All You Need is Love

Va'ethanan

Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11


Précis: Moses continues the recapitulation of travels and urges the People to follow the laws and commandments of Adonai. Moses pleads with God that he be allowed to enter the Promised Land, and is refused. Moses reminds the people that God was angry with him on account of their sinful ways, and that this was why he, Moses, was refused permission to enter the Land. Moses continues with a restatement of the Ten Commandments, and follows with an articulation of the basic statement of our theology: the Sh’ma. Moses then warns the people against the peril of forgetfulness, particularly of the Exodus, and cautions against idol worship of gods of the nations they will conquer.


Deuteronomy 6:5 - “You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

This familiar passage from the paragraph following the Sh’ma poses a host of serious philosophical issues. How can one be commanded to love, an emotion which seems to emanate totally from within? As Rabbi Plout points out in his Torah Commentary, love is a significant theme of the Book of Deuteronomy, presupposing a reciprocal relationship between Israel and God. How are we to express this love?

Rashi suggests that we are to obey His commands in love, and not though fear. He agrees with earlier commentators who held that love for the Creator is “natural” for human beings. But there are distractions and obstacles which interfere with our ability to “love” God.

Franz Rosenzweig noted that there are three times in the Torah than we are commanded to love: twice in Leviticus (19:18,34) when we are commanded to love our neighbors and the strangers who dwell among us, and here in Deuteronomy, when we are commanded to love God. From this, he explains that only after we have learned to love other people can we come to love Adonai.

This may, in fact, be the clue we are looking for: we “love” God not in some detached, emotional way, but rather, we express our love for God through our actions. When we treat our fellow human beings with respect and honor, when we feed the hungry and clothe the naked, we show our love for God.