The selfish love of Vehaya Im Shamoa:

Difference between paragraph of Viahavta and Vihaya: In the prayer of the Shema we customarily recite two paragraphs discussing the command to love G-d, study his Torah, and obey His will. Interestingly, the continuation of the two paragraphs could not be any more different. The first paragraph of the Shema known as the paragraph of Veahavta concludes with the command of writing and placing a Mezuzah on one’s doorpost and makes no mention of reward or punishment for good or bad behavior. The second paragraph of the Shema known as the paragraph of Vehaya, however, after its similar beginning to the paragraph of Veahavta goes into a tangent discussing all of the rewards and punishments the Jewish people will receive for obeying or disobeying G-d’s command, and only then concludes with the Mitzvah of writing the Mezuzah. Why the difference?

In Vihaya we do not do G-d’s will to the utmost: The above question is further complicated by the following Talmudic[1] statement regarding the second paragraph of the Shema in which there is a famous dispute between Rebbe Yishmael and Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai: On the one hand, it states in scripture^[2] that the book of the Torah should never leave one’s mouth, which implies that you should not work and should rather only learn Torah. On the other hand, in the paragraph of Vehaya^[3] it states, “Viasafta Deganecha /And you shall gather your grain,” which implies that one must work for a living. To resolve this contradiction in Scripture, Rebbe Yishmael is of the opinion that the previous verse in Scripture is not to be taken literally, as one is required to work for a living, and in his free time he is required to study Torah. However, Rashbi is of the opinion that it is not possible for the words of Torah to be established on one’s mouth if he is constantly involved in working for a living, and he is hence of the opinion that the first verse is to be taken literally and the ideal is for the Jewish people to be involved in constant study of Torah and not work for a living. How then will they receive sustenance? So when they fulfill the will of G-d, then their sustenance will be provided by others. However, when they do not have the will of G-d, their sustenance will need to be provided by their own personal effort and work, and it is on this that the verse in the paragraph of Vehaya states “Viasafta Deganecha/and you shall gather your grain.” Now, the interpretation of Rashbi as to the intent of the words “Viasafta Deganecha” could not be more puzzling. According to Rashbi these words are viewed as a punishment which results from the fact we don’t follow G-d’s will, while in the verse these words are continuation of the opening words of the paragraph of Vehaya which begins with the words “and if you listen to my voice” and hence the gathering of the grain is a promise of reward and not a punishment. How can Rashbi reinterpret these words in total opposite of their explicit intent in Scripture? So, the Tosafus on the page already addresses this question and states that the intent of Rashbi is not to say that we are not fulfilling G-d’s will at all, but rather that we are not fulfilling it properly to the utmost. Therefore, although we will be blessed with grain to eat in reward for at least following His basic will, nonetheless, we will not merit the full reward of having the grain provided to us by others. This is where the explanation of the Alter Rebbe he comes in to fill in the mystical vacuum behind the understanding of the statement, which sheds light to our original question of why the paragraph of Vihavta does not go into reward and punishment, as does the paragraph of the Vihaya.

No Bechol Meodecha in Parshas Vehaya: The main difference between the first and second paragraph of the Shema is found in the words “Bechol Meodecha” which while written in the first paragraph of the Shema, are missing from the second paragraph of the Shema. While both paragraphs make mention of serving G-d with all one’s heart and all of one’s soul, only the first paragraph makes mention of serving G-d with all one’s energy. Serving G-d with all one’s energy is infinitely greater than all the previous levels of service of one’s heart and soul. When one serves G-d with all of his heart and all of his soul, it is still possible for him to retain some aspect of feeling of self, and hence perform his divine service for reasons of personal gratification, such as in the gratification involved in expressing love to someone whom one loves. However, the divine service of “Bechol Meodecha” is a total self-sacrifice and nullification of self in which one serves G-d without any personal incentive, out of total nullification to Him. This is the level of Ahava Raba in which one experiences such passionate love that he wants to become incorporated and nullified within the infinite light of G-d. This type of divine service is omitted in the paragraph of Vehaya, and due to this it is considered as if we are not fully fulfilling G-d’s will, and hence although we merit to have grain available for us to gather, we do not merit to have others to perform the work of gathering for us. We will now explain this matter further in regards to the effect of the service of Bechol Meodecha above on high.

Making G-d’s will – Drawing the infinite to the finite: Being that the divine service of Bechol Meodecha involves breaking the bounds of the soul, which reaches the state of limitlessness, therefore it is able to elicit from above a revelation from the level of Soveiv Kol Almin, which is unlimited G-dliness, to the level of Mimalei Kol Almin. This is the inner meaning of the words of Rashbi “Osin Ritzono Shel Makom/doing G-d’s will,” as through the divine service found in the paragraph of Viahavta, we literally create a new will of G-d by drawing down G-dliness from Soveiv to Mimalei. However, in the paragraph of Vihaya where this divine service is omitted, we are considered to not be Osin Ritzono Shel Makom, as the divine service of all of the heart and soul is not enough to draw down a new will from Soveiv to Mimalei.

• The divine lesson – True love: Love is one of the most powerful emotions that we can experience, and many people change around their entire lives in their quest for love. However, we often find that after people have found that which they were searching for to satiate their quest for love, that the love does not last. Many marriages, aside for suffering from the petty disagreements that come up in a relationship, suffer from a much greater phenomenon which is a stale love, otherwise known as a loveless marriage. Often, each spouse blames this on their partner claiming that they are not showing them enough love. From the above teaching of the Alter Rebbe we can learn the following true definition of love and what it should look like. One type of love that one can experience for another is a selfish love, a love in which the purpose is to experience the personal pleasure involved in the love. A second type of love that one can experience for another is a completely selfless love of which its purpose is simply to make the other person feel loved. The first love is all about you, while the second love is all about them. In the first love it’s not that one loves the person but rather that one loves being loved by the person or having love with the person. As any selfish emotion, the moment the self-satisfaction of the first type of love dissipates and becomes stale, the interest dies down and hence the couple lives in a loveless marriage. However, in the second kind of love which is a selfless love, it is not possible for it to lose its passion and become stale as it is not dependent on any self gain or satisfaction, but is a simple love for the person. This is the type of love described in the words Bechol Meodecha in the first paragraph of the Shema. The secular perspective as proliferated by Hollywood and the movie industry proposes the first type of love, which of course does not last, and hence the quest for love continues forever. The Torah is a proponent of the second type of love, in which one’s love for their spouse is because they are his spouse, and not because they enjoy the benefit they receive from their spouse. Hence the saying, “you love who you marry, and don’t marry who you love.”

[1] Brachos 35b

[2] Yehoshua 1:5

[3] Devarim 11:14