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Parashat Va’Etchanan

        After reading the Ten Commandments, numerous other commandments, and the first paragraph of the Shema in this week’s Torah portion, we read a verse (Deut 6:18), “Do that which is right and good in the eyes of God…”
The famous Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman a.k.a Nachmanides, 1194-1270) explains in his commentary on the Torah: “This is a very important idea. For it would be impossible for the Torah to mention every detail of a person’s interactions with their neighbours and friends, and all their dealings, and enactments necessary for the improvement of cities and all countries. Therefore, after mentioning many such laws such as ‘do not walk around gossiping’, ‘do not hold a grudge or take revenge’, ‘do not stand in your neighbour’s blood’, ‘do not curse a deaf person’, ‘rise before the elderly’ and more like these, it says, as a generality, that a person should do that which is good and right in every matter, compromising and acting benevolently…[this would even include guarding one’s tongue so that] one speaks softly with others–so that they will be known as honest and good in every way.”
This is the point of the whole Torah: to teach us to be good, honest and kind in all we do.