אבות א, ג - יראת שמים, אהבת שמים

(3) Antigonos, man of Sokho, received from Shimon the Righteous. He would say, "Do not be as servants who are serving the master in order to receive a reward, rather be as servants who are serving the master not in order to receive a reward; and may the fear of Heaven be upon you."

(1) "Reward (peras)"...It is what a person gives to someone who served him, when he is not legally obligated to give him anything, such as what a man would give to his minor son or to his wife or to his servant, because of the satisfaction they have given him. A person should not serve his Creator even for the hope of a reward such as this, but rather out of love alone.

(2) "and may the fear of Heaven be upon you": Even though you serve out of love, also serve out of fear. For the one who serves out of love is quick concerning positive commandment, and the one who serves out of fear is careful concerning negative commandments, resulting in his service being complete...

(1) Let no man say: "Behold, I perform the precepts of the Torah, and engage myself in its wisdom so that I will receive all the blessings described therein, or so that I will merit the life in the World to Come; and I will separate myself from the transgressions against which the Torah gave warning so that I will escape the curses described therein, or so that I will suffer excision from the life in the World to Come". It is improper to serve the Lord in such way, for whosoever serves the Lord in such way, he is a worshiper because of fear, which is neither the degree of the prophets nor the degree of the sages. And the Lord should not be worshiped that way, save only by ignorant men, women and infants who are trained to worship because of fear, until their knowledge increases when they will worship because of love.

(2) 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.

Antigonus of Soko, had two students who taught other students and they, in turn, taught other students. They began to deduce, after then, and said: “Why did our fathers say this teaching? Is it possible that a worker should work the whole day though and not receive a reward in the evening? Had they known that there is another world and resurrection of the dead, they would not have taught this. So they arose and separated from the Torah and two breakeaways resulted – Boethusinas and Taddokites.They lived in great luxury, silver and gold vessels constantly. Not that they were haughty. Rather they said: “The Pharisees have a tradition to afflict themselves in this world and in the future world, they will have nothing”.