Q:
On one hand we’re told ואהבת לרעך כמוך, that you should love your neighbor like yourself. But then the Torah comes along and says יתרחק משכן רע, to keep far away from a bad neighbor. How do we reconcile that?
A:
Keep far away, and love him. That’s all. כבדהו וחשדהו – love him from a distance.
It doesn’t mean you have to love him like you love, let’s say, the Chofetz Chaim. You have to love him like you love a man who’s a leper. He’s a leper. It’s a pity on him! You pray he’ll do teshuva and get rid of his tzaraas, but you don’t want to get close to him.
Who says you have to love and embrace every leper? You have to be a monk or a nun to do that! We don’t embrace lepers because the Torah says, ונשמרתם מאד לנפשתיכם, you have to guard your own life (Devarim 4:15). We don’t do any crazy things just to demonstrate that we love lepers. We have to do our best to heal lepers, but not to make ourselves lepers, chalilah. And therefore you keep away from bad neighbors.
(May 1978)
