Questions tagged [love]

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Why do Jews not reach out more? [closed]

Why do Jews nowadays not go out of their way to their secular brethren and even to non-Jews to try and spread positivity? In America, I believe there it is easier because there is fewer backlash from ...
Lior Golden's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
50 views

כֻּלָּם אֲהוּבִים - further reading please

Every day in the berachot of Shema, we describe the angels who praise Hashem as כֻּלָּם אֲהוּבִים, all beloved. I would like further reading on this description of them. Anything: who they are, why ...
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3 answers
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Love Hashem more than fellow Jew?

Question This is a general question looking to exhaust the topic. Should we love Hashem (ואהבת את ה' אלקיך) more than anyone else? Including our spouse (ואוהבה כגופו - Rambam Ishut 15:19), our ...
Rabbi Kaii's user avatar
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Passion or affinity in search of a spouse?

What is the Jewish position regarding the status of the beginning of a marital relationship? Should you look for the person with the greatest possible affinity with you or should the component of ...
Thales's user avatar
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RE: Chida prayer for love and unity

From what source is the Chida's prayer for the unity and love of Israel? It's on p 212-213 of the RCA's Siddur Avodat Halev, but it's unsourced besides saying the Chida wrote it. Halp?
SarcasticAquarius's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
66 views

Do angels serve God out of love?

There are plenty of sources that angels serve Hashem out of fear. However, are there any early sources that angels serve Hashem out of love? Is that something that humans are unique in doing? It seems ...
Eliyahu's user avatar
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5 answers
336 views

Does HaShem ever say I Love you?

Is there anywhere in the scripture where HaShem says "I love you." or "I love"? Directly and not indirectly.
Tim's user avatar
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3 answers
473 views

Does God love every Jew unconditionally?

If a Jew spent his entire life doing terrible sins, would God still love him? For example, does God love Jesus or Jews who have caused similarly terrible damage? Please provide sources.
Yehuda's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
185 views

What Biblical couple is the standard for happy and healthy marital relationships?

On Shabbos, we bless our kids with Brochos to grow like our forefathers/mothers. When my kid announced that he's getting married I exclaimed "may God put your marriage like..." and got stuck ...
Al Berko's user avatar
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-3 votes
2 answers
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Why Yakov never learned to love Leah?

IIRC, the general approach to Yaakov marrying Rachel and Leah is that he intended to marry them both from the beginning, just in a different order. Even if only Rachel was his soulmate, marrying ...
Al Berko's user avatar
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Sources that Parah Adumah shows love between Bnei Yisrael and Hashem

I'm looking for sources that Parah Adumah shows love between Bnei Yisrael and Hashem. (I know that there are recent sources that say this. I'm looking for earlier sources, preferably Rishonim or ...
Eliyahu's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
440 views

Would marriage really not solve this man's problem?

Another question on pikuach nefesh. The Talmud [Sanhedrin 75a] recounts this story: There was an incident involving a certain man who set his eyes upon a certain woman and passion rose in his heart [...
Maurice Mizrahi's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
124 views

Does the Tanach tell us 36 times to love the stranger?

If you Google "love the stranger 36 times" you get 93,100,000 returns. Indeed, I've been hearing this line for ages: "36 times in the Tanach God tells us to love the stranger." [Bava Metzia 59b] ...
Maurice Mizrahi's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
145 views

Must you love your wife more than your friend?

The Rambam (Hilchus Ishus 15:19) writes: כן צוו חכמים שיהיה אדם מכבד את אשתו יתר מגופו ואוהבה כגופו The Chachamim instituted that [each] man should respect his wife more than himself, and love her ...
chortkov2's user avatar
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1 answer
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What does רעך בתורה ובמצוות mean? [duplicate]

The Torah says וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ, Love your fellow as yourself. Actual halacha: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch: It is incumbent upon every Jew to love every fellow Jew as he loves himself. ...
Chiddushei Torah's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
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How can one learn to love our Creator?

In order to fullfil Devarim 10:12 And now, Yisroel, what doth Hashem Eloheicha require of thee, but to fear Hashem Eloheicha, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Hashem Eloheicha ...
Milla's user avatar
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Are Hillel and R. Akiva saying the same thing?

Shabbat 31a: אמר לו דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד זו היא כל התורה כולה ואידך פירושה הוא זיל גמור [Hillel] said to him: "That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, ...
Joel K's user avatar
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Who is closer, parents to children, or grandparents to grandchildren?

According to Judaism, what relationship is closer: parents to children or grandparents to grandchildren? What is greater: the love to children or the love to grandchildren? (Someone asked me and I ...
hazoriz's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
309 views

Jewish view on unrequitted love

I know that traditionally, Judaism doesn't put much emphasis on 'love' as in experiencing those romantic feelings and it's rather focused on building a big Jewish family, having a compatible partner ...
Ilja's user avatar
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10 votes
6 answers
2k views

Does ‘Love Your Neighbor As Yourself’ apply only to Jews?

This verse is obviously one of the most central & important in the whole Torah. It has helped sustain us as a kind, harmonious, & loving nation for over 3,000 years & has helped introduce ...
Lages's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
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How is love created? Is giving sufficient or must there be Hakoras Hatov?

Related: Where does Rav Dessler mention that root word of אהבה is הב? Rav Wolbe in Alei Shur vol 2, in the first va'ad on Hakaras Hatov (page רעט) says that Hakaras Hatov is a foundation of love. ...
Avrohom Yitzchok's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
42 views

Act of Love vs. Act of Righteousness

Devarim 23:6 - דברים כו פסוק ו וְלֹֽא־אָבָ֞ה הוי"ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ לִשְׁמֹ֣עַ אֶל־בִּלְעָ֔ם וַיַּהֲפֹךְ֩ הוי"ה אֱלֹקיךָ לְּךָ֛ אֶת־הַקְּלָלָ֖ה לִבְרָכָ֑ה כִּ֥י אֲהֵֽבְךָ֖ הוי"ה אֱלֹקיךָ׃ But the L-RD ...
RibbisRabbiAndMore's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
135 views

Can we hasten Moshiach's coming through the mitzvah of ואהבת לרעך כמוך?

In Jewish singer Meilech Kohn's song, "Veuhavtu", he expresses an interesting thought in the lyrics: .יעדער איינער דאווענט און בעט און מ'ווארט פאר משיח, ער וועט נאר קומען ווען מיר פארטראגן זיך "...
ezra's user avatar
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2 votes
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47 views

Showing respect and love for someone or things without worship but with the knowledge it's a deity or considered/treated as one in the eyes of others

Bowing is considered as a way to show respect, that's why one could bow to a king (Melachim 1:1:23) or why the brothers of Yosef bowed down to him (Bereshit 42:6). We dance with the Torah on Simchat ...
Levi's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
59 views

For Your names sake, is love the essence? [closed]

The last 3 words in the first paragraph of Shmone esrei, the silent 18 blessing/prayer, aka the Amidah, are לְמַען ׁשֹמו בּאהבה if the essence of Hashem to the best of our comprehension is 'love' (...
Forward Strides's user avatar
-1 votes
3 answers
188 views

If the Torah tells us to love the stranger, וַאֲהַבְתֶּם, אֶת-הַגֵּר is there a command to love one's husband/wife?

If the Torah tells us to love the stranger, וַאֲהַבְתֶּם, אֶת-הַגֵּר is there a command to love one's husband/wife?
ninamag's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
226 views

Is there any connection between love and idolatry?

Is there any connection between love and idolatry? I am asking this question in order to understand love and to see if there is a relationship between it and idolatry. Is there a connection, and if ...
Striv4Conv5748's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
128 views

Are there any teachings about "tough love?"

Sometimes, in order for one to learn, one must experience the failure of the ideas one believes to be true which are, in fact, not true. If the student in this process is a child or someone under the ...
Mowzer's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
189 views

why love your neighbor as yourself?

The torah commands us to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Vayikra 19). What is so important about loving other people? Why isn't it sufficient to command us to avoid damaging others and being ...
ray's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
374 views

Ahavat haGer – Geirei Tzedek or Toshvim?

I've heard at various times that the Mitzvah of Ahavat haGer (loving the stranger, cf. Devarim 10:19) refers to either (non-Jewish) resident aliens or converts. Is there any discussion about which of ...
Noach MiFrankfurt's user avatar
-1 votes
3 answers
184 views

Love HaShem with lev, nefesh en me'od, why not something else or just lev and nefesh

Why does the command to love HaShem tells us to love him with all our lev, with all our nefesh and with all our me'od? Why doesn't the verse says or add something like, with all you neshama or with ...
Levi's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
463 views

Why does it say to love HaShem meodecha

The verse of Devarim 6:5 reads: Love HaShem your G'd, with all your heart bechol levav'cha, with all your being uvechol nafshecha, and uvechol ... meodecha. If I'm correct it's the only place in the ...
Levi's user avatar
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0 votes
4 answers
197 views

If I hate myself, how can I love my fellow Jew like I love myself?

How can I love my fellow Jew as myself if I hate myself? How do I fulfill veavta lerayacha komocha in such a case?
menachem's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
64 views

where do we learn about the importance of Ahavat Yisrael?

I'm looking for two specific sources related to this topic. where is it written that when the Jews were all "keeping TORAH" but didn't have Ahavat Yisrael, they lost all battles. where is it ...
Mishlei's user avatar
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2 votes
4 answers
112 views

Should we replace fear of G-d with love of G-d?

I've always heard that we should love G-d with all our hearts but also fear Him. I've understood all my life that fearing G-d is a fundamental midah, something every Jew must have. But I've also heard ...
Gabriel12's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
127 views

What's behind the disagreement about the first words of the blessings immediately before Shema?

The Talmud, in Berachot 11b, records a disagreement between Shemuel and the rabbinic majority regarding the beginning of the blessings that we say immediately before Shema in the evening and in the ...
Isaac Moses's user avatar
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10 votes
4 answers
2k views

"Love thy neighbour as thyself" while reviewing academic papers

Academic publications are judged, mainly, on two grounds: correctness and importance. A paper which contains incorrect statements should, unquestionably, be rejected from publication. However, ...
Erel Segal-Halevi's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
839 views

Source For Ahavat Chinam; Unwaranted Love

I have often heard the term Ahavat Chinam unwarranted love referenced as the antidote to sinat chinam unwarranted hate. What are the earliest sources for this (first) expression, particularly in the ...
mevaqesh's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
348 views

Feeling compassion for re'shaim and the mitzvah to hate

There are certain (specific) cases where it is correct or even a mitzvah to hate someone else. [See The following sources: Tehillim 97:10 and 139:21, Amos 5:15, Mishlei 8:13, Pesachim 113b, Sefer ...
Gavriel's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
914 views

Where does Rav Dessler mention that root word of אהבה is הב?

I read in one of Rav Dessler's books where he says that the root word of אהבה is הב, which means "give" in Aramaic. Does anyone know where he mentions this?
Chiddushei Torah's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
189 views

How does אהבה mean love and give? [closed]

How does the same word אהבה, which means love, also mean give?
Chiddushei Torah's user avatar
10 votes
4 answers
301 views

Minimum Requirement of Love your Neighbor

What is the minimum requirement to not be transgressing the mitzva of "ואהבת לריעך כמוך" "love your fellow as yourself" (Lev. 19:18)? For example, must one actively try to love others or it is enough ...
ray's user avatar
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14 votes
2 answers
330 views

Story of love sick tree

I once heard a shiur which quoted a gemarah (I think) about two trees. One of the trees was uprooted and taken elsewhere and the other tree started to get sick. The explanation was that the trees were ...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
595 views

what is love --- Rebbe of Kotzk: "You don't love fish." King Solomon: "Whoever loves silver"

Where can I find the source of the following story about the Rebbe of Kotzk? At a Shabbat dinner, a chassid once told the Rebbe of Kotzk, "I love fish." The Rebbe responded, "You don't love fish. If ...
hazoriz's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
418 views

Does the Jewish tradition command Jews to love Christians?

Does the Jewish tradition command Jews to love Christians, who believe in a triune (trinity) God and believe that Jesus is God or a part of the triune God? If so does this extend to fringe minority ...
Mikoel Hamm's user avatar