The commandment to “love your neighbor as you love yourself” assumes and depends upon a strong love of self. In this meditation, we work on this “yourself” side of the command, using the Torah’s words here to move through an exploration of how we reject and hate parts of ourselves to befriending and loving those despised parts to sending love outward to the world. This work of distributing love inside and outside is understood as a sacred avodah, a sacred devotional activity that continues to expand God’s love in us and in the world.
