The Three Loves

Three times in the Torah we are commanded to experience the emotion of love:

1. “Thou shall love your fellow as yourself” (Leviticus 19, 18)
2. “Thou shall love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10, 19)
3. “Thou shall love Hashem your God with all your hearts, with all your soul and with all your resources” (Deuteronomy 6, 5)

These commandments are deeply troubling. How can God command us to have an emotion like love? You either love someone or something or you do not? Seemingly, it cannot reasonably be forced upon someone? It is also a deviation from the textual integrity to posit that the Torah is telling us to act  to our fellow in a loving manner because the words cannot be clearer: Thou shall love your fellow. Likewise, the quantity of love appears to be impossible. How can I love anyone as much as I love myself? Listen and learn how the Torah is teaching us incredible lessons in what love is and how to achieve it.