In the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explains that every
person can serve G-d with heart, meaning with love and with fear. This service
can be actualized even though not all people are endowed with an appreciation
and understanding of G-d’s greatness, and not every soul is equal in its ability
to make real what we know about G-d. If we don’t make our knowledge real, then
it can’t produce a love in the heart, because the heart responds only to that
which is tangible in the mind or tangible to the person. Therefore not all
people are going to be capable of loving G-d. So how does Moshe say to the
people that it is very close to your heart?
The Rebbe gives a number of explanations and then tells us that there are two
kinds of love. There is a love that we create by our knowledge, that we generate
by our own efforts. Then there is a love which is involuntary, comes to us from
the outside, and this is called a reciprocal love. Reciprocal love is the nature
of the heart to love back when we feel that we are being loved. And since G-d
loves us, and chose us, and initiated the relationship with us, what we simply
need to do is love back and that is very close to every heart – it is almost
irresistible!
MP3 format - $5.00
Also available on CD as part of the complete CD set:
"Family - Getting To Like The People You Love"
