כי המקיימם מיראה אין עבודתו עבודה שלמה. וענין האהבה, שיתבונן האדם בתורתו ובמצותיו וישיג בהם הש"י ויתענג באותה השגה בתכלית התענוג, ואם תשאל ותאמר כיון שמצינו שמעלת החשק גדולה ממעלת האהבה היה לו לומר וחשקת ולמה אמר ואהבת, התשובה בזה כי היא הנותנת, שהרי האוהב הוא מי שאוהב הדבר האהוב ולעתיד תשתכח ממנו האהבה, כגון בעת האוכל או בעת השינה, אבל מי שחושק אין מחשבתו נפרדת מן החשוק כלל, ואפילו בעת שיאכל יזכרנו, גם בעת השינה יראנו בחלום, ולפי שנצטוינו לאהבה את השם יתברך בשני היצרים ובנפש המתאוה ובכל ממונו, ויצטרך האדם לאהוב את כלן בדברים המוכרחים, כי אי אפשר לו שיחיה זולתם, על כן צוה שיאהוב אותם בענין המוכרח אבל יאהוב את השם יתברך על כלן, וא"כ מהטעם הזה לא היה יכול לומר וחשקת, כי אלו היה חושק אותו היה מפריד מחשבתו מכל הדברים הגופניים האלה ולא היה משתמש בהם כל עיקר, ואף במוכרחים, ולא היה מקום למצות התורה כלל,
ואהבת את ה' אלו-היך, “You shall love the Lord your G’d.”
Do not argue that seeing that the emotion described as חשק is perceived to be a stronger emotion than that of אהבה, love, why did the Torah not instruct us to וחשקת את ה' אלו-היך, “to display fondness of the Lord your G’d?” The answer to this question is that אהבה, “love”, is something that comes and goes, an emotion which manifests itself on occasion but does not manifest itself on other occasions. If someone loves a certain kind of food, he will experience this emotion when such food is placed before him and he eats it. He does not however, go around all day long “loving” that dish. When someone is in the grip of the emotion we call חשק an inordinate desire, [such as that of Shechem for Yaakov’s daughter Dinah, Ed.] this emotion is ever-present in his mind even if the object of his desire is out of sight and earshot. He will dream about the object he is so fond of.
The Torah’s point in using this term ואהבת is to make clear that our love for G’d must always win out in a conflict with our other emotions. The other urges cannot be ignored as one cannot live without them. For instance, unless one has an urge to stay alive one will likely become the victim of death in its many forms in short order. Similarly, unless one has an active urge to acquire some material goods one will starve to death not having the wherewithal to pay for one’s food, clothing and shelter.
The very relativity of the emotion אהבה then is what enables us to fulfill this commandment. Had the Torah commanded us to relate to G’d with the emotion חשק, this would involve our abandoning all other emotions in order to devote ourselves exclusively to the emotion of being fond of the Lord. We would have had to totally suppress even the emotions without which life on terrestrial earth is impossible. The end-result of relating to G’d in such a manner would effectively have made it impossible to fulfill any of the other commandments in the Torah as they all presuppose the activation of a whole range of human emotions.
"Experiencing an emotion is kind of like going through high school: when you’re in it, nothing feels more important. But when it’s over, you’re left wondering what in the world it was all about.
But the truth is, emotions do matter. They are incredibly important. They are just not important in the ways that we think.
Emotions serve a purpose: they are your brain’s way of telling you something good or bad is happening in your life. They are feedback. Aaaand that's about it."
- Mark Manson
“Man cannot live with intellect alone, nor with emotion alone; intellect and emotion must forever be joined together. If he wishes to burst beyond his own level, he will lose his ability to feel, and his flaws and deficiencies will be myriad despite the strength of his intellect. And needless to say, if he sinks into unmitigated emotion, he will fall to the depths of foolishness, which leads to all weakness and sin. Only the quality of equilibrium, which balances intellect with emotion, can deliver him completely” (Scholem, Devarim be-Go, 326-327)
Rav A.Y. Kook (1865-1935) was an Orthodox rabbi and the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He was one of the most famous and renowned rabbis in the 20th century.
Inner mindfulness: how does one attain it? One who is confused or inwardly agitated is forbidden from praying until he settles himself; thus, one who has come in from traveling and is tired or unsettled is forbidden from praying until she settles herself. The sages used to say that she ought to wait for three days until she has rested and her emotions have cooled, and only afterward may she pray.
(1) . זכר ונקבה בראם, “He created them male and female.” The words “male and female” refer to the שכל, intelligence, and נפש, emotional life-force, respectively. These two components are major factors in the acquisition of wisdom, the body is quite peripheral, serving only as receptacle, a repository for the former.
Rabbi David Aaron
Having Fun or Being Happy. How much fun is happiness?
Happiness is not dependent on an event, it is an inner state of being that does not happen to you but that you must achieve. Happiness is not a happening that you wait to happen, it’s a choice you have to work at to achieve. Therefore you can always be happy, regardless of the events that are happening around you.
Fun is an event, not effecting your inner being. It is an occurrence that happens from time to time. It would be great if we were having fun while being happy. But life is sometimes no fun. It may even be very bitter and painful. However even in those times we can be happy. Fun is an occasional happening and event. Even if you could have fun everyday it would not necessarily make you happy.
The Torah teaches that the way to happiness is to choose the path of truth, apply your intelligence and skills to do the will of G-d. When the soul is in harmony with the whole divine symphony of life then it feels a deep and lasting happiness. When such a person experiences painful events, her inner constant state of happiness is untouched. Therefore the good person even when she encounters great suffering she is still in state of inner happiness. The evil person, however, chooses a life of dissonance. She is not interested in coordinating her actions with the values and ideals of G-d. Even if the evil person is having daily fun none of it effects her inner self that is actually broken and depressed.
The good person may have more painful events and yet be happy because she is committed to the ways of G-d to do His work on earth. The evil person, however, could be having a ball. She may be enjoying the party but when the music stops playing, when the game is over, when the fun ends her inner self is left impoverished. She is having fun but she is not happy.
You can HAVE fun but you can only BE happy.
(ג) תורת אמת כזאת מוכרחת שתתקיים בתורת הכרח של מצוה ואמונה בפרטיה, כל זמן שתהיה האנושות עדיין צריכה להדרכה, כל זמן שעוד לא מלאה הארץ דעה עד שכל יחיד מוצא בבירור גמור את כל תעודתו מהכרת עצמו, שאז היא מתעלה מכלל אמונה לכלל מדע מבורר.
(3) A Torah of truth like this must be fulfilled in a framework of compulsion of commandment and faith in its details, so long as humanity still needs instruction, so long as the world has not yet achieved full knowledge, where every individual will have a clear understanding of his full destiny from knowing himself. At that point, following the Torah will no longer be based on faith and commandment, but it will transcend faith to become clear knowledge.