As always: Choose any text to begin with, and sit with it for as long as you'd like. You are under no obligation to get through everything.
Questions to create personal meaning and connection with the text:
Questions to create personal meaning and connection with the text:
- Does this line resonant with me?
- How do I connect to this text?
- How can I bring the concepts of this text into my own life?
(יח) לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה׃
(18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the Eternal.
Exploring 4 Jewish archetypes for becoming a more loving person with our:
Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul
Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul
Body
Samson Raphael Hirsch: Love as an Action
What it does say here is "You will love to your fellow person like yourself" and this is not the person himself, but everything that pertains to the person, all the conditions of his life, the wealth and affliction, which make up his position in the word. To this we are to give our love as if it here our own. We are to rejoice in his good fortune and grieve over his misfortune as if it were our own. We are to assist at everything that furthers his well-being and happiness as if we were working for ourselves. We must keep trouble away from him as if it threatened ourselves. This is something that does lie within our possibilities and is something that is required of us even towards somebody whose personality may be actually highly distasteful to us. For the demand of this love is something which lies quite outside the sphere of the personality of our neighbor. It is not based on any of his qualities.
Samson Raphael Hirsch: Love as an Action
What it does say here is "You will love to your fellow person like yourself" and this is not the person himself, but everything that pertains to the person, all the conditions of his life, the wealth and affliction, which make up his position in the word. To this we are to give our love as if it here our own. We are to rejoice in his good fortune and grieve over his misfortune as if it were our own. We are to assist at everything that furthers his well-being and happiness as if we were working for ourselves. We must keep trouble away from him as if it threatened ourselves. This is something that does lie within our possibilities and is something that is required of us even towards somebody whose personality may be actually highly distasteful to us. For the demand of this love is something which lies quite outside the sphere of the personality of our neighbor. It is not based on any of his qualities.
How can your actions convey love, even if you aren't feeling it?
Mind
Maimonides: Love as a Function of Knowing
It is a clear and known thing that one's love for God is not fully developed in one's heart unless one is fittingly lovesick always and leaves everything in this world except for God. As is stated in the verse: "You shall love the Eternal your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your might." A person can only love God by virtue of the knowledge that one knows God. According to the level of knowledge will be the level of one's love: if a little - the a little; if a lot - then a lot. Therefore one must direct oneself to understand, analyze, know, and be wise in the ways that convey wisdom of God. Everyone according to one's own strength that one has to understand and grasp the Creator.
Maimonides: Love as a Function of Knowing
It is a clear and known thing that one's love for God is not fully developed in one's heart unless one is fittingly lovesick always and leaves everything in this world except for God. As is stated in the verse: "You shall love the Eternal your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your might." A person can only love God by virtue of the knowledge that one knows God. According to the level of knowledge will be the level of one's love: if a little - the a little; if a lot - then a lot. Therefore one must direct oneself to understand, analyze, know, and be wise in the ways that convey wisdom of God. Everyone according to one's own strength that one has to understand and grasp the Creator.
How can knowing a student better help you to love them?
Heart
Sefat Emet: Love as Cultivated Within
The philsophers challenge this idea [of being able to love on demand] and say: "How is it possible to command love? Isn't love an abstract idea which is dependent on the nature of the person; can a person love simply by virtue of being thus commanded?"
However the answer is inherent in the question. Because the verse commands us to love, we must conclude that it is possible for each individual to love, if only he does what is necessary to arouse love.
And this, in fact, is the essence of the commandment: that one should perform whatever actions are necessary to stimulate those latent feelings of love that are within.
Sefat Emet: Love as Cultivated Within
The philsophers challenge this idea [of being able to love on demand] and say: "How is it possible to command love? Isn't love an abstract idea which is dependent on the nature of the person; can a person love simply by virtue of being thus commanded?"
However the answer is inherent in the question. Because the verse commands us to love, we must conclude that it is possible for each individual to love, if only he does what is necessary to arouse love.
And this, in fact, is the essence of the commandment: that one should perform whatever actions are necessary to stimulate those latent feelings of love that are within.
How can you increase your capacity for love?
Soul
Kook: Love as Sanctioned and Sustained Through God
Who can stop the supreme light of Divine love, which beats in the heart of the pure and righteous? All of the Torah ethical behavior, mitzvot, actions and Talmudic learning come to clear the path from the obstacles of loving, to enable this infinite love to expand and embrace all of the spheres of life.
It is impossible for one to not be filled with love for every creature, since the light of the Divine blessing shines in every thing and every thing is the revealing of the beauty of God. God's loving kindness fills the earth
Kook: Love as Sanctioned and Sustained Through God
Who can stop the supreme light of Divine love, which beats in the heart of the pure and righteous? All of the Torah ethical behavior, mitzvot, actions and Talmudic learning come to clear the path from the obstacles of loving, to enable this infinite love to expand and embrace all of the spheres of life.
It is impossible for one to not be filled with love for every creature, since the light of the Divine blessing shines in every thing and every thing is the revealing of the beauty of God. God's loving kindness fills the earth
How can you nurture your soul to see the Divine blessing in every creature?