Love of Neighbor Reimagined: Ritual Partnerships in Rabbinic and Confucian Ecology

This paper reimagines love of neighbor by exploring how Rabbinic Judaism and Classical Confucianism extend this ethical principle beyond human relationships through ritual partnerships with nature. Employing textual analysis through an ecological lens, I examine the descriptions of rituals, such as Leviticus 25 (shemitah), Deuteronomy 12:21 (shechita) in Judaism, and the suburban sacrifices (Liji "Jiao Te Sheng") and Mengzi 7A:45 in Confucianism. I argue that these texts portray the natural world not as a reciprocal "neighbor" but as a vital, asymmetrical partner in sacred alliances. Shaped by covenantal theology and agrarian contexts in Judaism, and an anthropocosmic vision in Confucianism, rituals like shechita and suburban sacrifices suggest an ethic of co-responsibility, challenging anthropocentric norms. This comparative analysis reframes "love of neighbor" as a multispecies ethic, offering a dialogical model for interreligious ethics amid ecological crises.