Blog

Young couples, whether in age or years together, often talk about falling in love. The familiar language portrays love as an emotional state of being which one reaches when his/her emotions are overflowing with warm, adoring thoughts for another. Jewish tradition understands love differently, not so much as feelings that wax and wane (i.e. where one can fall ‘out’ love as easily as ‘in’ love), but rather as a decision. To love another is a decision one makes daily and is manifest through our actions, words, and presence.

Understood in this way, it becomes much easier to realize the familiar words of Torah we encounter in this week’s portion - “V’ahavta et Adonai Elohecha…You shall love Adonai your God” (Deuteronomy 6:5). While it is impossible to compel or dictate another person’s emotions, we certainly have definable, realizable expectations about the behaviors and actions which demonstrate love: showing honor, being respectful, choosing gentle words, showing compassion, listening intently… Indeed, the decision to love is one we make every day.

For two distinct reasons, this observation is especially timely. First is that, when Tisha b’Av ends this evening, we enter a period in the Jewish calendar known as the seven weeks of consolation, and for the next seven Shabbats, the Haftarah portions all reference God’s comforting and affirming Presence in our lives – in essence, God’s love. And then, we arrive at Rosh Hashanah and the beginning of a new spiritual year. Can one imagine a more appropriate message for this point in Jewish time than emulating the Divine by showing love to one another?

An equally compelling reason to lift up this lesson, today especially, is because of the deserved focus throughout our country – and certainly here in Atlanta - on the life of John Lewis, laid to rest earlier today. Among his virtues and the values by which he lived, John Lewis assuredly understood that love is a decision every person has to make. His legacy and story will no doubt affirm that love helped to inform his actions, drive his pursuit of justice and equality, and motivate his commitment to inclusion. May his example similarly inspire our emulation as well as our decision each day to act with love.  For when we do, we also make manifest this Shabbat’s words of Torah.