Kedoshim: Ve'Ahavta l'Reiacha Kamocha Reexamined

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!Length: 1 hour 13 minutesSynopsis: 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."-----מקורות:ויקרא יט:יחרמב"ם - ספר המצוות: עשה ר"ורמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות דעות ו:גרש"י - ויקרא יט:יחירושלמי נדרים ט:דקרבן העדה שםפני משה שםבראשית ה:אשד"ל - בראשית י:אמדרש רבה - בראשית ה:א (ע"פ עץ יוסף ותורה שלימה)תורה תמימה - בראשית ה:א, הערה בחידושי רד"ל - בראשית רבה ה:ארמב"ן - ויקרא יט:יחנ"ה וויזל - ויקרא יט:יח-----SPECIAL OFFER: I’m planning to write more on my Substack this summer than I have in the past few years, including a ton of paid subscriber posts I’ve been eager to publish. From now until Shavuos, for every week of content you sponsor, I’ll add a full month of paid subscription access. If you’re interested in sponsoring, let me know!-----If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.If you would like to sponsor a day's or a week's worth of content, or if you are interested in enlisting my services as a teacher or tutor, you can reach me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. Thank you to my listeners for listening, thank you to my readers for reading, and thank you to my supporters for supporting my efforts to make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone.-----Substack: rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/Patreon: patreon.com/rabbischneeweissYouTube Channel: youtube.com/rabbischneeweissInstagram: instagram.com/rabbischneeweiss/"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com"The Mishlei Podcast": mishlei.buzzsprout.com"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: rambambekius.buzzsprout.com"The Tefilah Podcast": tefilah.buzzsprout.comOld Blog: kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/WhatsApp Content Hub (where I post all my content and announce my public classes): https://chat.whatsapp.com/GEB1EPIAarsELfHWuI2k0HAmazon Wishlist: amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Y72CSP86S24W?ref_=wl_sharel