By Rabbi Dario Feiguin
B´nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica
Love, Inclusion, Transformation, and Unity
The Torah says, “And G-d spoke to the entire congregation of the children of Israel by saying: You shall be holy, for I, the Lord, your G-d, am holy.”
Rashi comments about this verse, “This Parashah was told in Assembly, by congregating every person, man, woman and child, because in it most of the bases for the Torah appear.
What are these bases? What are the principles for which it was necessary to congregate the People as an Assembly?
A Rabbi says: because in this Parashah this verse appears: ‘Behahavta lereacha kamocha’ = ‘Love thy neighbor like yourself.’ According to the greatest Tamayim, Rabbi Akiva, this is the very heart of the Torah, and from it come all the Mitzvot. Without love, as Rabbi Akiva would say, the Torah and Judaism not only would not make sense, they would not be possible.