A Greater Principle Than Love of Your Neighbor

Rebbi Akiva taught, following Hillel, that the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself is the great principle of the Torah. Ben Azzai taught that a still greater principle is found in the verse, "This is the book of the generations of man. In the day that Hashem created man, He made him in the likeness of Hashem." Every person bears the image of the Creator, and that is the foundation of how one must treat him.