Our list of lovers is way too short: Marc Gafni

Thou Art Commanded

Thinking that being a lover is necessarily sexual is to exile the erotic – in the sense we have been using it- eros = holiness= enlightenment = aliveness = shekinah…

it so exile the erotic into the sexual. The sexual however – models the erotic – it does not exhaust the erotic.

to be a lover is to love in every facet of your life – with all your heart and all your soul.

Our lists of lovers is way too short.

so here is part one -based on everything we have talked about in the last twenty posts- here is part one of a post on love.

We return to that celebrated biblical command, “Love your neighbor as your self”. Or for some it has been passed down in the heavier more thundering tones, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” For many centuries this core biblical myth teachings that formed the bedrock of our civilization didn’t seem to make much sense. For how can you command love?

”Isn’t love an emotion?” we ask along with Martin Buber and Franz Rosensweig. The implicit question continues with Aquinas and Maimonides: “How can you love everyone anyway? Isn’t love limited to my one beloved, my close family, or at least my intimate circle of companions?”

It would appear from this text that we are invited to be lovers of the whole world, or at the very least every person we meet! A tall order to demand of meager and moody mortals such as we are. For what if, what if, we just can’t love everyone? Do we just turn to the divine issuer of this commandment and say, “Sorry, that file is too large to open. Please condense and resend”?

part two tonight god willing:)

marc gafni
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