#chabad

fashionablyfrum:

Yesterday was Lag B’omer, the day on which Rabbi Akiva’s students stopped dying.

It is generally accepted that they died because they didn’t conduct themselves with enough respect for each other.

But how could that possibly be? Weren’t they the students of Rabbi Akiva, who’s main idea and focus was ahavas Yisroel, loving one’s fellow Jew? And these guys were killed in a mass plague because they couldn’t get along with each other?

In a sicha from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, he clears up this seeming contrariety.

Everyone experiences and interprets the world a little bit differently. Everyone has their own perception and version of the truth. A lot of the time, multiple perspectives are equally valid.

This idea regularly comes up with regards to Torah and mitzvos. Which conveniently brings us back to Rabbi Akiva’s students.

Each student interpreted his teachings in a slightly different, entirely legitimate way. Each student thought that his way was the most correct and — surprise! — this led to some major disagreements. Sound familiar?

But the Rebbe brings to light why things got so out of hand. It wasn’t a matter of ego, but rather, a matter of love.

If my friend does something wrong, or holds views that are different from my own, I care, of course, but it doesn’t pain me as much as if my sibling did the same thing.

And why? Because my friends are not related to me by blood. They have different parents and different upbringings and can do whatever they want. But because I love my siblings so, so much, because I believe we should have shared, familial values, it pains me when they do things differently.

And that’s how Rabbi Akiva’s students felt towards each other. They loved each others like family, because they acutely felt that all Jews are of one kin. And because each man had such strong ahavas Yisroel, he couldn’t stand the thought of another Jew doing something wrong, or even something less than right.

And so they fought and argued. They aimed to bring their teacher’s teachings to fruition, but managed to achieve the exact opposite.

Because, whenever any emotion, even a positive one like love, is entirely unbridled, it makes a mess. To say the very least.

Their loving each other like brothers was a good thing. Their wanting each other to do it right was also a good thing.

But even with our literal, blood-related siblings, when our love turns into fighting and disagreements, it’s no longer positive.

It’s important to care about, and to want the best for, both our brothers and our brethren. We should be as pained when our friend does wrong, as when our sibling does the same.

But sometimes more than one derech is acceptable and our parents and Hashem would probably both prefer peace and unity, even if it means relying on different interpretations and serving Hashem in different ways.