thirteen years, and gave
as reason that he once struck and kicked away a calf which had run to him
moaning for protection; he was finally relieved, after he had taught his
household to have pity even on the smallest of creatures.(350) In fact,
Rabban Gamaliel, his grandfather, had taught before him: "Whosoever has
compassion on his fellow-creatures, on him God will have compassion."(351)
The sages often interpret the phrase "To walk in the way of the Lord"--that
is, "As the Holy One, blessed be He, is merciful, so be ye also
merciful."(352)

5. Thus the rabbis came to regard _love_ as the innermost part of God's
being. _God loves mankind_, is the highest stage of consciousness of God,
but this can be attained only by the closest relation of the human soul to
the Most High, after severe trials have softened and humanized the spirit.
It is not accidental that Scripture speaks often of God's goodness, mercy,
and grace, but seldom mentions His love. Possibly the term _ahabah_ was
used at first for sensuous love and therefore was not employed for God so
often as the more spiritual _hesed_, which denotes kind and loyal
affection.(353) However, Hosea used this term for his own love for his
faithless wife, and did not hesitate to apply it also to God's love for
His faithless people, which he terms "a love of free will."(354) His
example is followed by Jeremiah, most tender of the prophets, who gave the
classic expression to the everlasting love of God for Israel, His beloved
son.(355) This divine love, spiritually understood, forms the chief topic
of the Deuteronomic addresses.(356) In this book God's love appears as
that of a father for his son, who lavishes gifts upon him, but also
chastises him for his own good.(357) The mind opened more and more to
regard the trials sent by God as means of ennobling the character,(358)
and the men of the Talmudic period often speak of the afflictions of the
saints as "visitations of the divine love."(359)

6. The sufferings of Israel in particular were taken to be trials of the
divine love.(360) God's love for Israel, "His first-born son,"(361) is not
partial, but from the outset aims to train him for his world mission. The
Song of Moses speaks of the love of the Father for His son "whom He found
in the wilderness";(362) and this is requited by the bridal love of Israel
with which the people "went after God in the wilderness."(363) It is this
love of God, according to Akiba's interpretatio