What Kind of Love is This?

 

Ahavah (אַהֲבָה)

 
            For some deeply internal reason, the word has been in my mind day and night for several days. When I awaken, I say it. “Ahavah.” Also, as I am drifting off to sleep, I am tasting the word in my mouth. I began to get curious about this phenomenon.
            So, in looking it up, I found that almost all search engine references were to a cosmetic company in Israel using Dead Sea minerals to make their products. Not what I was looking for, though I am sure it’s very good stuff.
 

I Give, Therefore I Love

            Since it is a Hebrew word, I naturally ended up at Chabad.org, to check out the official meaning.

The Jewish tradition has a lot to say about love. Love of G‑d, love of one’s neighbor, love of the stranger and the dispossessed, love of oneself, and of course, romantic love.
 
As different as these loves may be, they are all called by the same name, alerting us to the fact that love is multifaceted and complex, not just the stuff of fairy tales or happy endings of Hollywood.
 
The Hebrew word for love is ahavah, which is rooted in the more molecular word hav,1 which means to give, revealing that, according to Judaism, giving is at the root of love.

The article is worth reading.
 
It’s interesting that Greek divides all the loves up and gives them different words. Then there is English. We have lots of words too.
 
            All of this led me back around to John 14, in which Jesus says:

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

          So, also interestingly, behavior leads feelings of love. In a way that is very merciful, because in a way, it’s more doable that trying to feel something. We can act out of obedience, promise, or maybe duty. Then, the feelings come along behind.  That’s neat.
            Why has this word visited me? Perhaps I am being instructed to keep on keeping on, not to grow weary.