On this Shabbat we read the Torah portion Vaethanan in the Book of Deuteronomy. At the beginning and the end of the reading Moses instructs the people on the rewards of faithfulness to God and the perils of faithlessness as they prepare to enter the land. In the middle Moses expresses some of the basic, eternal teachings of our tradition, including a repetition of the Ten Commandments and the basic theological commitments of Judaism contained in the Shema and the V’ahavta.
the Eternal is one.” (Deut.6:4)