Omer 2017 Day 7: Stubborn Love

Omer Introduction | Day 6 | Day 8

Day 7: Malchut in Chesed, Leadership in Loving-Kindness

Stubborn Love by The Lumineers

The opposite of love's a need for it.

You might think that the opposite of "love" is "hate," but The Lumineers make a compelling argument that the opposite of love is actually just needing to be loved. Elie Wiesel put it another way: "The opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is indifference."

On the second day of Rosh Hashanah this year, my rabbi, Rabbi David Kalender, invoked Wiesel's words in a plea to combat loneliness. His d'var was a moving call for everyone to become leaders, to step up to help those most in need of community and love by helping to make a shiva minyan, visiting the sick, or acting as shomerim (the people who sit with a dead body before burial). Today, I am reminded of that important call to action. How can I do more? How can I provide loving-kindness for those who need it most?

Back to Day 6 | Jump to Day 8