K'riat Shema and its Mitzvot

(4) Hear, O Israel! Adonai is our God, Adonai alone. (5) You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. (7) Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; (9) inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

(13) If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving Adonai your God and serving [God] with all your heart and soul, (14) I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil— (15) I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill. (16) Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. (17) For Adonai's anger will flare up against you, shutting up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that Adonai is assigning to you. (18) Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, (19) and teach them to your children—reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; (20) and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates— (21) to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that Adonai swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.

(37) Adonai said to Moses as follows: (38) Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner. (39) That shall be your fringe; look at it and recall all the commandments of Adonai and observe them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge. (40) Thus you shall be reminded to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your God. (41) I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am Adonai your God.

... Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa said: Why, in the mitzva of the recitation of Shema, did the portion of Shema precede that of VeHaya im Shamoa? This is so that one will first accept upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, the awareness of God and God’s unity, and only then accept upon himself the yoke of the mitzvot, which appears in the paragraph of VeHaya im Shamoa. Why did VeHaya im Shamoa precede VaYomer? Because the paragraph of VeHaya im Shamoa is practiced both by day and by night, while VaYomer, which discusses the mitzvah of ritual fringes, is only practiced during the day.

The commandment of the unification of God: That we were commanded to believe that God, may He be blessed — Who is the Mover of all existence, the Master of everything — is one without any combination, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 6:4), “Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” And this is a positive commandment, not [just] a statement. But the understanding of “Hear” is, “Accept from me this thing, and know it and believe in it — that the Lord, Who is our God, is one. And the proof that this is a positive commandment is their, may their memory be blessed, constantly saying in Midrash, “On the condition of unifying His name”; “in order to accept the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven upon himself” — meaning to say, the acknowledgement of unity and faith.

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 61b) that every Israelite is obligated to give up their life for the commandment of unification; since anyone who does not acknowledge His unity, blessed be He, is as if he denies a fundamental principle [of faith] — as there is no complete [Divine] rulership and majesty without total unity, and the heart of every wise man will distinguish this. And if so, behold, this commandment is included in the prohibition of idolatry, about which we are commanded to be killed in every place and at any time.

And this commandment is practiced in every place and at all times by males and females. And one who transgresses it and does not believe in His unity, blessed be He, has violated this positive commandment [as well as] all of the other commandments of the Torah, since they are all dependent upon the belief in His divinity and unity. And he is called a denier of a fundamental principle [of faith], and he is not in the category of the Children of Israel, but rather in the category of apostates.

The commandment of loving God: That we were commanded to love the Omnipresent, blessed be He (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Foundations of the Torah 2:1), as it is stated (Deuteronomy 6:5), “And you shall love the Lord, your God.” And the content of this commandment is that we should think about and contemplate His commands and His actions to the point that we comprehend Him according to our ability and that we delight in His providence with complete delight. And this is [this] special love. And the language of the Sifrei is “Since it is stated, ‘And you shall love,’ I would not know how a man is to love the Omnipresent. [Hence,] we learn to say, ‘And these things that I command you today shall be upon your heart’ (Deuteronomy 6:6) — that through this, you will recognize the One that spoke and the world [came into being].” [This] means to say that with contemplation in Torah, the love will perforce [find its place] in the heart. And they [also] said that this love obligates a man to arouse [other] people, from his love, to serve Him, as we found with Avraham.

The laws of the commandment: That it is fitting for a person to put all of his thought and all of his effort towards the love of God; and he should always evaluate in his heart that all that there is in the world — of wealth, children, power and honor — it is all like nothing and zero and void compared to love for Him, blessed be He. And he should always strive the whole day at seeking wisdom, so that he will fathom knowledge of Him. [In the final] word, he should use all of his effort to accustom the thoughts of his heart to faith in Him and His unity, to the point that there not be an instant in the day or the night, when he is awake, that he not remember the love of his Master with all of his heart.

The commandment of Torah study: The positive commandment to study the wisdom of the Torah and to teach it; meaning to say how we should perform the commandments, guard ourselves from that which God prevented us and to also know the laws of the Torah according to their true intention. And about all of this is it stated (Deuteronomy 6:7), “You shall teach them to your sons.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sifrei Devarim 34:4), “‘Your sons’ — these are your students. And thus do you find that students are called sons, as it is stated (II Kings 2:3), ‘And the sons of the prophets went out.’” And it is [also] said there (Sifrei Devarim 34:1), “‘And you shall teach them (shinantam, which sounds like the word for tooth, hence, make them sharp like a tooth)’ — they shall be ordered in your mouth, so that if a person questions you [concerning them], you will not stammer to him, but answer him forthwith.” And this commandment is repeated in many places, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 5:1), “and study them and do them,” “and in order that you will study them” (Deuteronomy 31:12), “and you shall teach them to your children” (Deuteronomy 11:19).

The law of the recitation of Shema morning and evening: That we were commanded every day, morning and evening, to read one verse from the Torah in this Order, and that is “Hear Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). And about this verse is it stated (Deuteronomy 6:7), “and you will speak in them in your sitting in your home... in your lying down and in your rising up.” And the explanation about this comes (Berakhot 10b) [that it is] at the time that people lie down and at the time that people get up. And it is established to us for the Rabbis (Berakhot 10b) that all of the night until the dawn rises is called the time that people lie down — and like the matter that is written (Leviticus 26:6), “and you will lie down and there is no one that makes [you] tremble”; and so [too], “it does not lie down until it eats prey” (Numbers 23:24) — since all the time of its lying down is implied. And also that people are divided in their attributes regarding lying down. There are those that do not lie down until half of the night, and some [not] until its end, and there are some that lie down immediately at the beginning of the night. And because of this, they said (Berakhot 10b) that the time of the recitation of Shema at night is from the time that the priests retire to eat their priestly tithe — which is the coming out of the stars — until the dawn rises. And the time that people rise up was understood [by] them [to be] from the beginning of the day — meaning to say when the morning is light [enough] that a man can recognize his fellow from the distance of four ells — until three full hours (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Reading the Shema 1:11). And rising up was not understood by them to be all of the day, like lying down; as it is not the way of any person that is healthy to rise up from his bed at the end of the day, or even its middle. And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 9b) about the recitation of Shema of the morning that, in any case, from here onward — meaning from the end of three hours until the end of the day — he who did not read [it] did not lose [out]; however, he may not read it with its blessings.

It is from the roots of the commandment that God wanted to give merit to His people that they should accept upon them His Kingdom and His unity every day and night, all the days that they are alive. As since man is a physical being [that] is seduced by the vanities of the world and drawn by his desires, he certainly requires a constant reminder of the Kingdom of the Heavens to guard him from sin. Hence it was from His kindness to have us merit and He commanded us to remember [this at] these two times, regularly and with great intention. [The] one at the day is to help for all of our actions during the day; as when a man remembers in the morning the unity of God and His Kingdom, and that His Providence and Omnipotence is over everything, and he places to his heart that His eyes are open upon all of his ways and that all of his steps are marked — that he cannot obscure anything from Him and he cannot hide any of his thoughts — will this thought and the verbal acknowledgement of this matter not be a protection for him that whole day? And the acknowledgement of the night will also be a protection the whole night. And because the foundation of the commandment is what we mentioned, they, may their memory be blessed, obligated us about intention of the heart and said that if he did not have intention in his heart, he did not fulfill his obligation. As a man does not remember anything unless he places his intention to it. And this is what they, may their memory be blessed said in Berakhot 13b in the chapter [entitled] Haya Koreh, “The Rabbis learned, ‘“Listen Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” — until here, intention of the heart is required.’” And they required us to lengthen [the word,] “one.” And [it is] like it was learned over there, “Somchos ben Yosef says, ‘Anyone who lengthens [the word,] “one,” his days and years are lengthened.’ And Rav Acha bar Yaakov said, ‘But in the [letter] dalet.’ Rav Ashi said, ‘And so long as he does not cut short the [letter] chet.’” And they said there, “How much is this lengthening?” And the answer was until you crown Him in the heavens and in the earth and in the four directions of the world; meaning to say that you have intention that His governance is over all, and that there is nothing obscured from Him and that the existence of all things is through His will.

And also from the content of the commandment is that which they said (Berakhot 15a) that one who reads the Shema needs to make it audible to his ear, but that if he did not make it audible to his ear, yet nonetheless read the words with his lips, he has fulfilled [his obligation], ex post facto. And so [too,] that which they said (Berakhot 15a) that one needs to be exacting about the words, yet if he was not exacting about them, he has [still] fulfilled [it]. And some of the commentators said (Meiri on Berakhot 15a) that the matter is not that he did not pronounce the words and the letters. As with this, certainly is it not said that if he was not exacting, he has fulfilled [it]; as anyone who did not read the whole recitation of the Shema has not fulfilled his obligation. Rather, the matter of his fulfilling it if he was not being exacting in them is that he did not put a space between [words that] run into [each other] such as bekhol-levavecha, esev-besadecha, ve’avadetem-meheirah, bechol-levavechem [and] hakanaf-petil; and so [too,] if he did not sibilate [the letter] zayin of tizkeru, that needs sibilation; or that he did not lengthen the [letter] dalet as it is fitting to do, a priori.

The commandment of the tefillin of the arm: To bind the tefillin of the arm upon the arm, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 6:8), “And you shall bind them as a sign upon your arm.” And the explanation comes about this verse, that we bind four sections from the words of the Torah upon our arms. And they are called tefillin when they are bound with straps, as the tradition comes [to explain] about them. And these are these four sections: Two of them are at the end of the Order of Bo el Pharaoh and they are the sections of “Sanctify your firstborn to Me,” until “you shall keep this statute at its set time from year to year” — which is one section in every exact book [of the Torah]. And the second section is from “And it shall be when He will bring you,” until the end of the Order which finishes [with] “for with strong-handedness did He take us out of Egypt.” And the third section is at the end of the Order of Va’etchanan in the Book of Elu HaDevarim (Deuteronomy) — the section of “Hear Israel,” until “and in your gates.” And the fourth section is at the end of the Order of Vehaya Ekev — the section of “And it shall be if you listen,” until “like the days of the heavens upon the earth.” These four sections are written on one parchment and we roll it like a type of Torah scroll from its end to its beginning. And we place it into a chamber of leather and we pass a strap through one end of the leather. And we bind that leather with the [Torah] sections inside it upon the left upper arm. And since they are bound upon the upper arm, they are resting across from the heart. And they are called tefillin of the arm in every place.

It is from the root of the commandment [that] since people are physical, they are necessarily drawn after their desires; for the nature of all physical things is to seek all which is comfortable for it and is pleasurable — “just as a horse or like a mule who understand nothing” — were it not that the soul with which God has graced us prevents us, to its ability, from sin. But as it resides in [the body’s territory,] which is the earth, and is far removed from its [territory], which is the heavens, it cannot [vanquish] it and [the body] always exerts its strength over it. It therefore nonetheless requires many guards to protect it from its malevolent neighbor, lest it rise up upon it and kill it; as it is in its [territory] and under its hand. And the Omnipresent, blessed be He, wanted to give us — the holy nation — merit, and [so] He commanded us to set up mighty guards around [the soul]. And they are that we were commanded not to interrupt from [speaking] words of Torah from our mouths day and night; that we place four fringes on the four corners of our garments; a mezuzah on our doorpost; and the tefillin on our arm and on our head. And all of this is to remind us to avoid the crimes of our hands and that we not stray after our eyes or after the impulse of the thoughts of our hearts. Therefore, they, may their memory be blessed, said (Zevachim 19a) that the priests and the Levites are exempt from them when they performed the [Temple] service. And as the foundation of the tefillin is as we have mentioned, we are commanded about them (Menachot 36b) that we not remove our thoughts from them. Now, my son, also see how much more power our bodies have than our souls; for despite all this, it sometimes comes up and “breaks our fence.” May God in His mercy aid us and protect us, amen.

The commandment of the tefillin of the head: To place tefillin on the head, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 6:8), “and they shall be as totafot between your eyes.” Behold, I wrote in the previous commandment what is the content of the tefillin, that it is four sections that are written in the Torah, in the Order of Bo el Pharaoh, in the Order of Va’etchanan and in the Order of Vehaya Ekev. And we were commanded to write these four sections on parchment and to place them on our heads between our eyes and on our upper arm across from the heart. And the matter of these four sections more than other sections of the Torah is because there is in these the acceptance of the yoke of Heaven, the unification of God, and the matter of the exodus from Egypt which forces belief in the creation of the world and the supervision of God over the lower beings — and these are the fundamentals of the Jewish religion. And therefore we were commanded to place these fundamentals between our eyes and upon the tablet of our hearts all day; as the wise men of science have said that these two limbs are the residence of the intellect. And when we place these things upon them as a memory device, we are strengthened about them, and we add to the cognizance of the ways of God, may He be blessed; and [so] we merit life in the world to come. And some of the laws of the tefillin are written above in that of the arm.

To affix a mezuzah on entrances: To affix a mezuzah on the doorposts of our homes, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 6:9), “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” And the content of the mezuzah is that we write two sections of the Torah on one parchment — and they are “Hear Israel,” until “and in your gates”; [and] “And it shall be if you listen,” until “upon the earth.” And we affix them to the doorposts of the opening of the house.

It is from the roots of the commandment that it serve as a memory device for a person about faith in God, every time he comes into his home and [when] he leaves [it], and like I wrote about the matter of tefillin. And [it is] like the matter that they, may their memory be blessed, wrote about this commandment (Menachot 33a), “Rabbi Zeira said that Rav Matnah said that Shmuel said, ‘It is a commandment to place it in the top third.’ Rabbah [Rava] said, ‘It is a commandment to place it in the handbreadth adjacent to the public domain.’ What is the reason? The Rabbis said, ‘So that one will be met by the commandment immediately’” (Menachot 33b).

The commandment of fringes (tsitsit): To put fringes on the clothes that we wear, as it is stated (Numbers 15:18), “and they shall make fringes for themselves.” And this obligation applies to garments with four or more corners, as it is written (Deuteronomy 22:12), “on the four corners of your garment.” And “four” includes five or more (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Fringes 3:1), provided that the garment is large enough that the head and most of the body of a child who is old enough to walk unescorted in the marketplace can be wrapped in it. And it seems that this age is around six or seven years old. The garment must be made of wool or linen to be obligated in fringes when it is worn. If it is missing one of these [conditions], i.e. if it has fewer than four corners or is not as large as described, or it is made from some other material, it is exempted from fringes on a Torah level. Garments of silk, and even camel hair, rabbit hair, and goat hair are all exempted from fringes on a Torah level; as “garment” in the Torah [refers] only to those made from sheep’s or lamb’s wool or linen, and so [too] in relation to tsara’at of clothing, as I have written in its place (Sefer HaChinukh 172).

The root of the commandment is revealed in the verse: It is in order that we always remember all of the commandments of God. And there is no better reminder in the world than carrying the seal of the Master on the clothes that one wears at all times, as a person is [always attentive] to his clothes. And this is what is stated in the verse (Numbers 15:39), “and you will recall all the commandments of the Lord.” And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 12) that the word “tsitsit” alludes to the six hundred and thirteen commandments (in the numerical equivalent of the letters) when combined with the eight strings of the fringes and their five knots. And my heart also tells me that there is a reminder and allusion here that the soul and body of man all belong to God, blessed be He. As the white portion corresponds to the body which is from the land, which was made from the snow, which is white, as we find in Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer 3, “From where is the land from? From the snow that is under the Holy Throne.” And the threads [also] allude to the body, as the matter that they said, that the initial formation of a body is like threads. [It is] as they, may their memory be blessed, said (Niddah 25b), “Rabbi Amram said, ‘The two thighs are like two strands of crimson, the two forearms are like two strands of crimson.’” The blue (tekhelet), the appearance of which is like the appearance of the sky, hints to the soul which is from the upper beings. And they hinted to this in their saying (Menachot 47b), “What [makes] tekhelet different than all other colors? Because tekhelet is like the sea, and the sea is like the sky, and the sky is like the Throne of Glory, as it is stated (Exodus 24:10), ‘And they saw the God of Israel, etc.’ and it states (Ezekiel 1:26), ‘The Throne appeared as sapphire stone’” — and the souls of the righteous are stored underneath the Throne. And because of this, they said (Menachot 39a) that we wrap the string of tekhelet around the white, as the soul is above and the body below. They said that we make seven or thirteen windings [around the white strings] to allude to the heavens and the divisions between them. And it is as they said (Menachot 39a), “It is taught, ‘One who wishes to do fewer should not do fewer than seven, nor should he add more than thirteen, corresponding to the seven heavens and the six air-spaces between them.’”

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Menachot 43b) that on a garment that has five or more corners we only put fringes in the four most distant corners. And [also] that which they said (Menachot 28a) that the four fringes impede one another, since all four of them are one commandment. And what they said (Menachot 38a) that the tekhelet does not impede the white [strings] and the white does not impede the tekhelet, which does not mean that they are actually two commandments, as it is all one commandment, but it means that they do not impede one another. [This is the case] today where we cannot find tekhelet, such that we should still not hesitate to put white fringes without tekhelet onto our garments, and recite the blessing upon them as if it were complete with the tekhelet. Also — when the tekhelet is available — if one has no white strings, he may place the tekhelet on his garment, wrap himself in its garment and recite the blessing upon it.

The tekhelet dye that we are commanded to use, is similar to the appearance of a pure blue sky, and it is made from the blood of a fish called the chilazon, whose appearance is like the appearance of the ocean (Menachot 44a). And it is found in the Dead Sea, and we dye a string of wool in it. And it has been many days for Israel that we have not heard of anyone who merited [having] tekhelet in his talit. It must be dyed for the sake of its commandment, and the white strings also must be spun for the sake of the commandment. We may not use wool that was caught in thorns when the herd was crouching, nor from hairs that were torn from the animal, nor from the remnant left over from the loom, nor from stolen wool nor wool from a condemned city (of Jewish idolaters), nor from consecrated wool. If [any of these was used,] it is disqualified. Fringes that were spun (some have the textual variant, “hung”) by a non-Jew are disqualified, as it is stated, “Speak to the Children of Israel […] and they shall make.” But if a Jew made them without [proper] intention, it is fit, [nonetheless] ex post facto.

How are the fringes made? (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Fringes 1:6) Four strings are passed through the corner of the garment, such that there are now eight ends hanging from the corner. This is not done precisely at the corner, but [a half-]thumb’s distance from the edge, as Rabbi Yaakov said that Rabbi Yochanan said in the Gemara (Menachot 42a), “It must be one large joint away.” One of the strings should be longer so that it can be used for winding [around] the others. Five double knots are tied (Tosafot on Menachot 39a, s.v. lo); and between each knot, he makes three rings (windings), and between the final knot, four rings, so that there are a total of thirteen rings. The strings are made long so that it be enough for two [thirds] of the length to be branching; meaning to say without the knots and rings, besides the knots and rings. This is the main [approach to the] ideal fulfillment of the commandment. But ex post facto, even one ring suffices, and so [too,] ex post facto, even if the strings of the fringes shorten, even if there is only enough to make a basic bow, it is fit (Menachot 38b). But if even one string is completely torn, it is disqualified.

And one who owns a four-cornered garment is not required to put fringes on it so long as he does not wear it. And the law is like [the view] of Rav who said, (Menachot 42a) [that] fringes is an obligation on the man, meaning that the obligation is for a person to put fringes on a garment when he wears it. But he is not obligated to put fringes on a garment that is sitting in a drawer, as the law is not like the other view, that it is an obligation on the garment itself. [This] would mean that if a person had many four-cornered garments in his home, he would be obligated to put fringes on all of them, even if he never wears them. [But] this is not [the case], as the law is like Rav, as we have said.

And if one has a linen garment, he should place linen fringes in it, for the law is not like [the view of] Beit Shammai who taught (Menachot 40a) that a [linen] cloak is exempted from fringes. [This] means to say that since a linen garment could never have tekhelet placed on it, because [it would form] a forbidden mixture [of wool and linen] — as tekhelet must always be wool, since the tekhelet dye would never be absorbed properly by linen but rather only by wool, and the Torah obligates us in proper tekhelet — and since it would be impossible to ever put a string of wool into the linen because of the forbidden mixture, even white strings, meaning strings of linen, are not put on. This is what [they meant when] they said that Beit Shammai exempts a [linen] cloak from fringes. But the law is not like them, since their reason is because they did not expound adjacent verses; rather the law is like Beit Hillel who did expound adjacent verses. And they [therefore] held that there is no prohibition of forbidden mixtures in fringes, as the Torah stated (Deuteronomy 22:11-12), “Do not wear shaatnez (wool and linen together). Make fringes for yourself” — meaning to say, but fringes you may make for yourself from shaatnez. And therefore Beit Hillel held that a [linen] cloak is obligated in fringes, and the law is like them. Still, we do not put tekhelet on [a linen garment] due to a concern about indigo; that is, lest they would dye it with a non-tekhelet dye and then it would be shaatnez without the [performance of a] commandment. They asked in the Gemara in Menachot 40a, “Why? Is it not just white [strings]?” That is, for Beit Hillel who did expound adjacent verses, why should we make such a decree? As even if it is indigo, what is [wrong] with that? Behold, we said that the forbidden mixture is permitted in fringes, meaning even with white [strings] — that is to say, even to put fringes of white wool in a garment of linen — and it is not [even] necessary to say that [it would be allowed] with fringes of wool that are dyed with tekhelet as is its commandment. And it was answered that these words that Beit Hillel said forbidden mixtures were permitted in fringes on the [strength of the] expounding of adjacent verses is only in cases where there is none from its type; meaning to say when it is impossible from its own type — e.g. in a linen garment, if you want to place tekhelet in it, you will need wool regardless, as tekhelet is impossible without wool. [Only] in such cases did Beit Hillel rely on the expounding of adjacent verses and obligate the use of tekhelet in a linen garment. If however, there is “from it,” meaning to say where you want to use white strings without tekhelet in a linen garment, it is not acceptable to use wool on the strength of the expounding of adjacent verses, as those white strings can be made of linen. This [follows] the principle of Reish Lakish; as Reish Lakish said that in any case where it is possible to maintain both the positive and negative commandments it is better [to do so], and only otherwise do we say that the positive commandment supersedes the negative. And here it is possible to maintain both commandments, for if you do not wish to place tekhelet with the white, linen suffices. And since this is so, if you use wool [you have violated the law of] forbidden mixtures and there is nothing [to help you].

And know that even though this commandment is only obligated by the Torah when he has a four-cornered garment (Mishneh Torah 3:18) — like there is no obligation for the commandment [to build a] parapet unless one has a roof — the Sages still warned much about this commandment and said (Menachot 41a) that it is fitting to pursue it. They also said (Shabbat 32b) that a person who is careful [in the fulfillment of this commandment] will merit to be waited upon by many servants, as the Torah equated it to and depended upon it the fulfillment of all the other commandments, as it is stated, “And you will see it and remember all the commandments of the Lord.” And Rabbi Elazar said that one who is careful in this and tefillin and mezuzah is assured that he will never sin, as it is stated (Ecclesiastes 4:12), “The three-fold thread will not easily break.”

To not wander after the thoughts of the heart and the vision of the eyes: That we not wander after the thoughts of the heart and the vision of the eyes, as it is stated (Numbers 15:39), “Do not wander after your hearts and your eyes.” The content of this negative commandment is that we were prevented from dedicating our thoughts to think about opinions that are antithetical to the ones on which the Torah is built, as that may lead one to apostasy. Rather, if the spirit to pursue these bad opinions should arise, one should minimize his thinking about them, and redouble his efforts to contemplate the true and good ways of the Torah. Similarly, one should not pursue the things he sees; and included in this is that we not pursue after the desires of this world, for in the end they are evil and “there is much shame and wrath.” This is [the meaning of] what they, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 12b), “‘Do not stray after your hearts’ refers to apostasy. ‘After your eyes’ refers to licentiousness, as it is stated (Judges 14:3), ‘And Samson said to his father, “Take her for me, as she is right in my eyes.”’”

The root of this commandment is revealed, as through it a person is protected from sinning against God all his days. This commandment is really a fundamental principle in the religion, as evil thoughts are the progenitors of impurities, and the actions are their descendants. And if a person dies before having children, there is no record of the progeny; so it emerges that this prevention is the root that all good comes from. Understand my son, and let it be a jewel in your mouth, that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Avot 4:2), “One sin leads to another, and one commandment leads to another.” As if you allow yourself to fulfill your evil desire one time, you will be drawn after it many times. But if you merit to be “mighty in the land” and to conquer your evil inclination and close your eyes from seeing evil one time, it will be easier for you to do so many times. As lust pulls the body like wine draws the drinker. Drunkards can never be sated by wine, but they will rather have a great desire for it. And according to [the large quantity that] they have gotten themselves accustomed, the stronger their desire will become. And if only they would drink a cup of water, it would temper the burning fire of [their] desire for wine, and make it pleasant for them. The same is true here: The more a person allows himself to be governed by his desires and to allow them to become habit, the stronger his evil inclination becomes every day. But in his preventing himself from them, he will always be happy with his portion every day; and he will see that “God made people straight, but they seek out many schemes” for no reason of any point.