What are the three little words that rabbis almost never, ever, say to their congregations.

Hold on, because I am about to say them.

God loves you.

That is the topic of Rabbi Shai Held's new book, "Judaism Is About Love,"` which is also the topic of today's "Martini Judaism" podcast.

Wait a second, you are saying. Isn't this supposed to be Martini Judaism -- not Martini Evangelical Christianity? Am I reading the wrong column, or has Jeff Salkin decided to convert?

Neither.

Let’s face it: “God loves you” is not how the world views Judaism.

It’s not how Jews view Judaism and God either.

We have forgotten and abandoned this sublime and comforting idea, and we are the poorer for that amnesia and abandonment. 

A conversation with Shai Held, regarding his new book on the topic...

Our liturgy proclaims it very clearly – for starters, in the Shabbat evening liturgy:

I like to think of Judaism as the story of a romance.

When we study Torah, do you really want to know what is happening?

It is as if we have entered into that romance with God.

We read every word of Torah, listening to its nuances and wondering aloud and in sacred community about its meaning….

If you’ve ever been in love, you know exactly what I mean.

In the Zohar, the cardinal text of Jewish mysticism, the author imagines the Torah Herself (yes, herself – in the Jewish imagination, the Torah is always feminine).

The Torah is a kind of Rapunzel, waiting coquettishly in her tower while her lover tries to find her and rescue her and even ravish her. Our love affair with Torah is perhaps the closest way that we can understand our love affair with God.

Where did we lose the idea that Judaism is about love?

Our history has bruised us and battered us, and it has forced us to be deaf to our own beautiful traditions.

To quote the late chief rabbi of Great Britain, Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: “Once upon a time, we saw ourselves as the people that God loves.

“Now, all too many of us define ourselves as the people that the world hates.”

Yes, I am painfully aware of what is happening in the world right now -- and especially in this country -- with the frightening rise of antisemitism.

But, the idea that we are the people whom the world hates is a pathetic distortion of our faith and our fate.

Because, do you know why countless generations of Jews were able to stand up to Jew-hatred?

Because no matter what befell them, they had faith in God’s love.

We still do. Thank you, Shai Held, for bringing that idea back.

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