Lesson video

Hi everyone, my name is Rabbi London.

And today we're going to learn about Jewish concepts around the idea of loving your neighbour.

Before we begin, I'd like you to try to turn off any apps or notifications and to end any conversations you might be in the middle of if you're able to.

Try to find a place where you're going to have the least amount of distractions.

Today we're going to learn about the Jewish concept of loving your neighbour and also learn about the Jewish concept of loving kindness and how these ideas might take place within the Jewish communities today.

Today you're going to need a pen or pencil and some paper or something to write on and something to write with.

If you don't have these things already, press pause and press play when you're ready to resume.

So, let's go over a few key words today.

First, I'll go with do a mitzvah.

It's already on the screen.

So to do a mitzvah means to.

The word mitzvah is used informally to mean do a good deed.

We've learned previously that a mitzvah means a commandment and sometimes informally the word mitzvah also means to do a good deed.

Word chesed means deeds of loving kindness.

So, if someone is doing a mitzvah, they are usually also doing acts of chesed.

Tzedakah refers to giving charity.

And the term Tikkun Olam refers to a concept that one has the obligation to try to fix the world.

All four of these terms, play out in some ways when talking about the Jewish ideas of loving kindness and loving your neighbour.

So firstly, we have the Jewish concept that humans are created in God's image.

As it says in Genesis 1:27, and God created humans in God's own image.

This verse can come to teach us that all humans should be treated with respect and dignity because all humans are created in the image of God, which means that all humans have a part of God or godliness within them.

I'd like you to finish complete the explanation below.

It's based on the verse that we just looked at and God created humans in God's own image.

This quotation links to the belief that, and this can teach, press pause to complete the following task and press play when you're ready to resume.

Let's look at this together.

And God created humans in God's own image.

This quotation links to the belief that humans were created in the image of God.

This first teaches that all humans should be treated with respect and dignity.

Let's look at the verse for love your neighbour.

This first comes from Leviticus 19:18.

It says, "love your neighbour as yourself for I am God." When I read this I question of what does this actually look like? And also how can one be commanded to love another person? Many rabbis had many thoughts on this.

Come to the conclusion that this means that I should make sure to treat other people in the same way that I would want to be treated.

It means taking care of others, taking notice of who needs help and paying attention to what's going on around me.

It means watching the way that I might speak to another person, because I would know that if someone spoke to me not nicely, I would feel hurt or sad.

According to many rabbis of the Talmud and modern scholars, this idea of loving your neighbour as yourself, is one of the main principles of the entire Torah.

That this is the idea that should be driving another person in the way which they're following all of God's commandments.

What I'd like you to do now is to complete the explanations below.

Love your neighbour as yourself for I am God.

According to some rabbis of the Talmud, like this verse can teach like, pause the video to complete your task and press play to resume when you're finished.

Love your neighbour as yourself for I am God.

According to some rabbis of the Talmud, this is a guiding principle to the entire Torah.

This verse can teach that one should make sure to care for those around them who might be in need.

So, how has this done? What does this look like? Another concept in Jewish thought of why does one or why should one take care of those around them is the idea that one should be following in the footsteps, literally in the footsteps of God.

Now the rabbis of the Talmud ask what does this mean? And what does this look like? So, let's look at this text together.

Rav Chama bar Chanina said, "why does it say after Hashem your God you shall walk?" It means that we should walk in the ways of God.

Just like he clothed the naked, as it says, "and God made man and his wife a leather tunic." So too, shall you clothe the naked.

The first quote that Rav Chama bar Chanina says is that Jewish people are obligated to make sure that people around them have clothing because this is a way of following in God's footsteps.

Because God made sure that Adam and his wife Eve had clothing in Eden when they noticed they were naked.

Just like God visited the sick, as it says, "and God appear before him in Alon Mamre." So too, shall you visit the sick.

So here Rav Chama bar Chanina is teaching that God visited the sick and he quotes a quote from Genesis where God sent angels to visit Abraham after his circumcision.

And that is seen as God visiting the sick to check in on how he was doing.

And so Jewish people to follow in the way of God and also visit the sick.

God remembers and God comforts the mourner, as it says, "and after the death of Abraham, "God blessed his son Yitzchak." So too, shall you comfort the mourner.

So the following idea of following the ways of God is comforting mourners.

Those who have just lost a loved one, to be there for them and to help take care of them.

And this has proof text comes from a verse again from Genesis where God blesses Abraham's son Yitzchak or Isaac.

And so we can learn from there that humans too should help those and provide comfort for those who are in mourning.

What I'd like you to do now is to make a bullet point list.

According to the text from the Talmud Bavli Sota, so the texts that we just read together, what are three ways a Jewish person can follow in the ways of God? Press pause to complete this task and press resume when you're ready to continue.

Three examples of following the ways of God in terms of caring for other humans according to the text from Talmud Bavli Sota are: one, making sure others have their basic needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter.

Two, visiting and caring for those who are ill.

And three, comforting and caring for those who are mourning.

So we can see from this text, that one idea that a Jewish person should be obligated to care for all those who might need extra help or who might be in pain and in helping others, it's not just being a nice person, but it's actually following in the ways of God and doing godly acts.

So let's do a mitzvah.

So doing mitzvot in terms of when we said it means to do a good deeds is a key idea in many Jewish communities.

Many Jewish people are involved in both local, so, things nearby and global social action and community programming.

Jewish communities are driven by many of these ideas that we spoke about, whether it's the verse of love your neighbour as yourself or the verse that humans were all created in the image of God or in the idea that we read in the Talmud that one should try and follow in the compassionate and chesed ways with loving kindness of God and show that into the world.

So what does this look like in a community? In some Jewish communities? This can look like some communities having a mitzvah project before one's bar or bat mitzvah where the bar or bat mitzvah student will take on a social action project that they're going to learn about or take part in whether that's volunteering or raising money or raising awareness within whatever community they're part of.

It can mean having special communal days, working in various community efforts.

In the UK, there's a day called Mitzvah Day UK.

And there are other days around the world that many Jewish communities take part in helping out in all the things that communities need.

Some communities use their communal space, whether that's the synagogue or a community centre as a focal place on helping the community, opening it up during other hours of the day to help with communal needs.

What are some examples of doing a mitzvah? What could that look like? Well, it could be visiting and caring for those who are ill, or visiting or calling an older adults, or helping out in a soup kitchen or food bank, or working on advocacy against racism or disability or gender or any other issue that might be hurting another person or groups of people.

Doing mitzvah and doing acts of chesed is about caring for other people and making sure that they have what they need and that there's continued to be treated with respect and with dignity.

Tzedakah.

The word tzedakah charity, literally comes from the word tzedek.

It's a Hebrew word for justice.

So in some ways, when one is giving tzedakah, giving charity, they are taking part in creating a more just society.

According to the Torah, a Jewish person to give 10% of their earnings to charity.

There are some people who will give their 10% every month when they get a paycheck, and there are some people who give 10% once a year, or are there some people who give throughout the year.

Now 10% is the minimum.

So if anyone wants to give more than 10%, they're welcome to.

But if anyone doesn't want to or feels like they're not able to, then they don't need to.

According to many Jewish opinions, giving charity is actually equal to all the other commandments.

And we saw a similar idea when we looked at the verse of loving your neighbour as yourself, that, that is according to some rabbis, the main principle of the whole Torah.

So we can see that there's a tie within the Torah and within Judaism of caring for those around us and making sure that people have what they need in order to survive.

One main principle of giving tzedakah is maintaining dignity.

Those who are receiving tzedakah, who are receiving charity should be met with utmost respect and dignity.

That it shouldn't be.

They shouldn't feel shame or embarrassed by needing help during any point in time.

According to Maimonides a mediaeval Jewish scholar, he says that actually one of the greatest forms of tzedakad is not necessarily making a donation, but it's actually helping someone so they're able to help themselves.

And he gives the examples of giving a loan or going into a business venture, helping someone else start their business.

That way that person is able to continue to do the work on their own.

And they don't feel like they're relying on someone else in order to be sustained.

What does tzedakah look like? Where does the money go to? Well, for some people, tzedakah money is collected to help the local Jewish community.

And some of the money is collected to help the local community in general.

And some money is collected to help Jewish communities abroad and globally.

And some money is collected to help any person around the world in need.

There's a Jewish idea that one should look first within themselves and their family, and then slowly give tzedakah to their community that they live in, to the state that they live in, and then branch outwards.

But the question always comes up.

You know, there are so many people who are in need, where do I begin? And so this is one idea of how one begins.

So, tzedakah money in Jewish communities gets collected for many different organisations both locally and globally and both for the Jewish community and for the greater global community.

Let's go through some questions.

Tikkun Olam refers to: the commandment not to work on the seventh day, a Jewish holiday, a Jewish concept to help fix the world or a traditional Jewish food.

To a Jewish concept to help fix the world.

Tikkun Olam refers to a Jewish concept to help fix the world.

What does the word chesed mean? Does it mean charity? Acts of loving kindness? A commandment? Or a plaited bread eaten on Shabbat? Acts of loving kindness.

The word chesed means acts of loving kindness.

According to the Torah, how much should a person give to charity? 10% of their income? 50% of their income? as much as they want? or 10% a month? 10% of their income.

According to the Torah, a person should give 10% of their income.

What is a Jewish belief about the creation of humans? Humans are the descendants of monkeys.

Humans were created on the first day of creation.

Humans helped God during the six days of creation.

And or humans are created in the image of God.

Humans are created in the image of God.

A Jewish belief about the creation of humans is that humans are created in the image of God.

Thank you so much for learning today.

We went over a lot.

We learned about some Jewish views around chesed and loving kindness.

We learned the terms of chesed, loving kindness, tzedakah giving charity, Tikkun Olam, fixing the world and doing a mitzvah, doing a good deed.

We looked at verses such as all humans are created in the image of God.

Or love your neighbour as yourself for I am God.

And we looked at a passage from the Talmud, saying that one should do good deeds and care for those, because that is actually following in the ways of God.

We learned about some of communal ideas of doing mitzvah of reaching out to the community and enhancing social justice.

And we learned about communal collection of tzedakah, of charity, of the Torah commandment of giving 10% of one's income.

And looking at the Jewish community gives charity both local Jewish community, the global Jewish community, the local community, and the global world.

I'd like you to take a moment and write down three things that you learned today and feel free to share those with your parents or carers or a teacher or a friend.

Don't forget to complete the end of the lesson quiz.

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I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day and happy learning.