Like is All You Need?!

Is love enough? Nah actually in daily life liking is more difficult and possibly more vital than loving.

You love your parents. You love your brothers and sisters. You love your children. But you don't necessarily always like them.... Sometimes you love your husband, or your wife, but you have a hard time liking him or her.

 What is the difference between "liking" and "loving"?

 Love comes from our sameness; liking comes from our differences. Loving someone underscores your shared identity, while liking another person emphasizes your distinctiveness from each other.

 I love you because you and I, in a very deep place, are one. You and your parents, you and your siblings, are connected in a very real way. There is love there, even if it is repressed and complicated.

 When I like you it means that I appreciate your unique personality and character traits. I like you not because we are one, but because we are different, and your individuality enriches and enhances my life.


Loving your neighbor is a mitzvah. It reminds us that at our soul core level we are one but there are more mitzvoth and they challenge us to not just love each other but to like the other too! Like is all you need…. Now how does that sound to you? :)

Menachem Mendel Bluming and Chabad.org

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