When Jewish feeling still needs a direction
When a Jewish moment genuinely awakens my heart, where does that awakening go after the feeling passes?
Learn the source
Rabbeinu Bachya describes ahavas Hashem as ‘the soul’s longing and its own turning toward the Creator.’ Longing is real, but his next word gives it a direction: the soul turns. An awakened heart is not yet the end of the avodah; it is energy asking where to travel.
This passage opens the final gate of Chovos Halevavos, after the preparation of the earlier gates. It describes a developed spiritual ideal, not a feeling manufactured in five minutes. But it teaches the bechinah: when something stirs me, does it remain an emotion I once had, or begin to turn me toward Hashem?
What happened
On October 5, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research published a longitudinal study following the same British Jews across surveys before and after October 7.
The report found a sustained rise in attachment to Israel and a heightened sense of Jewish peoplehood. It also found increased anxiety, greater concern about antisemitism and declining feelings of safety.
But it found no measurable broad increase in synagogue participation, self-described religiosity or the importance attached to Jewish religious study. JPR called the resilience valuable while distinguishing it from wider renewal.
Institute for Jewish Policy Research · October 8 Jews · 5 October 2026 ↗The Jewish Chronicle · Report on JPR findings · 5 October 2026 ↗
Return to the news
A hard rain can fall on two fields. One has furrows, so the water enters the earth; on the other, the same water runs across the surface and is gone by morning. The difference is not whether rain fell. It is whether the ground gave the rain a direction. A headline can awaken real Jewish feeling—grief, loyalty, peoplehood, even longing. Rabbeinu Bachya’s language presses one step further: longing becomes ahavas Hashem when the soul turns toward its Creator. The study is not a scorecard for British Jews. It is a mirror for me. When my heart is stirred, do I leave the feeling unchanneled, or give it one furrow into ordinary avodah?
Stay with the thought
This is not a verdict on British Jews. The same report describes a community carrying greater fear and insecurity without surrendering its identity. Its distinction between solidarity and renewal is valuable because it gives the rest of us a mirror, not a target.
A hard rain can fall on two fields. One has furrows, so the water enters the earth; on the other, the same water runs across the surface and is gone by morning. The question is not whether rain fell. It is whether the ground gave the rain a direction.
News can produce a true surge of Jewish feeling—grief, loyalty, peoplehood, even longing—and still leave Tuesday morning untouched. Rabbeinu Bachya does not ask us to deny the feeling. He asks where the soul is turning. One brachah said with attention, one fixed piece of learning, one act of chesed: the small act does not equal the ideal, but it cuts a furrow so the awakening does not simply run off.
Chovos Halevavos · Shaar Ahavas Hashem, chapter 1 ↗Institute for Jewish Policy Research · October 8 Jews · 5 October 2026 ↗
Take one thing with you
Choose one Jewish story that moved you this week and give the feeling a destination today: five minutes of learning, one brachah with full attention, or one quiet act of chesed. Do it before the emotion needs to return in order to move you.
A reflection, not a personal halachic ruling.Sources & reporting notes 3 references
- Institute for Jewish Policy Research · October 8 Jews · 5 October 2026 ↗
Primary report page and linked 50-page study by Dr David Graham, published October 5, 2026. JPR’s longitudinal panel follows the same British Jewish respondents across survey waves. The report distinguishes stronger attachment to Israel and peoplehood from largely stable measures of synagogue participation, religiosity and Jewish learning, while emphasizing increased anxiety and insecurity.
- The Jewish Chronicle · Report on JPR findings · 5 October 2026 ↗
Independent report published October 5, 2026. It summarizes the longitudinal findings and records JPR’s distinction between valuable resilience and broader renewal.
- Chovos Halevavos · Shaar Ahavas Hashem, chapter 1 ↗
Exact approved corpus excerpt, checked in context. Rabbeinu Bachya describes love of Hashem as the soul’s longing and its own turning toward the Creator. This is the final gate and a developed ideal after the preparation of the earlier gates; a small practice can give an awakening direction but does not claim attainment of the ideal. English is Torah Lens’s rendering; textual verification is not rabbinic approval.
Hebrew passages are quoted sources; English renderings are our own. The event connection and suggested reflection are Torah Lens’s application. Prepared with AI assistance. Rabbinic supervision has not yet been established.