On hearing good news, one says, "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who

art good, and doest good." On hearing evil tidings, one says, "Blessed be the true judge." A
person has to bless God with good will, for ill fortune, just as he has to bless Him with joy for
good fortune, as it is said "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all
thy soul and with all thy might." (Deuteronomy 6:5). In the abounding love of God enjoined
upon us, it is implied that even in distress, one should thank and praise Him with joy.

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The underlying notion is codified by Rambam, Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah 2:2, in a totally
different context. In defining the thrust of the commandment "And you shall love the Lord
your God" (Deuteronomy 6:5), Rambam, at least by implication, informs us that the mizvah
does not command an emotion. It is exceedingly, and probably impossibly, difficult to
command emotions directly. Sefer Haredim had a similar difficulty explaining the cogency of
commanding love of a fellow human being. Accordingly, Sefer Haredim 1:28-29, defines the
commandment requiring one to love his fellow as well as the commandment to love the
proselyte as commandments requiring concrete physical acts. Rambam, Sefer ha-Mizvot,
mizvot aseh, no. 3, as well as Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah 2:2, defines the mizvah "And you shall
love the Lord your God," in intellectual, rather than emotional, terms. 9See also Rambam,
Guide of the Perplexed, Part III, chap. 28. A person fulfills the mizvah by intellectually
recognizing the majesty of the Deity and the grandeur of His creation. Moreover, as elucidated
by R. Ovadiah ben David, author of the unidentified commentary published together with that
section of the Mishneh Torah, love is directly commensurate with knowledge: the greater the
intellectual apprehension, the greater the love. Ahavah and yedi'ah, love and knowledge,
become conflated into a single concept. As Rambam, Hilkhot Teshuvah 10:6, declares:

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That is, that we reflect upon and ponder his mizvot and dicta10In this exposition in Sefer ha-
Miẓvot Rambam includes understanding of Torah as integral to knowledge, and hence love, of
God. That is consistent with Rambam’s view that the commandments are the product of divine
reason (see Guide of the Perplexed, Part III, chap. 26) and his doctrine of negative attributes.
Accordingly, Torah, as the manifestation of divine reason, is integral to the essence of God.
Hence, knowledge of Torah is knowledge of God. and his works until we apprehend Him and
delight in the ultimate degree of pleasure in apprehending Him. This is the mandatory love. In
the words of Sifri: "For it says, 'You shall love the Lord your God' (Deuteronomy 6:5). I do not
know how to love God. Therefore, [Scripture] teaches, 'And these matters which I command
you this day shall be upon your heart' (Deuteronomy 6:6). From that you will recognize He who
spoke and the universe came into being." Behold we have explained to you that through
reflection you will succeed in apprehension and achieve pleasure, and love will come
necessarily.

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It is mandatory to love and fear this Glorified and Awe-inspiring God, for it is said: "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God" (Deut. 6,5); and as it is said: "The Lord thy God thou shalt fear." (Ibid. 6,
13).
++++++++

Mishneh Torah, Foundations of the Torah 2:2

But how may one discover the way to love and fear Him? When man will reflect
concerning His works, and His great and wonderful creatures,1But he must make
thorough study. C. and will behold through them His wonderful, matchless and infinite
wisdom, he will spontaneously be filled with love, praise and exaltation and become
possessed of a great longing to know the Great Name, even as David said: "My soul
thirsts for God, for the living God," (Ps. 42,2); and when he will think of all these
matters,2Sifre, Deut. 6.5; Shabbat, 30–31. G. he will be taken aback in a moment and
stricken with awe, and realize that he is an infinitesimal creature, humble and dark,
standing with an insignificant and slight knowledge in the presence of the All Wise, as
David said: "For when I see Thy heavens, the wonderful works of Thy fingers, of what
use is man that Thou mayest remember him?" (Ibid. 8,4). And, in harmony with these
matters, I elucidate great, general principles of the works of the Lord of the universe, so
that they might serve as an opening for one who understands by which to love the
Name, as some sages said on the subject of love: "Out of it thou wilt recognize the One
who spoke, and the universe was called into existence."

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Mishneh Torah, Human Dispositions 6:4

The love for the proselyte, who came and embraced the protection beneath the wings of
the Shekinah, rests upon two mandatory commandments, one because he is included in
the commandment concerning a neighbor, and the other because he is a stranger, and the
Torah charged us, saying: "Love ye therefore the stranger" (Deut. 10.19.). He
commanded on the love for the stranger as He commanded concerning the love for
Himself, saying: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God" (Ibid. 6.5.). The Holy One,
blessed is He! loves the strangers Himself, even as it is said: "And (He) loveth the
stranger" (Ibid. 10.18).4

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When reciting the Shema, after concluding the first verse, one repeats in a low tone the
sentence, "Blessed be the name of His glorious sovereignty for ever and ever" and then
resumes the reading of the first section in the regular order from the verse, "And thou shalt
love the Lord, thy God,…"to the end of the section. Why is the sentence above mentioned
interpolated? We have a tradition that when the patriarch Jacob, residing in Egypt, gathered
his sons about him, in his dying hour, he earnestly charged them concerning the Unity of God
and the Way of the Lord in which Abraham and his father Isaac had walked. He questioned
them, saying to them, "Possibly, my sons, there is some one among you who is unworthy, and
is not at one with me on the doctrine of the Unity of the Creator of the World," in the same
way as our teacher Moses charged the people in the words, "Lest there be among you a man
or a woman … whose heart turneth away this day" (Deuteronomy 29:17). They all answered,
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." This means, "Our father, Israel, hear this,
our [confession of faith]: 'the Lord our God is one Lord'". The aged patriarch then ejaculated,
"Blessed be the name of His glorious Sovereignty for ever and ever." Hence, all Israelites keep
the custom of reciting, after the first verse of the Shema, the thanksgiving uttered by the
Patriarch Israel.

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If a person is in doubt whether he has read the Shema or not, he should read it again and
recite the blessings that precede and follow it. But if one is certain that he read the Shema and
is in doubt only whether he recited the blessings that precede and follow it, he should not read
the blessings. If, while reading the Shema, he made a mistake, he should go back to the place
where he had made the mistake. If between one section and another, he forgot and did not
know which section he had completed and which he had to begin, he should go back to the
first section, namely to the verse, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God."

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The worshiper because of love, engages himself in the study of the Torah and the observance
of precepts and follows the paths of wisdom on no account in the world, neither for fear of evil
nor in order to inherit the good; but he does the true thing because it is true, and in the end
the good comes because thereof,. That degree is a great degree, indeed and not every scholar
attains it; for such was the degree of Abraham our father, whom the Holy One, blessed is He!
called His beloved, because he worshiped not, save because of love, and it is, furthermore, the
degree concerning which the Holy One, blessed is He! commanded through Moses, saying:
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God" (Deut. 6.5); for, when man will love the Lord with a
proper love, he will momentarily perform all of the commandments because of love.

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And what is the proper love? He shall love the Lord with an exceeding great and very strong
love so that his soul be tied to the love of the Lord, finding himself in a constant tremor, as if
he were suffering of lovesickness, when his mind is free because of love for that woman, being
continuously agitated about her, whether he sitting down, or whether he is standing up, even
when he is eating and drinking. More than this should the love for the Lord be in the heart of
those who love him, meditating therein constantly, even as He commanded us: "With all thy
heart and with all thy soul" (Ibid.). This is what Solomon allegorically said: "For I am love-sick"
(Songs 2.5). And, the whole book, Song of Songs, is an allegory on this subject.

+++++++++++

It is a known and clear matter that the love for the Holy One, blessed is He! does not become
tied up within the heart of man unless he will constantly feel its proper tremor, and abandon
everything in the world save that alone, even as He commanded: "With all thine heart and
with all thine soul" (Ibid. 6.5). No one loves the Holy One, blessed is He! save by the measure
of knowledge that he knows Him. According to that knowledge will that love be; if it be small,
the love will be small; if it be abundant, the love will be abundant. It is, therefore, necessary
for man to dedicate himself to understand and acquire intelligence in the sciences and
reasonings which make known to him his Owner, in the measure of power that man possesses
to understand and attain it, as we have elucidated it in the treatise concerning the Foundations
of the Torah.

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The law of the recitation of Shema morning and evening: That we were commanded every
day, morning and evening, to read one verse from the Torah in this Order, and that is "Hear
Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). And about this verse is it stated
(Deuteronomy 6:7), "and you will speak in them in your sitting in your home, in your laying
down and in your rising up." And the explanation about this comes (Berakhot 10b) [that it is] at
the time that people lay down and at the time that people get up. And it is established to us
for the Rabbis (Berakhot 10b) that all of the night until the dawn rises is called the time that
people lay down - and like the matter that is written (Leviticus 26:6), "and you will lay down
and there is no one that makes to tremble"; and so [too], "it does not lay down until it eats
prey" (Numbers 23:24) - since all the time of its laying down is implied. And also that people
are divided in their attributes regarding laying down. There are those that do not lay down
until half of the night, and some [not] until its end, and there are some that lay down
immediately at the beginning of the night. And because of this, they said (Berakhot 10b) that
the time of the recitation of Shema at night is from the time that the priests retire to eat their
priestly tithe - which is the coming out of the stars - until the dawn rises. And the time that
people rise up was understood [by] them [to be] from the beginning of the day - meaning to
say when the morning is light [enough] that a man can recognize his fellow from the distance
of four ells - until three full hours (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Reading the Shema 1:11). And rising
up was not understood by them to be all of the day, like laying down; as it is not the way of
any person that is healthy to rise up from his bed at the end of the day, or even its middle. And
they, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 9b) about the recitation of Shema of the
morning that, in any case, from here onward - meaning from the end of three hours until the
end of the day - he who did not read [it] did not lose [out] that he not be able to read it with its
blessings.