Achieving Ahavat Yisrael

There is an interesting idea brought in the Tanya, regarding achieving true אהבת ישראל, loving every Jew. The Tanya explains that it is necessary for an individual to focus on his רוחניות, spirituality, and minimize his emphasis on גשמיות, physicality. When one becomes primarily a spiritual being, he is able to understand and implement loving every Jew. However, when an individual’s existence is all based on the physical, his expression of love is what is referred to as תלויה בדבר, dependent on something. He cannot love on a higher level because his obsession with materialism does not allow him to relate to others, on any level other than the physical. This might explain why there is such a large gap between the secular and the religious. A truly religious is, by definition, a spiritual being. He can achieve ואהבת לרעך כמוך, loving your neighbor as yourself, towards every Jew. But the one obsessed with the physical cannot relate to the spiritual being. Hence, the gap and difficulty in understanding one another. This is an interesting observation, and something worth thinking about.