Meir Loeb Ben Yehiel Meir, known as the “Malbim,” was an East European rabbi who in his lifetime (1809-1879) served a number of congregations, including those of Königsberg and even of Paris. He is known to posterity primarily on account of his many literary works which include a very detailed commentary on the Bible. The Malbim was a rabbi of the old school, and the vicissitudes of his life were due to the inevitable conflicts in which he found himself with congregational leaders who favored the modernization of Judaism. It is, therefore, all the more surprising that, in his commentary, the Malbim shows himself quite at home in modern disciplines—though the commentary itself follows the Jewish scholastic tradition of the Middle Ages. From the selection below, which is my translation from the Hebrew of the Malbim’s comments on Leviticus 19:18, it is evident that he was familiar with the thought of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who incidentally preceded him in the city of Königsberg by a generation. Though the Malbim does not mention Kant by name, his comments on the “Golden Rule” are obviously indebted to Kant’s categorical imperative, stated in the Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten (1785) in the following terms: “Act as if the principle of thy action were to become by thy will a universal law of nature.”—Jakob J. Petuchowski
_____________
“And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The interpreters have already drawn attention to the fact that it is impossible for a man to love his fellow man as he loves himself, for this is a matter which is not within the soul’s power. One cannot issue commands concerning love or hate, for man does not control these emotions.
Actually, however, where this kind of love (i.e. loving another like oneself) is implied, Scripture always uses the phrase “like his own soul.” For example, in I Samuel 18:1, And Jonathan loved him [David] as his own soul; and, I Samuel 20:17, For he loved him as he loved his own soul. It is not expressed by the term “as thyself.”
Furthermore, the verb “to love” is always followed by the accusative. But here, in Leviticus 19:18, it is followed by the dative (the Hebrew says literally: “And thou shalt love to thy neighbor as thyself”], as is the case also further on in this chapter, verse 34, where [in connection with the stranger] it is stated: And thou shalt love him as thyself. [Literally: “And thou shalt love to him as thyself.”] There is, then, a significant difference between “love” used with the accusative and “love” used with the dative. . . .
However, Hillel the Elder (in the Talmudic story of how he taught a proselyte “the whole Torah while standing on one foot”) has already defined this kind of love [which takes the dative] by saying: “What is hateful to thyself do not do unto thy fellow man”; which means that this kind of love is the opposite of hate. A man should see to it that what he wants for himself should also reach his fellow man—whether it be a case of positive benefits or merely one of the prevention of damage. He should endeavor with his whole being to bring benefit to his fellow man in matters affecting physical health as much as in matters affecting property interests—even as he would endeavor to work for his own benefit. It is, of course, obvious that he should not cause him any harm of the kind he would wish to withhold from himself. This, then, is what is implied by the use of the dative—that he should supply to his fellow man that which he desires for himself.
The philosophers have already explained that the primary law which is the root of morals is that a man should wish to act in such a way that what he does could become universal law. That is to say: if he wants to do evil to his fellow man, in an instance where through such an evil he himself would stand to profit, he should consider first whether he would want this to become a universal law. If so, it would become universal law that one may harm his fellow men if thereby a profit should accrue to oneself. But it would certainly not seem right to such a man that another man should stand to profit by harming him! Consequently, let him refrain from doing so to his fellow man in the first place.
Similarly, if a man has it within his power to benefit his fellow man and he refrains from doing so, let him figure out first if he really wants this to become a universal law. For then others would likewise refrain from benefiting him!
That is why Rabbi Akiba called [the law of “Love thy neighbor as thyself”] “the great principle of the Torah.” But the speculative philosophers have objected to this principle by saying that this is not yet a universal law, for, by acting in accordance with it, a man would do everything merely for his own benefit; whereas he should be doing everything for the sake of the laws of universal higher intelligence—without diluting it with his own utilitarian motivations.
It is for this reason that Ben Azzai [disputing Rabbi Akiba’s choice of the verse which contains “the great principle”] saw “the great principle” expressed on a more exalted level by taking his stand on Genesis 5:1, This is the book of the generations of man, which means that all men are bound together like one body. All of them were created in the image of God to complete the highest image and form which contains the souls of all mankind. All of them are like one single person, and like one body which is composed of different members. Thus the head loves the hand as he loves himself.
Therefore did Ben Azzai say in Aboth: “Do not despise any man!” He also said (in b. Berakhoth 6b): “The whole world has been created for the sole purpose of being subservient to him” [i.e. the God-fearing man]. For if all the children of men are like one person, then, even though the heart be the most perfect and choicest component, all the multitude are like the flesh, the sinews, the bones, the skin, and the cartilage of the body which surround the heart and cover it. And the heart feels the deficiency of every single member, its sickness and its loss—even the pain of the skin or of the lobe of the ear. Because of this a man should desire for his fellow man what he desires for himself, for he is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones. . . .
_____________
