parasha Ekev

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Shimon
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:37 pm

parasha Ekev

Post by Shimon »

For the life of me I cannot understand why Kabbalah is listed under eastern religion, as it is the soul of Torah but ok I’ll run with it.

In this weeks parasha Ekev,

Deuteronomy Chapter 8 :1 All the commandment which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers.

Why did Moses say All the commandment and not the plural commandments? (Reads the same in Hebrew)

In Midrash Tanchuma, Ekev 8 It says that a person should finish any commandment that he begins, and that its performance is ascribed only to the one who finishes it.

But this does not explain the irregularity of his word commandment.

I read in Sefer HaLikutim that this verse is talking about the specific commandment of Torah study.Because Moses began this passage addressing us in the singular and continues in the next verse saying, Remember the journey on which God guided you these forty years in the desert…how He afflicted you and made you hungry and fed you the manna (Deut. 8:2-3) So this passage is talking about Torah study, for it, too, is called the commandment. The word all then comes to include the Oral Torah, which is also called the commandment.

So it can be taken to mean perform the commandment of Torah study completely, learning both the Written and Oral Torah.

In parashat Re'eh It says Take care to do. that in the verse You shall be careful and do them (Deut. 7:12), you shall be careful refers to learning how to do the commandments and do them refers to performing them, as it sounds.

Moses says the whole commandment , meaning the whole Torah that I command you in the singular, as if to say I am teaching it to each of you individually

In other words, the whole passage is meant for each individual, in the singular.

Does anyone have a better explaination why the singular commandment was used instead of the plural?
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