Mitzvah 3; To Love HaShem, an expansion of the mitzvah

The third mitzvah; To Love HaShem II

Although we already touched the surface of this mitzvah it would wrong to move on to the next mitzvah without expanding on this very critical mitzvah first. I must qualify my statement of “this very critical mitzvah”. Every mitzvah is critical, just like every organ of the body is critical. A person cannot live without a pancreas or without a liver and yet we all recognize that the brain and the heart are the more critical organs. The analogy describes well the distinction that this mitzvah carries over the other mitzvos. For this reason I believe we need to expand our appreciation of this mitzvah and to expand our understanding of what this mitzvah includes.

On the surface, this mitzvah is straightforward; love HaShem. The question that we must ask is, how does this mitzvah manifest itself. In other words, is this mitzvah supposed to modify my behavior and outlook in any way, or is it just to be a G.D loving Jew at heart with no real implications?

We will begin our exploration by going to the source of this mitzvah. The source of this mitzvah is found in the Shema Yisroel prayer. The Shema is a passage from the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), the fifth Book of the Five Books of Moshe. It reads as follows. “Hear (understand) O Israel, HaShem is our G.D, HaShem is One. And you must love HaShem with all your hearts and with all your soul and with all your might.”

The Torah does not state simply “Love HaShem” but rather love HaShem with all your hearts, etc. The implication is that there is more than just love that is expected. (We must forever be grateful for the Oral Law that instructs us how to read the Torah. For example, what does the Torah mean by using the plural hearts?) The Oral Law teaches us that the meaning of all your soul is that we are obligated to give our life if necessary for the honor of HaShem. The Oral Law expounds on the exact circumstances when one ought to give their life for HaShem. However, when the circumstances arise, our very life must be relinquished for His Honor.

I would like to spend the balance of this piece trying to understand how giving one’s life of HaShem is an expression of the mitzvah of loving HaShem. Why would HaShem want us to give our life for Him anyway? Does G.D not love us; does He not want us to live rather than to die? Furthermore, is it not common knowledge that one may even desecrate the Shabbos to save a life?

If we can resolve these questions or at least some of them, then we might be able to develop a more sophisticated appreciation of love as well as a deeper appreciation of what we need to do to fulfill this great mitzvah.

Let us begin by understanding the nature of love. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, a great leader of the German Jewish community in the mid 1800’s, presents love as follows. Love is when you recognize that all of who you are and all of who you can hope to be is through the other party. When I understand that without the other party I am a nobody, I cannot hope to be anything, my actions are meaningless, then I can say that I love the other party.

The Maharal a great leader of the Jewish people from Prague several hundred years ago articulated this way. Love is the yearning to be connected to the other party. This phenomenon occurs when one party brings about the completeness of the other party. Let us take the classical love of husband and wife. When the husband recognizes that he is incomplete without his wife he yearns to be with her – that is love.

In the previous blog we discussed the question of how does one love HaShem without actually seeing, touching or otherwise perceiving Him. Using the abovementioned definitions of love we can address this question quite comfortably. When I am able to acknowledge that HaShem is the source of all existence and there are no other forms of power outside of Him. And when I am able to acknowledge that everything that happens in the world finds it source in HaShem. And that, following the previous sentence, HaShem is fully aware of everything that occurs to me and He has only my best interest in mind, then I realize in stark contrast how I am absolutely nothing without HaShem. I cannot hope to be anything or have anything without HaShem. My actions and relationships are meaningless, as well as life itself, without HaShem. When I recognize this, I long to be close to HaShem, to connect to Him to gain meaningfulness. When I have accomplished this understanding, this recognition, I can say that I love HaShem.

If you are still with me you must realize that we have arrived at a pivotal point in being able to address the very difficult question we asked earlier. Why does HaShem want us to sacrifice our life for Him, does He not want what is best for us, namely to live, not die? If we have the courage, let us take what we already learnt and go to the next step as follows.

The more I give to my beloved the closer I connect with them. If, out of love, I were to give up my job and place of residence to move to a foreign land to marry my wife there is no question that this great sacrifice would generate a much stronger connection between us than the connection we had before I made the sacrifice. The more you put in the more you get out. The most valuable possession Man has is life. When I give up my life for the one I love I have created the most powerful connection Man can ever hope to accomplish. The problem with this is that after I am dead what good does my connection do for me – I no longer exist? This point is not a concern when we talk about connection to HaShem. For after I die I continue to exist just as I existed before I die, albeit in a different form. And therefore there is nothing more exhilarating, nothing more meaningful, nothing more enriching than sacrificing one’s life out of love.

I know what’s bothering you; “How can you say that death is good, how can you say that there is nothing more meaningful than death? You sound like a fundamentalist!” I will respond to you that we all talk about the great sacrifice this soldier made for freedom’s sake, or for the sake of liberty or for the sake of justice, etc. We all recognize how noble it is to have died in line of battle defending the country. Is it preference to do so? NO! But it is admirable. However, HaShem does not want His people giving up their lives every time a difficult situation arises, He therefore instructs us in the Oral Law that we must transgress the entire Torah with three exceptions to save life. It is for this reason that we drive on Shabbos to save a life. It is only for those three exceptions, because they are so critical to our relationship with HaShem that HaShem expects us to give up our life before transgressing them.

Perhaps we can better understand the context in which the Torah places the mitzvah of Love HaShem.

In the first passage we declare “Hear (understand and recognize) O Israel, HaShem is our G.D (which means that He is the source of everything), HaShem is One (which means that nothing has been delegated by Him, i.e. He is involved in everything that happens to me for the good or otherwise, it is all Him). After acknowledging that, the Torah then instructs us "Love HaShem your G.D with all your hearts and with all your soul and with all your might."