4. HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE ETERNAL, OUR GO-D, THE ETERNAL IS
ONE. This too is a commandment that offers explanation. For, already contained
in the commandment I am the Eternal thy G-d, is [the principle of] the Unity
of G-d. As the Rabbis have said: “Rabbi Nathan says: From here there is a
refutation to those heretics who say there are two powers governing the
universe. For, when the Holy One, blessed be He, stood on Mount Sinai and proclaimed
I am the Eternal thy G-d, who protested against Him?” But here he
[Moses] came to explain this commandment [I am the Eternal . . . ] and
mentioned it after the Ten Commandments because it is the root of faith, and
whoever does not acknowledge it denies the essential principle [of the
religion] as if he worships idols. “The Eternal our G-d, the Eternal is One.
This means: the Eternal, Who is [now, only] our G-d and not the G-o of the
[other] nations, will eventually be acknowledged as the One [and only] Eternal,
as it is said, In that day shall the Eternal be One, and HIs Name One. This
is Rashi’s language. Now you must contemplate [the fact] that Scripture changed
[the normal usage] here by saying the Eternal ‘our’ G-d and did not
state “thy” G-d as it says everywhere else: Hear, O Israel: thou art to pass
over the Jordan this day etc. Know therefore this day, that the Eternal ‘thy’
G-d etc.; Hear, O Israel, ye draw nigh this day unto battle etc. for
the Eternal ‘your’ G-d is He that goeth with you. And so also in all
sections where [Moses] spoke to Israel he mentioned “the Eternal your G-d”
or “the Eternal thy G-d,” and even here [in this very section] he said, And
thou shalt love the Eternal ‘thy’ G-d. However, in this declaration of the
Unity [of G-d] Moses said, the Eternal ‘our’ G-d because He had done great
and awesome things with Moses to make Himself a glorious Name
[therefore Moses said “our G-d,” for he had said “your G-d,” he
might have appeared to exclude himself from this declaration of Unity]. Now the
letter daleth in the word echad (one) is written [in the Torah]
large in order to allude to that which is written, He divided the water
before them, to make Himself an everlasting Name. And therefore the Rabbis
instituted in the reading of the Sh’ma “Blessed be His Name Whose Glorious
Kingdom is for ever and ever” and they further said [there]: “This may be
compared to a lord’s daughter who smelled the [sweet] odor of some pudding
etc.,” for Moses stated it in the Torah by an allusion. And then he reverted
[to the general usage] and stated, And ‘thou’ shalt love the Eternal ‘thy’
G-d like the expression found in [the other] sections of Deuteronomy. (Ramban
Nachmanides Commentary on the Torah: Deuteronomy [trans. Charles Chavel; Brooklyn,
N.Y.: Shilo House Publishing House, Inc., 1976], 76-77)
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