Love is in the air. “What the world needs now is Love” Sung by Dione Warwick and penned by Burt Bachrach, it was a song I sang in choir at Temple Emanuel in Grand Rapids as part of Jewish Music Month, which happens to be February. 

“What the World Needs Now is Love”   Dionne Warwick HD –  with Lyrics 

  This is the weekend we celebrate Valentine’s Day in the United States. Some would argue that it is not a very Jewish holiday, named after all for Saint Valentine. But maybe there are elements that are very Jewish. Valentine was apparently a matchmaker. He made sure that women could be married and that there was enough dowry for each girl to marry. That’s very similar to our text from the Talmud:
“These are the obligations without measure, whose reward, too, is without measure: To honor father and mother; to perform acts of love and kindness; to attend the house of study daily; to welcome the stranger; to visit the sick; to rejoice with bride and groom; to console the bereaved; to pray with sincerity; to make peace where there is strife…and the study of Torah is equal to them all, because it leads to them all.”  

We are told to perform deeds of lovingkindness, gemilut chasadim. What are these deeds? Certainly the list I just read. And also from Sukkah 49b, a text I quote often, we should walk in the ways of the Holy One. As G-d clothed the naked, Adam and Eve, we should clothe the naked. As G-d visited the sick, Abraham after the circumcision, we should visit the sick. As G-d buried the dead, Moses, we should bury the dead. Those are all deeds of lovingkindness. And we should provide for the needy bride. 

There are two words for love in the Torah. Chesed, often translated as lovingkindness as we’ve just talked about and ahavah. The first mention of Ahavah is with Isaac and Rebecca. It reads, as I have said before like a Hollywood script. It was love at first sight. Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for Isaac. The servant finds Rebecca, who in an act of chesed watered not only the servant but also all the camels.  And only after she consents brings her back on a camel. She wonders who the man is wandering or meditating in the field. The camel bends its knee. She alights. Isaac raises his eyes and inquires who he is seeing. Then the text says: “Isaac then brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rebekah as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother’s death” (Gen 24). 

In Judaism we are commanded to love. We are told to love G-d. We are told to love our neighbor and to love the stranger. While it is difficult to command an emotion, I think the actions that we display is how we show love. It’s about walking the walk and talking the talk. 

The rabbis of the Talmud set out much of the order of service we have today. They blanketed the Sh’ma, the watchword of our faith, the proclamation that G-d is One, with love. Before the Sh’ma we get a prayer that reminds us that G-d loves us. How do we know this, because G-d gave us Torah. Like a loving parent, G-d sets limits for us. Then we witness that G-d is One when we proclaim the Sh’ma. Then we remind ourselves that we should love G-d with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our being.  How do we show that love? Again with our actions. By putting these very words on our doorposts in a mezusah and before our eyes in tefilin. By talking about these words when we lie down and when we rise up. By teaching our children diligently. 

We’ve come full circle. We know G-d loves us because of Torah. Our children know we love them because we set limits for them and teach them diligently. 

And we show our love to G-d, our neighbors and the stranger by doing deeds of lovingkindness. Now I am off to find some chocolate and maybe a tulip. I like them better than roses. But Bette Midler’s the Rose captures love so beautifully:
Bette Midler – the Rose