Maimonides' 3rd Commandment: Evangelism?

I have always heard that when it comes to the question of evangelism in Judaism the answer is always: "No, we Jews do not evangelize or seek to convert Gentiles."  In fact, I attended a service at a main Conservative synagogue in Toronto and after the service it was explained to us (a group of Christian students) that such a notion was foreign to Judaism.  The rabbi explained that while they happily will receive Gentiles seeking to convert, it is nowhere commanded to 'go into the world' and seek to make converts.  Thus he explained that conversion comes as a result of Gentiles seeing the example set by Jews, not by Jews going out trying to persuade Gentiles to become Jewish.

After leaving from the service, I remember talking with friends trying to figure out if such a passive way of life is consistent with the Hebrew Scriptures.  I reasoned that the consistent position would support active evangelism along with passive evangelism simply based on the Torah's commands to love God holistically and to love one's neighbour.  It made sense to me on a historical  and traditional level why Judaism developed an anti-evangelistic approach to their religious life, but such reasons could not in my view make this position consistent with Torah.

So it was to my surprise when I came across Maimonides making basically the same point as me.  Interestingly, he makes this point in his famous work, Sefer HaMitzvot, wherein he lists and exposits the 613 laws of Torah and divides them into positive and negative commandments.  (The number 613 is based on Talmudic tradition that takes the numerical value of torah in Hebrew, 611, and adds 2.  Cf. b. Makkot 23b-24a.)  The third positive commandment listed by Maimonides is "to love God" (based on Deut. 6:5).

In explaining the commandment, Maimonides regards love for God as the emotive result of the study of Torah.  Here is the logical order he gives: 1) meditation, 2) understanding, 3) feelings of enjoyment and love.  Of course I think this analysis is wrong since the text of Deuteronomy 6:4-6 does not teach that love is the natural result of obedience, but is obedience itself.  I believe Maimonides has misunderstood this because he has attempted to read the text of the Schema in accordance with his faulty reading of verse 4, which he thinks teaches the unity and simplicity of God.  Maimonides' interpretation fits with the traditional Jewish reading of verse 4 as meaning: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one."  We know that this reading was employed as an apologetic against trinitarian doctrine.  But that theological reading defies the context of Deuteronomy 6, which is concerned with exclusive devotion to the God of Israel.  Verse 4 is best translated: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone."  Hence why the following verse commands total devotion with the whole person.

While I disagree with this aspect of Maimonides' teaching on love, afterward he adds the following:

Our Sages also said that this mitzvah includes calling out to all mankind to serve G‑d (exalted be He) and to believe in Him. This is because when you love a person, for example, you praise him and call out to others to draw close to him. So too, if you truly love G‑d — through your understanding and realization of His true existence — you will certainly spread this true knowledge that you know to the ignorant and the foolish.
[We see that this mitzvah includes spreading love for G‑d to others from] the Sifri: "'You shall love G‑d,' i.e. make Him beloved among the creatures as your father Avraham did, as it is written, 'The souls that he made in Charan' (Gn. 12:5)."
The meaning of this Sifri: Avraham, as a result of his deep understanding of G‑d, acquired love for G‑d, as the verse testifies, "Avraham, who loved Me" (Isa. 41:8). This powerful love therefore caused him to call out to all mankind to believe in G‑d. So too, you shall love Him to the extent that you draw others to Him.1

 According to Maimonides, the knowledge Jews have through their study of Scripture is ultimately the impetus for their obligation to spread the knowledge of God to the rest of the world.  While I can imagine a Jewish friend arguing that Maimonides is only referring to spreading knowledge to unbelieving Jews and not to Gentiles, a proper reading of Maimonides shows that that is plainly false.  Notice that Maimonides says "you will certainly spread this true knowledge that you know to the ignorant and the foolish."  This obviously is not meant to designate only Jews and, if anything, is more fittingly applied to Gentiles.  Even more striking is his appeal to Abraham as the exemplary father of faith.  A Jew is obliged to "make [God] beloved among the creatures as your father Avraham did."  And he says that "[Avraham's] powerful love [for God]...caused him to call out to all mankind to believe in God."  Here it is explicit that Maimonides has in mind primarily spreading the knowledge of God to Gentiles.  And this sentence explains the object ("others") of the imperative in the following subordinate clause: "So too, you shall love Him to the extent that you draw others to Him."