185. Loving Others

29:11 It is a mitzvah to cling to Torah scholars in order to learn from their ways. The Torah says (Deut. 10:20) “Cling to Him” (i.e., God). Since this is a physical impossibility, the Talmud (Kesubos 111b) understands this to mean that a man should try to marry the daughter of a Torah scholar, marry his daughter to a Torah scholar, to eat and drink with Torah scholars, to do business together them and associate with them in every other way possible. Pirkei Avos (1:4) advises us to sit in the dust of their feet and drink thirstily of their words.”

29:12 It is a mitzvah to love every Jew as one loves himself (Leviticus 19:18). Therefore, we should speak favorably of others, care for their property as diligently as we do our own, and be as concerned with their honor as our own. One who tries to honor himself at another’s expense will not receive a share in the Next World without fully repenting of the misdeed. This is the case even if the other person is completely unaware of the slight.