Today, in a chasidus shiur with Rabbi Nissan Antine, we looked at a piece by the Sfas Emes on Noach, but it came up that the gematria for אהבה, love, and אחד, one, are the same - 13.
It occurs to me that in the Akedah, G!d tells Avraham to offer your son, your only one יְחִֽידְךָ֤, whom you love אָהַ֙בְתָּ֙, Yitzchok - with the two middle words derived from אהבה, love, and אחד, one.
Avraham is associated with chesed, or lovingkindness (hard to translate), and unbounded, this can lead to a lack of boundaries that can result in harm to others - as it did, clearly, with Yitzchok in the Akedah, who did not return with his father and never spoke with him again in the Torah. I think of Magen Avraham, the shield of Avraham, in the end of the first blessing of the Amidah, as being as much about shielding others from Avraham's harm as it is about shielding Avraham from harm by others.
G!d can navigate Oneness and Love through Tzimtzum, withdrawal, to allow others to thrive - but we must have Gevurah, strength/boundary-setting (associated with Yitzchok), to be able to express it appropriately.
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