Is It Asking Too Much to Love Your Neighbor as Yourself?

“Is there a Hebrew word for a cliffhanger?” asks Mosaic reader Frederick Stone. “Your column of December 16 has me all worked up, and now I have to wait two weeks for its second part? Oy, the suspense!”

Suspense, Mr. Stone, was the point. I’ll continue where I left off.

Asked about the Hebrew word rey’a, translated by the New Testament as “neighbor” in the commandment in the book of Leviticus “You shall love your rey’a as yourself,” Jesus answered, as we have seen, with a parable. A rey’a, its point was, is not just one’s friend (which is one legitimate interpretation of the word) but everyone (which is another), even someone classed with one’s enemies. The same thought is attributed to Jesus in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount, where, we are told, he preached: “You have heard it said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I say to you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you.”