I really enjoy studying Hebrew words and their meanings. Recently I stumbled on this photo, which is somewhere beautiful in the world, I'd imagine. I want to make art with meaning like that someday. So I figured out that the word in the photo is "ahava", which is one of many Hebrew words for love. This one, though, has a particularly interesting meaning. It's giving love. Love that gives. And love, by definition, I suppose, must give to be love. There is no "taking love". That would never work. Genesis 29:20 is a place where the word "ahava" is used (I believe... please correct me if I am mistaken). It is in this verse that the writer speaks of Jacob's love for Rachel, that he is sacrificing 7 years of his life working to get her. "Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her." That, my friends, is beautiful ahava! Another example is given in the Mishnah, the first record of oral tradition in Judaism. The Mishnah states, “If love depends on some material cause and the cause goes away, the love goes away, too; but if it does not depend on a thing, it will never go away. What love depended on something? The love of Amnon and Tamar. What love was not dependent on something? The love of David and Jonathan." Ahava is love that doesn't depend on anything, but gives freely, as Jonathan gave up his claim to the throne for his best friend David. It's not circumstantial. The word ahava is also used in the commandment to love one's neighbor as himself.
I hope with all of my heart to embody “ahava” every day to every person I meet. Is that too much to hope for? I think not. I think that we are meant to do just that, just as our Father loves us with this love, that among all other blessings He gave His son to die for us. Now if that isn't the best example of ahava I don't know what is!
Check out this article I found to better understand “ahava”: http://www.jewishmag.com/20mag/hebrew/hebrew.htm
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