Dear Friends,
Shma Yisrael ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI Echad!
Hear O Israel, The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! (Deuteronomy 6:4)
The Shma is readily familiar to nearly all of us, and it appears in this week’s Torah portion.
And, just as it is quite familiar, perhaps its familiarity is also a challenge: because we know its words so readily or so well, we may not look so carefully at what the exact words mean.
Consider the idea of “Love.” Commonly “love” is understood as an emotion or a feeling. We understand “love” when it is a feeling in a human/human relationship. It is a sense of devotion, of bonded intimacy, of thorough, unwavering commitment. We may find it difficult to define “love,” but we realize it when we are amid it, or when it is lacking.
However, how do we understand “love” in a human/Divine relationship? Do we have similar feelings, devotion, or intimacy in our God relationship? Or is loving God experienced in a different manner? Moreover, can loving God be commanded, of is loving God experiential or volitional?
Centrally, love is more than an emotion; it is a devotion. Understanding the intent of the biblical writer, which may help us, the essence of loving God is not emotional, but devotional. It is based not on an unswerving feeling, but in an unwavering loyalty.
God is not commanding us to “feel.” Rather, God is commanding a dedicated loyalty. Torah rails continuously against our slipping ito idolatry – worshipping some other God. This is not because God is jealous, but because Torah knows that there is no other God, as the Shma concludes, God alone, or God is One. Deifying anything other is throwing our love and loyalty away on something empty or vacuous.
Rather, God is expecting our loyalty. And, God has committed a Divine loyalty to us. It is not a transactional quid pro quo, even though it may appear so. It may be predicated on conditions – that we keep the commandments – but even when we are backsliding, we are still in our Covenantal relationship with God, and God with us. Loyalty is difficult. Some days we feel it intensely; other days not so. We ought to be patient with this relationship, just as we are with our human/human relationships.
Hence, this week when we encounter the words of the Shma, it is worthwhile to explore each word and phrase, and seek deeper meanings and challenges. It will make it more meaningful for us, and perhaps make our experiences more compelling, no less.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Shma Yisrael ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI Echad!
Hear O Israel, The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! (Deuteronomy 6:4)
The Shma is readily familiar to nearly all of us, and it appears in this week’s Torah portion.
And, just as it is quite familiar, perhaps its familiarity is also a challenge: because we know its words so readily or so well, we may not look so carefully at what the exact words mean.
Consider the idea of “Love.” Commonly “love” is understood as an emotion or a feeling. We understand “love” when it is a feeling in a human/human relationship. It is a sense of devotion, of bonded intimacy, of thorough, unwavering commitment. We may find it difficult to define “love,” but we realize it when we are amid it, or when it is lacking.
However, how do we understand “love” in a human/Divine relationship? Do we have similar feelings, devotion, or intimacy in our God relationship? Or is loving God experienced in a different manner? Moreover, can loving God be commanded, of is loving God experiential or volitional?
Centrally, love is more than an emotion; it is a devotion. Understanding the intent of the biblical writer, which may help us, the essence of loving God is not emotional, but devotional. It is based not on an unswerving feeling, but in an unwavering loyalty.
God is not commanding us to “feel.” Rather, God is commanding a dedicated loyalty. Torah rails continuously against our slipping ito idolatry – worshipping some other God. This is not because God is jealous, but because Torah knows that there is no other God, as the Shma concludes, God alone, or God is One. Deifying anything other is throwing our love and loyalty away on something empty or vacuous.
Rather, God is expecting our loyalty. And, God has committed a Divine loyalty to us. It is not a transactional quid pro quo, even though it may appear so. It may be predicated on conditions – that we keep the commandments – but even when we are backsliding, we are still in our Covenantal relationship with God, and God with us. Loyalty is difficult. Some days we feel it intensely; other days not so. We ought to be patient with this relationship, just as we are with our human/human relationships.
Hence, this week when we encounter the words of the Shma, it is worthwhile to explore each word and phrase, and seek deeper meanings and challenges. It will make it more meaningful for us, and perhaps make our experiences more compelling, no less.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
