Duties of the Heart
Translated by trans. Rabbi Yosef Sebag Duties of the Heart
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The opening
First Treatise on Unity, Introduction
The author says: After investigating after what is the most necessary of the cornerstones and fundamentals of our religion, we found that the wholehearted acceptance of the unity of G-d is the root and foundation of Judaism. It is the first of the gates of the Torah, and it differentiates between the believer and the heretic. It is the head and front of religious truth, and one who strays from it - will not be able to perform religious deeds and his faith will not endure.
Because of this, G-d’s first words to us at Mount Sinai were: “I am the L-ord your G-d...you shall not have other gods before Me”, and later on He exhorted us through His prophet saying: (Shema Yisrael..) “Hear O Israel the L-ord, is our G-d, the L-ord is One” (Deut. 6:4)
You should study this chapter of Shema Yisrael until its close, and you will see how its words move from one matter to another, encompassing 10 matters, that number corresponding to the Ten Commandments. The explanation is as follows:
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About this edition
- The words
- trans. Rabbi Yosef Sebag Duties of the Heart's English translation, copied word for word.
- Left out
- Notes and pages added by translators, editors or publishers