Or HaChaim on Leviticus 19:17/אור החיים על ויקרא י״ט:י״ז

1 לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך, "do not hate your brother in your heart, etc." The Torah urges us that if we harbour some resentment against a fellow Jew not to bottle it up in one's heart saying nothing but hating the Jew in question. One has to come out with one's feelings into the open, בפיך, and rebuke the person who one thinks as guilty of having bad-mouthed him or otherwise hurt him to cause such hatred. הוכח תוכיח, "rebuke him, even repeatedly," ולא תשא עליו חטא, "so that you will not bear a sin on account of him." Do not assume in your heart that whatever it is the other Jew has done to cause you to hate him he has done purposely and that he continues to feel hostile towards you. Give him the benefit of the doubt and discuss the matter with him. The discussion could lead to one of two possible results. 1) He may explain to you that he had a good reason for what he did so that there is no reason to hate him. 2) He may change his attitude towards you, undertaking not to continue his hostile conduct. As a result he becomes "your friend, your brother."

2Another approach to our verse is based on the unusual structure of the verse. It should have read: "לא תשנא בלבבך את אחיך, the word "in your heart" which we consider central should not have been written at the end. The source of the hatred, the heart, should have been mentioned before the object of the hatred, a fellow Jew. If the Torah reversed this order there must be a reason for this. I believe that the message is that a person should not think that the Torah only forbids the kind of hatred which is the forerunner of acts of revenge or violence but does not forbid harbouring ill feelings towards someone in one's heart. By mentioning the object of one's hatred immediately next to the prohibition to hate, the Torah made it clear that even the kind of hatred which is not related to acts of retaliation is forbidden. As soon as a person distances himself mentally and emotionally from his fellow Jew he begins to violate the prohibition of hatred as defined by the Torah in this verse.

3We need to examine why the Torah chose the term אחיך, "your brother," when describing who it is you hate, whereas the person that you are advised or directed to admonish is described as עמיתך, "your colleague."

4Perhaps the best way to understand this distinction is based on what we read in Tannah de bey Eliyahu Rabbah at the end of chapter 3. We are told that if one observes a man known as a Torah scholar commit an obvious violation of a Torah precept, one should not think about this during the night, but rather assume that said scholar had already repented his mistake. We also find in Pessachim 113 where the Talmud discusses the implications of Exodus 23,5 that one must not stand by idly when the ass of someone whom one hates breaks down under its burden but one must assist the owner to unload the beast. The Talmud explains that the שנאך who is described as the owner of the donkey is a person whom one has observed commit sins, in other words someone who one is permitted to hate. Accordingly, there are exceptions to the rule "not to hate your brother." A Torah scholar is exempted from the list of sinners one is allowed to hate as it is to be presumed that he is not a habitual sinner but has momentarily committed a mistake which he will promptly regret. The Torah described such a Torah scholar as "your brother," to teach you that even if this Torah scholar became guilty of a transgression you must not hate him but assume that he has already done penitence and recaptured his status (and therefore stature) as a Torah-observant Jew. We base this on Psalms 122, 8 למען אחי ורעי אדברה נא שלום בך, "for the sake of my brethren and friends I pray for your wellbeing." We can also derive this from the way the Talmud Kidushin 57 interprets the verse את ח׳ אלוקיך תירא, "you shall fear the Lord your G'd," where the word את is taken to refer to the Torah scholars (Deut. 6,13). Similarly, the word אחיך here refers to G'd Himself who is described on occasion as a "brother of Israel" (compare Midrash Shochar Tov 23).

5When the Torah wrote הוכח תוכיח, it speaks of a different situation altogether, i.e. it addresses your conduct vis-a-vis the average Israelite. In order to make this clear, that "average" Israelite is not described as "your brother" but as "your colleague." This is more pronounced by the Torah not saying הוכח תוכיחנו, "you shall rebuke him repeatedly, as we would have expected if the Torah had not changed the subject it speaks of in the first half of this verse. By rebuking your "average Israelite" you will help him to avoid becoming guilty of hating you so that the righteous will not be punished for his share in the guilt of the wicked. Failure to rebuke, however, will make the individual who is Torah-observant an accessory in the guilt of the sinners who have not been rebuked.

7We have proof of this In Ezekiel 33,9 where the prophet is told that seeing he had warned the people he himself will be saved and does not have to share their fate.

8I have found another interesting statement in chapter 18 of Tannah de bey Eliyahu Rabbah who writes as follows: "Does the Torah here refer to brothers of the same father or brothers of the same mother? In answer to this question he says that the word "your brother" refers to G'd who does not have any "brothers" either in this world, the world to come, or after the arrival of the Messiah, except for the righteous who perform His commandments meticulously day after day. Thus far Tannah de bey Eliyahu Rabbah. From this comment It emerges that "brothers" are considered as closer relations than "sons" or "daughters" as we know from Shir Hashirim Rabbah 3 that G'd first called Israel "My daughter," whereas eventually He called her "My sister" (i.e. a higher form of endearment).