I saw this today and I was just so impressed—blown away, actually—that I felt that I had to share it. Rabbi Yosef Albo writes:

“The love that God has for the Jewish people is called cheshek, as it is written (Deuteronomy 7:7), ‘God chashak loved you and chose you’. Cheshek conveys a love which is beyond logic and reason … as when a man loves has cheshek for a woman. He will desire her even if he finds someone who is more beautiful.  Similarly, God loves the Jewish people with a cheshek-love which goes beyond all understanding.   All of Shir HaShirim (Ecclesiastes) is based upon this cheshek-love between God and the Jewish people ….

“The verse says: ‘God chose you to be His chosen nation from among all the nations upon earth ….’ The love is a segulah (supra-rational). God did not choose the Jewish nation because of its large population, as it is written, ‘It is not because of your multitudes did God desire (chashak) you’, nor because of their qualities, as it is written (Deuteronomy 9:6), ‘Know that it is not because of your righteousness … because you are a stiff-necked nation’. Rather, the love is an inexplicable desire. The love is entirely dependent upon the will of the lover [and not the actions, beauty or qualities of the beloved].

“A lover considers the small amount that he receives from his beloved, to be sweeter and more precious than greater quantities he receives from others.  Similarly, God considers the few good deeds that He obtains from the Jewish nation to be more precious than many acts of worship that He obtains from another nation, or from all other nations together” (Sefer HaIkarim 37:3).

What impresses me? It’s inexplicable. (Yes, I know what Rebbe Nachman says in Tzaddik #407, but I came across this passage while doing work-related research.)

© Copyright 2013 O. Bergman