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Introduction
Educate the child according to his way. Even when he grows old he will not turn from it (Proverbs 22:6). Now, from the fact that it is written “according to his way,” the sense is that it is not the way of truth in its full truth. If so, what is the gain in that even when he grows old he will not turn from it? But this is known: the roots of the service of Hashem (God), and its foundations, are fear and love. Fear is the root and the foundation for turning from evil, and love is for doing good and for keeping all the positive mitzvot (commanded deeds) of the Torah and of the rabbis, as will be explained in their places (and the mitzvah of education is also a positive mitzvah, as it is written in Orach Chaim, section 343).
Now, of love it is written at the end of the portion Ekev (Deuteronomy 11:22): “which I command you to do, to love Hashem,” and so on. And one must understand how the wording of doing belongs with a love that is in the heart. But the matter is that there are two kinds of love of Hashem. The one is the expiry of the nefesh (the lowest level of the soul), in its own nature, toward its Creator. When the intellectual soul grows strong over the material, and brings it low and subdues it beneath itself, then it blazes and flames with a flame that rises of itself, and it exults and rejoices in Hashem its Maker, and it delights in Hashem with a wondrous delight. And those who attain this high level of great love are the ones called tzaddikim (a tzaddik is a righteous person), as it is written (Psalms 92:12): “Be glad, you tzaddikim, in Hashem.” But not every person attains this, for this requires a very great refining of the material, and also much Torah and many good deeds, so as to merit a higher soul, above the level of ruach (spirit) and nefesh, as is written in The Beginning of Wisdom, the Gate of Love.
And the second is a love that every person can reach, when he contemplates well, in the depth of the heart, the things that awaken love for Hashem in the heart of every one of Israel. In a general way, it is that He is our very life, and as a person loves his own soul and his life, so he will love Hashem, when he contemplates and sets it upon his heart that Hashem is his true soul and his very life, as it is written in the Zohar on the verse (Isaiah 26:9), “My soul, I desired You,” and so on. And in a particular way, it is that when he understands and discerns the greatness of the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, in detail, as much as his mind can bear, and what is above his mind, and afterward contemplates the great and wondrous love of Hashem toward us, that He went down to Egypt, the nakedness of the land, to bring our souls out of the iron furnace, which is the sitra achra (the other side), God spare us, to bring us near to Him and to join us to His very name, and He and His name are one. That is, He raised us from the utmost lowliness and uncleanness to the utmost holiness, and to His greatness, blessed be He, which has no end and no limit. Then, as water, face to face, love will awaken in the heart of everyone who discerns and contemplates this matter in the depth of the heart, to love Hashem with a strong love and to cleave to Him with heart and with soul, as will be explained in its place at length.
Now, Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, wished to plant the matter of this love in the heart of all Israel, in the portion (Deuteronomy 10:12) “And now, Israel,” and so on, in the verse “Behold, to Hashem your Elohim belong the heavens,” and so on (there, 14), “Only in your fathers did He set His desire,” and so on (there, 15), “And you shall circumcise,” and so on (there, 16), “With seventy souls,” and so on (Deuteronomy 10:22), “And you shall love,” and so on (Deuteronomy 11:1). And therefore he closed his words about this love with “which I command you to do” (Deuteronomy 11:22), for it is a love made in the heart by means of the understanding and the knowledge, in the things that awaken the love. And about this he had already commanded at the first: “And these words, which I command you today, shall be upon your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:6), so that by this you come to love Hashem, as it is stated in the Sifrei on this verse.
Now, of this second love, the wording of mitzvah and of command is fitting, that is, to set one’s heart and one’s mind upon the things that awaken the love. But of the first love, which is a flame that rises of itself, the wording of command and of mitzvah is not fitting at all. And more than this, it is the gift of the reward of the tzaddikim, to taste a likeness of the world to come in this world. Of it is said (Numbers 18:7): “A service of gift I give your priesthood,” as will be explained in its place.
But it is known to those who know the reason of a verse, what is the meaning of what is written (Proverbs 24:16): “For seven times a tzaddik falls, and rises”? And in particular, a person is called one who walks, and not one who stands, and he must go from level to level, and not stand on one level forever. And between level and level, before he reaches a level higher than the one he is leaving, he is in an aspect of a fall from the first level. But “when he falls, he is not hurled down” is what is written (Psalms 37:24), and it is called a fall only by comparison with his first level, and not by comparison with all other people, God spare us, for even so he is above every person in his service, because an aspect of a trace from his first level remains in it. But its main part is from the love in which he was educated, and to which he grew accustomed from his youth, before he reached the level of a tzaddik. And this is what is written: “Even when he grows old,” and so on (Proverbs 22:6).
Now, the first of the things that awaken love and fear, and their foundation, is pure and faithful faith in His unity and His oneness, blessed and exalted be He:
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