אָמַר רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל, לֹא הָיוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּאָב וּכְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, שֶׁבָּהֶן בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם יוֹצְאוֹת בִּכְלֵי לָבָן שְׁאוּלִין, שֶׁלֹּא לְבַיֵּשׁ אֶת מִי שֶׁאֵין לוֹ. כָּל הַכֵּלִים טְעוּנִין טְבִילָה.
וּבְנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם יוֹצְאוֹת וְחוֹלוֹת בַּכְּרָמִים. וּמֶה הָיוּ אוֹמְרוֹת, בָּחוּר, שָׂא נָא עֵינֶיךָ וּרְאֵה, מָה אַתָּה בוֹרֵר לָךְ. אַל תִּתֵּן עֵינֶיךָ בַנּוֹי, תֵּן עֵינֶיךָ בַמִּשְׁפָּחָה. שֶׁקֶר הַחֵן וְהֶבֶל הַיֹּפִי, אִשָּׁה יִרְאַת ה' הִיא תִתְהַלָּל (משלי לא). וְאוֹמֵר, תְּנוּ לָהּ מִפְּרִי יָדֶיהָ, וִיהַלְלוּהָ בַשְּׁעָרִים מַעֲשֶׂיהָ....
Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as joyous for the Jewish people as the fifteenth of Av and as Yom Kippur, as on them the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in white clothes, which each woman borrowed from another. Why were they borrowed? They did this so as not to embarrass one who did not have her own white garments. All the garments that the women borrowed require immersion, as those who previously wore them might have been ritually impure.
And the daughters of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vineyards. And what would they say? Young man, please lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself for a wife. Do not set your eyes toward beauty, but set your eyes toward a good family, as the verse states: “Grace is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Eternal, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30), and it further says: “Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates” (Proverbs 31:31)....
כט"ו באב – for on that [day] ended the deaths of the wilderness in the fortieth year, and on it, was abolished those guards which Jeroboam the son of Nabat had placed who prevented the Israelites from going up [to Jerusalem] on the Festivals. And on that day, those who had died in Betar were given up for burial, and on that day [each year], they stopped cutting down trees [to provide wood] for the wood for the altar in the Temple, for from that day onward, the power of the [summer] sun weakened, and it didn’t have the power to dry the wood from its moistness.
These two days were like an ancient Sadie Hawkins day (if you don’t know what this is, you can google it to find out), except instead of the girls chasing the boys, the girls would go out to the field and let the boys come and chase them. The girls would go out to the field in white clothes and dance and let the boys choose for themselves brides. These clothes were borrowed so that girls who could not afford a nice white garment would not be embarrassed. The garments would be immersed before they were worn so that they would be pure. The whole ceremony seems to be geared towards encouraging the boys to choose their girls not based on their looks or wealth but based on their families and piety. In mishnaic times, and indeed in many traditional cultures, “yichus” being from a good family was probably the most important consideration in arranging marriages.
(ד) שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל ה' אֱלֹקֵ֖ינוּ ה' ׀ אֶחָֽד׃ (ה) וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת ה' אֱלֹקֶ֑יךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃ (ו) וְהָי֞וּ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם עַל־לְבָבֶֽךָ׃ (ז) וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשׇׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ׃ (ח) וּקְשַׁרְתָּ֥ם לְא֖וֹת עַל־יָדֶ֑ךָ וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֶֽיךָ׃ (ט) וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזֻז֥וֹת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃ {ס}
(4) Hear, O Israel! The Eternal is our God, the Eternal alone. (5) And you shall love the Eternal your God with all your levav and with all your nefesh and with all your me'od. (6) These words that I command you today shall be upon your levav. (7) Impress them upon your children. Use them in your speech when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Tie them as a sign on your hand and let them be totafot between your eyes; (9) write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
ואהבת - Fulfill God's commands out of love, for one who acts out of love is not like one (is on a higher plane than one) who acts out of fear. One who serves their master out of fear, if [the master] troubles them too much, they leave [the master] and goes away (Sifrei Devarim 32:1).
בכל לבבך The form of the noun with two ב instead of the usual form לבך suggests: Love God with your two inclinations (the יצר הטוב and the יצר הרע) (Sifrei Devarim 32:3; Berakhot 54a). Another explanation of בכל לבבך, with all your heart, is that your heart should not be divided (i.e. not whole) with HaMakom (Sifrei Devarim 32:4).
ובכל נפשך AND WITH ALL THY SOUL — even though God takes your soul (as a martyr) (Sifrei Devarim 32:5; Berakhot 54a, Berakhot 61b).
ובכל מאדך AND WITH ALL THY MIGHT, i.e. with all thy property. You have people whose property is dearer to them than their bodies, and it is on this account that there is added, “and with all your me'od/property" (Sifrei Devarim 32:6).
Another explanation of ובכל מאדך is: — Thou shalt love God whatever measure (מדה) it may be that God metes out to thee, whether it be the measure of good or the measure of calamity. Thus also did David say, (Psalms 116:13 and 3) "If I lift up the cup of salvation, [I will call upon the name of the Lord]; If I find trouble and sorrow, [I will call upon the name of the Lord]”.
Since we have no other divinity aside from the God alone, you are obligated to love God, for we have no other god.
Your heart. The heart refers to knowledge. It is another term for the spirit of intelligence, for the heart is its first residence. The same applies to wise-hearted (Ex. 36:1) and to He that getteth a heart (Prov. 19:8).
Your nefesh. The reference is to the spirit, which is in the body. It is the spirit which lusts. Its power is manifest in the liver.
Your me'od. The meaning of me’odekha is very very much. It means that you should love God to the utmost in any way that you are able. Your heart should be totally committed to the love of God.
ואהבת תשמח לעשות דבר שייטב בעיניו כאשר תבין שאין תכלית נכבד כזה:
ואהבת, you will then enjoy doing things which are pleasing to God when you understand that there is nothing in this world which is more worth doing. [the word ואהבת is not perceived a commandment by the author; in fact it is questionable if loving someone could be the subject of a commandment altogether. Ed.]
ואהבת את ה׳ אלוקיך, "And you shall love the Lord your G'd, etc." The conjunctive letter ו (vav) means that not only is there a commandment to accept the yoke (e.g.) authority of the Kingdom of Heaven, but there is an additional commandment to love God. The sequence of the verses also teaches that we must not make the mistake of believing that love of God is possible without an initial dose of awe of God. The Zohar volume three page 56 spells this out. The letter ו then means that after we have achieved a degree of fear of God, we will be able to develop love for God. The reason the Torah uses the word את which implies joining something is to teach us that the means to develop דבקות ה׳, an affinity for God, is by loving God in addition to being in awe of God.
Perhaps our verse intends to arouse in us three distinct kinds of love for G'd which G'd's creatures are familiar with. They are:
1) Loving God for God's goodness (spiritually speaking);
2) Loving God for the pleasant sensation this affords us;
3) Loving God because God is so useful to us.
The words ואהבת את השם speak of love for what is good, God being described as "good" in Psalms 145,9 טוב ה׳ לכל.
The mystical dimension of loving God for the pleasant sensations God affords us is referred to in Psalms 34,9: "taste and see how good the Lord is;" The Psalmist means that amongst all the pleasant sensations a creature may experience none is comparable to contemplation of the goodness of God and of God's name. The proof for this is Song of Songs 5,6 נפשי יצאה בדברו, "my soul departed when He spoke." When the pious die a death which is totally painless, such as the death by a kiss of God experienced by Moses and Aaron, this is the most pleasant sensation imaginable. So far we have heard that the word י־ה־ו־ה alludes to both spiritual goodness and the most sublime sensation a creature is capable of experiencing at the hand of God.
The love of the useful which G'd represents is alluded to in the word אלוקיך, as we have defined this already in connection with Psalms 22,4. We have learned in Shabbat 30 that the last words in Kohelet 12 כי זה כל האדם "for this is what humanity is all about" refer to the whole world being created only for the sake of man observing God's commandments on earth. Loving God and fulfilling God commandments then is love of a most useful kind.