When a Curse Is Not a Curse By Rabbi Neil N. Winkler | May 06, 2021 A day school teacher once related his challenge of teaching a Hebrew text to young students who had partial—but not yet complete—grasp of the language. He related that as he discussed with his students the Torah’s demand of “v’ahavta l’reacha kamocha,” loving one’s fellow, he quoted the well-known comment of Rabbi Akiva that this mitzvah was a “klal gadol baTorah.” One student quickly raised his hand to translate Rabbi Akiva’s statement and said: “This is a great curse in the Torah.” The teacher did his best not to laugh as the student had confused the Hebrew word “klal,” principle, with a similar-sounding word “klala,”curse.