The Basics
3 and 4: Love and Fear of Hashem
You shall love Hashem, your God, with all your heart, all your soul,
and all your resources. (Devarim 6:5)
You shall fear Hashem, your God. (Ibid., 13)
The two mitzvos of love and fear of Hashem are also a pair.
• We are commanded to love Hashem with all our hearts, all our souls, and
all our resources. Hashem constantly showers blessings on us and
everything we have comes from Him. If we are aware of Hashem’s kindnesses
to us, we will come to love Him.
• We are commanded to fear Hashem, who is the Absolute Power. He watches
everything we do and holds us accountable for all of our actions.
The Rambam teaches several methods which help us achieve love and fear. In
Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah (2:2), he states: “By thinking into His actions
and creations… and seeing His unlimited wisdom, one will love and praise
Him and fear Him….”
In Sefer HaMitzvos (mitzvah 3), the Rambam states that we need to analyze
and contemplate Hashem’s mitzvos, so that we understandHashem better and
enjoy our understanding of Him.
In addition, the Rambam writes (Hilchos Teshuvah 10:6), “Love is based on
knowing Hashem, which is developed by studying His teachings....”
Thus we have three methods by which we can achieve love of Hashem:
studying His Torah, analyzing His mitzvos, and contemplating His
creations.
Included in this mitzvah is the obligation to bring other people closer to
Hashem. One who loves someone will sing his praises and tell others to
love him, too. This is what Avraham Avinu did — because he loved Hashem,
he taught everyone around him to follow suit.
The first four mitzvos—belief in, understanding of, love for, and fear of
Hashem — are in the category of the six constant mitzvos, which apply all
the time. The last two constant mitzvos are prohibitions and are therefore
not listed here. They are “Do not worship any other gods” (Shemos
20:3) and “Do not stray after your heart or your eyes” (Bemidbar
15:39).
