קִצּוּר בִּאוּר אוֹפֶן הג': ו, וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ, כְּמוֹ שֶׁאָמַר רַבֵּנוּ הַזָּקֵן, אֲשֶׁר זֶהוּ כְּלִי לִוְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת הוי' אֱלֹקֶיךָ, וּבִאוּר בַּמַּאֲמָר כָּל שֶׁרוּחַ הַבְּרִיוֹת נוֹחָה הֵימֶנּוּ רוּחַ הַמָּקוֹם נוֹחָה הֵימֶנּוּ. עֲבוֹדַת הַתְּשׁוּבָה בְּסִבַּת לֵב טוֹב.

An explanation [by the Rebbe Rashab] of the third approach, abridged: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

As the Alter Rebbe explained, fulfilling this mitzvah is a medium for [attaining the level at which one can] “love G‑d your L‑rd.”1 It also underlies the principle that2 “anyone with whom his fellowmen are pleased, G‑d is pleased with.”

To “love your neighbor as yourself” is the path of teshuvah that comes from a good heart.

A Pearl to Cherish

One Yom Kippur eve the Alter Rebbe took his place in the synagogue, put on his tallis, and began his preparations for the Kol Nidrei prayers. Suddenly he stopped, removed his tallis, and left the synagogue.

He walked to the end of the town and entered a dilapidated cottage, where a young mother was lying with her newborn child. He chopped wood, made a fire to warm the house and prepared her some soup. Only when he was sure that she had everything she needed did he return to the synagogue.

Now, there were other people in the synagogue at that time. Nevertheless, the Alter Rebbe did not instruct someone else to help the woman: he went to help her himself. And when did he do so? When he was rapt in meditation before prayer, while intensely bonded with G‑d. At that time, too, he was sensitive to her distress.3

Loving one’s fellowman in such a manner enables a love of G‑d.

*

On one of the occasions on which the Rebbe repeated the above story, on Yud-Tes Kislev, 5744 (1983), he added: “When I heard it from my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], he commented that there was a time when chassidim would not make it public. But knowing me well, he must have known that ultimately I would not hold myself back…. Sooner or later I would share the story with all due fanfare. I have told it on other occasions, but have not given it the publicity it deserves. That is why I’m retelling it now.”