כמשל הרופאThe Surgeon's Cut

ke-mashal ha-rofeIn Gamatria ↗

Love that holds through the cut is a son's love.

Love is longing for God's nearness, until speaking of Him is a delight. 'As a deer yearns for streams of water' (Psalms 42:2). It must not hang on His favors. It is a son's natural love for his father, and it is tested in hardship. Luzzatto offers two answers. For everyone: all Heaven does is for good, like a surgeon who cuts away a diseased limb, and the patient loves him more for it. For the wise: they seek only God's honor, so obstacles gladden them, like a soldier choosing the hardest battle. Love has three branches. Cleaving: Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa kept praying while a snake bit him, and did not feel it. Joy: the Shekhinah rests only amid the joy of a mitzvah. Zeal: a lover of God cannot bear His name profaned.

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