Most of the Jewish people are so scattered and removed from each other that they hardly ever find a common language, or even any language that makes sense to them as Jews. This is what is called assimilation, which is basically the loss of their common heritage. We therefore have to try to reach some deeper levels of the soul, many of them bordering on the unconscious, to help us get back to talking together, to having some kind of a common language.

A famous Talmudic story relates how a prospective convert to Judaism asked the Sage Hillel to teach him the entire Torah while standing on one foot.

Hillel answered that one must fulfill the commandment of "Ahavat Yisrael", love of one’s fellow Jew, and that the rest of the Torah is commentary. (He followed with the less-known conclusion, "Go learn!")

The emotion of love has been the subject of poets and romantics for centuries. We need not enter into any analysis of that topic, but, as it relates to loving a fellow Jew, some kind of specific definition is obviously necessary.

Early in the eighteenth century, Israel ben Eliezer, a Polish-born rabbi, became the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic sect of Judaism. For more than 250 years this sect has flourished. I am a direct descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, and all of my forefathers since that time have been ordained as rabbis. I am no exception to this rule.

"A woman pulls up to a tollbooth. ‘I’m paying for myself and the six cars behind me,’ she says with a smile, handing over seven commuter tickets.

"One after another, the next six drivers are told by the collector, ‘Some lady up ahead already paid your fare. Have a nice day.’

The Maggid of Mezrich asks a question fundamental to Chassidic doctrine. A man can compel himself to perform a physical act. Thus, he can force his hand to give charity even though his heart is not in it. He may compel his mind to study or to meditate even though he may have no real desire to do so, and he does it only because he considers it the proper or necessary thing to do. But how can one force himself to love, or to fear, or to refrain from hatred on command? If one feels love within his heart, then he has that feeling, but if he does not, what good could a commandment do?