The Secret to Love
The great Rabbi Akiva taught that the fundamental principle of the Torah is to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The great sage Hillel went so far as to say that, “this is the entire Torah; all the rest is commentary.” Many ask if that is possible, when our default is selfishness and making sure first and foremost that we are taken care of. The Baal Shem Tov expounds on Rabbi Akiva’s lesson:though we are aware of our many faults, we still look out for and love ourselves, and we need to do the same for those around us despite their faults. We need to uplift and elevate and that can only be done when leading with love of the “neighbor as yourself.” Ahava (ah-ha-va)/אהבה/love. In Hebrew, the root word for ‘love’ is ‘hav’ which means “to give”. Loving is synonymous with …