Love of Hashem That Binds the Soul
Devarim 6:5
וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ בְּכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל נַפְשְׁךָ וּבְכָל מְאֹדֶךָ
You shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. [The passage opens on no verse; it is an insertion into an earlier Vayechi maamar, quoting the Rambam, and it turns on this verse, which it cites at its close.]
1(Page 106, column 3, line 17.)1 As the Rambam writes (Hilchos Teshuvah 10:3): “What is the proper love? It is that a person should love Hashem with a great and mighty love, until his soul is bound up in the love of Hashem and he is constantly lovesick for it.” In halachah 6 there he also writes: “It is known and clear that the love of Hashem does not become bound up in a person's heart until he is constantly lovesick for it and leaves everything in the world besides it, as it says, ‘with all your heart and with all your soul’ [Devarim 6:5].”
(דף ק"ו עמוד ג' שורה י"ז) כמו"ש הרמב"ם (ה' תשובה פ"י ה' ג') וכיצד היא האהבה הראוי היא שיאהב את ה' אהבה גדולה עזה שתהי' נפשו קשורה באהבת ה' ונמצא שוגה בה תמיד וכו', ובהלכה ו' שם כתב ג"כ דבר ידוע וברור שאין אהבת ה' נקשרת בלבו של אדם עד שישגה בה תמיד ויעזוב כל מה שבעולם חוץ ממנה כמו"ש בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך:
- The print's key to the place in Parshas Vayechi where this omitted passage belongs. ↩
In shortThe Rambam teaches that true love of Hashem binds the soul until a person is constantly lovesick for Him and leaves everything else in the world for that love.
2Here ends Sefer Bereishis.
תם ונשלם ספר בראשית.
In shortWith this short addendum to Parshas Vayechi, the commentary of Yismach Yisroel on the book of Bereishis is complete, and the volume closes.
Takeaway
Love of Hashem, as the Rambam describes it, is not a passing feeling but a bond that holds the soul constantly, like a lovesick person who can think of nothing else. Only when a person lets go of everything else in the world does that love truly take root in his heart.
Learn this in the merit of Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchok Dancyger. His yahrzeit and life ›
English translation, notes and summaries © Zechusam.