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How can we truly love our neighbor as ourselves without it being disguised selfishness? The shiur distinguishes between vicarious feelings (relating others' experiences back to ourselves) and genuine compassion (sharing their actual emotions regardless of cause). The test: when you cause someone's pain yet still feel their suffering, you've achieved true rachmanus - the divine attribute that lets Hashem (ה׳) share our pain even while punishing us.
This shiur delves deeply into the divine attribute of "She'eris Nachalaso" (the remnant of His heritage) which corresponds to "Racham" (compassion) in the thirteen attributes of mercy. Rabbi Zweig begins by examining a Midrash that describes the complex relationship between Hashem (ה׳) and the Jewish people, using familial metaphors (wife, sister, daughter, mother) to illustrate how God feels pain when punishing His people, as it states "in all their sorrows He was afflicted." The core of the shiur focuses on understanding "V'ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha" (Love your neighbor as yourself). Rabbi Zweig identifies a fundamental problem: if we love others only because "part of us is in them," this seems more like selfishness than genuine love. He raises practical objections - when a friend enjoys success, we don't physically benefit from it, so what does it mean to feel their joy as our own?
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Parshas Kedoshim - V'ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha
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