The yeshiva founded by HaRav Neiman: Or Yisroel
The disciples of Rabbi Akiva died during the period between Pesach and Shavuos for not having accorded due respect to one another. HaRav Yaakov Neiman said that Chazal did not blame their deaths upon a natural occurrence, such as an epidemic but pinned the prime reason upon the sin of lack of respect for one another. Had they not had this fault, they would not have died.
If someone tells us that he doesn't feel well, we are inclined to ask if he ate something spoiled that upset his digestive system or to offer other possible reasons for his malaise. No one would ask him if had sinned recently which would have caused his illness.
Chazal, however, lived in a different world. If someone's wine went sour, they sought a spiritual cause. If Rabbi Akiva's disciples died, they sought a reason in the spiritual sense: not that this was caused by an infectious disease but by a spiritual failing, a sin.
We are surely not worthy of examining the faults of Rabbi Akiva's students for they were truly men of great stature who had to die because of their shortcoming. Hashem, we know, is stringent and exacting towards tzaddikim by hairsbreadth. Nevertheless, we are called upon to learn from this and see to what extent each of us must improve in our interpersonal relations. Any lack, he maintains, stems from a lack in emunah in Hashem. One must really and truly believe that Hashem created the world, and must also acknowledge that man is the epitome of Creation, created in the image of Hashem. If so, how can he fail to show esteem for his fellow man?
We can gain a deeper insight regarding the mitzvah of "You shall love one's fellow man (V'ohavtaå) as yourself, I am Hashem." Does "I am Hashem" not seem superfluous? Rather, we can understand this commandment to mean that Hashem tells us to love our fellow man because he embodies Hashem, because he was created in Hashem's image, and when you love him, you are inherently showing love for Hashem.
He concludes with a message relevant to older times and to recent ones as well: at this period where Torah Jewry stands isolated, fighting for its life against those threatening it from within and from the outside, how obligated we are to increase our love and respect to our fellow Jew and to uphold the honor of those within our very ranks.
