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How can you love your neighbor as yourself if you don't like yourself? The shiur explores three explanations of why Rabbi Akiva identifies the daily korban tamid—offered morning and evening—as the Torah (תורה)'s great principle. Korban tamid creates self-worth through consistency, membership in the community, and access to our innate kedusha—the foundation for all moral behavior and genuine simcha.
The shiur addresses a fundamental question raised by Ben Azzai's challenge to Rabbi Akiva's statement that "Love your neighbor as yourself" is the great principle of the Torah (תורה). Ben Azzai asks: what if you don't like yourself? He suggests instead that "This is the book of the generations of man" (zeh sefer toldos adam) is the Torah's great principle, because self-regard must precede loving others. The shiur then presents a Midrash quoted by the Ein Yaakov and the Maharal, in which Rabbi Akiva offers another candidate for the Torah's great principle: "Es hakeves es echad ta'aseh baboker, v'es hakeves hasheini ta'aseh bein ha'arbayim"—the verse commanding the daily korban tamid, one offering in the morning and one in the evening. Rabbi Zweig asks: why would this verse about the daily sacrifices be considered the foundational principle of the entire Torah?
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Parshas Terumah - Korban Tamid (Shemos)
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