​Parashat Eikev 5786, 2026: "Ahavat Hashem"

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Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
The mitzvah to love HaKadosh Baruch Hu is stated nine different times in Chamishah Chumshei Torah. Intriguingly, every instance of this mitzvah is found in Sefer Devarim, and four separate times in our parasha:

And now, O Israel, what does Hashem your God, demand of you? Only to fear Hashem, your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to worship Hashem your God, with all your heart and with all your soul (10:12).
 
[Therefore] you shall love Hashem, your God, keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments, all the days. (11:1)
 
And it will be, if you hearken to My commandments that I command you this day to love Hashem, your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul (11:13)
 
For if you keep all these commandments which I command you to do them, to love Hashem, your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him (11:22) (All Tanach translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach)
 
The Rambam (1135-1204) codifies this commandment in this manner: “It is a mitzvah to love and fear this glorious and awesome God, as [Sefer Devarim 6:5] states: ‘And you shall love God, your Lord and, as [Deuteronomy 6:13] states: ‘Fear God, your Lord.’” (Mishneh Torah, Yesodei HaTorah 2:1, this and the following Mishneh Torah translations, Rabbi Eliyahu Touger)
 
Many of us understand what it means to love a fellow human being. Yet, how can finite man love infinite God? This question seems paradoxical to its very core. Fortunately, we can turn, once again, to the Rambam:

What is the path [to attain] love and fear of Him? When a person contemplates His wondrous and great deeds and creations and appreciates His infinite wisdom that surpasses all comparison, he will immediately love, praise, and glorify [Him], yearning with tremendous desire to know [God’s] great name, as David stated: “My soul thirsts for Hashem, for the living God” [Psalms 42:3]. (2:2)
 
In sum, by encountering nature in all its majestic power, and by studying Hashem’s holy Torah, humankind “will immediately love, praise, and glorify [Him], yearning with tremendous desire to know [Hashem’s] great name.”
 
To what extent should we “yearn with tremendous desire to know Hashem’s great name?” The Rambam answers this question in words worthy of the most inspired poet:

What is the proper [degree] of love? That a person should love God with a very great and exceeding love until his soul is bound up in the love of God. Thus, he will always be obsessed with this love as if he is lovesick. [A lovesick person's] thoughts are never diverted from the love of that woman. He is always obsessed with her; when he sits down, when he gets up, when he eats and drinks. With an even greater [love], the love for God should be [implanted] in the hearts of those who love Him and are obsessed with Him at all times as we are commanded [Deuteronomy 6:5: “Love God...] with all your heart and with all soul.” King Solomon suggested this concept [Song of Songs 2:5] when he stated, as a metaphor: “I am lovesick.” [Indeed,] the totality of the Song of Songs is a parable describing [this love]. (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 10:3, with my emendations to enhance readability)

To summarize the two key elements in the Rambam’s presentation: “A person should love God with a very great and exceeding love until his soul is bound up in the love of God,” and man must be so obsessed with his love of the Almighty that his waking moments are dedicated to the recognition of His glory.
 
My rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal (1903-1993), known as “the Rav” by his students and followers, describes man’s yearning for Hashem in Kabbalistic metaphors:
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Man approaches God at a rapid pace, where all his being, beset by the torment of fiery longing, is tensed toward the encounter with his divine lover. He is swept away by the surge of his yearning and carried aloft to the Infinite. Man’s being draws him with enchanted supernatural cords toward his God, who is the source of being. (And From There You Shall Seek, translation, Naomi Goldblum, page 69)
 
At this juncture we have:

• Established that ahavat Hashem is a mitzvah m’doraita (Torah obligation)
• Examined the affective and cognitive triggers that lead one to love G-d
• Demonstrated the unlimited desire and longing for Hashem that one is obligated to nurture within the deepest recesses of his or her being.

 
The most famous verse pertaining to ahavat Hashem, “And you shall love Hashem, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your means,” does not appear in our parasha. Instead, it is found in Parashat Va’etchanan and serves as the second verse of Shema Yisrael. Rabbeinu Ya’akov ben Asher (1269-1340) on this verse notes that the Hebrew word, “v’ahavta” contains the same letters as “ha’avot.” Moreover, he demonstrates through a variety of textual proofs that loving Hashem “with all your heart,” was the watchword of Avraham, “with all your soul,” was the maxim of Yitzhak, and “with all your means,” was of the hallmark of Ya’akov.
 
With the Almighty’s help, may we, too, emulate the Avot and Emahot, and live lives infused with ahavat Hashem. V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
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