וְזָ֣כַרְתָּ֔ כִּי־עֶ֥בֶד הָיִ֖יתָ בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם וְשָׁמַרְתָּ֣ וְעָשִׂ֔יתָ אֶת־הַֽחֻקִּ֖ים הָאֵֽלֶּה׃ (פ)
E te lembrarás de que foste escravo em Mitzrayim, e guardarás e cumprirás estes decretos. {פ}
Marpeh la'Nefesh
authoritative commandments -- (literally "heard" commandments) these are the statutes which were made known by "hearing" (prophecy). This is what the verse says (Devarim 16:12) "And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes". This verse was said regarding the holiday of Shavuot to teach that only the "statutes" ( Chukim-commandments without rational explanation) were new in the giving of the Torah.
Rabbeinu Bahya
שבעה שבועות תספר לך, “you are to count for yourself seven weeks.” The Torah here lists the three pilgrimage festivals in their consecutive order, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot. The holidays of New Year and Day of Atonement are not mentioned here as on those days the people did not assemble in the Temple. This is also why nowadays in our Mussaph prayers on those days we do not include the line: “we are unable to make the pilgrimage to the House of our Chosenness there to be seen, etc.”
The reason the Torah wrote: “count for yourself” in the singular, whereas in Leviticus 23,16 the same directive is written in the plural, תספרו חמישים יום, is simply that the Torah often alternates between the singular and the plural. We find this especially if originally the law was addressed to the multitude, in the plural. The idea is that an individual should not have an excuse to say that as long as the community has fulfilled the commandment in question that he is covered by this seeing he is part of the community. He might reason that he would escape punishment for non-performance. The Torah therefore repeats the commandment using the singular to disabuse such an individual of the idea that he could use the community as his shield. Another prominent example of this is found in Numbers 15,38 in connection with the law of tzitzit where the Torah wrote “they shall make as part of the fringes a tassle of blue wool;” subsequently in Deut. 22,12 the law appears as addressed to the individual, i.e. גדילים תעשה לך על ארבע כנפות כסותך, “make fringes for yourself on the four corners of your garment.” We find these switches from plural to singular and vice versa even within the same verse describing a single commandment. Leviticus 19,9 is one of numerous such examples.
There is another reason why the Torah switches from plural to singular. If the Torah would write the commandment only in the plural I might conclude that the commandment was addressed exclusively to the court. This is why the commandment also had to be formulated as addressed to individuals. We have an example of this in the commandment of using the four species of plants on the first day of Sukkot. The Torah writes in Leviticus 23,40 (using the plural) “take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of the tree called Hadar,” etc., etc. Nowhere is mention made of this commandment in connection with an individual. I would have interpreted this commandment as subject to performance only by members of the Sanhedrin were it not for the fact that the Torah adds: “you shall be joyful in the presence of the Lord your G’d” (Deut. 16,12). Clearly, the commandment to be joyful cannot be meant for the members of the Sanhedrin only but must be meant for each and every individual Israelite. Moreover that part of the commandment has also been formulated in the singular in 16,14. If other commandments had been formulated only in the plural we would indeed have understood that they apply only collectively, to the Bet Din in its capacity as representatives of the people.
Concerning the commandment to count from Pessach to Shavuot, our sages in Chagigah 17 said that the fact that the Torah speaks both of counting days and of counting weeks means that there are actually two commandments (according to some authorities). Some hold (“Sefer HaMaor” end of Pessachim) that the “week” needs to be mentioned only after the previous week has been completed whereas others hold that as soon as the first week has been completed mention of the week is mandatory every evening, side by side with mention of the day of the count. The “weeks” are understood as an allusion to the seventh millennium and this is why it must be mentioned every evening (Ibn Ezra). [Bet Yosseph on Tur 489 brings an opinion quoted by Avi Haezri that only the weeks have to be counted. (mentioned in Rabbi Chavell’s glossary)]
The reason the Torah wrote: “count for yourself” in the singular, whereas in Leviticus 23,16 the same directive is written in the plural, תספרו חמישים יום, is simply that the Torah often alternates between the singular and the plural. We find this especially if originally the law was addressed to the multitude, in the plural. The idea is that an individual should not have an excuse to say that as long as the community has fulfilled the commandment in question that he is covered by this seeing he is part of the community. He might reason that he would escape punishment for non-performance. The Torah therefore repeats the commandment using the singular to disabuse such an individual of the idea that he could use the community as his shield. Another prominent example of this is found in Numbers 15,38 in connection with the law of tzitzit where the Torah wrote “they shall make as part of the fringes a tassle of blue wool;” subsequently in Deut. 22,12 the law appears as addressed to the individual, i.e. גדילים תעשה לך על ארבע כנפות כסותך, “make fringes for yourself on the four corners of your garment.” We find these switches from plural to singular and vice versa even within the same verse describing a single commandment. Leviticus 19,9 is one of numerous such examples.
There is another reason why the Torah switches from plural to singular. If the Torah would write the commandment only in the plural I might conclude that the commandment was addressed exclusively to the court. This is why the commandment also had to be formulated as addressed to individuals. We have an example of this in the commandment of using the four species of plants on the first day of Sukkot. The Torah writes in Leviticus 23,40 (using the plural) “take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of the tree called Hadar,” etc., etc. Nowhere is mention made of this commandment in connection with an individual. I would have interpreted this commandment as subject to performance only by members of the Sanhedrin were it not for the fact that the Torah adds: “you shall be joyful in the presence of the Lord your G’d” (Deut. 16,12). Clearly, the commandment to be joyful cannot be meant for the members of the Sanhedrin only but must be meant for each and every individual Israelite. Moreover that part of the commandment has also been formulated in the singular in 16,14. If other commandments had been formulated only in the plural we would indeed have understood that they apply only collectively, to the Bet Din in its capacity as representatives of the people.
Concerning the commandment to count from Pessach to Shavuot, our sages in Chagigah 17 said that the fact that the Torah speaks both of counting days and of counting weeks means that there are actually two commandments (according to some authorities). Some hold (“Sefer HaMaor” end of Pessachim) that the “week” needs to be mentioned only after the previous week has been completed whereas others hold that as soon as the first week has been completed mention of the week is mandatory every evening, side by side with mention of the day of the count. The “weeks” are understood as an allusion to the seventh millennium and this is why it must be mentioned every evening (Ibn Ezra). [Bet Yosseph on Tur 489 brings an opinion quoted by Avi Haezri that only the weeks have to be counted. (mentioned in Rabbi Chavell’s glossary)]