Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Deuteronomio 15:5

In this instance G'd commanded Moses both something negative, i.e. "do not come closer!" as well as something positive, i.e. "remove your shoes!" Our sages in Eyruvin 96 state that wherever the Torah uses the expression פן or אל such as here, what follows is a negative commandment. The words "remove your shoes," are a positive commandment, however. If Moses were to cross the invisible dividing line by approaching closer to the burning bush (as he had intended to) he would be violating a negative commandment. Were he to fail to remove his shoes, however, this would imply a lack of respect for G'd but it would not constitute transgression of a negative commandment because the commandment had been phrased positively, though it implied that no shoes were to be worn there. The Torah always speaks about שמירה, i.e. care not to violate a negative commandment, before demanding עשיה, performance of a related positive commandment (compare Deuteronomy 4,6; 15,5, Genesis 26,5 et al). This is why the sequence in which G'd commanded Moses at this point is no departure from the Torah's norm.

FOR THE POOR SHALL NEVER CEASE OUT OF THE LAND. Commentators³⁰²Reference is to Ibn Ezra and others. have said that the meaning thereof is that the poor shall never cease out of the Land at any of all times, for there will always be poor in the Land, for it was apparent before Him that they will not do [to make possible] what he said to them, But there shall be no needy among you,³⁰³Above, Verse 4. if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of the Eternal thy G-d to observe to do all this commandment.³⁰⁴Verse 5. But it is not correct in my opinion, for the Torah may allude to what will be but it would not explicitly prophesy about them [the Israelites] that they will not fulfill the Torah, nor would he have commanded them [to observe the commandments while foretelling] that they would always transgress them. Forbid it! It is only by way of warning that he mentions [their transgressions].
The correct interpretation is that he says that it is impossible for the poor to cease so that none should ever exist. He [Moses] mentioned this because, having assured them that there would be no needy if they observe all the commandments³⁰⁵Verse 7. he said: “But I know that not all generations forever will observe all the commandments in which case there would be no need to charge you concerning the poor, for perhaps, at some time, there will exist poor and so I command you about him if he will be found.” He states out of the Land [for the poor shall never cease ‘out of the Land’] in order to allude to the entire habitation [anywhere on earth], for the promise that there would not be needy among us applies in the Land which the Eternal our G-d giveth us for an inheritance³⁰³Above, Verse 4. if we will fulfill there all the commandments. And now he said that it is possible that, at some period or at some place where you will have settled, there be found a poor man among you. For the meaning of the expression in thy Land³⁰⁵Verse 7. [If there be among you a needy man … ‘in thy Land’] is like in all your habitations³⁰⁶Exodus 12:20. — within the Land of Israel and outside of the Land.

וללכת בדרכיו, "and to walk in His ways, etc." Moses compliments the Jewish people that they walk in G'd's paths even in matters G'd has not specifically commanded. As soon as they have divined what it is that He would want them to do, they do so of their own accord. Specific examples are such good practices as visiting the sick, burying the dead. The Israelites learned from G'd visiting Abraham or burying Moses that these were virtues He wants us to practice though there is no specific commandment ordering us to do so. Israel's walking in the paths of G'd extends both to חוקיו, His statutes, the laws that appear to have no rationale, as well as מצותיו ומשפטיו, His other commandments and His social laws, i.e. the laws governing inter-personal relationships, relationships which are to be administered by terrestrial courts. ולשמע בקלו, "and by listening to His voice;" this is a reference to Torah study. The reason the Torah describes this as G'd's "voice" may be understood with reference to Sifri, 115 where the author asked: "how do we know that if one studies Torah from the mouth of a minor scholar this is equivalent to one's hearing the Torah from G'd's own mouth? Answer: it says in Deut. 15,5 אם שמע תשמע בקול ה׳ אלוקיך (compare Rashi on that verse). Why did the Torah mention Torah study as the last of the virtues Israel is to practice? This is to inform us that even if a person has mastered all the disciplines of Judaism, is thoroughly familiar with all the laws and precepts, he is still obligated to make study of the Torah part of his daily program. It is a commandment all by itself. As long as man lives he has never fully discharged his obligation to engage in the study of Torah as we know from Numbers 19,14: זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באהל. We may translate this as: "this is the obligation to study Torah. It extends until man dies while engaged in its study."