Комментарий к Авот 5:16

DEPENDS ON SOMETHING. Rav’s text has “on something fleeting. When the thing passes, etc.”

Any love etc. What's a love that is not dependent on something, etc. [This is] the love that has no interruption, even though a person estimates that some damage and disgrace will come to him [from it, like] the example of David and Jonathan. As even though [Jonathan] was fit to rise in the place of his father and David was going to remove him from the monarchy, nonetheless [Jonathan] loved him with a firm attachment. And that is what King David, peace be upon him said in his eulogy of Jonathan (II Samuel 1:26), "your love was wonderful to me than (which can also be read as, from) the love of women." [This is] meaning to say, from where did I know that your love for me was wonderful? From the love of women. When he was the second to Shaul, the women had said (I Samuel 18:7), "Shaul has slain his thousands; David, his tens of thousands" - and Shaul became jealous, as is known. However it wasn't enough that Jonathan did not become jealous, but just the opposite - he saved him from the hand of his father. And this was from the angle that he loved him and it was not love of the body. And that is what is written (I Samuel 18:7), "and the soul of Jonathan was attached to the soul of David." However the love of Amnon and Tamar is [already] clear and there is no [need] to elaborate.

The explanation of these words is like this: You know that if the physical causes are negated and removed, then it will be necessary that what they cause will be removed with the removal of its cause. And because of this, when the cause of the love is a divine matter - and that is the true science - it is impossible for that love to be removed ever, as its cause is eternally in existence.

On something: The textual variant of Rabbi Bartenura is "on a transient thing, when that thing perishes, etc."

Any love that is dependent on something transient: that does not last. When the thing that was the cause for that love perishes, the love will also perish. But any love that is not dependent on something transient, but rather on something lasting - for example, the love of the righteous men and the sages - never perishes. In the same way that the thing which is the cause of that love does not perish, so [too] does the love not perish.

All love that depends on a something, [when the] thing ceases, [the] love ceases; and [all love] that does not depend on anything, will never cease.
What is an example of love that depended on a something? Such was the love of Amnon for Tamar.
And what is an example of love that did not depend on anything? Such was the love of David and Jonathan.
The previous mishnah was the last mishnah that was based on numbers. The mishnah which we learn today teaches about love.
Love which is based on something tangible, such as beauty or financial gain, will not last. Since “things” can end, when the “thing” upon which the love is based does end, the love will end. Such was the love of Amnon for Tamar, which is better described as lust than love. The story takes place in II Samuel 13. Amnon falls in love with his beautiful half-sister, Tamar. Once he rapes her (verse 14) her beauty and lack of accessibility are gone and he hates her.
The love of David and Jonathan is opposite. Jonathan, son of Saul, loved David with all of his soul (see I Samuel 18:1) and indeed tried to save his life when Saul sought to kill David, even though David was a threat to his father’s crown, as well as his own right to inherit the kingship. David too loved Jonathan despite his own inevitable rivalry with him. Their love was not based on any sexual relationship nor was it based on a gain that one would receive from the other. It was as the love of a parent for a child, totally unconditional.

THE LOVE OF AMNON AND TAMAR. This is merely an example. Therefore, the beginning of the mishna does not contradict the end.²³¹Besides for being love based on beauty, the love of Amnon and Tamar was a forbidden one. This would seem to imply that any legitimate love, even if based on beauty, would not be called dependent on something. The end of the mishna, however, makes it clear that only the love of the righteous for one another is the kind that is not based on something. Tosafot Yom Tov clarifies that the love of Amnon and Tamar was not chosen specifically because it was a forbidden one—it is merely an example of love based on beauty in general.

Amnon and Tamar: It took it as a general example. And therefore there is no objection from the beginning [of the mishnah] against the end.

the love of Amnon and Tamar: [which was] because of her beauty.

the love of David and Jonathan: [which was] to fulfill the will of their Maker. As Jonathan said to David, "You will be the king over Israel and I will be your second."