Two constant questions in Jewish history: What is our obligation to other Jewish people? What is our obligation to the world at large?

Rav Avraham Yitzchok Kook, zal answers that the two are inseparable: “Love for Klal Yisrael (the Jewish people)  implies the love for humanity.” Yet we see so often an emphasis on love of scholars and those in our community, while forgetting those who are not Jewish. We learn in Avos deRabbi Nosan that we should “teach not the love of scholars only, but the love of all.”

Some equate one’s level of religious observance with the love of the Holy One, blessed be He. This is sad, because many become so involved in their religious studies, ritual and observances that it all becomes mechanical. Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berdichev taught, “Whether a man really loves G-d can be determined by the love he bears towards his fellow man.”

One must take their religious practices beyond the academic and intellectual phase into action. One who truly follows the teachings of the Scriptures fine tunes their beliefs which becomes their lifestyle. We should strive to be of the disciples of Aaron, one who loves peace and pursues it, who loves all men and brings them close to Torah (Avos 1:12)

Among the birds deemed non-kosher in the Bible is a bird called the chasidah (Leviticus 11:19). Remarking on the strange name, Rashi writes that the name chasidah comes from chesed, “kindness.” Why kindness? Because this particular bird acts kindly toward its kin.

Some eight hundred years after Rashi, the Kotzker rebbe asks, “If the chasidah is kind toward its kin, why is it unkosher?” His answer: “To be kosher, you have to be kind not only to your own kin but to all.”

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)

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