How to Love Hashem
By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)
In Parashas Va’eschanan, the verse says (Devarim 6:5), “V’ahavta eis Hashem Elokecha—and you shall love Hashem, your G-d.” We say this verse every morning and evening during Kri’as Shema, and the Rambam lists it as one of the fundamental Torah principles. The Ibn Ezra states (Shemos 31:18) that loving Hashem is the root of all mitzvos. The Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah 10:3), in describing proper love for Hashem, writes that one should be “as if sick with love . . . unable to go for one moment without thinking about Hashem.”
How can we be commanded to feel love? Love is an emotion, and it would seem to be beyond our control. If we don’t feel it, how can we force ourselves to? Yet, this is an obligation, and whoever fails to fulfill it is missing a mitzvah that is extremely fundamental.
In Nesivos Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe addresses this question. The mitzvah of loving Hashem is that of taking steps that will lead a person in the direction of love for Hashem. Any steps that we take are fulfillments of the mitzvah. The feelings of love that may arise are results of fulfilling the mitzvah, not the mitzvah itself. Even if we never reach the exalted level described by the Rambam, we nevertheless fulfill the mitzvah because the steps that we take show that we are working towards that state.
The Rebbe bases this explanation on the Ohr HaChaim’s comment on the verse. The Ohr HaChaim also deals with our question, asking how one can be commanded to love Hashem. He answers that the Torah addresses this in the next verse: “V’hayu hadevarim ha’eileh . . . al levavecha—and these words [of love for Hashem] shall be on your heart.” If words of love for Hashem are on your heart at all times, this will produce love for Hashem within you. The Ohr HaChaim infers that if a person strives to take this commandment to heart, he is fulfilling the mitzvah, and his efforts will generate feelings of love.
What other steps can we take that bring us to love Hashem?
The Rambam (Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 2:2) advises us to observe the phenomena of nature, thinking deeply into the infinite wisdom that is apparent to any objective onlooker. This form of hisbonenus (contemplation, reflecting on Hashem’s creation) is a step that brings us toward love of Hashem, and therefore fulfills the mitzvah.
In Sefer HaMitzvos (Asei 3), the Rambam adds that when a person studies Torah, he can behold the profound wisdom of Hashem and connect to it. Such a connection will surely lead to love of Hashem.
Rav Akiva Eiger once said that if you want to reach love of Hashem, you should first feel how much Hashem loves you. Indeed, the berachah in Shacharis that precedes “V’ahavta” is “Habocher b’amo Yisrael b’ahavah—that [Hashem] chooses His nation Yisrael with love.” That berachah should serve to help us internalize that Hashem loves us, and it can elicit a commensurate sense of love for Him.
The Chovos HaLevavos states (Sha’ar Ahavas Hashem, introduction) that a condition for reaching love for Hashem is to make the Torah our focus, and anything of this world secondary. He explains that this is why he placed the chapter on perishus (abstinence) before the chapter on love for Hashem, because without perishus, one will not achieve it. This is particularly relevant to us today. We can be so preoccupied with matters of this world that it limits our ability to even take the steps that can lead to love of Hashem.
A grandson of Rav Shach once recounted that Rav Shach went to visit HaRav Chaim Friedlander, who was very sick. Rav Friedlander lamented the fact that because of his illness, he was unable to learn Torah. He felt like he was not accomplishing anything.
Rav Shach pointed out that David HaMelech states (Tehillim 118:17), “I will not die, but rather I will live, and relate the deeds of Hashem.”
“Look,” Rav Shach said, “When David HaMelech was sick, he related the deeds of Hashem, and he called it living! Look at the heavens and see the work of Hashem’s Hands, the birds, the trees, the wind and the clouds. . . . Think about it. Also, you can make blessings on food. These things lead to love for Hashem, and this is the purpose of life. It’s worth being alive for this!”
May we be zocheh to grow in love for Hashem!
NEW! HOT OFF THE PRESS! Rabbi Krieger’s “Gedolei Yisroel on the Parashah & Yamim Tovim” is now available from the Yeshiva office, Jewish bookstores worldwide and canbe ordered online at https://www.feldheim.com/gedolei-yisroel-on-Parashah-yamim-tovim-2.