love
Happy Purim Rabbi. I wanted to ask whether there is value in love between people, regardless of whether it is love for good or evil, just love, just love that exists between a couple or between a child and parents is a beautiful thing that belongs to the world of aesthetics. Is this also good love? Does it belong to the world of ethics? Is it correct to say that in principle it is good to love?
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And what about the commandment to love God?
What is the connection? If anything, then there is a commandment to love evil that is more related. The question here was about values, not commandments. And as for the commandments, in my understanding they are not imposed on emotion.
This is precisely the question, what is the mitzvah of loving God if it is an emotional thing without value? Even according to the Maimonides, which says that the mitzvah is to observe the world in order to reach love for Him, it is clear that the value is the feeling of love that is achieved through observation. Is there love that is not an emotion that is the mitzvah in the Rabbi's opinion?
Regarding loving the evil and loving the stranger and the like, there it may be a practical matter between a person and his fellow man or showing special treatment to foreigners in order to support them, that is different.
See column 22 and references therein.
Thanks for the reference. I read and looked into the words, definitely a different perspective on the words of the Maimonides that love itself is intellectual and the emotion is just a kind of trigger, or another aspect of love and not a commandment. I always understood that the commandment is to act to achieve love, to observe, etc. to reach the idea that the aspiration for is the fulfillment of the commandment through actions.
Maybe this fits in a bit with the commandment to love an evil "like yourself" – as a body and chazal refer to this as a rule in the negative way – what is hated about you, do not do to your friend – because here it is more appropriate to define self-love as something intellectual and not feelings of self-love or a kind of narcissism. The commandment is a categorical command of a definition, perhaps even moral, of how to behave towards enemies and friends.
Thank you. Following on from my question, do you mean that it is appropriate to cultivate the emotion of love for psychological reasons, meaning that it is appropriate to cultivate emotions that keep us sane, or is it also (as I strive for) ethically appropriate to cultivate such an emotion, the complete person is one who is full of love, love is a pure emotion and the one who has love in him is a good person. What do you think?
Yes. It helps do what is needed and creates a healthier society.
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