Love captivates most people throughout their lives. Love drives people to fly across the world, move cities, and perform “hand-stands” for their significant other. Love stories are among the main themes in literature, songs, and movies and a popular topic in even the most upstanding magazines and newspapers. Love causes people to fluctuate from the greatest heights of joy to the depths of depression or worse. With a divorce rate of fifty percent, and people struggling through one unfulfilled relationship to another, the need to love and be loved is one of those things we can’t seem to live with – nor live without. Why is creating and maintaining love so difficult?

 

Just as there are critical misconceptions about marriage that are challenging the ability of couples to build long-lasting relationships, equally misunderstood is the concept of love. As the glue which holds together marriage, the family, and society, it is worthwhile to clarify our understanding of love, what it really is and how it can be developed. In this class we will examine what love is, what the preconditions are for creating it, and how it can be strengthened within the context of being married to one’s ezer knegdo (soul mate).