The mitzvot of Va’etchanan

Not to desire the money of your friend

Negative · Deuteronomy 5:18

The root of this mitzvah is well known - keeping theft far from people benefits everyone, and reason itself bears witness to it. Desire is the first step, for whoever fixes a craving in his mind for something that belongs to his fellow will in the end scheme to take it from him.

The commandment of the unification of God

Positive · Deuteronomy 6:4

The root of this mitzvah is well known. The belief that God is One is the essence of faith for all the people of the world, and it is the strong pillar on which the heart of every thinking person relies.

The commandment of loving God

Positive · Deuteronomy 6:5

The root of this mitzvah is well known - a person does not fulfil God's mitzvot properly except out of love for Him. One who loves God serves Him with all his heart, and not merely out of compulsion or fear.

The commandment of Torah study

Positive · Deuteronomy 6:7

The root of this mitzvah is well known - only through study does a person come to know the ways of God. Without study he will neither know nor understand, and he is like an animal.

The law of the recitation of Shema morning and evening

Positive · Deuteronomy 6:4

God wished to grant His people the merit of accepting His kingship and His oneness every day and every night. Being made of matter, a person is drawn after the vanities of the world, so he needs a fixed reminder of the kingdom of Heaven to guard him from sin. One who remembers in the morning that God is One, that He rules over all and His eyes are open to all his ways, is guarded by this all day, and so too the evening's remembrance guards him through the night.

The commandment of the tefillin of the arm

Positive · Deuteronomy 6:8

Being made of matter, a person is drawn after desires, and the soul dwells in the territory of the body, far from its home in heaven, so it needs many guards. God granted us such guards - words of Torah in our mouths, tzitzit on our garments, a mezuzah on our doorways and tefillin on our arm and head. All of them come to remind us not to stray after our eyes and the thoughts of our hearts, and therefore we were commanded not to let our minds wander from the tefillin.

The commandment of the tefillin of the head

Positive · Deuteronomy 6:8

The passages in the tefillin contain the acceptance of the yoke of Heaven's kingship, the oneness of God and the Exodus from Egypt, which compels belief in the creation of the world and in God's providence over the lower world, and these are the foundations of the faith. Therefore we were commanded to place them on the head and over the heart, which according to the natural scientists are the seat of the intellect. When these foundations rest on us as a reminder, we are strengthened in them and remember God's ways all the more.

To affix a mezuzah on entrances

Positive · Deuteronomy 6:9

The mezuzah is meant to remind a person of his faith in God every time he enters and leaves his home, like the tefillin. That is why it is fixed at the handbreadth nearest the public domain, so that a person encounters the mitzvah at once.

To not test a true prophet more than is necessary

Negative · Deuteronomy 6:16

Testing a true prophet excessively causes harm. Prophecy does not come to a prophet at all times, and if he is pressed each time to give a sign and a wonder, it will open the way for those who envy him to dispute him and belittle his words, as happened to the true prophets in the face of the false prophets. Therefore, once the prophet has been established as trustworthy, we are commanded to believe him and not test him further.

The commandment of killing the seven nations

Positive · Deuteronomy 7:2

The seven nations were the ones who began every kind of idolatry and all the abominations God hates, and they were its root and first foundation. Therefore we were commanded to erase their memory from the world, so that we do not learn from their deeds, and there is also a moral lesson in this - one who sees how grave the matter is will not think of acting as they did. And one should not ask why they were created, for every person is free to choose good or evil, and these nations corrupted their ways until they became liable to destruction.

To not favor or have mercy on an idolater

Negative · Deuteronomy 7:2

Every human deed begins with thought and speech. Therefore, when we refrain from thinking and speaking in praise of idolaters, we are kept from joining them, from seeking their affection and from learning from their evil deeds.

To not marry with idolaters

Negative · Deuteronomy 7:3

Most people are drawn after the counsel of their wives, and a wife who worships idols may draw her husband after her. Moreover, her children too will be raised in idolatry, and woe to one who loses his descendants in this way.