Halakhah for Deuteronomy 6:5

It is a positive commandment to love God, may He be blessed, with all one's heart, and all one's soul, and all one's might. As it is said (Deuteronomy 6:5): "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." The way to love Him is to meditate on His acts until one contemplates them to the degree to which he is able - when the heart is aflame with the love of Him. This is the love which is incumbent upon us. One should direct all of his thoughts toward the love of God, may He be blessed. A person can only love the Holy One, blessed be He from the knowledge with which he knows Him, so in proportion to that knowledge will be the love: if [the knowledge is] small, [the love will be] small; if great, great. Therefore, a person needs to focus himself on understanding and comprehending, through wisdom and known philosophies, the honor of his Master, in proportion to the ability which he has to understand and attain. This is one of the commandments which a person is obligated in at all times, at every moment. Included in this commandment is [the requirement] to bring people close to His service, may He be blessed, and to love Him for what he has created, as our forefather Avraham, peace be upon him, did, as it is said (Genesis 12:5): "And the souls which he created in Haran." Because of this, the Holy One, blessed be He, called Avraham His beloved, as it is said (Isaiah 41:8): "Avraham my beloved."

(Zayin) There is still more. This [required] study must be from love, such that he not use this trait for anything else at all, ‘but rather his desire is for the Torah of the Lord.’ And these are the words of the Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 3:4-7:
The Israelites did not accept the Torah until the Holy One, blessed be He, arched the mountain over them like a vessel, etc. If you should say it was because of the Written Law, isn’t it true that as soon as He said to them, “Will you accept the Torah,” they all responded (Exod. 24:7), “We will do and hear?” … But rather He said this to them because of the Oral Law, etc. And its jealousy is as harsh as Sheol.²⁸The pit, usually a reference to the nether-world. One does not study the Oral Law unless he loves the Holy One, blessed be He, with all his heart, etc., as it is stated (Deut. 6:5), “And you shall love, etc.” Whence do you learn that this word, “love,” refers only to studying the [Oral Law]? Observe what is written after this (Deut. 6:6): “And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart.” And what study is upon the heart? Scripture (Deut. 6:7) states [immediately thereafter], “And you shall review it to your children.” [Hence] this is the study that requires review (i.e. the Oral Law). We learn from these verses that the first part of the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9) does not mention a reward given in this world, while the second part does: “And if you shall hearken diligently, etc., I will give the rain of your land in its season” (Deut. 11:13). This reward is given to those who perform the commandments even though they neglect study [of the Oral Law], etc. As anyone who loves material riches and earthly pleasures is incapable of studying the Oral Law. [This is because] there is considerable anguish and sleeplessness in (store for him who studies) it; one wastes and neglects himself on its account. Therefore its reward is in the hereafter, as it is said (Isaiah 9:1), “The people that walk in darkness have seen a great light,” etc. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, established two academies (at Sura and Pumbeditha) for the Israelites where they studied the Torah day and night and where they assembled from all parts of the world twice each year – in the months of Adar and Elul. They came together to “battle” the problems encountered in the Torah until they had resolved them and reached a definitive decision concerning the law. [See there, as it is lengthy.]
And [the Rabbis] said in the Midrash that the Holy One, blessed be He, forced us [to accept the Oral Law] by arching the mountain, such that the Torah would not be severed from us forever. As with a [woman] forced [to have sexual relations], it is written (Deut. 22:19), “he may not send her away all of his days.”²⁹See the next paragraph and note 34. Also the manna that they ate in the wilderness was [given] with this intention. As it is written in Maggid Mesharim of Beit Yosef (R. Yosef Karo), that the manna that the Israelites ate was necessary in order [for them] to receive the Torah without any choice. And these are the words in Yalkut Reuveni, Beshelach: [The angel named] Yafefiyah who is the one who rained down the manna upon Israel, is numerically equivalent (with the letters adding up to 197) to Katseh, who is the angelic minister of Torah; whereas they said (Num. 21:5), “and our souls are sick (katseh)” – to make known that they were sick and disgusted of the manna and of the Torah. See there. And this was forcing them to receive the Torah, as the manna was coming from the minister of the Torah, and it was the bread of mighty ones from which the ministering angels are sustained. [Hence] they no longer had any physical desire or inclination. Rather it was [therewith only] the love of the Torah and of the commandments that was implanted in their hearts. And this [love] remained for [future] generations among the enlightened ones about whom it is stated (Num. 19:14), “when a man dies in a tent.”³⁰ See Berakhot 63b.

The root of loving God is loving God with all your heart (Deut. 6:4). Our Creator commanded us to serve him with love,¹The term “love” is the preferred reading. that the love of our soul be bound up with His soul in joy and in His love and with a good heart. And the joy of this love is of such intensity and so overpowers the heart of those who love God, that even after many days of not being with his wife and having a great desire for her, in the hour that a man ejaculates he does not find it as satisfying as the intensity and power of loving²Ibid. God and finding joy in his Creator. And all the pleasures of playing with his children are as naught compared to the pleasures of the heart of the man who loves God with all his heart and soul and with all his might, i.e., with all his thoughts, about how to love God and how to make the public acquire merit and sanctify God’s name, and how to devote himself with love to the Creator,³Berakoth 61b. as did Phineas the priest who dedicated himself with love for his Creator to be zealous in His name. Let him not covet money in a situation where there is a Sanctification of God’s name if he resists taking money, as we find with Abraham, “that I will not take a thread or a shoe latchet” (Gen. 14:23). And so (it was) with Elisha who did not want to take money from Naaman. Let him not neglect the study of the Law because of pleasures, playing with his children or attachment to his wives. Also let him give up leisurely walks, meeting with women, sweet songs, in order that his heart may be whole in the joy of God, toiling and laboring in that which is the will of the Creator. He should take a lesson from one of flesh and blood. If he knew a matter to be the desire of a king, he would not yield nor rest until he fulfilled the will of the king, who is a worm like himself. He would be overjoyed that his deeds received the notice of the king and especially if it met with the will of the Creator who is eternal. Therefore must he labor all the more and seek how to fulfill the will of His commandments. He who serves out of love, occupies himself with Torah and commandments, goes in paths of proper wisdom and occupies himself with Torah and loves God with great love, not for any other reason, and not for fear of evil, nor for the purpose of inheriting the good. But he serves in truth, because the Holy One, blessed be He, is truth and in the end the good will come because of it.⁴Nedarim 62a. He must love the Creator with a great and strong love until he becomes sick because of his love, as the man who is love-sick for the affections of a woman and reels constantly because of his love, when he sits, rises, goes and comes, also when he eats and drinks. He neither sleeps nor slumbers because of this love. Greater than this should love of the Creator be in the hearts of those who love Him and they should be absorbed in it constantly,⁵Rosh ha-Shanah 4a. as we were commanded, “with all thy heart, with all thy soul …” (Deut. 6:4); and this is what Solomon in his wisdom said by the way of simile: “For I am love-sick” (Cant. 2:5). And this is a matter as clear as day and sun, for all who know that love of the Creator is not bound up with the heart of man until he is absorbed in it continuously, so as, for example, to forsake all else in the world outside of Him, as He commanded us “with all thy heart” (Deut. 6:4). This is impossible except through the apprehension of the mind. Therefore this is the truth, and the sum of it all is, that man must understand and study in the wisdoms and disciplines that make known to him his Master⁶Shabbath 75a. according to the intellectual ability that he possesses to understand, consider and comprehend.⁷Maimonides, Hilkhoth Teshuvah, 10:6. And the Creator, blessed be His name and exalted be His revered and awesome fame, commanded us to love and fear His name, as it is written “and thou shalt love the Lord thy God” (Deut. 6:4); and it is said, “thou shalt fear the Lord thy God” (Deut. 6:13). And which is the way in which to love Him and fear Him? In the hour that the individual comprehends the great and wondrous works of God, the Holy One, blessed be He, which are beyond assessment and limit, he immediately loves, praises, glorifies and yearns deeply to know that great, revered and awesome name.⁸Moses Maimonides, Book of the Divine Commandments, trans. Charles Chavel (2 Vols.; London: Soncino Press, 1940), I, 82, commandment 3. And thus did David say, “My soul thirsteth for God for the living God” (Ps. 42:3). And when he reflects upon these matters he will be startled, he will fear, and will tremble that he is a very small and lowly creature standing with poor and scanty knowledge before Him.⁹Maimonides, Hilkhoth Yesode Ha-Torah, 2:2, adds the words, “Who is omniscient,” (literally, “Whose knowledge is complete”). And so did David say, “When I behold Thy heavens the work of Thy fingers etc…. What is man that Thou art mindful of him” (Ps. 8:4).

The underlying notion is codified by Rambam, Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah 2:2, in a totally different context. In defining the thrust of the commandment "And you shall love the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 6:5), Rambam, at least by implication, informs us that the mizvah does not command an emotion. It is exceedingly, and probably impossibly, difficult to command emotions directly. Sefer Haredim had a similar difficulty explaining the cogency of commanding love of a fellow human being. Accordingly, Sefer Haredim 1:28-29, defines the commandment requiring one to love his fellow as well as the commandment to love the proselyte as commandments requiring concrete physical acts. Rambam, Sefer ha-Mizvot, mizvot aseh, no. 3, as well as Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah 2:2, defines the mizvah "And you shall love the Lord your God," in intellectual, rather than emotional, terms.⁹See also Rambam, Guide of the Perplexed, Part III, chap. 28. A person fulfills the mizvah by intellectually recognizing the majesty of the Deity and the grandeur of His creation. Moreover, as elucidated by R. Ovadiah ben David, author of the unidentified commentary published together with that section of the Mishneh Torah, love is directly commensurate with knowledge: the greater the intellectual apprehension, the greater the love. Ahavah and yedi'ah, love and knowledge, become conflated into a single concept. As Rambam, Hilkhot Teshuvah 10:6, declares:

That is, that we reflect upon and ponder his mizvot and dicta¹⁰In this exposition in Sefer ha-Miẓvot Rambam includes understanding of Torah as integral to knowledge, and hence love, of God. That is consistent with Rambam’s view that the commandments are the product of divine reason (see Guide of the Perplexed, Part III, chap. 26) and his doctrine of negative attributes. Accordingly, Torah, as the manifestation of divine reason, is integral to the essence of God. Hence, knowledge of Torah is knowledge of God. and his works until we apprehend Him and delight in the ultimate degree of pleasure in apprehending Him. This is the mandatory love. In the words of Sifri: "For it says, 'You shall love the Lord your God' (Deuteronomy 6:5). I do not know how to love God. Therefore, [Scripture] teaches, 'And these matters which I command you this day shall be upon your heart' (Deuteronomy 6:6). From that you will recognize He who spoke and the universe came into being." Behold we have explained to you that through reflection you will succeed in apprehension and achieve pleasure, and love will come necessarily.

(Bet) In Sefer HaIkkarim 3:35,⁹⁰A classic work of Jewish philosophy written by Rabbi Yosef Albo (Spain, c. 1380-1444). [it is written about (Deut. 6:5), “And you shall love the Lord, your God”]: “A person cannot love two things or two persons with a perfect love, for if he loves them both, neither love is perfect since it is divided between two. It is impossible for the lover to be completely united with the loved – such as the idea of love requires – unless the loved is one. […] But since ‘the Lord is one,’⁹¹The reference is to the previous verse, Deut. 6:4. [‘you shall love the Lord, your God’].” See there. And this appears to be the intention of the Scripture (Gen. 22:2), [wherein] the Holy One, blessed be He, says to Avraham, “Please take, etc., whom you love”; but after his passing the test, it is said to him (Deut. 22:16), “Because you have done, etc., your only one from Me” – but it did not repeat, “whom you love.” As the essence of the test was that God, may He be blessed, saw that [Avraham] loved the son he fathered when he was a hundred. And because of this, his love was [divided] and not perfect with Him, may He be blessed. Hence He told him to slaughter his son that he loved. This was in order to negate the love from his son and make it perfect for [God], may He be blessed. And after he passed the test and made his love perfect for God – to the point that in his love, he wanted to slaughter his only son – then his love for his son was already negated; and all of its divisions became wholly for God, may He be blessed. And therefore it no longer mentioned “love” for Yitschak, just “his only one.” And one must dedicate [his] fear and love to His name, may His name be blessed, as we have elucidated. And behold, from undiluted fear, he came to total love. And they said in the Talmud (Shabbat 31a), “‘The fear of the Lord was its storage chest’ (Isaiah 33:6) [… There is] a parable about a man who said to his emissary, ‘Bring […] wheat up to the attic for me.’ [So] he went and brought it up for him. He said to [him], ‘Did you mix a kav of ḥomton into it?’ He said to him, ‘No.’ He said to him, ‘It would have been preferable had you not brought it up.’” And Rashi explains that ḥomton preserves produce from getting wormy. But [it is found] in the Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 30:14), “[‘The fear of the Lord was its storage chest’] – there is a parable about a man who said to his fellow, ‘I have a hundred kor of wheat, a hundred barrels of oil [and] a hundred barrels of wine.’ [The other] said to him, ‘Do you have storehouses to put [them into?’ He said to him, ‘No.’ He said to him, ‘Then] you will have no [benefit] from them.’” And in Tur Bareket,⁹²A commentary on the Shulchan Arukh written by R. Chaim HaKohen (Syria, 1585-1655). it is written that in our Talmud, it is a parable for internal fear, but in the midrash – which calls it storehouses – it is a parable for external fear. See there. And behold, certainly one who has more wheat or fruit will need to have more homton and to have more storehouses to put them in. And for this reason, one who is a master of Torah, the commandments and many good deeds, will need more storehouses and homton – according to the value of the grain and barrels of wine and oil that he has. And if so, he needs more fear of Him, which ‘is his storage chest.’ And for this, he needs cooperation and association with those that fear – those that fear the Lord. And [it is] just like there is cooperation between the one who has grain but does not have storage chests and the one has many storage chests. And with this, it is possible to explain (Ps. 119:63), “I am a companion to all who fear You, to those who guard Your precepts” – since through fear, the commandments will be guarded. And [it is also possible to explain], “Fear God and guard His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13), – as through fear of Him, [a person’s fulfillment of the] commandments will be guarded, like the kav of ḥomton preserves the wheat, and as I wrote in Paragraph Yod adjacently (immediately above).

(Hay-Nun) ‘Behold man is the one’ in which there is one shrine, as we have elucidated in most of the sections of this introduction of ours. And [it is] as it is [found] in the Zohar, Parashat Korach 94 (3:176a-b), “The One only dwells among the one.” See there. And the unity that [comes] as a result of the commandments permitted the Divine Presence to dwell among Israel through the twenty-two letters of the Torah. As included in it are the six hundred and thirteen commandments – the three hundred sixty-five positive commandments and the two hundred and forty-eight negative commandments – corresponding to the sinews and limbs of a man.⁹⁷Targum Yonatan on Genesis 1:27; Zohar 1:170b. And so was it explained in Paragraph Tzaddi in explanation of the verse (Isaiah 59:2) “But your iniquities have been a barrier between you,” that [the Jews] are united through the commandments and divided one from another through sins.⁹⁸This specific verse is not explained in our text. However the topic is broached in Paragraph Tsadi, and it is possible that this is the reference here, and not Paragraph Bet, as appears in the printed editions. However, it is even more likely that the reference is to Binah Le’Etim (Drash 48) of Rabbi Azariah Figo, as per the correction found in the New York Shivelei David edition, as both the verse and the idea are found there. (Hence the notation Si. Bet, which was understood as a reference to Siman Bet, should have been S. Bet, which could mean Sefer Binah Le’Etim.) And this was the intention of Hillel who said to the convert, “[‘And you shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Lev. 19:18)] – that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its explanation. Go study.”⁹⁹Shabbat 31a. [Its] explanation is that the other commandments are explanations of the unity through which Israel joins together and becomes one. And this is also elucidated in the midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 13:3) that says, “What does the Holy One, blessed be He care if he slaughters, etc.? Behold, [the commandments] were only given to refine (letsaref, which can also mean, unite) the creatures, as it is stated (Prov. 30:5), ‘the word of God is refined.’” [Its] explanation is that through the commandments, the Children of Israel will be unified. And also there in Midrash Rabbah on Parashat Vayechi,¹⁰⁰The reference seems to be to Bereishit Rabbah 98:3. Differing versions of the midrash are brought in several other places such as Midrash Tanchuma, Vayehi 8:2. “Yaakov said to his sons, ‘Maybe because you come from four mothers, you have a tinge of idolatry?’ They said to him, ‘It is written (Num. 1:20), “according to the house of their fathers” – just like there is only One in your heart.’” And the author of the Yafeh Toar¹⁰¹A commentary on Bereishit Rabbah by Rabbi Shmuel Yafeh Ashkenazi (Turkey, 16th century). did not know its explanation. But it appears to me that [it can be explained] according to what [Maharal] writes in Netsach Yisrael¹⁰²See Netsach Yisrael, Chapter 32 (p. 153 in London edition). – [that the] reason that Rachel gave the signs to Leah¹⁰³In Bava Batra 123a, the rabbis write that Yaakov had given Rachel a type of code (signs) in case an impostor be sent to his tent in her place on their wedding night. When Rachel found out the plot to have Leah be that impostor, she gave Leah the signs to prevent her from being embarrassed. was because she knew that it was not fitting for Yaakov to father all twelve of the tribes from one woman. And had it been so, they would have all been one, whereas that is not fitting for this lowly [world] – as its nature inclines away from the way of oneness. And this causes sin in Israel until the future to come (messianic times) speedily in our days. See there. And this is [the meaning of that which Yaakov said to his sons, “Maybe because you come from four mothers, it is impossible that you will be unified; and sin caused it, as the One can only dwell among one.” But they answered him, “It is written, ‘according to the house of their fathers’ – and there is one Father to all of us and there is One in our hearts. And God, may He be blessed, will be unified through us.” And it is as our teacher Rabbi Yitschak Abarbanel writes in explanation of the verse (Gen. 2:24), “and they shall become one flesh,” like Rashi explained – through the embryo that is created from both of them. And the portion of each one is in the many limbs. Even though the embryo loves itself; yet through this the father and the mother [also] love each other, as a branch produces love in [its] roots. And this is the intention of the statement of [the Sages], may their memory be blessed, “‘And you shall love [the Lord your God], etc.’ (Deut. 6:5) – [that the name of the Heavens be loved through you¹⁰⁴This is the text found in the Talmud, and it is possibly what was written by the author. However, most versions of the Shev Shmat’ta have, “both of them will be beloved through the Torah scholar,” possibly relating to the mother and father.]” (Yoma 86a). And that means that the higher forces become unified, as all of them gave their portion to man and he is a branch from them – and love will sprout from the roots. And hence one should have intention for this unification before every [Torah] study [session] and good deed, as a fulfillment of the commandment of “and you shall love your neighbor, etc.” And [then] all of Israel will be one, and also all of the ones that gave birth to them will love each other and be unified.¹⁰⁵The author returns here to the theme with which he began this essay in the introductory paragraph and Paragraph Gimmel. And with what I have elucidated, their statement at the end of Tractate Eduyot is understood, “[Eliyahu] will not come to make distant or to bring close, but to make peace [among them], as it is stated (Mal. 3:23-24), ‘Behold, I will send, etc. [He shall bring back the hearts of the children to their fathers’” (Mishnah Eduyot 8:7). [This is] meaning that [the children] will be called by the name of their fathers, but there is [only] one Father to us all. And the world will then be fit for it. And then we shall see the joy of Zion and the building of Jerusalem, speedily in our days. Amen, Selah.

This analysis of Rashi's comments is expressly formulated by R. Zevi Ashkenazi, Teshuvot Hakham Ẓevi, no. 77. Hakham Ẓevi states explicitly that, in a situation in which "life" is not evident at the nose for whatever reason but is evident at the heart, the presence of cardiac activity is itself sufficient to negate any other presumptive evidence of death.⁴⁵See R. Eliezer Waldenberg, Ẓiẓ Eli’ezer, X, no. 25, chap. 4, sec. 7. Cf. also, Ẓiẓ Eli‘ezer, IX, no. 46, sec. 5, who cites medieval writers on physiology—among them Sha‘ar ha-Shamayim, a work attributed to the father of Gersonides—who declare that life is dependent upon nasal respiration because warm air from the heart is expelled from the nose and cold air which cools the heart, enters through the nose. It was thus clearly recognized that respiration without cardiac activity is an impossibility. Hakham Ẓevi notes that in some cases a heartbeat may be imperceptible even though the individual is still alive. A weak beat may not be audible or otherwise perceivable since the rib cage and layers of muscle intervene between the heart itself and the outer skin. Respiration is more readily detectable and hence the insistence upon the examination of the nostrils. However, concludes Hakham Ẓevi, "It is most clear that there can be no respiration unless there is life in the heart, for respiration is from the heart and for its benefit." According to Hakham Ẓevi, cessation of respiration constitutes the operative definition of death solely because lack of respiration, in usual circumstances, is also indicative of cessation of cardiac activity.⁴⁶Ḥakham Ẓevi’s original ruling elicited the sharp disagreement of R. Jonathan Eibeschutz and sparked a controversy which has become classic in the annals of Halakhah. The dispute centered around a chicken which, upon evisceration, proved to have no discernible heart. The chicken was brought to Ḥakham Ẓevi for a determination as to whether the fowl was to be considered treifah because of the missing heart. Ḥakham Ẓevi ruled that the chicken was kosher because it is empirically impossible for a chicken to lack a heart since there can be no life whatsoever without a heart. The chicken clearly lived and matured; hence it must have had a heart which somehow became separated from the other internal organs upon the opening of the chicken and was inadvertently lost. The impossibility of life without a heart, in the opinion of Ḥakham Ẓevi, is so obvious a verity that he declares that even the testimony of witnesses attesting to the absence of the heart and the impossibility of error is to be dismissed as blatant perjury. R. Jonathan Eibeschutz, in a forceful contradictory opinion, argues that such a possibility cannot be dismissed out of hand. In his commentary on Yoreh De‘ah, Kereti u-Peleti 40:4, R. Jonathan Eibeschutz contends that the functions of the heart, including the pumping of blood, might well be performed by an organ whose external form is quite unlike that of a normal heart and which may even be located in some other part of the body. This organ might be indistinguishable from other, more usual, tissue and hence the observer might have concluded that the animal or fowl lacked a “heart.”
There is nothing in this opinion which contradicts the point made on the basis of Ḥakham Ẓevi’s responsum with regard to determination of the time of death. R. Jonathan Eibeschutz concedes that life cannot be sustained in the absence of some organ that performs cardiac functions. R. Jonathan Eibeschutz argues only that, in the apparent absence of a recognizable heart, cardiac functions may possibly be performed by some other organ; he does not at all assert that life may continue following cessation of the functions normally performed by the heart. Similarly, R. Moses Sofer, Teshuvot Hatam Sofer, Yoreh De'ah, no. 338, rules that absence of respiration is conclusive only if the patient "lies as an inanimate stone and there is no pulse whatsoever." In the same vein R. Joseph Saul Nathanson, Yad Sha'ul, Yoreh De'ah 394, declares, "It is clear as the sun that the indicator of life is the beating of the heart or breathing of the nose." These sources indicate clearly that death occurs only upon cessation of both cardiac and respiratory functions.⁴⁷It must be emphasized that among both early-day and latter-day authorities there is not to be found a single commentator who contradicts Rashi’s exposition in any way. Although some authorities, including Teshuvot Radbaz, V, no. 108, and Bet Yosef, Oraḥ Ḥayyim 60, assert that Rashi’s commentaries are not to be given the same weight as normative rulings of codifiers of the law, that principle of halakhic decision-making is not germane to the question at hand. Ḥazon Ish asserts that this principle is limited to comments that might reflect hypothetical positions or that might be construed as explaining an individual opinion recorded in the Gemara, but not to be applied to comments that are clearly intended as normative and definitive. Moreover, declares Ḥazon Ish, “All this could be discussed if there were some [authority] who disputed the matter and we would have need of deciding in accordance with the majority of opinions. But in the instant case in which we have not found a single early authority who disputes this matter, certainly the testimony of early authorities is accepted by us as that which was spoken to Moses at Sinai.” See letter of Ḥazon Ish included by R. Kalman Kahane in his article on the international dateline, Ha-Ma‘ayan, Tammuz 5714, pp. 31–38 and reprinted in R. Menachem Kasher, Kav ha-Ta’arikh ha-Yisra’eli (Jerusalem, 5737), p. 195. See also Ḥazon Ish, Koveẓ Iggerot (Bnei Brak, 5750), no. 15, as well as Me’iri, Ḥullin 32a. It should also be noted that the principle formulated by Bet Yosef and Radbaz is entirely negated by some authorities; see R. Chaim Joseph David Azulai, MaḤazik Berakhah, Yoreh De‘ah 12:1 and idem, Birkei Yosef, Ḥoshen Mishpat 25:31. See also this writer’s comments, Or ha-Mizraḥ, Tishri 5749, pp. 86–88. Rabbenu Baḥya, in his commentary on Deuteronomy 6:5, describes the heart as the last of the organs of the body to die and remarks that the phrase "with all your heart" indicates that love of God must persist until the last moment of life, i.e., when death becomes complete upon cessation of the beating of the heart. The absence of other vital signs is not, insofar as Halakhah is concerned, sufficient to establish that death has occurred.

The laws of the commandment are, for example, the many [prohibitions] that they, may their memory be blessed, warned us about; that they made known to us - in order to warn us more about the thing - that the Torah warned about it in twenty-one (and see the Lemberg edition, that reads, twenty-four) places (Bava Metzia 39b); that they also wrote to strengthen the commandment, that with the same expression that we were commanded about the love of the Omnipresent, we were [also] commanded about the love of the convert - as with the Omnipresent, it is written (Deuteronomy 6:5), "And you shall love your God"; and with the convert, it is written (Deuteronomy 10:19), "And you shall love the convert." And many things like this are in Midrash and in a few places in the Gemara (see Tur, Choshen Mishpat, 307).

That is that He commanded us to love converts. And that is His saying, "And you shall love the stranger" (Deuteronomy 10:19). And even though he was included regarding this with [all of] Israel, in His saying, "and you shall love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18) - since this stranger is a convert (and a full member of Israel) - however because he entered into our Torah, God added love upon love and designated an additional commandment for him. [This is] as He did with the prohibition of, "And you shall not oppress" (Leviticus 25:17); He [also] said, "And you shall not oppress a stranger" (Exodus 22:20). And it is explained from the language of the Gemara (Bava Metzia 59b) that we are liable by oppressing the convert on account of, "And you shall not oppress," and on account of, "And you shall not oppress a stranger." [So] we are also obligated to love him on account of, "and you shall love your neighbor as yourself," and on account of, "And you shall love the stranger." And this is clear - there is no doubt about it. And I do not know a [single] man from whoever counted the commandments that botched this. And in most [books of] Midrash, they explained that God commanded about the convert, just like He commanded us about Himself - He said, "And you shall love the Lord, your God" (Deuteronomy 6:5), and He said, "And you shall love the stranger." (See Parashat Ekev; Mishneh Torah, Human Dispositions 6.)

The commandment of loving God: That we were commanded to love the Omnipresent, blessed be He (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Foundations of the Torah 2:1), as it is stated (Deuteronomy 6:5), "And you shall love the Lord, your God." And the content of this commandment is that we should think about and contemplate His commands and His actions to the point that we comprehend Him according to our ability and that we delight in His providence with complete delight. And this is [this] special love. And the language of the Sifrei is "Since it is stated, 'And you shall love,' I would not know how a man is to love the Omnipresent. [Hence,] we learn to say, 'And these things that I command you today shall be upon your heart' (Deuteronomy 6:6) - that through this, you will recognize the One that spoke and the world [came into being]." [This] means to say that with contemplation in Torah, the love will perforce [find its place] in the heart. And they [also] said that this love obligates a man to arouse [other] people, from his love, to serve Him, as we found with Avraham.

He says “כתר²¹³The Keter, כתר, was an ancient beginning of the Kedushah, קדושה, or sanctification prayer. It is no longer said and Kedushah now begins with the word na'ariẓkha, נעריצך. It is part of the Sabbath and festival Musaf Service (see footnote 166).
The Kedushah said during the Musaf Amidah is different than the Sanctification recited in the Shaḥarit Amidah on the Sabbath (see footnote 17). The Musaf Sanctification dwells more sublimely on the majestic conception of the angels in heaven glorifying the Eternal King and it introduces Israel proclaiming in response to the angelic choir, the holiness, glory, unity, and sovereignity of God's name. The Shema, the congregation's confession of faith, is part of the Musaf Kedushah (see footnote 17, section (3)).
The Shema entered the Musaf Kedushah as the result of a sixth century persecution. The Byzantine Empire forbid Jews to recite the Shema in public worship. On Sabbaths and festivals government spies would enter the synagogues to make sure the Shema was not said in its regular place during the Shaḥarit Service. As a means of getting the Shema into public prayer, the reader would insert it into the Musaf Kedushah, a place where the spies would not expect it and thus not be aware of it. The Shema has remained a part of this Sanctification ever since.
The Kedushah is part of the third blessing of the Amidah and in the Musaf Service for the Sabbath it is made up of the following parts along with connecting sentences: Isaiah 6:3, Ezekiel 3:12, the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:5, and Psalms 146:10. On festivals there is an additional verse from Zechariah 14:9 following the Shema.
Hertz, op. cit., pp. 528-31; 816-19.”, “the crown”, just as in the Additional Service.²¹⁴Musaf, מוסף; see footnote 166.