Avodah: Developing Service-with-Love

Hassidic Qualities Considered Essential by Buber Iii AVODAH DEVELOPING SERVICE-WITH-LOVE Often, one needs Kavvanah and increasing love to maintain quality in one's Avodah. Avodah is done in loving surrender but has beneficial side effects for the self. The surrender works the self as a process akin to tanning leather. Leather becomes more pliable as it is worked. So also, through A vodah, we work our very self, expand our identity, stretch our emotions, and expand the limits of our nervous system. Through Avodah, we become more flexible, so that our natural inclinations move us toward healing and away from numbness and stiffness.