(17) You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kin but incur no guilt on their account. (18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your neighbor as yourself: I am ה'.
Dean: If I have a neighbor that is always mean to me, why would I have to be nice to them?
Chloe: If your neighbor is mean to you then you don't have to be mean back. Just don't interact with them.
Maya: People have been mean to me many times. You have to ignore them and if they keep doing it, you can strike back in a subtle way.
(יד) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי. וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי. וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתָי:
(14) He [Rabbi Hillel] used to say: If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am for my own self [only], what am I? And if not now, when?
Dean: I have to take care of myself, but if I don't use myself to then help others, I would be selfish. And I have to do that right away when it is needed
Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a
Once there was a gentile who came before Shammai, and said to him: "Convert me on the condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot. Shammai pushed him aside with the measuring stick he was holding. The same fellow came before Hillel, and Hillel converted him, saying: That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary, go and study it."
Nehama Leibowitz, 20th c. Biblical scholar
Leibowitz writes that the Hebrew word re'a is a neutral and comprehensive term - fellow. Its identification with an "Israelite" is conclusively refuted, she says, by the word's use in Exodus 11:2, "Let every man ask of רעהו his neighbor and every woman of רעותה her neighbor, jewels of silver and jewels of gold..." where it clearly refers to the Egyptians.
[This is when the Israelites are preparing to flee Egypt, the day before the final plague.]
From New Studies in VaYikra (Leviticus), WZO, 1995, pp. 366-367.
Maya: The text said that you can't have a grudge with other Jews. But I what I interpreted is that you can have a grudge with non Jews. You shouldn't have a grudge even with any other people. I don't think it is realistic that you can not have a grudge against anyone.
Samantha: I will be angry even if they tell me I should not be angry. Especially if it is repetitive.
From Aish.com, "Judaism's Golden Rule, Love Your Neighbor as Yourself", Rabbi Dov Lev:
Further, the Talmud rules that if you are traveling in the desert with only enough water for one person to survive, rather than give it to someone else, you should drink it yourself.11 The Torah does not expect us to place someone else's survival before our own. In fact, it is usually forbidden to so.12 So there must be some other understanding of the mitzvah to "Love your neighbor as yourself."
The true meaning of "Love your neighbor as yourself" is to get beyond your personal mindset and appreciate where others are coming from. Understand the needs and sensitivities of people whose backgrounds are different than your own, and recognize that in such a case you would also have those needs. We all take our own predicaments very seriously. "Love your neighbor as yourself" instructs you to empathize and relate to another person's situation objectively, as if you are in the same boat.13
The trick is to balance this obligation with your own very important needs.
Samantha: Empathetically you can put another's needs before your own. except when it comes to survival. You can't save someone else if you can't save yourself first.
Chloe: Be kind to your neighbor no matter what. Loving your neighbor, respect your neighbor.