Hasiduth: Love and Av'oda

To serve with love does not mean just mean following the Torah and commandments, and  not walking in the path of wisdom because of other reasons: to avoid bad consequences, and to be rewarded.  Rather, it is doing the right thing because it is right, and in the end good comes because of it. (The love) 

This quality is very great and not every wise man attained it. This is the rank of our father Abraham whom the Holy blessed One, has called “my lover” because he served only for the sake of love.

The Holy blessed One has commanded this virtue trough Moshe as it is said: “You shall love Hashem your God “. When one loves God with proper love, automatically one performs all commandments with love.  

What is the proper love? It is to love God with a very great passionate love, to the point that one is bound in love of God and thinking about Him all the time. Much like the mind of a love sick person is never free from the love of the women he is obsessed with, whether in bed, or getting up, eating or drinking.  More so shall be the love of God in the heart of His lovers, they are smitten with love always, like as has been commanded: “with all your heart and all your person”.   It is what (King) Solomon said in a parabolic way “because I am love sick.” (In fact all the Song of the Songs is an allegory for this matter)