Oral Law - Batya Salomon

Leviticus 19.17-18  "You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart… Love your fellow as yourself: I am the Lord." These two related ideas are the center of what I think Judaism is. We are a group of people that have survived and evolved throughout time, no matter what. We have survived all kinds of hate and persecution, yet the main message, at least today, is love and tolerance. I 100% agree with Rabbi Hillel when he said that Judaism, in essence, means "That which is hateful unto youdo not do to your neighbor." Even if you disagree with someone or dislike them, you should still always be kind and polite. I feel like almost every other commandment could be included in this overarching idea: just be kind.

This is one of the first pictures we took as a class. Besides the obvious letters behind us spelling out the Hebrew word for love, I think this picture captures how this program embodies this mitzvah. We are a pretty large class inside an even larger program, and we all come from different places. We have spent a month and a half together already, and we have another two and a half to go. We have had disagreements, and I'm sure there will be more, but despite our differences, we all love and help each other through everything.