Integral Torah Perspectives

ב''ה We were given three holidays in Exile: Chanukah, Purim and the 19th of Kislev. Chanukah is about Torah, since that is what the Greeks wanted to abolish. Purim is about Knesset Yisrael, since it was our people as a whole Haman wanted to destroy. The 19th of Kislev is the Kudshabrichu part... Reb Hillel Paritch  (There is a statement in the Zohar: Yisrael, Oraita ve'kudshabrichu kola chad)

ב''ה Love of Hashem is the first Miztvah, as the Rambam explains it brings one to do all of the others. Since you have a latent, hidden love of Hashem inside you can not be commanded to 'love' (since you already do). Rather the commandment is to bring it out into the open (by contemplating (deeply) the greatness of the Omnipresent in psukei dezimra and kriat shma). Tanya -Kuntres Achron - 'Hine lo tova...' -According to the Rambam the first mitzvah is to know and believe in the creator. Since it is through this knowing that bring you to love (or reveal the hidden love already there) and the love is the impetus for doing all the other commandments, therefore it makes sense to say that it is the first Mitzvah as the Tanya does here. The actual mitzvah of love (which according to the Rambam's count is 7) is not an actual command according to this but an automatic consequence of fulfilling the first mitzvah, and in-fact the whole point of fulfilling the fir...