Service of God

Values

Avodat Hashem — ”service of God” in English — is a primary religious objective in many Jewish texts. The first use of the term “service” in relationship to people serving God is in the book of Exodus, describing the expected worship of the Israelites upon leaving Egypt. In later Jewish sources, avodat Hashem takes the form of ritual sacrifices, prayer, general fulfillment of the Torah’s commandments, or ethical character development.

Notable Sources

All Sources

A Communal Call to Serve

TANAKH

The book of Deuteronomy emphasizes the collective responsibility of the people of Israel to serve God. In these verses, Moses summarizes what God wants from the people of Israel.

And now, O Israel, what does your God יהוה demand of you? Only this: to revere your God יהוה, to walk only in divine paths, to love and to serve your God יהוה with all your heart and soul, keeping יהוה’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

The Levites' Sacred Service

TANAKH

The Levites were designated to perform the service of God in the Tabernacle. The book of Numbers describes the process of the Levites' consecration.

You shall bring the Levites forward before the Tent of Meeting. Assemble the Israelite community leadership, and bring the Levites forward before יהוה. Let the Israelites lay their hands upon the Levites, and let Aaron designate the Levites before יהוה as an elevation offering from the Israelites, that they may perform the service of יהוה.

Numbers 8:9-11

Serving God with Pure Intentions

MISHNAH

Serving God with pure intentions, without expecting a reward, is a tenet of Jewish ethics. Pirkei Avot, a work of ancient rabbinic ethics and wisdom from the land of Israel, emphasizes the importance of serving God with sincerity and fear of Heaven.

Antigonus a man of Socho received [the oral tradition] from Shimon the Righteous. He used to say: do not be like servants who serve the master in the expectation of receiving a reward, but be like servants who serve the master without the expectation of receiving a reward, and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.

Pirkei Avot 1:3

Love vs. Fear in Serving God

TALMUD

Serving God out of love is considered a higher spiritual ideal than serving out of fear. In the talmudic tractate Sotah, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hyrcanus interprets Job’s devotion to God as stemming from love, contrasting with Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai’s view that it was out of fear.

On that same day Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hyrcanus taught: Job served the Holy One, Blessed be He, only out of love, as it is stated: “Though He will slay me, still I will trust in Him” (Job 13:15). And still, the matter is even, i.e., the verse is ambiguous, as there are two possible interpretations of the verse. Was Job saying: I will await Him, expressing his yearning for God; or should the verse be interpreted as saying I will not await Him. As the word “lo” can mean either “to him” or “not,” it is unclear which meaning is intended here…

Sotah 27b:13-14

Starting the Day with Devotion

HALAKHAH

Beginning each day with a strong commitment to serving God is important for maintaining a constant awareness of God's presence. The Shulchan Arukh, the authoritative 16th-century code of Jewish law, emphasizes the importance of starting the day with devotion and awareness of God's presence.

§1. Lois du lever le matin 9 simanims. Il convient à l’homme de se fortifier tel un lion pour se lever le matin au service de son Créateur, de sorte que ce soit lui qui éveille l’aurore . (Glose du Rem’’a : Quoi qu’il en soit, il ne faut pas retarder au-delà de l’heure où la communauté prie (tour) (Glose du Rem’’a : « J’ai constamment placé Hachem devant moi » est un principe fondamental de la Torah et une haute vertu des justes qui cheminent devant D-ieu. En effet, la manière de s’asseoir…

Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 1:1

Joyful Service to the Divine

KABBALAH

Serving God with joy and willingness of heart can help one achieve completeness in divine service. The Zohar, a foundational work of Jewish mysticism, emphasizes the importance of a joyful spirit in serving God.

R. Judah then followed with the text: “Serve ye the Lord with gladness” (Ps. 100, 1). ‘We have learnt’, he said, ‘that all service of God must be performed with gladness and zest, otherwise it is not perfect. Now how is this possible in the case of the offering, which is brought as a sign of man’s repentance for transgressing the precepts of the law? With what face can such a man stand before God? Surely only with a contrite spirit and sorrowful heart. Where, then, is the joy and shouting?

Zohar, Vayikra 18:109

The Humility of Holiness

CHASIDUT

True holiness involves recognizing one's limitations and the vastness of divine holiness, as exemplified by Moses. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, in his Chasidic commentary, explores the theme of humility, emphasizing that true sanctity is an ongoing journey of self-awareness.

Another aspect of the words: ‎וארא אל אברהם אל יצחק ‏ואל יעקב‎, “I used to appear to Avraham, Yitzchok, ‎and Yaakov, etc.” We find among the writings of the ‎‎Ari z’al that he does not understand Exodus ‎‎34,7 ‎נוצר חסד לאלפים‎ “He extends loving kindness to ‎thousands,” in the generally accepted meaning, but ‎that he understands the word ‎אלפים‎ as attributes of G’d ‎beginning with the letter aleph. These ‎attributes, though all being variations of the attribute ‎Justice, are “sweetened” by G’d through an addition of ‎a dose of ‎חסד‎, loving kindness…

Kedushat Levi, Exodus, Vaera 3

Serving God with Pure Love

HALAKHAH

Serving God out of pure love, without any expectation of reward, is the highest spiritual aspiration. In his famed 12th-century code of Jewish law, Mishneh Torah, Rambam presents the ideal of performing commandments and studying Torah solely because they are true and right.

One who serves [God] out of love occupies himself in the Torah and the mitzvot and walks in the paths of wisdom for no ulterior motive: not because of fear that evil will occur, nor in order to acquire benefit. Rather, he does what is true because it is true, and ultimately, good will come because of it.
This is a very high level which is not merited by every wise man. It is the level of our Patriarch, Abraham, whom God described as, "he who loved Me," for his service was only motivated by love…

Mishneh Torah, Repentance 10:2

Sincere Devotion

JEWISH THOUGHT

True service of God should be free from hypocrisy and self-glorification, driven by genuine intellectual understanding and wisdom. In the 11th-century ethical work Duties of the Heart, Rabbi Bachya ibn Pekudah distinguishes between sincere devotion and service motivated by external rewards or fear.

(1) First, For the service (of G-d) induced by the study of the Torah, it may be that the person will be l'shem shamayim (devoted to G-d alone). It may, however, be hypocritical; the aim may possibly be to obtain praise for it and honor among one's fellow-men, since this kind of service is rooted in, and founded on, hope (of reward) and fear (of punishment). But the service of G-d induced by the intellectual urge is wholly and solely devoted to G-d. No hypocrisy is mingled with it, nor any false pretense for the sake of self-glorification, since this service is not founded on hope or fear…

Duties of the Heart, Third Treatise on Service of God 3:5

Serving God for Its Own Sake

COMMENTARY

Serving God should be done without any expectation of reward or response, purely for the sake of fulfilling divine commandments. Rabbanit Dr. Michal Tikochinsky, in her 21st-century work, explores the philosophical approach to serving God, emphasizing duty and commitment over personal gain.

The second perspective expresses the purpose that man accomplishes for himself by religious action, which bring a healing promise to himself and gives him hope about righteousness and ethics. The first perspective reflects the idea that the service of God is the place where everything a man does is for the sake of the Heavens, is from a complete renunciation of the pursuit of reward, response, or claim: "God is not employed by us." Yeshayahu Leibowitz tended to see this side of Judaism. He held that a Jew prays because that is what he was commanded…

Karati Bekhol Lev, Pekudei 2:4

The Minimal Requirement for Daily Prayer

COMMENTARY

Some consider daily prayer to be a positive biblical commandment, but it is sufficient to recite one prayer a day in any formulation. The 17th-century commentary Magen Avraham by Rabbi Avraham Abele Gombiner discusses the minimal requirement for daily prayer.

“A positive commandment” – So wrote the Rambam, who thinks that tefillah is a positive biblical commandment, as it is written, “and to serve God with all of your heart…” But biblically, it is sufficient to recite one prayer a day, in any formulation that one wishes. Therefore, most women have the practice of not praying regularly, because immediately after washing their hands in the morning they say some request, and this is biblically sufficient, and it is possible that the sages did not extend their obligation any further…

Magen Avraham 106:2

The Legacy of Self-Sacrifice

CHASIDUT

The Binding of Isaac is seen as the beginning of the service of self-sacrifice for God and Israel. Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Piaseczno Rebbe, delivered these sermons during the Holocaust, reflecting on Jewish suffering and martyrdom.

However we must know why it is only in the future that Isaac will say to the Holy One, blessed be He, "Behold, I sacrificed." And why did he not say it with the destruction of the temple and not with all of the calamities of Israel, that the Holy One, blessed be He, should atone for them because "I sacrificed my soul." Yet the actions of the ancestors are a portent for the children, so this was the beginning of the service of the Jewish people. And in all of our service, we say, "The Lord of Abraham, the Lord of Isaac, and the Lord of Jacob, etc…

Esh Kodesh, Jewish Year 5701, Second Day of Sukkot 6

The Godfather Awaits the Child (Der Gevatter erwartet das Kind), Moritz Daniel Oppenheim 1867, Gift of the Oscar and Regina Gruss Charitable and Educational Foundation, Inc. The Jewish Museum, New York.

Relatedראו גם

The Performance of a Commandment

Sheetsדפי מקורות

Related Sheets