Illustration Credit: Rivka Tsinman
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יהוה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃
You shall love God your Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with everything you have.
This pasuk is hard to understand because it seems to be commanding us to feel something! Can the Torah really require us to experience a certain emotion, like loving God? What are some ways to fulfill this mitzvah?
Here are three different ways to understand it.
1. Rashi thinks we’re being told to have a certain attitude while performing all mitzvot.
עֲשֵׂה דְּבָרָיו מֵאַהֲבָה. אֵינוֹ דּוֹמֶה הַעוֹשֶׂה מִיִּרְאָה לְעֹשֶׂה מֵאַהֲבָה.
Do what God says out of love. Someone who acts because of fear is nothing like someone who acts because of love.
According to Rashi, the Torah is teaching us how to do mitzvot. It’s better to do them out of loving God rather than out of fear of getting punished.
- Why is it better to do mitzvot because you love God, rather than because you’re afraid of getting punished?
- What’s something you do out of love? What’s something you do just to avoid getting in trouble? How are those different?
- According to Rashi, is the Torah commanding a certain feeling, or is it something else? How can you get yourself to do mitzvot out of love?
2. According to Abaye in the Gemara, the mitzvah is to get other people to love God through the way you do mitzvot.
שֶׁיְּהֵא שֵׁם שָׁמַיִם מִתְאַהֵב עַל יָדְךָ. שֶׁיְּהֵא קוֹרֵא וְשׁוֹנֶה וּמְשַׁמֵּשׁ תַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים, וִיהֵא מַשָּׂאוֹ וּמַתָּנוֹ בְּנַחַת עִם הַבְּרִיּוֹת, מָה הַבְּרִיּוֹת אוֹמְרוֹת עָלָיו—אַשְׁרֵי אָבִיו שֶׁלִּמְּדוֹ תּוֹרָה, אַשְׁרֵי רַבּוֹ שֶׁלִּמְּדוֹ תּוֹרָה!... רְאוּ כַּמָּה נָאִים דְּרָכָיו, כַּמָּה מְתוּקָּנִים מַעֲשָׂיו.
The Name of Heaven should become loved through your actions. If you learn Torah really well and spend time with Torah scholars, and then you deal nicely with other people—what will other people say about you? They will say, “Happy is your parent or rabbi who taught you Torah!.. See how nice are the ways of the Torah and how upright are its actions!”
When we show we love Torah and we’re also really nice to people, then other people start to realize how amazing the Torah is. This can bring others close to God, and it creates a קִדּוּשׁ הַשֵּׁם (kiddush Hashem, sanctification of God’s name).
- What’s something you’ve done that you think might have caused others to love Torah or to love God more?
- Could you, at the same time, fulfill this mitzvah according to Rashi’s understanding and according to the explanation in this Gemara? How?
3.
Rambam (Spain and Egypt, 850 years ago)
וְזֶה שֶׁנַּחֲשֹׁב וְנִתְבּוֹנֵן בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וּמַאֲמָרָיו וּפְעֻלּוֹתָיו עַד שֶׁנַּשִּׂיגֵהוּ וְנֶהֱנָה בְּהַשָּׂגָתוֹ בְּתַכְלִית הַהֲנָאָה, וְזֹאת הִיא הָאַהֲבָה הַמְּחֻיֶּבֶת.
It means thinking about and understanding God’s mitzvot and statements and actions until we are able to understand God and get the greatest pleasure from that understanding. That is the love that is required.
According to Rambam, we’re not being commanded to just love God out of the blue, as if we can choose to love God or not. Instead, we’re being commanded to do the kinds of things that will lead us to love God. And what leads to loving God? Getting to know God!
Ok, so how do we get to know God? We do that by learning Torah, finding the deeper meaning of mitzvot, and trying to understand God’s actions in the world. Rambam says that the more you do these things, the more you’ll get to know God. And the more you know God, the more you’ll love God.
- The people you love the most are usually the people you know the best. Why does getting to know someone really well help you learn to love them better?
- Why does Rambam make the connection between loving God and studying Torah?
- Look it up! According to Rambam, why might Devarim 6:6-7 come right after Devarim 6:5?
- Is Rambam’s explanation more similar to Rashi’s or the Gemara’s?
- Can you think of other ways to explain the idea of how to love God?
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