וזאת המצוה החוקים והמשפטים אשר צוה ה' אלוקיכם ללמד אתכם לעשות, ”This is the commandment, the statute and the civil laws which the Lord G’d commanded to you to carry out.” The reason I was commanded to teach you these laws is because Hashem accepted your request to hear the balance of the Torah from my lips.

למען תירא את ה' אלוקיך, “so that you will fear the Lord your G’d.” The purpose of learning the Torah in all its constituent parts and to carry out its imperatives, is to implant in you a degree of awe and reverence for the author of such a Book, the Lord your G’d. [The opinion of Ibn Ezra on 5,30, not spelled out by the author. Ed.] Nachmanides writes that he finds it impossible to accept that learning and keeping the Torah has as its objective 1) to acquire awe and reverence for our Creator, and 2) in order to enjoy a long life as a reward. According to Nachmanides the separation of these two objectives, as spelled out by Ibn Ezra is misleading. In his opinion, study of the Torah is meant to result in performance, which in turn will lead to the reward for the performance. The three steps are so closely interrelated that they are continuous, not separate. [Having children and enjoying their development as worthy successors are all part of this lifestyle. my words. Ed.] This in turn assures continued tenure of the Holy Land, and G’d’s benevolent supervision of our affairs both as individuals and on a national scale. G’d’s overriding interest is to help us to be righteous persons and to reap the benefit thereof.

ושמרת לעשות אשר ייטב לך, “You shall be careful to perform so that it will be good for you.” Moses underlines that the whole purpose of what he commands the people is for its own benefit.

ארץ זבת חלב ודבש, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” According to Ibn Ezra these words are the continuation of the verse concluding with the word לרשתה, “to inherit it,” in verse 1. He claims that this is so although it seems to be far removed from that sentence above. Alternately, we would have to conclude that the prefix ב is missing here and the Torah had meant to write בארץ זבת חלב ודבש, “in a land which flows with milk and honey.” Yet another possibility is to assume that the word לתת, “to give,” is missing and the verse has to be understood as concluding with the words כאשר דבר ה' אלוקי אבותיך לתת לך ארץ זבת חלב ודבש.

שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד, “Hear, O, Israel, Hashem is our G’d, Hashem is One.” Nachmanides agonizes over why, suddenly, Moses has seen fit to describe Hashem as “ours,” (ending נו) instead of as “yours,” (ending כם) as he did all the time while admonishing the people. Even in this very paragraph Moses again refers to Hashem as your Hashem, אלוקיך in the very next verse. He concludes that our verse is special, as Moses includes himself as the means by which Hashem had demonstrated His uniqueness, as He had not performed nearly as many miracles in all of history as he had performed by means of Moses. Having made that point, Moses reverts to his usual manner of referring to Hashem as the G’d of the people whom he addresses.

בכל לבבך, “with all your heart.” Nachmanides, in the footsteps of the Midrash, understands the word “heart” here as representing the source of all our desires, as for instance, in Psalms 21,3 תאות לבו נתת לו, “You have granted him the desire of his heart.”

בכל נפשך, “with all your soul.” This refers to the source of man’s intelligence, his brain, the analytical part of man, as opposed to the emotional part whose source is in the heart. As to our sages, who interpret the word more as the physical life force of man, when they understand Moses as exhorting the people to even sacrifice their physical life in the service of Hashem when the occasion demands it. (Rashi based on Sifri) They derive this from the wordבכל “with the whole, etc.” which is meant to add an additional dimension to the maximal imperative demanded by Moses in our relationship to Hashem. It is clear that the word בכל cannot mean that we should not only love Hashem with “half” our soul. The word must be intended to add an additional dimension to our love. Possibly, the word is inserted for stylistic reasons, seeing that it is used in connection with לבבך as well as with מאדך. Or, in order to make this more acceptable from a linguistic aspect, enduring pains, or losing limbs, is considered something less than losing one’s whole life, so that loving G’d with one’s whole soul must mean that one is prepared to give up one’s whole life for Him.

בכל מאדך, “with all your resources.” Nachmanides explains the word as if the Torah had written מאד מאד, “very very much,” i.e. “love Him exceedingly much.” According to our sages the dimension of love for G’d mentioned here is the one that is expressed in terms of one expending money or its equivalent to demonstrate that love. The reason why ממון, money or tangible assets are referred to as מאד, is because it is viewed in terms of something one amasses, i.e. המון, “a great quantity of something,” is closely related to the word ממון. Compare the proverb, Psalms 37,16 טוב מעט לצדיק מהמון רשעים רבים, “better the little that belongs to a righteous person than the great abundance of the wicked.” Moses demands that we love the Lord with the great abundance at our disposal. As to the very nature of “loving” the invisible and incorporeal G’d, our sages define it negatively i.e. what is not love of G’d. You are not to study Torah in order to make a name for yourself as a great scholar, or in order to qualify for long life both in this world and in the world to come; but you should do so because of who the author of the Torah is, i.e. לשמה, in admiration of His great name. (Nedarim 62) This, of course, raises the question of why Moses said למען ייטב לך ולמען תאריך ימים על הארץ, “in order that you will be well off and in order that you will enjoy many years on earth. etc., etc.” These words are not to be understood as an encouragement to perform the Torah for the sake of reward, but to inspire a degree of fear, seeing that such reward implies that if one does not qualify for it one qualifies for being deprived of what we nowadays would term “quality of life.” Alternately, the message in Moses’ words is that the pious must be oriented in two directions when performing the commandments; 1) love, 2) fear, awe. He must be conscious of love for him by His Creator, and requite that love, and at the same time he must be in trepidation not to anger his Creator by treating His commandments with disdain by neglecting them.

ושננתם לבניך, “You are to teach them thoroughly to your children;” Nachmanides writes that this too is merely a spelling out of something that had been clearly implied ever since the first commandment was given to Avraham to circumcise himself and his male descendants, and the Torah added that this commandment would be valid throughout the ages (Genesis 17,10) as well as many commandments with the rider that they are לדורותיכם, valid, applicable throughout your generations. Unless the knowledge of these command-ments will to be taught to each new generation, how could such commandments be observed in later generations? Similarly, in the next verse we are told that some of these laws have to be embedded in the phylacteries or the doorposts of your houses (verse 9), although we have read this in Exodus 13,9 spelled out already. What is new here is only the manner in which the written record of these paragraphs is to be constructed, etc. There are further details, which were handed down to Moses verbally, such as the precise type of knot that is required to enable us to wear the phylacteries on the head, etc. Moses here added the commandment of the mezuzah, something not mentioned in Exodus

והיה כי יביאך, “It shall be when He brings you, etc.” Nachmanides writes that the purpose of this paragraph is to warn the people not to forget their past, when they were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord had saved them from that miserable fate, not to take their new found status for granted and not to forget the loving kindness shown them by Hashem. They must forever retain a degree of fear of the Lord and, in a manner of speaking, relate to Him as a servant does to his master. According to the view of our sages (Chulin 17) our verse means to permit the Israelites to enjoy what they would find inside the houses captured in the Land of Canaan during the war of conquest, even if the loot consisted of matters ordinarily forbidden to them by Jewish law. Such matters include even pork, or the fruit of fields in which two or more species of plants had been sown too closely together, violating the law against mixing seed. It is not quite clear whether the cisterns are mentioned as they may have been constructed by mortar containing something forbidden, and such forbidden material would endure long past the time of the conquest, when the temporary relaxation of forbidden perishables mentioned here had long since ceased to be legal. It is noteworthy that whereas Moses relaxed a whole slew of forbidden food, drink, etc., during the period of the war of conquest, no single concession regarding matters related to idolatry is mentioned. This will be made crystal clear not only in verses 14-15, but again when the Torah repeats in Deut. 7,25 that the people must not display any desire for the golden or silver vessels used by the local inhabitants in any manner related to idol worship. To make this point clear Moses insists that any altars or places of worship of the Canaanites be completely razed. (7,5-6)

את ה' אלוקיך תירא, “You shall fear Hashem your G’d*;”* After having commanded the people to love Hashem, Moses had to add that they must also fear Him, else they might, in their over-enthusiasm forget the boundaries of what is forbidden by becoming too familiar with Hashem and violate crucial prohibitions only to incur harsh penalties.

ואותו תעבוד, “and Him you shall serve!” The manner in which you shall serve the Lord shall be reminiscent of the manner in which a servant serves his master. It is possible that Moses here alludes to the sacrificial service that is also known by the term עבודה, (compare עבודת מתנה in Numbers 18,7 or ועבד הלוי , in Number 18,23) We find a similar interpretation by the Sifri on the verse אחרי ה' אלוקיכם תלכו.....ואותו תעבודו in Deut. 13,5, where the “service” is understood to refer to the service in the Temple. There is an additional dimension derived from that, i.e. when there is no Temple in which to perform that service, the ”service” consists of studying how the service in the Temple will be performed when it will be rebuilt soon in our days. Ibn Ezra interprets the words את ה' אלוקיך תירא ואותו תעבוד as the former referring to the meticulous observance of the negative commandments, and the latter, as the meticulous observance of the positive commandments. This interpretation is not possible when applied to the verse cited by Sifri in Deut.

ובשמו תשבע,”and (only) in His name are you to render an oath.” This does not mean that it is a commandment to swear oaths, but if the occasion arises when you cannot avoid having to swear an oath, the only truth you must swear by is the truth known as Hashem.” This is why Moses follows up immediately with

לא תלכון אחרי אלוהים אחרים, “You shall not follow after other gods.” While on the subject of fearing G’d, loving G’d, serving G’d, we must not forget that no other so-called deity is to be feared, or otherwise appeased as they have absolutely no power and therefore neither deserve to be appeased or need to be feared. Some commentators say that we must note that Moses did not say tishava, buttishavea,a significant nuance. The wording as we have it here implies that if gentiles who are aware of how seriously a Jew takes his oath want to force us to swear to the truth of something by our G’d, as opposed to by their god, you must abide by what you swore to under such conditions even though you acted under duress. Not only this, but your being asked to render an oath in the name of your G’d reflects the fact that you are known as a G’d fearing person, exactly what Moses commanded you to be at the beginning of this verse. It is also possible that the words לא תלכון וגו' at the beginning of our verse refer to the opening words of verse 13, i.e. את ה' אלוקיך תירא, ”You are to fear the Lord your G’d,” and the words above define the extent to which you are to fear the Lord, i.e. sufficiently not to ever follow other philosophies, other alien deities. Your fear of the Lord is to be so tangible that His very name is to you like an oath; whenever you run to carry out one of your plans the very mention of His name is sufficient to ensure that if it is something constructive you will carry it out as if you had sworn to do it, and if it involves something negative, not compatible with His will, you will refrain from carrying it out as if bound not to do so by a personal oath. The Talmud in Temurah 3 deals with this verse at length, claiming that an oath concerning secular matters is permitted by the Torah. [but the author of the famous commentary Torah Temimah, Rabbi Baruch Epstein, points out that the treatment in the Talmud leaves most of us more confused than we had been before. The major problem is the contradictory attitudes between Maimonides and Nachmanides on the whole subject of when a Jew may swear an oath not legislated by the Torah. Ed.]

לא תנסו את ה' אלוקיכם, “You shall not test the Lord your G’d.” The best known example of the Jewish people violating this commandment is found in Exodus 17,6 when the people tested “if the Lord is in our midst or not.” [The result of this insult to G’d was the attack by Amalek reported in the very next verse. Ed.] Making our loyalty to G’d dependent on His demonstrating His existence and His care to each one of us individually, is not only childish, but insulting to the Creator. How many times does G’d have to prove either His existence or His power to the Jewish people? Moses therefore warns the people not to stipulate that if they do not experience the hoped for results from their keeping the commandments they would abandon that path. Part of true faith is to accept even what appears to be a major, and sometimes irreversible setback in our aspirations with good grace, undiminished love for G’d, who by being the Creator, surely knows best and has His creatures’ best interests at heart. Moses makes this very point and that is why he continues with

שמור תשמרון את מצות וגו'... ועדותיו, “observe the commandments…and His testimonies” Most of the “testimonies” are commandments designed to perpetuate in our collective memories these very miracles G’d has performed for us. We eat unleavened bread on Passover to commemorate the Exodus, we either offer the Passover, or remember it symbolically on our Seder plate when unable to offer sacrifices. We leave our homes and spend a week in a flimsy hut in order to commemorate that our G’d whom we worship kept an entire nation not only alive and well, but did so for 40 years in a totally inhospitable desert, although their conduct on occasion would have caused other rulers to abandon them. What is said here concerning not testing G’d is equally applicable to G’d’s established prophets. Once a prophet has proven his credentials as a true prophet, he is not to be subjected to constantly having to prove that he is still enjoying G’d’s ear. In the course of his speeches, Moses will also tell the Jewish people that should there be times when there are no prophets this is no reason to abandon G’d’s commandments, as there are competent sages, Rabbis, who are always at hand to inculcate the younger generation with authentic teachings of the Torah and the Books of the Prophets, as well as the deliberations of the oral law in Mishnah and Gemara.

ועשית הישר והטוב, “You shall do what is fair and good;” Nachmanides, approaching this line from a purely textual perspective, writes that Moses exhorts the people here that when they observe G’d’s commandments they should develop the feeling that what they are doing thereby is doing what is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, the Jewish definition of “fair and good,” is what has been revealed by G’d to be so in His eyes. [Moses does not ask us to develop an independent moral code, possibly superseding the one G’d has established for us. Ed.] The assurance למען ייטב לך, “so that you will be well off,” is tied to your accepting His standards of what is fair and good. Our sages in the Midrash view the words ועשית הישר והטוב, as Moses, at this point, introducing a new concept in, especially, inter-personal relationships, the concept known as לפנים משורת הדין, “over and beyond the requirements of the law.” Up until now Moses had exhorted the people to be law-abiding, both in their ritual lives and in their relationships with their fellow man. Now, he asks them to do more than that. An Israelite, deserving of that title, is expected to seek out opportunities to demonstrate his concern for his fellow by voluntarily giving of himself or of his material wealth. The parameters are left open. The guidelines for such conduct over and beyond the strict requirement of justice are the knowledge that the Creator, by definition, is doing so all the time, and has even created a quasi legal instrument called teshuvah, repentance, enabling His creatures to escape the dreadful consequences of their failures that they would have to look forward to had G’d not afforded them the opportunity to turn the clock back by repenting, and thus rehabilitating themselves. A practical example of this kind of self-restraint is not to take revenge or emphasize one’s righteousness compared to one’s fellow who had demonstrated total insensitivity to such considerations. (Compare Leviticus 19,18: “do not take revenge and do not bear a grudge.” What was phrased there as a prohibition, or other legal restraints of unacceptable behaviour even when provoked, such as not even to curse a deaf person, Moses expands to initiatives of doing good, as something to be sought out as proof that we the creatures try to emulate the virtues of the Creator.) [I have paraphrased some of the last few lines. Ed.]

כי ישאלך בנך מחר מה העדות, וגו', “When your child asks you tomorrow (figuratively speaking)” The first category of questions by children who observe our rituals are questions concerning symbols commemorating historic events, i.e. עדות. Subsequently, questions will concern laws that appear not to be rooted either in our history or logic, חקים. Lastly, the child will question משפטים, penalties exacted for violating the Sabbath, by being stoned to death, for instance, or why someone sleeping with a woman and her mother should be subject to the death penalty by burning, etc. etc. The child will not ask his father concerning a whole range of laws that make sense to him, laws that are effective in fighting crime, etc. Moses tells the father that in the first instance he has to inform his child about the Exodus from Egypt and what had preceded it. This answer, basically is the introduction to the Ten Commandments in which Hashem introduces Himself as the One Who liberated the people of Israel from bondage under terrible conditions, something that surely entitles Him to expect something from us in return when He requests this. Having demonstrated His power to us at the time and having exerted Himself on our behalf is all that is needed to justify His legislating a lifestyle for us.

לעינינו, “before our very eyes.” We the generation telling all this to our children, were privileged to have seen with our own eyes all that we are relating to you, to whom this will remain only “hearsay.” Seeing that to us this is more than hearsay, but something we experienced on our bodies, saw with our own eyes, we are certainly bound to acknowledge Him in every sphere of our lives. It does not matter whether the legislation is embodied in a framework of historical symbols, עדות, social laws, משפטים, or even laws that defy our powers of reason to understand, חוקים; we are bound to respect and obey them equally. WE are certain that all of them have been designed to make our life on earth and eventually in our own land, so much better than it would be without them.

וצדקה תהיה לנו, “and it will be a merit for us, etc.” Although we are duty bound to observe all these commandments, and the idea that we would be entitled to be rewarded for doing so is quite beyond reason, Moses assures the people that such reward will nonetheless be in store for them, this being the nature of Hashem, Who devises ways and means to enable His people to acquire merits. Ibn Ezra writes that some scholars see in our verse (the word צדקה) an allusion to the world to come, where the reward for keeping the commandments will be handed out. According to the plain meaning of the text, the meaning is that it is no more than fair and just that we keep Hashem’s commandments as by what He did at the Exodus He has acquired us as His eternal servants obligated to do His bidding.