VLK - Ahavas Yisrael on Fire - 3

[Music] when the discusses the Mitzvah of loving another Jew it doesn't say to Simply love your fellow yid rather it says to love another Jew the way you would love your self the tah is unquestionably clear that the very first step in properly loving other Jews is properly loving yourself the ultimate prerequisite in Mastering the Art of Loving other Jews is Mastering the Art of Loving oneself without question the most powerful force in the world is one's innate inborn love for themselves it is the drive behind every single thing we do if you don't properly Channel selflove how can one possibly Channel genuine love for others you can't possibly dispense real love to others if you are an enemy of yourself if you aren't well trained in the nuances of self-love then you can't give it to others much like how you wouldn't and shouldn't become a dietician if you were clueless and uninterested in health and you wouldn't and shouldn't become a doctor if you were clueless and indifferent to medicine so too one cannot properly love another yid if one doesn't properly love themselves the question is what does it mean to properly love oneself what is Jewish self-love entail so listen to this fascinating perspective both the balatan lamad and the P under aavas atmo say that aava of on self is to see one's through one's go to recognize that lying beneath the surface of one's body is a soul and loving it means to recognize that one's entire life's mission is to elevate that Soul this perspective of ourselves whether we see a Nish or a body in essence determines our Outlook of everything around us whether we see ourselves as bodies or as Souls determines how we view our money our clothes our cars our houses if we see ourselves as Souls as pieces of divinity then our money is a means to uplift it our house is a place where our souls can be safe and spiritually happy our car is a means to drive our souls to do Mitzvah and but if we view ourselves as mere physical bodies as mere machines that produce pleasure so then our life becomes a Chase of material or physical or emotional pleasure my car becomes an extension of me and I use it to show off my status my house needs to contain as many luxuries as humanly possible to maximize my pleasure my money is a way to exploit my body's pleasure and therefore amassing it is my entire life's purpose this question of perception of the Soul versus the body is a question of perception that can be asked virtually wherever we go in life we go to a wedding we can view it as a party or we can view it as a celebr ation of two nishas fusing together to become one we go to a bar mitzvah we can view it as a family get together or we can view it as a Nisha beginning its Majestic duties in the army of Hashem we can go to a bris and view it as an elaborate breakfast or we can view it as the coronation of an AA into the Royal ranks of the Jewish people we can go into a sh and view it as a community meeting place or we can view it as a holy sanctuary where Souls come together to connect to the one above we can go into a based medri and view it as a learning center where we go to learn Jewish information or we can view it as a cocoon of Holiness where our souls go to absorb and be uplifted by the word of Hashem we can view shabus as a day off from work where I get to eat decent food and read a good magazine or we can view it as the day my Nisha refreshes itself and reinvigorates itself with Holiness the way we view our shamas is the way we view the world around us are we sophisticated pleasure hungry animals in a jungle of potential pleasure or are we glistening dazzling Exquisite Angelic beings clothed in skin here in this world to uplift the world around us only when I see myself as a soul as a Nisha as a piece of Hashem as a spark of divinity can I begin to genuinely love myself when I say Nish when I say that and begin feeling a living breathing inside of me when I master that when I look at myself and I don't see a body but I see a soul then and only then can I begin seeing the souls in others and only when I see the souls and others can I start the mitvah honoring others begins with honoring yourself respecting others begins with respecting yourself doing to others begins with doing for yourself being M others being starts with being M yourself loving others begins with loving yourself for the more you see the soul in you the more you see the soul in others and that is the ultimate first step in v [Music]