Musar for Berakhot 16:26

In publishing this booklet I aim to fulfill two promises. I have undertaken to publish a commentary on the overriding nature of the מצות שבת, the commandment to observe the Sabbath, concerning which our sages Berachot 8 have urged that שנים מקרא ואחד תרגום, that a person should peruse the weekly portion twice in the original Hebrew, and once in an appropriate translation. I am convinced that the meaning of this statement is that one should not confine oneself to the mere study of the Torah but do so in order to teach it and to carry out the commandments contained therein. In order to do this a person has to know and understand the text of each weekly portion. He has to be able to identify the specific commandments (both positive and negative) contained in every one of these portions in order to have the sources of all 613 commandments at his fingertips. Although there are numerous weekly portions which do not contain any of the aforementioned 613 commandments, perusal of the portion is still a great מצוה, a section of the overall commandment to study Torah which is itself a division of the 613 commandments. After listing the relevant commandments contained in each portion we will endeavor to explain their obvious as well as their hidden meanings to the best of our ability. We will next pinpoint the ethical and moral content of these various portions of the written Torah. A person is obligated to study all these three aspects of the Torah diligently.

Actually, I should have dealt with all this during my commentary on the statement of our sages in Berachot 8, that "anyone who completes perusing the respective portion of the week together with the congregation will have his lifespan lengthened." However, I did not want to interrupt the commentary on the tractate Shabbat that I was involved in at the time; the digression would have been too great. This is why I devote a separate treatise to this part of Torah which I have decided to call תורה שבכתב, "the written Torah."