Love is the bridge between you and everything. Only through love can we merge with any other.
Love is the Bridge
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Lyrics
(Verse 1)
A bridge can appear in an instant
When a tree falls down just right
A longer bridge can take years to build
The Golden Gate wasn’t spanned overnight
Bridges connect what used to be far apart
Love is a bridge from heart to heart
But what good is a bridge, though it be long and wide
Unless I greet my brother on the other side?
Love Love Love Love
Is the bridge between you and everything
Love Love Love Love
Is the bridge between you and everything
Love can be a bridge between you and anyone
Love is a thread that knits two into one
Love Love Love
Is the bridge between you and everything
(Verse 2)
More than an emotion, love is action
The kindness we do in the world
Say "Good morning" as an act of love
A smile is worth more than pearls
Whenever I give, I weave cords of love
That bind me to my friend, and to the One above
Love is what you do, not just in your head
Make it fresh every day, like a new loaf of bread
Spread your love wide like the shining sun
Brighten up the world for everyone
Love Love Love
Is the bridge between you and everything
(Verse 3)
Love with all of your heart, with your entire soul
Love with everything you’ve got
Set these words on your heart so they don’t get cold
Show love in little ways, and show it a lot
Love as you sit, and love when you walk
Teach a way to love whenever you talk
Sing your love at dawn; repeat it every night
See the One in one another—and unite
Love links you to the eternal Source
Got to feed that love every day, of course
Love Love Love
Is the bridge between you and everything
(Verse 4)
You can love Justice and Truth, or you could love to draw
You can be like Ruth, and love your mother-in-law
You can love to dance, or love to sit by the wall
But if you don’t love yourself, you can’t love nothing at all
You can love to be right, or love to be kind
But if you love to hate, you know that’s not a good sign
‘Cause when you love an idea, you make it part of yourself
So if it isn’t worthy, toss it back on the shelf
Love Love Love Love
Is the bridge between you and everything
Love Love Love Love
Is the bridge between you and everything
Love is a bridge to your ideal
Love gives you the power to make it real
Love Love Love Love
Is the bridge between you and everything
Sources
- R' Eliyahu Dessler, "Kuntres haḤesed" ("The Discourse on Lovingkindness") in Strive for Truth, vol 1, part 1.
- Shma / V'ahavta, Deuteronomy 6:4–9.
- "I myself must be the sun, shining for all who come in contact with me." R' Shlomo Wolbe, Alei Shur, v1, p190. R' Wolbe quotes R' Mattiya ben Ḥarash: "Be first to greet [makdim shalom] every person." (Avot 4:15, in some editions, 4:20) He encourages us to start every interaction by reaching out to build this bridge.
- "Love is the bridge from you to everything." This song was born when I saw this line from the poetry of Rumi on a T-shirt, and I began chanting it repeatedly.
- "Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new." –Ursula K. Le Guin
Reflections
Sometimes Mussar wisdom calls to us from unexpected places. This time, a T-shirt was my teacher:
Love is the bridge
between you and everything
The phrase immediately captured my attention, as it reflects the theme of The Mussar Institute’s 2023 Kallah: “Ahavah—Merging into One.” A physical bridge merges two places that were previously separate, connecting people on both sides.
This metaphor encapsulates Mussar teachings about love. Love is the bridge that unites spouses, children, siblings, parents, friends, neighbors—anyone. With love we can bridge to any other human being—and even to the One Above. When we seek any goal, ideal, or value, we cannot reach it unless we love it enough to devote sustained effort. In every case love is a bridge, uniting what otherwise remains separate.
R’ Eliyahu Dessler notices that love and giving always come together. He explains that our love is a connection that arises in us when we give to the other. Our loving flows from our giving (even though we might mistakenly think that we give because we love). In my own life I have experienced how giving awakens and strengthens love within myself as I relate to family members, and to strangers.
How does giving create love? To paraphrase R’ Dessler: That which we give to another is never lost. Rather, it is an extension of our own being into the other. We can see part of ourselves in the person to whom we have given. We are no longer separate, as the part of us that we gave is now in the other. We call this attachment love.
So, to elevate my soul through the middah of Ahavah/Love, I need to do giving actions that strengthen my attachment to others, to God, and to my own soul. I need to make that phone call. Find a kind gesture, and do it. Pay attention to others—when they speak, and when they are silent. I need to maintain the many small bridges that form the infrastructure of relationships. Reach out with a friendly and enthusiastic greeting. Honor everyone with an authentic smile. Show gratitude continuously. I must keep my prayer alive, breathing, growing. All these ways of giving transcend boundaries and build my love.
Conversely, I must gratefully accept such giving acts from others. For if I do not, then I deny my friend the opportunity to grow their love through giving.
What can I give to the Infinite One, who, by definition, lacks nothing? I can give of myself through gratitude and song. I can do the small actions, repeated daily, as requested in the love letter that begins “V’ahavta.” I can direct my giving toward the divine image in others. Whenever I do, I grow closer to the One.
If achieving requires loving our goals, and if by loving a goal we bind ourselves to it and even merge with it, then we must choose our goals well. What makes a goal worth loving? The good that we create by achieving it—goodness that we give to the world.
All this giving and bridge-building takes effort. Yet as a result, our love continues to flow, and like a river, it sustains us. “Yaakov served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.” (Genesis 29:20) How did Yaakov’s love grow this strong? He built it through seven years of service. How did it begin? With his initiative to give. “When Yaakov saw Rachel… he approached and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well…” (Genesis 29:10)
To spread love in the world, be the first to greet everyone—with a bright smile and a cheerful voice. R’ Shlomo Wolbe writes “I myself must be the sun, shining for all who come in contact with me.” We can initiate any interaction with a shining face.
Find one new opportunity to give, and start building a new love-bridge. Make at least one maintenance repair to an existing love-bridge. How much love can we awaken today?
Middot
Love אַהֲבָה Ahavah
Kindness חֶסֶד Ḥesed
Generosity נְדִיבוּת Nedivut
Initiative יָזמָה Yozma
Bridges connect what used to be far apart / Love is a bridge from heart to heart
Produced and mixed by Alex Green.
Photo by Joseph Barrientos on Unsplash.