August 14, 2024
This week’s Torah portion, Va’etchanan, repeats the Shema and V’ahavta prayers.
V’ahavta. You shall love. A most simple and yet most complex and elusive command.
Last week I wrote about baseless hatred and explained that the Rabbis cite this as the reason for the destruction of the second Temple. In preparation for the observance of Tisha B’Av, where we mourn historic communal losses, including the destruction of the temples, I invited us all to explore the questions posed by Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay about what we hate and why.
From there I offered a question about love: Who or what do I love? How can I expand that love? How can I come more often from a place of lovingkindness?
Exploring those questions about love and hate is crucial in light of the Torah’s command, V’ahavta. You shall love.
This past Monday night, 14 people gathered at CBI for a Tisha B’Av observance. Each of us wrote a personal and a communal loss we are experiencing and grieving.
I read each of these out loud. Hearing, and holding, all the ways our hearts are breaking was sobering and very real. Through this we felt more connected in our individual human-ness, knowing we are not carrying all these burdens alone. We felt some relief in being able to speak these losses outloud and be witnessed.
V’ahavta. You Shall Love.
I realize now, in light of our Torah portion, that all we mourn, all we have lost, all we are in the process of losing is that which we love with all our hearts.
We love our friends, our spouses, our children. We love Chico, our parks, our planet. We love our Jewish community and Am Israel (the people Israel). We love health and vitality. We love our pets. We love hope and the possibility of what the future holds. We love connection. We love having faith. We love being able to trust. We love safety and well being. We love our homes, our synagogue, our community. We love deeply.
Moving from Tisha B’Av and toward the newness Rosh Hashanah offers, we turn our attention from loss and destruction to hope and transformation. Bound up in all of that is LOVE.
May we be blessed to embrace and move ever closer to that which we love. May we hear the words of Moses our great teacher: “V’ahavta: You shall love . . . “
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