The whole of the Torah

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What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole of the Torah; the rest is commentary. Go study it.

Rabbi Hillel the Elder.

This is one of my favorite stories I’ve come across in all the reading about religion I’ve done over the past few years. The story goes, around the time of Jesus, a pagan made a bet with this rabbi and offered to be converted to Judaism if the rabbi could teach him everything about the Torah while standing on one leg. This quote was the rabbi’s response – while standing on one leg, of course. A good reminder that much is made about specific details in the Bible, but the big picture is fairly simple and true.

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