Yoni Chanowitz

and all the people could see the sounds and the flames (Exodus 20:15)

and all the people could see the sounds and the flames (Exodus 20:15)

On the demand to Love God Maimonides interprets the love of God as “a person ought to direct all his thought toward the First Intellect and withdraw into this contemplation to the extent of his capacity” For Maimonides, Love of God is intellectual contemplation of the Divine. However , I believe our Sages understood differently. They defined love of God in strictly normative terms: the fulfillment of His commandments solely because they are commanded, and for no ulterior motive. They said: “To love the Lord your God”—lest you say: I will study Torah in order that I become wealthy, in order that I be called ‘Rabbi,’ in order that I receive reward in the World to Come; therefore the verse states: “to love the Lord your God”—whatever you do, do not do it except out of love. And Rabbi Akiva said: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul”—even if He takes your life. From here we see clearly that, as our Sages interpreted it, an act performed purely for its own sake, entirely devoid of consideration of reward, constitutes love. This is expressed in its most radical form when one fulfills the command even at the cost of one’s life, where no possibility of reward remains. Regardless , nowhere do our Sages interpret the love of God as an experiential or emotional state, because they understood that such “experience” belongs to the realm of human psychology and physiology, but the love of God, belongs exclusively to the domain of obligation and service (and for Maimonides- to the intellect).

I have possession of the 75 page manifesto of the San Diego Islamic Center attack. Turn notifications ON. He blames everything on the Jews.

I am the lord your God who took you out of Egypt to give you my cheesecake recipe