It’s a big chiddush you’re hearing now. What’s the foundation of ahavas Yisroel? It’s not what people think, merely a mitzvah of allegiance to our people, like the black man who identifies with his fellow black. Ahavas Yisroel means we’re trying to imitate the thoughts, the emotions, kavayachol, of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. וֹמֶ ה לוֹ הֲ וִ י ד - Be like Him! קְדֹשִים תִּהְיוּ – Be ambitious to emulate His love. We have to love our fellow Jews because Hashem loves them.
And don’t say you do. Yes, you have a certain patriotism but that’s nothing. I’m talking about love, about genuine affection, not empty platitudes.
Love means love! Did you ever see a mother holding her little baby? She kisses him on one cheek and then the other cheek and then back again and back again. She considers him so delectable. ‘I love you so much,’ she says, ‘I want to eat you up’. And she means it.
A Burning Love
That’s nothing yet because Hashem’s love is much greater than our puny little emotions. A mother’s love is only a faint semblance of אֲהַבְתִּי אֶתְכֶם אָמַר ה'. Hashem loves every frum Jew with an intense love, a fiery love; רְשָפֶיהָ רִשְפֵי אֵשׁ, like burning coals of fire. But not like regular coals; it’s a love that burns like a nuclear fire. Like the sun, it'll burn forever and ever that fire of love that Hashem has for every Jew. That’s what it means Hashem is אוֹהֵב עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל.
Now, we’ll never be able to love like He does, with a nuclear fire of love, but קְדֹשִים תִּהְיוּ means you should keep working on it. קְדֹשִים תִּהְיוּ – You should become! You loved a little bit yesterday? Today you’ll love them even more. Tomorrow, you’ll start from where you left off and קְדֹשִים תִּהְיוּ, you’ll become even more. It’s a man-sized job; an obligation that never ends.
But How?
Now, how to do it, that’s the question. How to be an אוֹהֵב עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל? How do you gain a real attitude of loving your people?
The first step is to say it. “I love Your people, Hashem. Ribono Shel Olam ich hob leib dein folk – Hashem, I love Your people.”
