וְהָיִיתָ לָּנוּ לְעֵינָיִם

i have to begin by discussing capital letters.  i have recieved numerous complaints about the fact that i write without them, particularly in light of the fact that it would be so easy to write in microsoft word where they auto-correct capitals for you (as my chavrusa astutely pointed out, since i only type with two fingers, using one of the 2 for the shift key is a major expense.)  one person asked me if i thought capitals were chukas akum.  i responded that if that were so, any non-jewish alphabet would be chukas akum.  but now i think he might have been on to something: why do i dislike capital letters - because they're pointless - we get by just fine without them in hebrew.  a practice of the goyim that is pointless is forbidden because of chukas akum because any practice of unknown origins must be suspected to have roots in idolatry.  so to write in a non-jewish alphabet is fine, because it makes sense to develop an alphabet.  but capitals, which are pointless, fall under chukas akum. (this is partially a joke).

moshe tells yisro not to leave bnei yisrael because וְהָיִיתָ לָּנוּ לְעֵינָיִם.  what does this mean?  rashi, in one pshat, says שתהא חביב עלינו כגלגל עינינו, שנאמר (דברים י, יט) ואהבתם את הגר.  (parenthetically, i wonder if this pshat is taluy in the machlokes whether yisro came to join bnei yisrael before or after mattan torah.  if he came before, then he wasnt really any more of a ger than the rest of bnei yisrael, was he?  unless all of klal yisrael had the din of a ger back then, such that bnei yisrael were all chayav in ahavas hager to each other.  but that seems strange.)

 this goes against my strongly held pedagogical beliefs (I may write something about that some other time), but I don't have a good question to ask here.  but it seems that rashi thinks that regular ahavas yisrael wouldnt have been enough to persuade yisro to stay.  what is stronger about the mitzvah of ahavas hager than standard ahavas yisrael?

we've discussed before the ramban's shittah in viahavta lireacha kamocha.  the ramban explains: the torah doesnt say viahavta oso.  rather it says viahavta LI-reacha.  hence, the torah doesnt mean you have to love him as much as you love yourself, but rather, show love TO him the same way you show love to yourself (but not to the same degree).  the ramban's proof for this is the halacha that chayecha kodmin - you are allowed to care about yourself more than others.

the aruch hashulchan (and i think r shimon in shaarei yosher as well) explains that the ramban is essentially limiting viahavta lireacha to a "dont do him bad" instead of a "do him good".  you arent obligated to give someone all your money if they ask for it, because you dont have to really love them as much as you love yourself.  rather, chazal phrase the obligations that stem from ahavas yisrael as "what you dont like to be done to yourself, dont do to others."

does this apply to ahavas ha-ger?  the rambam writes in hilchos deos, and in sefer hamitzvos that there is a difference between ahavas hager and regular ahavas yisrael.  וברוב המדרשות בארו שהאל יתעלה צונו על הגר כמו שצונו על עצמו יתעלה אמר (פ' שמע) ואהבת את י"י אלדיך ואמר ואהבתם את הגר - the midrashim compare ahavas hager to ahavas hashechina.  in what way is ahavas hager more similar to ahavas hashechinah than regular ahavas yisrael?

i believe (but i dont have it in front of me) that r yaakov kaminetsky in emes liyaakov explains based on the ramban (for those who read my article on kedoshim, this might be slightly problematic.  but lets ignore that for now.)  by ahavas yisrael, the torah says LI-reacha, which we explained means a limited love.  but by both ahavas hager and ahavas hashem, the torah doesnt say show love to the other, but rather to love.  this means that the mitzvos of ahavas hager and ahavas hashem mandate loving hashem/geirim as much as we love ourselves, even if regular ahavas yisrael is not mechayev love of that degree. (hence by ahavas hashem, the pasuk goes on: bichol livavcha uvchol nafshecha uvchol meodecha)

(this also explains why the rambam uses the pasuk va'ahavtaem es hager - from sefer devarim, as the basis for the mitzvah of ahavas hager, and not the earlier pasuk in parshas kedoshim, viahvata LO kamocha (referring to ahavas hager.)  the pasuk in devarim reflects the fuller nature of the mitzvah.)

as such, we understand why moshe needed to specifically reference ahavas hager.  rashi implies, and the ramban says it straight out, that the reason yisro didnt want to come with bnei yisrael to eretz yisrael was that he, as a ger, would not be entitled to a nachala.  moshe responds, the good which G-d gives us we will pass on to you, which rashi interprets to mean that moshe promised him a nachala, even though he wasnt entitled. why would moshe do this? how was he allowed to do this - what he's giving to yisro is coming out of the chelek that the rest of bnei yisrael were entitled to, and ahavas yisrael isnt mechayev that when someone asks for your money, that you just give it to him!  but the answer is, maybe ahavas hager is mechayev that level of ahavah.

we need to understand though, why ahavas hager should be raised above standard ahavas yisrael - and for this we need a framework for the mitzvah of ahavas yisrael in general.

the context that the rambam gives before presenting the mitzvos of ahavas yisrael and ahavas hager in hilchos deos is quite fascinating.  the rambam begins the perek (6): דרך ברייתו של אדם להיות נמשך בדעותיו ובמעשיו אחר ריעיו וחביריו ונוהג כמנהג אנשי מדינתו, לפיכך צריך אדם להתחבר לצדיקים ולישב אצל החכמים תמיד כדי שילמוד ממעשיהם, ויתרחק מן הרשעים ההולכים בחשך כדי שלא ילמוד ממעשיהם, הוא ששלמה אומר הולך את חכמים יחכם ורועה כסילים ירוע.  this halacha is presumably motivated by concerns of bein adam lamakom- you have to surround yourself with tzaddikim so that you will be a tzaddik.

the next halacha emphasizes this point: מצות עשה להדבק בחכמים ותלמידיהם כדי ללמוד ממעשיהם כענין שנאמר ובו תדבק - there is a mitzvah to "cleave" to talmidei chachamim.  as the rambam there explains, this mitvzah is learned from the words in the pasuk "to cleave to hashem - how can you cleave to hashem, who is compared to fire - rather, the pasuk means to attach oneself to talmidei chachamim".   so again, the focus of the perek is how to connect to the shechina.

so is the follow up halacha a shift in focus?  מצוה על כל אדם לאהוב את כל אחד ואחד מישראל כגופו שנאמר ואהבת לרעך כמוך.

i wonder if the rambam thinks that we should view ahavas yisrael almost as an extension of/ broadening out  the mitzvah of cleaving to talmidei chachamim.  we have to love jews because if we love people who are tzaddikim (vi-amech kulam tzaddikim), we ourselves will become bigger tzaddikim.  thus, the mitzvah of ahavas yisrael falls into the framework set up by the beginning of the perek, הולך את חכמים יחכם ורועה כסילים ירוע.

it is with this context that we understand why ahavas hager is taken to a higher level than regular ahavas yisrael.  as gilad barach has already discussed (highly recommended reading), the rambam, as opposed to the sefer hachinuch, does not see the ger's being a stranger and alone (and hence needing extra compassion) as the rationale behind the mitzvah of ahavas hager.  rather, it is the fact that the ger threw off the sheker he was raised with and came to cling to the shechina that merits him this extra love.  why?  i suggest that just like we have a mitzvah to cling to talmidei chachamim, we have an extra mitzvah to love and cling to geirim, people who of themselves recognized the emes of yahadus and torah. again, this mitzvah is part of the broader context of the entire perek.

i was (and still am) a little bothered by the suggestion that  we "use" ahavas yisrael "selifshly", to further our own spiritual growth - this doesnt seem to be the classical understanding of mitzvos bein adam lchaveiro.  but the rambam in pirkei avos talks about the different types of friendships that can exist between people.  the truest friendship, the rambam writes, is one where friends are bound together because of the G-dly ideals and commitments they share.  a friendship that isnt founded on ideals of furthering avodas hashem wont last- whatever you share with the friend isnt eternal, and when what you share fades away, so will the friendship.  thus, ahavas yisrael has to be based in furthering avodas hashem in order for us to be able to truly love all of klal yisrael.

(i think that this is also how i understand why we have no mitzvah to love people who dont keep the mitzvos (bimeizid only, not tinok shenishbas).  its not a punishment against them, its just that the whole platform for  friendship has been undermined. this needs further thought.)

have a great shabbos!