Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 8:1

כל המצוה — Explain this in its plain sense: EVERY COMMANDMENT. — And a Midrashic explanation is (taking it to mean, “the whole of the commandment … shall ye be heedful to do”): If thou hast once made a beginning with a meritorious deed, carry it out to the end, because it bears the name only of him (it is attributed only to him) who does the last part of it, as it is said, (Joshua 24:32) "And the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel brought up from Egypt they buried in Shechem”. But did not Moses alone busy himself with them to bring them up (cf. Exodus 13:19)? But because he had no opportunity to complete this (to inter them), the children of Israel completed it, it was called by their name (Midrash Tanchuma, Eikev 6).

ALL THE COMMANDMENT. The purport of it is to state: “Although I have admonished you [specifically] with respect to the ordinances,⁵⁶Above, 7:12. all the [other] commandments shall ye observe to do also, for in observing all of them [the ordinances and the commandments] you will live and be fruitful in the fruit of the body, the fruit of the cattle, and the fruit of the ground,” all as mentioned above.⁵⁷Ibid., Verse 13.

כל המצוה אשר אנכי מצוך היום תשמרון לעשות, the objective of people worshipping idols is nothing other than their obsession with transient values which consist mostly of three categories, having children, living to a ripe old age, and success in amassing money or its equivalent. The Torah promises that by observing G’d’s commandments as spelled out in the Torah one may achieve all these three objectives. This is meant by the Torah writing: למען תחיון, when commanding the laws of the Torah G’d did not only mean to guarantee you eternal life in the hereafter, but He had in mind also successful, rewarding life on earth.

כל המצוה, "All the commandment which I command you this day, etc." Precisely which commandment is Moses talking about? Besides, had he not already spoken about the need to perform all the commandments in verse 12 of the last chapter? What reason was there to repeat the same thing again at this point? Moses was a clever psychologist, familiar with the workings of the human mind and psyche. He realised that there is a built-in tendency in us to become progressively more lax in our observance, especially if we have performed a number of commandments meticulously and have chosen to perform one or two commandments with special attention to all its details. Once one has done this one is apt to look upon oneself as a pretty good Jew and one tends to be less punctilious with the performance of other commandments. People who are preoccupied with Torah study have a tendency to pat themselves on the back and to disregard some of the commandments which they view as being of minor significance. Such neglect is bound to result in such people suffering various kinds of afflictions; they may experience that others do not show them the respect which they feel is their due, etc. Moses therefore admonishes each and everyone of us not to forget to perform the whole (range) of G'd's commandments. The only effective way Moses found to bring this point across to us was by describing all of the 613 commandments as one single Commandment, i.e. כל המצוה.

The entire mitzvah … you are to guard so as to fulfill. To teach that even when the Jewish people had not reached the ability to perform all the mitzvos, as when they first entered the land of Israel and there will still some mitzvos in which they were not obligated until after they had inherited, divided and settled the land, nevertheless, Hashem commanded them to learn all the mitzvos, so that when they have the ability to perform them they will be able to do so properly. From here we also learn that during the exile we must learn how to act once we are redeemed from that exile.

כל המצוה, “The entire commandment, etc.” Although I have already warned you concerning how the category of commandments known as משפטים are to be observed, similar instructions apply to the performance of the other commandments of the Torah as your successful life in your own land including your enjoying children and increasing amounts of livestock as well as bountiful harvests will depend on this, as mentioned earlier.

This can be understood in its plain sense. I.e., the word מצוה (lit., commandment) refers to a [whole] category, as if it said, “all the commandments.”

Kap. 8. V. 1. Die völlige Nichtigkeit der heidnischen Gottheiten und daraus ihre gänzliche Entfernung und die Entfernung alles dessen, was nur irgendwie in Beziehung zu ihnen steht, aus dem ganzen jüdischen Gesichts- und Besitzkreise, bildete den Inhalt des Schlusses des vorigen Kapitels. Als Gegensatz dazu hebt dieses Kapitel die höchste Positivität Gottes hervor, wie Israel sie erfahren, und fordert deren stete Vergegenwärtigung, aus welcher die treue Erfüllung seines Gesetzes und damit die dauernde Begründung unseres Heiles allein hervorgehen wird.

כל המצוה, “All the instruction, etc.” our author understands the word כל in our verse not so much as “all,” i.e. each and every, but as “the whole commandment.” Once you have begun to fulfill a commandment you must complete what you have undertaken. This rule has been spelled out specifically in the Jerusalem Talmud, tractate Rosh Hashanah, chapter 1, halachah 8. The text is: when someone has commenced to perform a commandment he is told to complete it. If someone has commenced to perform a commandment and it is completed by someone else, the last person gets the credit for having performed it. The source of this ruling is traced to Moses who had commenced the commandment of transferring Joseph’s remains to the land of Israel, (Exodus 13,19) but who could not complete it as he never crossed the Jordan. The credit for burying his remains in the land of Israel is therefore given to the Jewish people, as we know from Joshua 24,32: “and the Children of Israel buried Joseph’s remains which they had brought with them from Egypt, and they were interred in the city of Sh’chem on a plot of land which his father Yaakov had acquired for the price of 1000 kessito as spelled out in Genesis 37,27. This plot became an ancestral heritage to the tribe of Joseph.” (Compare Babylonian Talmud, tractate Sotah) folio 13. Rabbi Sh’muel bar Nachmani is quoted in the Talmud, tractate Sotah folio 13, as saying that if someone commences to fulfill a commandment but fails to complete it (not by circumstances beyond his control), he will wind up burying his wife and his children. He adds that we know this from Yehudah (Yaakov’s son) compare Genesis 37,26, who said: “what profit is there in killing our brother Joseph.” Yehudah, of course buried both his wife and two of his sons, as we read in Genesis 38, 7-12. Some scholars add that this was why the brothers demoted him as we know from the beginning of that chapter. Instead of saving Joseph, the brothers sat down to eat their meal, and in the interval Joseph was taken out of the pit by Ishmaelites and sold as a slave. Yehudah said that they could not pronounce benedictions of G–d while planning to commit murder of their brother. They therefore interrupted, and sold Joseph, before they sat down again to eat. Yehudah is perceived as having begun to save Joseph from death but not having brought him back safely to his father. The Torah had testified that the brothers listened to him, so that it could be assumed that they would also have agreed to bring him back to his father. At any rate, this is the meaning of Moses referring to כל מצוה, “the whole commandment.”

כל המצוה, ”Every commandment,” Moses refers especially to the commandment not to covet the gold of the idolatries mentioned in verse 25 of the previous chapter.

ורביתם, you will multiply by having numerous children.

There is also a Midrashic explanation: If you began to fulfill a mitzvah, complete it, etc. I.e., the word כל is related to the word, “And Hashem completed (ויכל) on the seventh day, etc. (Bereishis 2:2).” Alternatively, the word כל is related to the word כלה (entire). In other words, you should perform the mitzvah in its entirety — if you begin to fulfill it, complete it. According to this, the word מצוה written in this verse refers to “a single commandment.”

He resorted to a way of illustrating his point which is incontrovertible, based on the Zohar volume one page 170. Acccording to the Zohar man has 248 bones and 365 sinews. G'd commanded us 365 negative commandments and 248 positive commandments, one each to correspond to each of these parts of our body. If one suffers a pain or hurt in one of his bones or sinews he should examine which one of the commandments he had neglected so that the pain in question might be due to such neglect. A man will not be satisfied if in response to his cries of pain caused by the afflicted bone he is told by his doctor that seeing that 247 of his bones do not hurt him he should not really be complaining but count his blessings. Similarly, we must relate to each one of the 613 commandments. We cannot pride ourselves merely on the commandments we do observe but must be keenly aware of the damaging effect on our spiritual health of any commandment which we fail to observe when we have the opportunity. All of these considerations are included in Moses' reference to the need for us to observe the whole commandment, both the negative part and the positive part. The reason for this is למען תחיון, "so that you will live and multiply and come and inherit the land." Inheritance of the land of Israel is conditional on מצוה observance, which in turn is the guarantee of our spiritual and physical wellbeing.

כל המצוה וגו׳. Nichts von allem Heidnischen kann das Geringste zu unserem Heile beitragen, auch nur der leiseste Zusammenhang mit ihm reisst uns in seinen Richtigkeits- und Vernichtungsbann mit hinein. Ist doch die Überwindung allen Heidentums das Ziel der göttlichen Waltung und der Sendung Israels inmitten der Völker. Gegründet aber wird unser Heil nicht durch bloße Verneinung des Heidentums, sondern durch völlige positive Hingebung an die Verwirklichung des göttlichen Willens, den uns sein Gesetz offenbart. Das von allem Heidnischen reingehaltene jüdische Haus (Kap.7, 26) muss eine Stätte der Gesetzerfüllung werden, wenn es eine Pflanzstätte unseres Lebens und Gedeihens werden soll. Was dem Völkerwahn das Götterbild im Hause ist, das ist uns die Mizwa.

ובאתם וירשתם, attaining wealth and honour by inheriting the land.

You may query that in the parable we presented the example does not match the subject matter of the Torah, i.e. אין המשל דומה לנמשל. In the parable we described the hurt experienced by a single organ upsets the entire body's balance, something that is not the case when applied to מצוה-performance. This is why Moses had to describe the commandments in the singular. He wanted to make it easy for us to appreciate that when the 613 commandments are viewed as a single unit that the non-observance of even a single one of them can destroy the entire balance of the fabric and throw everything out of kilter.

למען תחיון ורביתם ובאתם וירשתם: die Erfüllung der Mizwa gibt uns persönliches Leben und im Kindersegen sich kundgebendes Gedeihen, und gewährt uns die äußere Selbständigkeit und Blüte im Lande. Individuelles Leben, Familiensegen und Nationalwohlstand sind uns lediglich durch die Erfüllung der Mizwa gewährleistet, in ihrer Hut vollbringen wir die Hut unseres Glückes.

ורביתם, "and you will multiply." This means that any potential obstacles to all these blessings will be neutralised through meticulous מצוה-observance, ensuring your continued unimpeded growth in numbers.

ובאתם, "and you will come." This is one of the greatest messages in the Torah. Who was comparable to Moses in מצוה-performance, closeness to G'd, etc.? And yet Moses was not one of those to whom the promise "you will come to the land" applied! Surely there can be no more potent warning to the people at large to be careful not to become guilty of anything which would preclude them from attaining their objective of an inheritance in the Holy Land! תשמרון לעשות, "you shall observe to carry out;" The word תשמרון suggests that a person must keep a lookout for an opportunity to observe certain commandments which he has not had an opportunity to perform.

The entire verse may also be understood by reference to Moed Katan 28 where we learned that there are three major blessings in life which one does not secure through merit but which are governed by "mazzal." They are: children, life (health), and a good livelihood (compare what we wrote on page 1810). Moses illuminates this subject from a new angle. He promises that if you will make every effort to observe all the commandments viewing them as an integral whole, you are assured of the three blessings which normally are subject only to the influence of "mazzal." He begins by describing the commandments in the singular, i.e. כל המצוה, and promises למען תחיון, life, ורביתם, children, ובאתם וירשתם, and you will get your inheritance, i.e. an ample livelihood. If you needed proof that matters which are subject to "mazzal" can become subject to G'd's personal providence, look at the example of Abraham who said of himself that he would not have children as his "mazzal" did not indicate that he would have them. Due to his gigantic endeavour to do G'd's bidding he eventually had many children in spite of his negative "mazzal."