[Avodah] Is "l'ahava" a verb or noun?

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Aug 17, 2025 at 02:49:20PM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> In learning Parshas Ekev, I came across the word "l'ahava" four times, most
> famously in the Shema, in the phrase "l'ahava es Hashem Elokeichem". As far
> as I could tell, *everyone" translates "l'ahava" as "to love".
> 
> My problem is that "ahava" is unambiguously a noun...

> PPS: It turns out that "le'ehov" never appears anywhere in Chumash, and
> only once in the rest of Tanach (that being Koheles 3:8). This fact could
> be used to suggest that the Torah used "l'ahava" because "le'ehov" was not
> yet in use. But that seems unlikely to me, given that another verb of the
> same form - "le'echol" (to eat) - appears 14 times in the Torah (not to
> mention 44 times in the rest of Tanach).

I think "le'ahavah" is more like the English idiom "to be in love". That
would explain the use of a noun form. And it implies something stronger
than "to love".

And it would explain whywe don't find parallels with most (any?) other
verbs.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Circumstances don't make a person,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   they reveal a person.
Author: Widen Your Tent
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF