The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism (Library of Jewish Ideas)

How can love be commanded or prescribed? Jon Levenson’s beautiful exploration of this and related questions is an eloquent search into one of the central issues of a religious life.The clarity of Levenson’s prose illuminates subtle pathways in guiding the reader to an understanding of how love of God was understood in the Bible, the rabbinic tradition, medieval philosophers such as Bahya and Maimonides, and modern Jewish thinking in Buber and Rosenzweig.Despite the inevitable flaw of oversimplifying Levenson’s thought, perhaps a few examples of provocative ideas will serve to entice you to buy this deeply affecting work:We think of love as emotion and affect. In the Bible love for God is more service and obedience, as a relationship between suzerain and subject or parent and child.The Biblical self is familial and intergenerational, not individual.Male conception of love is more action and service, while female idea is more affect and emotion. Love of God contains both, but the Bible is closer to the former.Behavior and ritual generate emotion, directing and refining feelings. Thus “empty ritual” is not empty.Suffering leads away from illusions of self-sufficiency and invulnerability.The covenant with Abraham is a grant, a divine gift. The covenant at Sinai is a treaty with mutual obligations.The covenant at Sinai made divine love practical, reliable, reciprocal. It is not an abstract universal moral code or natural law.What higher reality does human sexual love disclose?Self-mastery prepares for love of God.Fear of God is not just fear of punishment, not a cost-benefit calculation, but awe of incomparable majesty. This "fear" is part of love.Levenson guides the reader on a deeply engaging journey through a subject any serious religious person must consider. Although written from a Jewish perspective, Love of God should be a compelling and enjoyable read for a religious Christian as well. This is a book of rare and enduring value written in a luminous style.

This is a profound and erudite book that made me think about the love between God and the Jewish people in a whole new way. Prayers that will be familiar to most observant Jews — the Shma, Lekha Dodi, Yedid Nefesh, the phrase from Hosea that is said when wrapping tefillin on one's finger — take on deeper meaning with Levenson's guidance. The book is worth buying for the last two paragraphs alone, which are exquisitely crafted.What kind of love exists between Jews and God, and between God and Jews? Levenson takes us through the early biblical love modeled on the relation between a king and his subject, or a lord and vassal, through the prophetic description of the relationship at the "moment of rupture," with the Jews as unfaithful, through the Medieval period and the critique by Hasdai Crescas and Joseph Albo of the Maimonidean God so abstract that he doesn't love back, and into modern times with Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig and their discussion of how law or commandment fit, or don't fit, into a loving relationship with God.This book is not long. It's not light reading, but it is reasonably accessible. If you are Jewish and/or interested in what the biblical commandment to love God means, go read it!

I have not finished it yet, but it seems OK so far. Perhaps making more ot the subject than necessary, but I will keep working at it.

Levenson is one of the most insightful Judaic scholars of our era. More importantly, he writes in a manner that is within reach of the common man. In this book, he looks at God's love as covenant love, very different for the love of one human to another. He encourages the reader to pursue living in love for God, not for any benefits to be derived, but rather for the pure joy of living into God's love. We are to love God out of reverence and gratitude, not to avoid God's punishment or in pursuit of some Godly blessing.

Second last chapter was my favorite. The consummation💪🏽..the sages were sagacious. Off to find a copy of duties of the heart

This book is wonderful. Not only is the author an expert in the Hebrew Bible and later Judaism, his book is filled with wise human insights. I couldn't put the book down. There were days when I read it from morning to night. A true masterpiece!

Jon Levenson helps us understand Judaism and its deep foundation for Christian faith. This book along with ' Paul and the Gift' by John Barclays make great companions and help us understand more about Levenson's contribution.

Deeply scholarly, yet accessible. A labor of love.

Another excellent book by a brilliant Jewish scholar.