Chasidut for Shabbat 61:6
שוב מעשה בנכרי אחד שבא לפני שמאי א"ל גיירני ע"מ שתלמדני כל התורה כולה כשאני עומד על רגל אחת דחפו באמת הבנין שבידו בא לפני הלל גייריה אמר לו דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד זו היא כל התורה כולה ואידך פירושה הוא זיל גמור.
the following day he reversed [them] to him. 'But yesterday you did not teach them to me thus,' he protested. 'Must you then not rely upon me?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As to what the letters are. ');"><sup>10</sup></span> Then rely upon me with respect to the Oral [Torah] too.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' There must be a certain reliance upon authority before anything can be learnt at all. Cf. M. Farbridge, Judaism and the Modern Mind, chs. VII and VIII. ');"><sup>11</sup></span>
Pri HaAretz
The matter is according the response Hillel have to the convert who came to be converted on the condition that [Hillel] teach him the entire Torah on one leg. He received him and taught him "that which is hateful to you do not do to another...". Rashi of blessed memory explains, this is the Commandment "Love your neighbor as yourself". See the Maharsha who objects [and wonders] why [Hillel] did not phrase this to him as the positive commandment which it is in the Torah, and further [he spoke in a] translated manner (Aramaic); unquestionably, [he should have stated his response in a] positive form [for example], 'have mercy on another'. But he said it in a negated form, as if a negative commandment - 'what is hateful to you do not do to another'.
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Kedushat Levi
We may also use Rabbi Yehudah’s simile regarding how our actions on earth are recorded and evaluated In the celestial spheres as a means to understand Hillel’s answer given to the heathen who was willing to convert to Judaism on condition that Hillel was able to teach him Judaism during the time he was able to stand on one foot. (Shabbat 31) Hillel summed up Judaism by telling the prospective convert that “what is hateful to you do not do to any of your fellow man.”
The Talmud Baba Kamma 92 phrases it as a negative virtue when it warns us not to throw a stone into a well from which we had first drunk water.
The “fortune” that the Creator has given to each one of us for free, is our body and its organs as well as the intellectual faculties which serve us well during our life on earth. Is it conceivable that we should be so lacking in gratitude as to refuse to carry out the minimal demands made upon us by our Creator?
If anyone of us does not fulfill G’d’s commandments is G’d not entitled to become very angry at such a person? All we have to do to realize how unjustifiable such a conduct is, is the fact that we ourselves consider anyone not showing gratitude to a fellow human being who had gratuitously endowed us with material wealth as below contempt. What Hillel told the heathen who wished to convert is nothing else than that in Judaism we consider an ingrate as having committed the cardinal sin. The word מעלה in Rabbi Yehudah’s statement can also be translated as “virtue,” i.e. consider in your relationship with G’d that you have demonstrated on earth that you know how to practice gratitude. Surely, the gratitude you owe your Creator cannot be less than what you owe your peers on earth? Rabbi Yehudah implies that virtues we practice daily in our dealings with fellow human beings, must certainly also be practiced in our dealings with G’d.
The Talmud Baba Kamma 92 phrases it as a negative virtue when it warns us not to throw a stone into a well from which we had first drunk water.
The “fortune” that the Creator has given to each one of us for free, is our body and its organs as well as the intellectual faculties which serve us well during our life on earth. Is it conceivable that we should be so lacking in gratitude as to refuse to carry out the minimal demands made upon us by our Creator?
If anyone of us does not fulfill G’d’s commandments is G’d not entitled to become very angry at such a person? All we have to do to realize how unjustifiable such a conduct is, is the fact that we ourselves consider anyone not showing gratitude to a fellow human being who had gratuitously endowed us with material wealth as below contempt. What Hillel told the heathen who wished to convert is nothing else than that in Judaism we consider an ingrate as having committed the cardinal sin. The word מעלה in Rabbi Yehudah’s statement can also be translated as “virtue,” i.e. consider in your relationship with G’d that you have demonstrated on earth that you know how to practice gratitude. Surely, the gratitude you owe your Creator cannot be less than what you owe your peers on earth? Rabbi Yehudah implies that virtues we practice daily in our dealings with fellow human beings, must certainly also be practiced in our dealings with G’d.
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