Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 13:5/אבן עזרא על דברים י״ג:ה׳

אאחרי ה' אלהיכם תלכו. שתעשו על פי יכלתכם כמעשיו ותרדפו אחרי נתיבותיו:

1AFTER THE LORD YOUR GOD SHALL YE WALK. You shall do your utmost to imitate God’s deeds and pursue His paths.

בואותו תיראו. מלשאול למה זה:

2AND HIM SHALL YE FEAR. You shall refrain from asking why this is so.²⁰

גואת מצותיו תשמורו. שהם העיקר:

3AND HIS COMMANDMENTS SHALL YE KEEP. The commandments which are most important.²¹. The most important “commandments are those precepts that are implanted in the heart, They are not contingent on place, time or anything else…[they] were known by reason before the Torah was given through the agency of Moses…The decalogue, with the exclusion of the Sabbath, is an example” (Strickman translation, pp. 75,76).

דובקולו תשמעו. מה שהם זכר לעיקר:

4AND UNTO HIS VOICE SHALL YE HEARKEN. This refers to precepts which recall that which is most important.²²the tefillin…the tzitzit [all serve as reminders] (Ibid, p. 78). The tzitzit (the fringes), for example, remind us of God’s commandments.

הואתו תעבודו. במעשה:

5AND HIM SHALL YE SERVE. In deed.

וובו תדבקון. בלב בראש ובסוף:

6AND UNTO HIM SHALL YE CLEAVE. With your heart. In the beginning and at the end.²³