Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area.

Kedoshim

Leviticus 19:1-20:27

Numbers 28:9-15

Isaiah 66:1-24

With the words "You shall not hate your brother in your heart" (Lev. 19:17), the Torah forbids hatred, at least, when directed at someone who qualifies as "your brother."

It does not make sense immediately what the words "in your heart" add to this verse.

Perhaps they simply describe the locus of hatred in biblical psychology: Hatred belongs to the heart. People hate cordially, with a heartfelt hatred. The words "in your heart" do not then add much content to the verse.

According to an axiom of rabbinic interpretation, however, each word of the Torah must add some meaning. As I often told my students in freshman composition, a careful editor leaves no wasted words. If you read over your composition and can scratch out a word leaving the meaning intact, do so.

Similarly, when you read the works of prose stylists, you can expect meaning in each word. All the more so, when we read the Torah, should we expect each word to bear meaning.

Perhaps "in your heart" means secretly. The Sifra follows this line to its logical conclusion: "This might mean you should not curse him, you should not hit him, you should not slap him, but it comes to teach, 'in your heart,' which I could say only of a hatred in the heart" (Kedoshim 42).

Not that Sifra, the ancient legal commentary on Leviticus, means to permit cursing the other person or hitting him. The Torah forbids these acts elsewhere (cursing in Lev. 19:14 and Exodus 22:27, and hitting in Exodus 21:18). One who curses or hits, according to Sifra, has broken those laws, but not the law against secret hatred. That applies only to one who conceals hatred (Rambam, Laws of Personality Traits, 6:5).

But wait a second. We need to figure out why our hero, the intended audience of this verse, feels the temptation to hate another person. A prohibition on irrational hatred seems too easy. Perhaps the other person has wronged him.

Rambam, another name for Maimonides, understands our verse this way: "When one sins against another, he should not hate him and keep quiet (Laws of Personality Traits 6:6).

Similarly, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, who is also known as Ramban, wrote, "Do not hate your brother in your heart when he does something to you against your will."

So what should the injured party do?

"You shall certainly confront your fellow," the verse goes on to say (Lev. 19:17).

Ramban explains, "You should confront him, and say, 'Why did you do thus to me?'" When you reprove him, you give him the opportunity to explain his action, or to repent and apologize.

The verse concludes, "…do not bear sin because of him." You might bear sin by keeping your grievance secret, thereby depriving the offender of the chance to explain or repent (Ramban). You might bear sin by reproving in a harsh manner (Rambam, Personality Traits, 6:8). You might bear sin because "whoever has the possibility of protesting against the actions of his household and does not protest, is caught up with his household; of the people of his city, is caught with the people of his city; of the whole world, is caught with the whole world" (Shabbat 44b).

Ramban understands the laws of the next verse as continuing the narrative: "Do not take revenge, do not protect a grudge" (Lev. 19:18).

We find it hard to confront the wrongdoer to work out our differences; we find it easy to get back at the wrongdoer, or at least to give vent to our feelings of resentment. When someone has sinned against you, do not hate him, do not take revenge, or even preserve the memory of your grievance, but rather confront him. He may take the opportunity to explain or apologize.

This, according to Ramban, makes it possible for you to love your neighbor as yourself.

The hard obligation to work out our differences with a wrongdoer can give us the ability to love our neighbors as ourselves.