Hacham Hezekiah Shabtai


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A few quotes from the Rabbi on 'Israel and the Nations'
in which he teaches the obligation of "Love thy neighbor as thyself" towards our non-Jewish neighbors
"Love your fellow as yourself" – To say that a man love his fellow man, and come to his assistance, is not required between Israel and their brethren, but that it also be thus with our neighbors – who are not Jews. One must be loving with them, and pursue their wellbeing and benefit. We are obligated to do so not only because it is common sense, but by the holy Torah, whose ways are pleasant ways, and all its paths are peace. The wicked Egyptians … tormented us very much, and as we know, there was no harsh labor they did not force upon us. This is the reason that the Torah commands us to overcome and not to hate them. Why? Because we were strangers in their land. All the more so concerning the nations in our day, who are not idolaters, and who dwell in their lands as strangers and residents without disgrace. We are certainly obligated to be loving and friendly with them.
And if they are, heaven forbid, in distress, we are also obligated to share in their distress and be in sorrow for them… in the sense that we are certainly obligated to all the nations and it is our duty to love them, as a man loves his fellow man. In this way they will recognize the fact and know that the Torah we have is complete, and leads us in the true way, and all the world's peoples will see that the Name of the Lord is called upon us.
Divrei Hizkiahu, p. 256 - 257, Rabbi Ezra Haim Hashalem Printing, Damascus, Aram Tzuba, 1921
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