Kedoshim: Ve'Ahavta l'Reiacha Kamocha Reexamined

Length: 1 hour 13 minutes
Synopsis: This past Thursday night (5/8/25), in lieu of our usual Thursday night Pirkei Avos shiur for women, we took up a topic in Parashas Kedoshim - arguably the most important mitzvah mentioned therein. Many people are familiar with R' Akiva's famous statement, "This is a great principle in the Torah." Fewer people are familiar with Ben Azzai's disagreement, and his identification of ANOTHER pasuk as an even GREATER principle. We analyzed this machlokess through the eyes of a little-known commentator: N.H. Wesseley. Even if you don't agree with our conclusions, you'll enjoy thinking about the questions!

Note: After giving this shiur, I published a two-page article summarizing the entire analysis. You can find that article on my substack, titled: "Kedoshim: “Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself” – Not the Greatest Principle in Torah."
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מקורות:
ויקרא יט:יח
רמב"ם - ספר המצוות: עשה ר"ו
רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות דעות ו:ג
רש"י - ויקרא יט:יח
ירושלמי נדרים ט:ד
קרבן העדה שם
פני משה שם
בראשית ה:א
שד"ל - בראשית י:א
מדרש רבה - בראשית ה:א (ע"פ עץ יוסף ותורה שלימה)
תורה תמימה - בראשית ה:א, הערה ב
חידושי רד"ל - בראשית רבה ה:א
רמב"ן - ויקרא יט:יח
נ"ה וויזל - ויקרא יט:יח
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