We continue with the theme that we need to act on, and accept the Mitzvah of Ve’ahavta LeRe’echa Kamocha/ Love your friend like you love yourself before we pray.
The Hida says, in his sefer D’vash L’Fi, that the word אהבה Ahava/Love has a numerical value of 13, which is the same as אחד Echad/One
When you love your friend, you create another 13.
13+13=26, which is the numerical value of Hashem’s Name of Mercy, (spelled Yud/Heh/Vav and Heh)
So Ve’ahavta LeRe’echa Kamocha, when you love your friend like you love yourself, you bring down Ani Hashem.
Through the love of your friend, you bring down Hashem’s mercy, which, he says, sweetens the judgement.
This is a powerful concept. Rosh Hashanah is Judgment Day, and we want to sweeten the judgment.
How does that happen? It happens when you love your friend, and he loves you back.
Kamocha has the same numerical value as Elokim (86), which Hashem’s Name of Justice
So, he says,
Ve’ahavta LeRe’echa— Kamocha
If you love your friend, you can turn Hashem’s Name of Justice to Ani Hashem, His Name of Mercy.
There is a story told of two childhood friends from Berlin. When the city was divided at the start of the Cold War, they were separated and could no longer see each other. The friend from East Berlin became a spy for West Berlin, and got caught. They were ready to hang him, but he begged, “Please, let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” They didn’t trust that he would come back, so they insisted that he find a replacement, to guarantee his return. If he did not come back, the guarantor would die instead of him.
Of course, when he asked his old childhood friend, the friend agreed.
The date arrived that the spy was supposed to return for his hanging, but he was still not back. The clock was ticking closer to 12, the execution time, and sure enough, a horse came galloping back, and the man cried, “Stop! I’m back! Don’t kill my friend! I’m here!” So they took the noose off of his friend, the guarantor, and began to put it on the spy.
The king, who was watching, told them to stop the whole process. He called the two friends over, and told him how amazed he was at their friendship. He offered to pardon them both, on one condition: that they allow him in, as their third friend. He wanted to be part of that special friendship.
So too, it says, Ve’ahavta LeRe’echa Kamocha, when you love your friend like you love yourself, Hashem says, Ani Hashem- I want to join, and be the third partner.
And when Hashem joins as the third partner, that brings blessing, that brings mercy, and that brings a sweetening of the judgment.
B’ezrat Hashem, accepting this mitzvah will bring us sweetness on our judgment day.