You Can't Improve on Perfection

3 Elul 5785 

There are still some points to be taken from last week's parshah before we move on.  I'm hearing more and more so-called rabbis undermining the importance and centrality of mitzvot to our avodat Hashem.  So, hear this well and don't be mislead...

See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse.  The blessing:  that you hearken to the commandments of Hashem, your God, that I command you today.  And the curse:  if you do not hearken to the commandments of Hashem, your God, and you stray from the path that I command you today, to follow gods of others, that you did not know.  (Devarim 11.26-28)

The next three Sidros (Re'eh, Shoftim, and Ki Seizei) contain the bulk of the commandments found in Deuteronomy.  Up to now, Moses mentioned such fundamental commandments as love and fear of God, and general exhortations against idolatry, and delivered inspirational sermons stressing the people's duty toward God and their obligation to live up to the holiness of the Land (Chizkuni).  He begins this recitation by putting the commandments into perspective, saying that the choice of whether or not to accept the Torah in its totality is nothing less than the choice between blessing and curse.  

...The blessing will come to you only on the condition that you hearken [תשמעו] to the commandments (Rashi).

Homiletically, "hearing" is a metaphor for blessing, because the only way a person can attain God's blessings is if he has the ability to hear, i. e. assimilate what the Torah wants of him.  (Stone Commentary)

Safeguard and hearken to all these words that I command you, in order that it be well with you and your children after you forever; when you do what is good and right [the mitzvot] in the eyes of Hashem, your God. 

...The entire word that I command you, that shall you observe to do; you shall not add to it and you shall not subtract from it.  (Devarim 12.28-13.1)

...One who seeks to "improve" the Torah by adding new commandments runs the risk that what human intelligence considers an honor to God may be an abomination in His eyes.

[In this generation, we suffer severely from people who believe we should be more "moral" than Hashem.]

...By definition, it is impossible to improve upon perfection.  For one to add to the Torah implies that God has fallen short, which is as disrespectful as saying that this or that commandment is wrong or irrelevant.  (Stone Commentary)