Dear all,
Eli got a teeny tiny fracture over the weekend that required the use of crutches for a couple of days. As he stood there on one foot, I took the opportunity to teach him a Talmudic lesson about Rabbi Hillel.
(I will offer the abbreviated version. For the fuller midrash, click this link!)
Hillel was once asked if it was possible to learn all of Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel responded:
”What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah. Everything else is commentary. Now go and learn.”
What an opportunity in every given moment in time to consider how we treat others, how we recognize our neighbor, and how we approach the teachings of our heritage.
Eli is running around again already. But he has committed the phrase to memory. The goal is to spend his life learning it and living it.
With love and shalom,
Rabbi Zach Shapiro
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