…and you should love your neighbor as yourself… (Vayikra 19:18) – Rabbi Akiva says, this is the general principle of the Torah, – Talmud

How is this Mitzvah the KLAL GADOL BaTorah, the general principle of the Torah? Why is it that Rabbi Akiva is the one to identify this basic “rule of life”?

I don’t claim to know exactly what happened but in a short span of time, Rabbi Akiva lost 24,000 students. I find it a curious fact that we do not know the name of even one of them. Immediately after that calamitous episode he immediately started again with five new students, and he succeeded majorly in building a build to the future and saving the integrity of the Oral Torah in perpetuity. Interestingly, we know their names; Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, R. Yossi, Rabbi Shimon, R. Elazar ben Shamua. (Yevamos 62B)

That tells us something very important! It’s not about numbers, quantity, how many hits you get. It’s rather about the depth and quality of the relationships. Real success happens, not when the world knows your name but rather when you know somebody else’s name.

Maybe, just maybe Rabbi Akiva walked away with a valuable lesson for all-time. It’s not the quantity of students but the quality of relationships that makes the lasting impact. Learning and teaching Torah is not merely an academic exercise nor is it a numerical contest. It is entirely based on relationships.

Perhaps, that is one of the reasons why HASHEM required an Oral Torah so that we would have to meet a real teacher and bond one person to another and knit one generation to another. …and you should love your neighbor as yourself… (Vayikra 19:18) – Rabbi Akiva says, this is the general principle of the Torah. This is a general principle in keeping the Torah and passing it on, in a personalized and individualized way.

The Talmud tells us another related spiritual principle. When a person runs after honor, honor runs away from him. When someone runs away from honor, run after him. The Brisker Rav had asked, “Either way a person does not get honor. He is either running from it or it is running away from him. The answer he offered is that the practical difference shows up, ACHAREI MOS, KEDOSHIM, EMOR. After the person passes from this world. If he was chasing after honor it will continue to run away from him. However, if he was sincerely running away from honor then it will catch up with him. Isn’t it the truth!?

The Chofetz Chaim is more alive nowadays then he was even during his lifetime. Rabbi Avigdor Miller is more quotable and his Torah thoughts are more-widespread since he left this world. That’s the supernal indicator that their intentions were not for their own aggrandizement, and not for any personal agenda, but rather for Heaven’s Sake.

That Rabbi Akiva’s Torah survives and his legacy endures now for thousands of years, the fire continues to burn, because of this valuable lesson. The Talmud in Sanhedrin tells us, “Anyone who teaches his friend’s son Torah is considered as if he gave birth to him.

I would ask my teachers why the sages chose precisely those words, “the son of your friend”? Perhaps because in every class there are students that catch on quickly and some that may seem hopeless.

However, if one of those kids was your friend’s son, you would take some extra time to bond with him and encourage him and that may just be what he needs to make it or make it till he makes it. All Jews are friends. This is your friend’s son! If it were your child, you would want him to be treated that way. “…and you should love your neighbor as yourself” So says Rabbi Akiva, that this is the way the Torah continues.