“Love Your Fellow” as the Foundation of Human Socialisation

Abstract

Rabbi Akiva’s great categorical principle, “love your fellow as you love yourself”, is discussed in chapter seven, where his approach is compared to that of other sages—Ben Azzai, for example, who argued that the principle of equality is even greater than the principle of loving one’s fellow. The discussion further impresses upon us the coherence of Rabbi Akiva’s philosophy of love—focusing on the progression from love of self to love of one’s family and friends, love of one’s community, one’s people and all of human for he was created in the image of God.