The most important mitzvah is to love our fellow human beings.

Mitzvot (the plural of mitzvah) are commandments. While many think immediately of the Ten Commandments, in Jewish tradition these are referred to as the Ten Utterances. There are actually 613 mitzvot (including the Ten Utterances) in Torah (The Five Books of Moses), according to the Talmud (the books that interpret and analyze Torah).

Still, Judaism provides some clues to help find the answer to which of the 613 is most important.

One clue comes down to us from a simple admonition: that above all else, the study of Torah is the most important. For, if we study Torah, all else will follow-we will learn about Creation, about the Creator (Blessed Be the One Who Created Us), and about the 613 mitzvot.

But there are at least two other possible answers that I would like to suggest for how one might decide, with Torah study, which is the most important mitzvah. The first comes from a story (midrash). Someone challenged the wisdom of one of the Rabbis, Rashi I think it was.

"If you are so wise," this person said, "then tell me of the meaning of Torah while standing on one leg."

Rather than dismiss the obvious cynicism of his interlocutor, Rashi stood on one leg and said this: "Do not do to others what would you would find abhorrent for others to do to you. The rest is commentary."

So, treating your fellow humans as you would be treated yourself (the Golden Rule) would, according to this Rabbi, be the most important mitzvah. Everything else, commentary.

This fits with the tradition that the Creator (Blessed Be) cares more about how we treat each other than anything else.

The second suggestion I have comes from a principle of Torah study. If something is repeated (as, say, the Ten Utterances are repeated in different books), it is a sign of importance. The more often it is repeated, the more we should pay attention. Why else say / write a thingtwice, thrice, or more, if not to draw attention to that thing?

This would suggest that a mitzvah that is more often repeated than another is more important. And, in fact, one commandment is repeated by far more than all others. According to Rabbinic tradition, this commandment is repeated in one form or another 36 times in the Torah.

What is this mitzvah that Torah repeats so often, to gain our attention?

Love the stranger in you midst, for you were strangers in Egypt. Here, the stranger is the Other, the foreigner, the not-me, not-my-family, not-my-group person. We are commanded not once, not twice, not thrice, but three dozen times, love the Other.

This, like Rashi's Golden Rule summary of all of Torah, suggests that what is most important is how we treat our fellow human beings. The Creator (Blessed Be the One) does not care as much how we tie knots on our tallit (the tzit-tzit, or fringes of the prayer shawl) as the Creator (the Blessed One) cares how we bind ourselves in relationship to each other.

The most important mitzvah is, in a word, love. Love our fellow human beings. And this makes sense, if one looks to the Utterances. We are to love the Creator (Blessed Is the One) as we love ourselves. And we cannot love ourselves, with true love, without loving those around us. Including, and especially, the stranger.

Learn more about this author, Michael Deqel.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about The most important mitzvah?
We want to hear your view. Write now!