the term "neighbor" has not at all times been thus understood by jewish teachers. in tanna debe eliyahu r. xv. it is said: "blessed be the lord who is impartial toward all. he says: 'thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor. thy neighbor is like thy brother, and thy brother is like thy neighbor.'" likewise in xxviii.: "thou shalt love the lord thy god"; that is, thou shalt make the name of god beloved to the creatures by a righteous conduct toward gentiles as well as jews (compare sifre, deut. 32). aaron b. abraham ibn ḥayyim of the sixteenth century, in his commentary to sifre, l.c.; ḥayyim vital, the cabalist, in his "sha'are ḳedushah," i. 5; and moses ḥagis of the eighteenth century, in his work on the 613 commandments, while commenting on deut. xxiii. 7, teach alike that the law of love of the neighbor includes the non-israelite as well as the israelite. there is nowhere a dissenting opinion expressed by jewish writers. for modern times, see among others the conservative opinion of plessner's religious catechism, "dat mosheh we-yehudit," p. 258.