Every day before the morning prayers we say "I hereby accept upon myself the commandment to Love a Fellow Jew as myself". Hillel the Sage said that this commandment is the basis of the entire Torah, with the rest acting as commentary.
How is this possible? How can it be that all of the Mitzvot can be understood through the Mitzvah of loving your neighbor as yourself, even Mitzvot that are seemingly unrelated (such as keeping Kosher, fasting on Yom Kippur etc)?
To understand this, Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman takes us on a journey through Chapter 32 of Tanya, the main book of Chassidus. Tanya explains that in order to serve G-d properly we must view ourselves as primarily spiritual beings clothed in a physical body. And because all souls come from the same source, G-d, really we are all one, we are all the same. Since we are not loving each other based on physical appearances, but rather on the very thing that unites us, loving another person unconditionally truly is possible.
This class took place at the 8th annual National Jewish Retreat. For more information and to register for the next retreat, visit: Jretreat.com.
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