לא תשא שמע שוא, this is parallel to the warning in the ninth of the Ten Commandments not to testify falsely against one’s fellow man. (Exodus 20,12) Just as the witness is warned not to perjure himself, the judges are warned not to accept such testimony. They must not listen to testimony which is patently a lie but make their own inquiries to determine if the testimony conforms to the facts. Even if there are two false witnesses already so that your testimony would not have any bearing on the outcome of the trial, you must not join them and reinforce their lies by testifying as they have done.

לא תהיה אחרי רבים לרעות, if, in your opinion, the majority are about to commit an error in judgment, do not remain silent because they are the majority, but state your view. This applies even if you know beforehand that they will not accept your viewpoint but that of the majority.

ולא תענה על (דברי) ריב לנטות אחרי רבימ להטות , contributing thereby to pervert justice. This rule applies even if because of your joining the majority the accused will be found innocent and saved from execution.

ודל לא תהדר, as spelled out in greater detail in Leviticus 19,15 לא תשא פני דל ולא תהדר פני גדול, “do not favour the poor nor show deference to the rich.” The unvarying motto is בצדק תשפוט עמיתך, “judge your kinsman fairly.”

חמור שנאך, the Torah uses the most likely scenario as its model. [Clearly, you are to do no less for the animal of a friend or relative.]

עזוב תעזוב, an expression meaning assistance, support. The word occurs in this sense also in Nechemyah 3,8 ויעזבו ירושלים עד החומה, “they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad wall.” We also find the word in this sense in Deuteronomy 32,36 ואפס עצור ועזוב, “and neither bond nor free is left.”

מדבר שקר תרחק, [these words are addressed to the judges Ed.] if you feel that that a perversion of justice is about to take place, aided and abetted by witnesses who perjure themselves, disqualify yourself from participating or presiding in such proceedings unless you know that you can convincingly prove the perversion of justice about to take place. ונקי וצדיק, if the guilty party has been exonerated at his trial you cannot subsequently “kill him,” i. e. reopen the proceedings seeing that you had accepted the testimony of the witnesses at the trial and brought the trial to a close. The reason is that if you mistakenly exonerated a guilty party, I. G’d, am the last recourse and will see to it that the guilty party will not remain perceived as righteous. We have had Exodus 21,13 והאלוהים אנה לידו as an example of G’d taking corrective action, causing someone who had been wrongly exonerated to be killed by his fellow man (though inadvertently).

יעור פקחים, the expression עור, blind, is appropriate as a contrast to someone with good vision. On the other hand, the opposite of the virtue of צדיק is סילוף, perversion, distortion.

ואספת את תבואתה. Into your house, and you need not abandon it to all and sundry except in the seventh year of the cycle, the Sh’mittah year. In that year you must leave it untouched, neither sowing your field nor harvesting it.

לכרמך ולזיתך, parallel to what the Torah legislated concerning the grain harvest. It is a rule in the Torah to mention these agricultural products under the headings ofדגן, תירוש, יצהר, meaning different types of grain, orchard products, and oil produced by the olive trees. The legislation includes all food products grown from the soil.

וככל אשר אמרתי אליכם, since the revelation at Mount Sinai until now, be careful to observe all these commandments. According to our sages in Shabbat 18 the reason for the apparent repetition is to include the need for one’s vessels (inert objects) to observe Sabbath rest. [a reference to those vessels which are used only on weekdays in connection with work prohibited on the Sabbath. Ed.]

וחג הקציר, the Shavuot festival on which the sacrifices mentioned in Leviticus 23,16-20 including the offering of the two loaves of the first wheat harvest are listed.

בכורי מעשיך, in order to permit use of the new wheat harvest products in the Temple for the gift offerings.

וחג האסיף, the Sukkot festival, a period immediately after the last harvest of the summer has been brought in. The Torah commanded us to sit in the huts in commemoration of the times when instead of having their own crops, the Israelites were in the desert depending on the daily ration of manna. Observance of the festival of חג האסיף, an aspect of the Sukkot festival therefore is a form of thanksgiving. We have learned therefore that all of the three pilgrimage festivals are directly related to the produce of the Holy Land.

'האדון ה, seeing that the whole earth is His, no one will covet your land when you come to Jerusalem to perform the commandment of making these pilgrimages. We have been promised this in Exodus 34,23, when the Torah speaks about expanding our territory, requiring that all the males come up to Jerusalem on three occasions. The names which the Torah attributes to G’d usually fit the subject matter under discussion, seeing that G’d has as many names as He has attributes. Wherever the attribute אדון is used it is connected with tenancy of the land of which G’d is the ultimate owner. We find the term אדון used for G’d also by Isaiah 10,33

לא תזבח על חמץ, the elimination of leavened products must take place before it is legally possible to slaughter the Passover, i.e. not later than the 6th hour, before noon. The seventh hour already qualifies for the description בין הערבים, (Exodus 12,6)

חלב חגי, a reference to the Passover; just as you are not allowed to leave over part of the meat which is yours to eat until morning, the parts which are consumed on the altar must likewise have been burned up before then.

ראשית בכורי אדמתך, this includes the seven types of products (Deut. 8,8) considered as the land of Israel’s choicest as per Deuteronomy 26,2 where you are commanded to bring the respective first ripe specimen of these seven products to Jerusalem as a gift. Ascent to Jerusalem with these products is to be on foot.

לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו, it is usual for goats to give birth to two kids at the same time, and it was customary for people to slaughter one of them right away. Seeing that mother goats have an abundance of milk (expecting to nurse at least two young kids) they used the excess milk to boil the young kid in after it had been slaughtered. (Proverbs 27,27 “the goat’s milk will suffice for your food, the food of your household and the maintenance of your maids.”) It is something distasteful, revolting, something akin to gluttony, to consume the mother’s milk together with the young animal that this milk was intended to nourish. We find a parallel in the legislation not to slaughter mother animal and her young on the same day, as well as the prohibition not to take the young chicks while the mother bird is present. (Leviticus 22,25 and Deuteronomy 22,6-7) The Torah teaches you these matters as a matter of elementary culture, i.e. respecting life. Seeing that on the festivals many animals are consumed, the Torah included this legislation in the paragraph dealing with other aspects of these festivals. If the consuming of these animals is prohibited under such circumstances, how much more so are mixture of milk and meat prohibited as discussed in Chulin 113.

שולח מלאך, as we know from Joshua 5,14 where the angel introduced himself as having been sent to decisively assist Israel.

אל תמר בו, the word תמר is a derivative of the root המר as in המר ימירנו (Leviticus 27,33) When the same word appears without a dagesh in the letter מ, is derived from the root נמר as in Jeremiah 48,11 וריחו לא נמר, “and his fragrance is unspoiled.” The construction of אל תמר is parallel to the construction of אל תפל, “do not omit,” in Esther 6,10 an imperative in the transitive conjugation hiphil of the root נפל. It does not have anything to do with the “refusal” implied in the root מרה in the sequence מרה מריתי in Lamentations 1,3. If the construction תמר in our verse were related to that root the Torah should have written אל תמרה without the dagesh in the letter מ, just as it did in Joshua I,18 where it does have that meaning and the text reads אל ימרה את פיך, “let no one show disobedience to him,” without the dagesh in the letter מ of the word ימרה.

כי שמי בקרבו, whatever the angel commands you to do he does in My name. He does not have permission, however, to forgive anything wrong you do.

כי ילך, “for he will walk, etc.”

כי הרס תהרסם, the author discusses the version taharssem or the version tehorssem, as we have it in our versions of the Torah, different, according to him from versions in France extant in his time, but different from the versions circulating in Germany and Spain. The difference in pronunciation derives from if the conjugation is strong (the author calls it with dagesh) or “weak (without such a dagesh) We have similar parallels in Deuteronomy 13,10 where the word tahargenu has a dagesh in the letter ג. Similar differences would also be shabber teshabber. The author argues that the correct vocalisation is the one based on the “strong” conjugation with the dagesh.

והסירותי מחלה, diseases caused by drinking polluted waters as I explained in connection with Marah (Exodus 15,25-26).

לא תהיה משכלה, even when the baby has gown up it will not die in adolescence, but, את מספר ימיך אמלא, they will all reach ripe old age.

את אימתי, the fear of the Lord will take hold of those engaged in fighting you.

והמותי, I will cause these people to become utterly confused by the overpowering noises they will hear which I cause. Such effects of sounds orchestrated by celestial forces are reported in Samuel I 7,10 as well as in Samuel II 22,15. The word is not related to מות, death; if it would mean “I will kill,” it would have to be vocalised differently, i.e veheymatti.”

ושתי, as if the Torah had written ושתתי (from the root שים, “to set, place.”) Similar constructions are found from the root כרת as וכרתי ברית, “I established a covenant” (Psalms 89,4) where the word כרתי is used instead of כרתתי.

מים סוף, which is located at the beginning of the eastern boundaries of the land of Israel as we can prove from Deuteronomy 1,1.

ועד ים פלשתים, which is situated on the western side as we know from Isaiah 9,11 ופלשתים מאחור “and the Philistines from behind.”

וממדבר, seeing that the Israelites were marching from the south.

עד הנהר, the river Euphrates in the north. Compare Jeremiah 1,14 מצפון תפתח הרעה, “disaster will break loose from the north.” Babylon is to the north of the land of Israel.