Love Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Judaism==== {{see also|Jewish views on love}} In [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], {{lang|he|ΧΧΧΧ}} ({{transliteration|he|ahava}}) is the most commonly used term for both interpersonal love and love between God and God's creations. {{transliteration|he|[[Chesed]]}}, often translated as loving-kindness, is used to describe many forms of love between human beings. The commandment to love other people is given in the [[Torah]], which states, "Love your neighbor like yourself" ([[Leviticus]] {{Bibleverse|Leviticus|19:18|nobook=yes}}). The Torah's commandment to love God "with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might" ([[Deuteronomy]] {{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|6:5|nobook=yes}}) is taken by the [[Mishnah]] (a central text of the Jewish [[oral law]]) to refer to good deeds, willingness to sacrifice one's life rather than commit certain serious transgressions, willingness to sacrifice all of one's possessions, and being grateful to the Lord despite adversity ([https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Mishnah/Seder_Zeraim/Tractate_Berakhot/Chapter_9/5 tractate Berachoth 9:5]). [[Rabbinic literature]] differs as to how this love can be developed, e.g., by contemplating divine deeds or witnessing the marvels of nature. As for love between marital partners, this is deemed an essential ingredient to life: "See life with the wife you love" ([[Ecclesiastes]] {{Bibleverse|Ecclesiastes|9:9|nobook=yes}}). Rabbi [[David Wolpe]] writes that "love is not only about the feelings of the lover... It is when one person believes in another person and shows it." He further states that "love... is a feeling that expresses itself in action. What we really feel is reflected in what we do."<ref>{{cite web |last=Wolpe |first=David |url=https://time.com/4225777/meaning-of-love/ |title=We Are Defining Love the Wrong Way |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=February 16, 2016 |access-date=February 14, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226085614/http://time.com/4225777/meaning-of-love/ |archive-date=26 February 2019 }}</ref> The biblical book [[Song of Solomon]] is considered a romantically phrased metaphor of love between [[God]] and his people, but in its plain reading it reads like a love song. The 20th-century [[rabbi]] [[Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler]] is frequently quoted as defining love from the Jewish point of view as "giving without expecting to take".<ref>{{cite book | last=Dessler | first=Eliyahu | chapter=Kuntres ha-Chesed | title=Michtav me-Eliyahu | lang=he | volume=1}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page