Drawing Down Hashem’s Presence2 min read

In Parshas Kedoshim we read, “You shall love your fellow as you love yourself, I am Hashem”. One of the most well-known commandments in the entire Torah, this mitzvah is also one of the most difficult to observe. But aside from the difficulty involved in loving others to the same degree as one loves himself (or, in our generation, where shame and self-loathing are unfortunately so very prevalent, loving oneself to the same degree as he loves others), there seems to be a textual incongruity in the verse itself. The tzaddikim wonder about the juxtaposition between this particular commandment and the declaration of “Ani Hashem”, “I am Hashem”. Why is this mitzvah particularly bound with the truth of Hashem’s existence?

Reb Mendel of Kossov answers with a beautiful idea. It is well known that the word “ahava”, love, shares a numerical value (13) with the word “echad”, oneness and unity. To love someone is to feel one with them, to erase any distinction between the way we approach our own needs and the needs of the other. When two parties in a relationship reach this level of ultimate care and sensitivity toward the other, their mutual considerations yield two times “ahava”, twice “echad”. Two times thirteen, the respective value of “ahava” and “echad”, yields twenty-six – the numerical value of Hashem’ essential Name, the Shem Havaya. When two Jews demonstrate perfect love and unity toward each other, this allows for Hashem’s presence to rest upon their relationship, filling it with blessing and spiritual light. As the holy Piacezner Rebbe Hy”d writes, “In accordance with the measure in which you join together in love and bind your souls together to achieve absolute unity – in this very measure will Hashem connect Himself with you.”

Using this idea, we are able to understand the entirety of our verse: “V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha”: When friends care for each other with the same intensity and concern as they care for themselves, “Ani Hashem”: The two-directional love and unity impact one another in an explosive encounter, combining to form the name of Hashem which rests upon the vessel of this wonderful relationship. If baseless hatred caused the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and compelled Hashem’s presence to depart from this world, it is love and perfect unity that will draw Hashem back into our communities and homes. Two times “ahava” equals “Hashem”. Two Jewish hearts, aflame with love, illuminate the world with Hashem’s brilliant light.