
בתורה, the primary principle of the Torah.
It is not a coincidence that the same Rebbe
Akiva is quoted in Pirkei Avos as teaching us
every is precious ,חביב אדם שנברא בצלם
person because we were all created in the
image of God. Internalizing that is the secret
of loving everyone.
We may not have the capacity to love others
as much as ourselves, but we can do a whole
lot better at loving others, especially those
who are different than us, by focusing on the
Kamocha, that as different as they seem, they
are in truth just like us. Loving those who
are just like you in hashkafa, halacha and are
your dear friends is wonderful but it is not the
most authentic expression of ahavas yisroel.
Peeling back the layers of that which
separates us from others until we find
common ground and that which connects us,
that is ahavas yisroel.
But love goes beyond tolerating, it goes
beyond finding commonality. To truly love a
fellow Jew means something even more.
R’ Moshe Leib Sassover used to tell his
chassidim that he learned what it means
to love a fellow Jew from two Russian
peasants. Once he came to an inn, where
two thoroughly drunk Russian peasants
were sitting at a table, draining the last
drops from a bottle of strong Ukrainian
vodka. One of them yelled to his friend,
“Do you love me?” The friend, somewhat
surprised, answered, “Of course, of
course I love you!” “No, no”, insisted the
first one, “Do you really love me,
really?!” The friend assured him, “Of
course I love you. You’re my best friend!”
“Tell me, do you know what I need? Do
you know why I am in pain?” The friend
said, “How could I possibly know what
you need or why you are in pain?” The
first peasant answered, “How then can
you say you love me when you don’t
know what I need or why I am in pain.”
R’ Moshe Leib told his chassidim, he
learned from these peasants that truly
loving someone means to know their
needs and to feel their pain. Real love is
not lip service, it is not just tolerating one
another. Love is noticing someone is
having a bad day, it is feeling their pain,
it is showing someone you care, even
when that person is someone you barely
know or don’t know at all.
The blessings of Birchos HaShachar are
said in the plural – מלביש ,עורים פוקח
ערומים, etc. There is one exception –
who ,God you thank שעשה לי כל צרכי

fulfills all of my needs. Why is this blessing
written in the singular?
The same R’ Moshe Leib Sassover who
taught us what it means to love a fellow Jew
explains that when it comes to ourselves, we
should have an attitude that I have everything
I need. We should feel content and satisfied.
However, when it comes to others, we must
be thinking – he or she don’t have everything
they need. What are they lacking? How can
I help them? What can I do for them?
There are people around us hurting, lacking
or in pain. If we claim to love them, we
cannot fail to notice. While Shabbos is the
happiest most peaceful day of the week for
many, for others, it is filled with stress,
anxiety, and pain. Imagine being alone and
each week as you get closer to Shabbos
wondering if you will get invited out for
meals. Imagine coming to shul still not
having dinner or lunch arranged and
wondering if anyone, even those who “love”
you, will make sure you have a place to go or
will give you greater dignity by inviting you
earlier in the week. Imagine the prospect of a
long Shabbos day by yourself. How much of
a nap and how much reading can you do
before you feel lonely? If we love our fellow
Jews and our neighbors, we must make sure
none of them feels alone.
In the sefer Kavanas Ha’Ari, it says that
before beginning davening in the morning,
הריני מקבל עלי מצות ואהבת :say should one
כמוך לרעך, I hereby accept upon myself the
positive commandment to Love your fellow
as yourself.” Based on R’ Moshe Leib
Sassover’s insight, we can understand this to
mean that before we can pour out our hearts
to Hashem for all of our needs, we must
pause to think about our fellow man and their
needs. Before we ask Hashem to be there for
us, we must commit to be there for others.