Commento su Deuteronomio 15:5

רק אם שמוע תשמע ONLY IF THOU WILT CAREFULLY HEARKEN [UNTO THE VOICE OF THE LORD THY GOD] — then לא יהיה בך אביון THERE SHALL BE NO NEEDY AMONGST YOU.

רק אם שמוע תשמע, "only if you will surely hearken, etc." The reason this paragraph is positioned next to the paragraph following promising that there will not be any poor amongst you is that we have learned in Moed Katan 28 that the wealth or poverty of a person is not related to his piety but to his mazzal The Torah therefore tells us that if all the Israelites will observe all the commandments, both positive and negative, then Moses could promise that there would indeed be no one that would be poor amongst the Jewish people. In such circumstances the passage in Moed Katan 28 would not be applicable. What the Talmud referred to there were only situations in which the person in question while having more merits than debits to his credit questions why he is poor. To such a person the Talmud said that the matter was due to his mazzal.

אם שמוע תשמע...והעבטת, you will collect pawns as collaterals for the loans you extend to the gentile nations.

Then there will be no one destitute among you. The word, “only,” is connected to the previous verse, “End it [poverty], so that there will be no one destitute among you.” As if it said: The promise to you, “There will be no one destitute among you,” applies “Only if you will listen.”

שמוע תשמע [IF] THOU WILT CAREFULLY HEARKEN — The repetition of the verbal form suggests: If one listens a little (if one shows the determination to obey) he is caused to listen to many things (he gradually becomes obedient to every divine command) (Sifrei Devarim 115:1; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 11:13).

Listen a little, etc. Rashi is answering the question: What is the meaning of “only” that is written in this verse? For every instance of, “only,” is an exclusionary term. Rashi explains: It is excluding from, “listen,” and perforce it is coming to be expounded, “Listen a little, and you will be given the opportunity to listen much.”