Editing Ahavas Yisroel (section)

==== Its Essence in a Person's Divine Service ====
''Extended article - Likutei Amarim - Chapter 32''<blockquote>"The Alter Rebbe writes in his Siddur: 'It is proper to say before prayer: Hareini mekabel alai mitzvas aseh shel v'ahavta l'reyacha kamocha' (I hereby take upon myself the positive commandment of loving your fellow as yourself). That means that the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel is the entrance gate through which a person can come to stand before Hashem to pray, and through it the prayer of the one who prays will be accepted." 

- Hayom Yom, 2 Tammuz</blockquote>In Chassidic teachings, it is explained that in order for a person to reach the point where he loves another Jew, he must reveal and feel his divine soul, because from the perspective of his animal soul, it is not possible to love another person, since a person naturally loves himself. As the Tanya states, "Only the bodies are separate," and only through the revelation of his divine soul is he capable of loving another Jew. This happens when he reaches a state of bitul (self-nullification), as the Alter Rebbe explains at length in Tanya, where it is then revealed how "all are matching," meaning that all Jews are equal from the perspective of their divine souls, and moreover, "one Father for all of them" - they all have one root in Knesses Yisroel (the congregation of Israel), and through this, one can love another Jew because they are truly united.