The Midrash of the Explanation of the Torah

As is written: Let them praise Your name as great and awesome (Psalms 99:3).

As is written: A God dreaded in the great council of the holy ones, and feared by all who are about Him (Psalms 89:8).

As is written: They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:23).

As is written: You shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy (Leviticus 20:26).

As is written: He declares His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel (Psalms 147:19), and it says: For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel (Psalms 78:5), and it says: You came down also upon Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and laws of truth, good statutes and commandments (Nehemiah 9:13).

As it says: Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy (Leviticus 19:2). [ . . . ]

R. Joshua said: What did He see that He chose to have this section taught before a gathering of all the people? For Scripture says: Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy. This teaches that all the Ten Commandments are included in it.

At Sinai it says: I the Lord am your God (Exodus 20:2),

and here: For I, the Lord your God, am holy (Leviticus 19:2).

At Sinai: You shall have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:2),

and here: Do not turn to idols or make molten gods for yourselves (Leviticus 19:4).

At Sinai: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy (Exodus 20:7),

and here: and keep My Sabbaths (Leviticus 19:3).

At Sinai: Honor your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12),

and here: You shall fear every man his mother and his father (Leviticus 19:3).

At Sinai: You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13),

and here: Do not stand idly by the blood of your fellow (Leviticus 19:16).

At Sinai: You shall not commit adultery (Exodus 20:13),

and here: If a man commits adultery with a married woman, committing adultery with another man’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death (Leviticus 20:10),

and it also says: lest the land fall into harlotry and the land be filled with depravity (Leviticus 19:29).

At Sinai: You shall not steal (Exodus 20:13),

and here: You shall not steal (Leviticus 19:11).

At Sinai: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 20:13),

and here: You shall not deal falsely, nor lie to one another (Leviticus 19:11).

At Sinai: You shall not covet (Exodus 20:14),

and here: You shall not defraud your fellow (Leviticus 19:13).

For this reason, just as the [ten] commandments were given publicly, this section was spoken in a gathering of the entire community, as scripture says: Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel. And he who fulfills the pericope of Kedoshim,¹ it is as though he fulfilled the entire Torah. “And if you fulfill it, I will be your father and the Torah will be your mother,” as is written: Surely You are our Father (Isaiah 63:16).

“And the Torah is your mother,” as is written: Hear, my son, the instruction of your father, and forsake not the Torah of your mother (Proverbs 1:8).

And why all of this? So that you will be holy, as scripture says: You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy (Leviticus 19:2).

And if the nation of Israel had no Torah, no laws, no rules or commandments aside from these three pericopes—Mishpatim, Kedoshim, and Ki Tetse—it would have been enough for them.

This is because there is [a kind of] scripture [that is particularly] compressed, which contains two commandments and a conclusion, as scripture says:

1. Keep yourself far from a false matter;

2. do not bring death on the innocent and righteous,

conclusion: for I will not justify the wicked (Exodus 23:7).

And in our parashah:

1. You shall fear every man his mother and his father,

2. and keep My Sabbaths,

conclusion: I the Lord am your God (Leviticus 19:3).

I am the Lord, I am the judge.

1. You shall not steal;

2. you shall not deal falsely;

conclusion: nor lie to one another (Leviticus 19:11).

1. You shall not take vengeance,

2. and you shall not bear a grudge against the children of your people;

conclusion: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18).

This is a general principle regarding all the negative commandments given to man, because whenever a person loves his neighbor as himself, he will fulfill the commandments of: You shall not swear falsely (Exodus 20:7), and You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 20:13), and You shall not covet (Exodus 20:14), and all similar to these.

For the sage has taught: All the commandments of the Torah are dependent on two verses. The first is You shall love the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 6:5), and the second is Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18). This is because the 248 positive commandments all depend on one’s acceptance of the verse You shall love the Lord your God, since only someone who loves God and loves himself will perform them. And all of the negative commandments depend on Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18), since whenever a person fulfills the commandment Love your neighbor as yourself, he will not transgress any of the negative commandments.

And for the convert, scripture says: The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the home-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God (Leviticus 19:34). Based on this, the sage taught: That which is hateful to you do not do to another [b. Shabbat 31a].