Love

Love.

A tricky word. We know that we are obligated to love but what does that mean?

This question has been the subject of much discussion over the generations. We are not going to attempt a definition here because THERE IS NO ONE DEFINITION.

A parent loves his child, a man loves his wife, a boy loves the Yankees, a girl loves a specific dress, a child loves vanilla ice cream. These are all called love but each is a different variation of love. I hope that a parent doesn't love his child in the same way that a boy loves the Yankees. [By the way - the Yankees have a very important place in Judaism. When someone is speaking lashon hara one way to stop it is to say "So how 'bout them Yankees?!"] Romantic love is very different than love between friends. A Rebbe loves a student but in a different way than he loves his gemara, but of course he also loves his gemara.

It is extremely rewarding to be filled with love but it is very important to define to oneself what type of love is appropriate towards this person or object. Sometimes the lines get blurred between the various types of love and this causes many problems in our world.

I speak in hints and will not elaborate....