By Rabbi Matt Derrenbacher
Rabbi Matt Derrenbacher
One of the best-known texts from the entire Torah is the Sh’ma:
וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכׇל–לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכׇל–נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכׇל–מְאֹדֶֽךָ:
“Hear/Listen/Understand, Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4). The Sh’ma is recited every single day, once in the morning and once in the evening. The recitation of this piece of Torah is so important that the entire Mishnah and Talmud begin with a discussion on how, when, and why we recite it. During the recitation, it is customary to cover one’s eyes as a meditative practice, taking a moment to move from the outer world of everyday life to the inner, focusing on the Oneness of God, the Oneness we feel in our connection to God, the Oneness we feel in connecting with the people in our lives, and the Oneness we feel when we truly connect with the essence of who each of us are.
The very next section of text we recite is one of my favorite pieces of Torah: Deuteronomy 6:5, known as the V’ahavta/ואהבת:
וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכׇל–לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכׇל–נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכׇל–מְאֹדֶֽךָ:
“You will love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all of your soul, and with everything that makes you human.” Although we may go on to the rest of the paragraph without a second thought, a still, small, awe-inspiring question sits waiting to be posed: What does it really mean to love God?
When we think of the V’ahavta, our initial impulse may be to think only of God, but the word V’ahavta, as an explicit instruction, also appears in reference to the people around us. If we look back to Leviticus 19:18, we read,
לֹֽא–תִקֹּ֤ם וְלֹֽא–תִטֹּר֙ אֶת–בְּנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָֽה:
“You will not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people; you will love (V’ahavta) your neighbor as yourself: I am Adonai.” Here, God chooses to link God’s Name to the act of loving those with whom we build community. By using the word V’ahavta in both instances, the Torah also teaches us that to love God is to love who we are, to celebrate the best versions of ourselves that we are choosing to become. The Torah also teaches us that to love God is to love the people with whom we build community, even if, and especially if, they are different from us.
The Torah doesn’t stop here; it chooses to push us and challenge us even more deeply. We read in Leviticus 19:34:
כְּאֶזְרָ֣ח מִכֶּם֩ יִהְיֶ֨ה לָכֶ֜ם הַגֵּ֣ר ׀ הַגָּ֣ר אִתְּכֶ֗ם וְאָהַבְתָּ֥ לוֹ֙ כָּמ֔וֹךָ כִּֽי–גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם:
“As natives among you, strangers will be, who live as strangers among you, and you will love them (V’ahavta) as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am Adonai, your God.” To love God, according to the Torah, is to love and celebrate self, to love and celebrate our neighbors, and to love, welcome, embrace, and provide safety for the strangers who immigrate into our midst.
During Passover, we are instructed to experience the seder as if we each personally experienced liberation from Egypt. As we soon gather together in our homes and synagogues to celebrate our liberation, God asks us to remember that even today, not every human is free in our world, and that we are to love the heart of the stranger, because we have the heart of a stranger, having been strangers in the land of Egypt.
As we celebrate Passover and begin to welcome spring, it is my prayer that each of us can serve as the example of light, goodness, and love that our world so desperately needs right now. Loving ourselves by celebrating our Jewishness in the ways that are authentic and unique to each of us. Loving those with whom we live, celebrating them for who they are. Loving the stranger who has immigrated into our midst, welcoming and embracing them as our neighbors and our own people.
What does it really mean to love God? To love God is to bravely choose to love the beings in the world that God created.
Matt Derrenbacher is Assistant Rabbi at The Temple.