Command of Love
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken
"And you shall love the L-rd your G-d..." [Dev. 6:5]
How does one command love? We may think that regarding love, you
either have it, or you don't. That, however, must not be correct --
for if it were, it couldn't be a Commandment. We must have tools in
hand that help us to develop this love.
Both the Sefer HaChinuch and the Rambam (Maimonides) list all of
the Commandments, and approach this one in much the same way. They
quote the Midrash, which reads (in approximate translation) as
follows:
"When the Torah says 'And you shall love the L-rd your G-d', I do
not know how one is to love the Supreme Being. Thus the Torah says
'And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your
hearts...' [v. 6], because from this a person will come to
recognize He Who spoke and created the world." The Sefer HaChinuch
explains: By concentrating upon Torah, love for G-d will come
naturally into your heart. How? If we think about His actions and
His ways, we will come to recognize him according to our abilities,
and that recognition will afford us great enjoyment.
The scholars of the Midrash, the author of the Sefer HaChinuch, and
Maimonides -- all say essentially the same thing: deep involvement
in Torah learning, if done with the proper intent and desires,
brings a person to recognition of his Creator.
The Toldos Yaakov Yosef says that at the very core of all of Torah
and Mitzvos, and our prayers, is preparation to come to fulfillment
of "And you shall love the L-rd your G-d..."
Similarly, Maimonides lists love of G-d at the very beginning of
his list of Mitzvos, immediately after belief in G-d's existence.
The same is true in his 14-volume work on the full breadth of
Jewish law -- it is found in the first volume, Fundamentals of
Torah, after belief.
The Nesivos Shalom asks: if it is true that love of G-d is so
important, so central, then why is it not found until now, in the
book of Devarim? Devarim is called "Mishneh Torah," review of
Torah, because in it Moshe reviews the lessons learned with the
Children of Israel. If this is such an important Mitzvah, why isn't
it found with "I am HaShem your G-d," G-d's first words to the
Jewish People in the Ten Commandments?
His answer again refers to to the concept that all the other
Commandments, especially Torah learning, prepare and enable us to
love G-d. He says that since love of G-d is not something that
comes directly to the heart of a person, but rather is something we
cannot feel properly without development in learning and Mitzvos --
the Mitzvah is to do all the preparation, to heal ourselves of the
things which block our hearts from love of G-d, and thus to come to
feel that love properly.
Only after learning Torah and doing Mitzvos can one hope to come to
the appropriate level of love of G-d. It's not something that
happens overnight. So it is appropriate to teach this Mitzvah in
Devarim, after teaching us the Torah, Mitzvos, all of the ways we
can follow in His Pathways -- because these are the things which
help us achieve love of G-d.
It is certainly possible for a person to learn for a while, do some
Mitzvos, and wonder why he or she doesn't feel more. Isn't the sky
supposed to open up, or something similarly profound supposed to
happen? The answer is that nothing like that is guaranteed, or even
expected. Judaism isn't about leaps of faith, but about slow,
logical steps, a progression of ongoing development and
self-perfection. This is something that lasts a lifetime -- the
obligation isn't to feel everything tomorrow, but to begin taking
the necessary steps to achieve that feeling, today!
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Yaakov Menken