What is this thing called love? — Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (2023)

Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim，利未记 16:1–20:27

Rabbi Stuart Dorman, Ahavat Zion Messianic Synagogue, Los Angeles

Many people skip Leviticus, thinking that these stale chapters have nothing to do with our lives. This week's parasha proves these people wrong. Read coherently and take it seriously, even two verses in today's parasha can change our lives in the service of God and humanity.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks opens up our understanding:

At first glance, these laws seem to have nothing to do with each other: some are about conscience, others about politics and economics, still others about purity and taboo. Clearly, however, the Torah tells us otherwise. They do have some things in common.They are all about order, limits and boundaries.They tell us that reality has a certain underlying structure, the integrity of which must be respected. If you hate or revenge, you destroy relationships. If you act unrighteously, you destroy the trust on which society depends. If you don't respect the integrity of nature (different seeds, species, etc.), you're on a path that ends in environmental disaster. (https://rabbisacks.org/love-not-enough-acharei-mot-kedoshim-5778/)

Two verses in Leviticus/Vayikra 19 turn us around and propel us forward.

Vayikra 19:18Remind us how the good life includes loving our neighbor as ourselves. In the historical context of the Torah, one's neighbors would be members of our community, joining us by covenant, expressed or implied. This is still true today, whether speaking of religious covenants shared by Jews, or secular covenants like the U.S. Constitution, or contractual arrangements with members of housing cooperatives.

In Luke 10:25-37, a scribe questioned Jesus about our obligation to love our neighbor as ourselves, asking, "Who is my neighbor?" The scribe probably wanted to limit the term to himself Among the crowd, compatriots or cronies. Jesus' response is the parable of the Good Samaritan, insisting that our neighbor is anyone we treat as a neighbor. Jesus' point of view? The responsibility to treat others with love always falls on our shoulders, and godly people are those who use the word "neighbor" in a liberal rather than restrictive way.

The second verse of Leviticus makes this clear.

Vayikra 19:34Tell us that we must not only love our neighbor as ourselves, but also "Treat the foreigner who lives with you as you would the native-born among you - you shall love him (the foreigner, the stranger) as you love yourself. ".. I am Adonai your God.

If we pay attention, we may protest God's meddling in politics. he is. He is messing with our categories of obligations, just as Jesus did with the inquiring scribes. Obligations extend beyond our preferences, prejudices and comfort zones.

We've been talking about loving neighbors and strangers alike. But what is this thing called love?

The meaning of the Torah for this love is best expressed in Hebrewhe hesitated, a concept so rich that it cannot be simply translated verbatim into any other language. You'll see it translated as mercy; other times, as kindness, love, goodness, and faithfulness to the covenant. But even so, the dynamic nature of hesed breaks the scope of our choice as an equivalent word. They are not equivalent, as none of these words help us feel the warmth and range of the Hebrew language.

Rabbi Sacks warms our cold and narrow definitions:

Hesed is about emotional support, loving kindness, compassionate love. This is what we mean in Psalm 147 when we say that God "heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." It includes entertaining the lonely, visiting the sick, comforting the bereaved, lifting the spirits of the depressed, helping people through life's crises, and making the marginalized feel part of the community. (https://media.rabbisacks.org/20210706224059/Unit-6-Advanced-Level-Student.pdf?_gl=1).

Hesed is always on the move and actively involved in meeting the needs of others. This is just one biblical example of what Abraham did in Genesis 18 when he went to meet three traveling strangers and fed them generously.

We can define hesed as "family responsiveness," that is, responding to others and their needs as if they were our family members and we should be involved and caring for them.

Scholar Catherine Doob Sakenfeld takes us deeper. The following is a list of characteristics of hesed, adapted from her work,Response in Action: Loyalty from a Biblical Perspective:

1. Hesed/Family Response is reflected in concrete actions.

2. Hesed/Family Responsiveness is a relationship to another person (or persons) to the person taking action; it is more than a commitment to an idea or cause.

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3. Hesed/Family Response is provided by those seeking to meet needs to those in need. Narrative texts in the Bible tend to focus on dramatic needs, but even the smallest needs in the most everyday situations can become occasions for manifesting his needs.

4. This need places the potential recipient in a position of dependence on someone who can prove his acceptance.

5. There is no proof that hesed has no social legal sanction; thus, the actor is in a situation of free decision.

6. Thus, hesed appears as the free fulfillment of an existing commitment to another person who is now in a situation of need.

Sakenfeld's first point talks about manifesting hesed by exhibiting the behavior of hesed.

This behavior is called "g'milut hasadim" (literally "the bestowal of love"), the most comprehensive and fundamental of all Jewish social virtues, it encompasses the entire duty of sympathy for one's fellow man.(https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gemilut-hasadim)

We see a group of such g'milut hasadim in the account of the ministry of Koffa in Acts. Immediately afterwards, Kefa heals a paralyzed man named Aeneas (9:33-34), and then the scene shifts to Yafo, where a woman named Tavita prays with her tzedakah (a gift for the needy). financial help) and other good deeds (9:35–36). She becomes sick and dies, and the women of the community wash her body for burial (9:37). The two men invite Kefa to come to Yafo, where the women show him clothes that Tavita has made for other people in the community, most likely poor women she is helping (9:39). Kefa prays for Tavita and raises her (9:40-42). All these acts are g'milut hasadim, the act of family reaction, showing hesed. By bringing these examples together, the Bible emphasizes the importance of attention in action.

For us, as far as asking about Jesus' scribe, perhaps the most difficult thing about him is welcoming and serving strangers. The more strangers differ from us in appearance, status, and opinions, the harder it is to reach their needs with our provision and care.

But can we be true children of Abraham in Genesis 18 if we don’t welcome and serve strangers through acts of hesed?

Pastor and author Henri Nouwen in his bookReaching Out: Three Actions for a Spiritual Life,Let's go deeper.

While many, we might even say the most, strangers in this world are easy victims of terrible hostility, it is true. . . We have an obligation [as God's people] to provide an open and hospitable space where strangers can escape their strangeness and become our fellow man. The transition from hostility to hospitality is difficult and fraught with difficulties. Our society seems to be increasingly full of fearful, defensive, aggressive people who anxiously clutch to their possessions, tend to view the world around them with suspicion, always expecting the enemy to pop up, break in and cause harm.

These are strangers, foreigners, and the Torah asks us to love them as ourselves, as we love our own family members.

Hesed treats others, whether close relatives or distant strangers, with a family attitude.

What is this thing called love? It follows in the footsteps of Abraham. It mimics the kind of familial response we see Kefa and the community display in Act 9. It even treats strangers like family and proactively seeks to meet their needs.

Hesed-love makes demands on others while demanding less of them.

Of all the fruits of the Spirit this is the sweetest.