"In Love"

Note: This post is part of my ongoing study to become an adult bat mitzvah in 2020.

The following passage is a commentary by Rabbi Arthur Green from the Shabbat morning services. Sometimes, often really, during services, I find my eyes drifting to these notes in the prayer book, interpretations and reflections on the prayers themselves by various rabbis. I love the conversation of it, how there is no absolute way of receiving and experiencing the text, but rather options for entering into it and making it our own.

"It is only in our love for one another that we are truly capable of granting each other 'permission' to pray. A community of Jews who stand together in real prayer must be one where each individual is known and cared for as a person. Only when such love exists among us are we a community whose members can truly 'grant permission' to one another to seek or to sanctify God."

The phrase "b'ahava" means "in love." I understand this not as in, "I am so in love with this new sweater," but more like, "In love, in the spirit of love, I show up to this space."

The "in" is a dwelling place.

What is it, then, to dwell in love? How does this orientation affect and alter my ways of relating? And do we really need each other's permission? Is permission possibly another word for witness and affirmation?

We create meaning this way, by engaging, by diving into the layers of a thing, by attempting to understand the original intention and also knowing there is no singular "right" way to read the words on the page.

Of course, my mind immediately translates this passage to something broader, beyond the sanctuary, beyond the prayer service, beyond, even, the Jewish people.

I read it this way: Being part of a community that truly acknowledges and values each person's unique contribution allows each of us to show up fully -- to the page, to our days.

In the spirit of liberal interpretations and re-imaginings of these commentaries, I offer this:

"It is only in our love for one another that we are truly capable of granting each other 'permission' to write. A community of humans who stand together in practice must be one where each individual is known and cared for as a person. Only when such love exists among us are we a community whose members can truly 'grant permission' to one another to seek or to sanctify their own truth and beauty."

And ultimately, maybe it is not each other's "permission" we need but our own.

What do the words “in love” evoke for you?