Teshuvah reawakens innate Divine love

אוהבם נדבה פרש"י אתנדב לאהוב אותם.

"I will love them freely" (Hoshea 14:5) — Rashi explains: I will volunteer of My own will to love them.

Hashem's love for those who return is not owed or compelled; it is given as a freewill offering, a pure nedavah.

וזה יפלא להשיג בעיני בשר רק לפניו ית' שהתנדב אהבת הברואים וברא עולמו.

This is wondrous and hard to grasp with physical eyes — yet before Him, may He be blessed, who freely gave forth love for His creatures and created His world,

The very act of creation was itself a free outpouring of Hashem's love; such giving is beyond what human perception can fathom.

כמו כן מתנדב לאהוב השבים לפניו בתשובה.

so too He freely gives forth love to those who return to Him in teshuvah.

Just as creation flowed from unprompted love, so the embrace of the ba'al teshuvah flows from that same freely-given love.

ומ"מ י"ל גם בזה מדה במדה כמ"ש ואהבת את ה"א בכל לבבך.

Even so, one may say that here too there is middah k'neged middah (measure for measure), as it is written, "And you shall love Hashem your God with all your heart" (Devarim 6:5).

Hashem's freely-given love is mirrored by the love He asks of us in return — the relationship is reciprocal.

ומקשין הפילוסופים איך שייך ציווי על אהבת הלב.

The philosophers raise a difficulty: how can love of the heart be the subject of a command?

Love seems to be a spontaneous emotion, so it is puzzling that the Torah can command it.

אבל כמה תשובות בדבר.

But there are several answers to this.

The Sefas Emes will now offer his own resolution.

א' כי המגעגע לבוא לאהבה זו מתהפך הלב לאהבתו ית'.

One answer: that one who yearns and longs to arrive at this love finds his heart turning toward love of Him, may He be blessed.

What is commanded is not the finished emotion but the yearning for it; the very longing transforms the heart until love is born.

וכמו כן הפרעון ע"ז התשוקה לבוא לאהבה זו.

And likewise, the reward is given in response to this very desire to come to such love.

Hashem repays the longing itself, for the sincere desire to love Him is precious in His eyes.

השי"ת משלם מדה במדה להתנדב אהבה להם.

Hashem repays measure for measure, freely giving forth His love to them.

In response to our yearning, Hashem volunteers His love — measure for measure with the love we strive to offer Him.

וגם כי באמת נמצא בלב איש ישראל אהבת ה' רק ע"י הנקיון מגשמיות והתרחקות דברי עוה"ז מוציאין האהבה מכח אל הפועל.

Moreover, in truth the love of Hashem is already present in the heart of every Jew; it is only through cleansing oneself of gashmiyus (physicality) and distancing the matters of this world that one brings that love from potential into actuality.

The love is innate, buried within; the avodah is not to manufacture it but to remove the material veils that conceal it so it can emerge.

וכמו כן נמצא אהבת הבורא ית' לבנ"י עמו וחלקו.

And likewise, the love of the Creator, may He be blessed, for Bnei Yisrael — His people and His portion — is already present.

Just as our love for Hashem is innate within us, His love for us is constant and ever-present.

רק החטאים והעונות מבדילין.

It is only that sins and transgressions create a separation.

The aveiros do not destroy Hashem's love; they merely form a barrier that hides it.

לכן כתיב כי שב אפי ממנו כו' ממילא מתעורר האהבה כנ"ל:

Therefore it is written, "for My anger has turned away from him" (Hoshea 14:5) — and once that is so, the love is automatically reawakened, as explained above.

The moment teshuvah removes the barrier of sin, the ever-present love resurfaces on its own, with no need to create it anew.

Summary: Hashem's love for Bnei Yisrael, like the act of creation itself, is a freely-given nedavah that is always present. Both our love for Hashem and His love for us are innate; sin only conceals them. Teshuvah — even the mere yearning to love Hashem — clears away the gashmiyus and the barrier of aveiros, and the love is reawakened of itself, measure for measure.