The golden rule: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) is based on the principle that all men are equal, since we were created in the image and likeness of God and its application does not depend on whether I like or not my neighbor or even whether or not he is my friend or my enemy. In Shmot 23:4 it says that “if you find your enemy’s ox or donkey lost in the field, you must take it back to him. If your enemy’s donkey is weighed down by its load, you must help lighten it.”

Revenge is prohibited. The law of Talion, the famous “eye for an eye,” was explained from the beginning by our sages in two ways: that the punishment must be proportional to the crime committed and that the punishment must be applied by a court. They sought to avoid personal revenge and humanize the laws to avoid excesses in punishments. The rabbis also established that payment for a crime would, in most cases, be a financial penalty proportional to the damage caused.

In Leviticus 19:18 it is written: “You shall not take revenge or hold a grudge against the children of your own people.” “Do not say, I will do to him as he did to me, I will repay him in the same coin for what he did to me” (Proverbs 24:29). This does not mean that one should not proceed against someone who committed a crime, on the contrary, we should punish him, but within the framework of the law and not by your own hand.

Maimonides in his Mishne Torah sums it up as follows: “It is forbidden for a man to be harsh and irreconcilable and he should be easy to appease and difficult to provoke. If the offender apologizes (sincerely) he should forgive him wholeheartedly and with a willing spirit. If the other has harassed you and sinned against you, you should not take revenge or hold a grudge.” (Hilchot Teshuvah 2:10).

So, do you really think you can or should say: You’re going to pay me back?

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: The Jewish People, their history and their religion, by Rabbis David J. Goldberg and John D. Rayner