Rabbi Akiba said: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) is a fundamental principal of the Torah. You should not say that inasmuch as I am despised, let my fellow human being be despised with me, [or] inasmuch as I am cursed, let my fellow human being be cursed with me. Rabbi Tanhuma said: If you act in this manner, know Who it is you despise, for “God made the human being in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27; 9:6).
-Beresheit Rabbah 24:7
Pain can consume us. Yet we are not permitted to afflict others as we have experienced pain. Our God-mandated task to protect one another. Just because you have been hurt does not give you permission to hurt someone else.
Can you imagine repercussions of passing pain on? The world would roil with pain!
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