Love is a paradox. Many paradoxes, in fact.
It is the most altruistic and the most selfish of human emotions. The most giving and the most fulfilling. The most spiritual and the most physical. The most natural and the most irrational. The source of our deepest pleasures and our deepest agonies.
Filial love, romantic love, sexual love, friendship, compassion, love of self, love of G-d -- these are all so different from each other as to have virtually no common denominator between them. Yet we call them all "love", and somehow understand that they're all the same thing. But could never explain why.
We call it an "emotion", yet love is much more than a feeling. Everywhere we look -- nature, human society, physics -- the giver/recipient equation is the very math of existence. Yet the math doesn't add up. One plus one never equals two. In love, one plus one equals one. And also three.
The Kabbalists tell us that G-d created the universe in order to experience love. Rabbi Akiva says that it is "a cardinal principle in Torah", and the great sage Hillel declared: "This is the entire Torah; all the rest is commentary."
Browsing 125 past issues of Chabad.org Magazine we found 32 articles and stories on love:
Insights:
Love Yourself
by Yanki Tauber
The Grammar of Love
by Yitzchak Ginsburgh
Man and Woman
by Tzvi Freeman
Mikvah Time
by Roni Loeb Richter
The Jealous Lover
by Yanki Tauber
Do We Love Too Much?
by Yanki Tauber
Trust
by Yanki Tauber
How To Criticize and Other Thoughts On Love
by Tzvi Freeman
The Rebbe's Love Laboratory
by Yaakov Lieder
Love According to the Rebbe
by Yanki Tauber
Stories:
Love in a Heartbeat
by Blair Grubb
The Calling
by Blair Grubb
Uncle Irv
by Jay Litvin
Mirrors
by Jay Litvin
Sitting in a Cafe
by Jay Litvin
The Gift
by Yrachmiel Tilles
Two Against One
The Meaning of Love
The Man Who Mistook His Wife's Foot for His Own
Essays, etc.:
The Kabbalah of Love
by Shifra Hendrie
Why Do We Fall In Love?
by Simon Jacobson
Alienation and Faith
by Jonathan Sacks
The Loving Friends
by Yaakov Brawer
Love at First Sight: Five Biblical Examples
by Yitzchak Ginsburgh
A History of Love
by Yanki Tauber
24,000 Plus One
by Yanki Tauber
Partner
by Yanki Tauber
Are You Happily Ever After?
by Moshe Wisnefski
Ramblings About Stress and Love
by Jay Litvin
The Cry of the Holy Sparks
by Zvi Yair
The Morality of Weakness: Defining Sexual Harassment
by Manis Friedman
Why Is Torah Law So Restrictive of Contact Between the Sexes?
by Manis Friedman
What If You Mess Up
by Manis Friedman
Readings:
Tanya Chapter 32
The Baal Shem Tov on Love
The Mystery of Marriage
See also: Charity: an Anthology
