The 613 mitzvot encompassed in the first commandment
With Hashem’s revelation on Har Sinai, we only committed to 10 Commandments… how did our obligations mushroom into 613?… All of the mitzvot are included in those original ten…
[However] we actually only heard the first two commandments directly from Hashem:
Their revelation was so intense, [that] our souls flew from our bodies at each word. Hashem revived us with His resurrecting dew… We “died” over sixty times in those first two commandments. It was just too much, and finally we begged Moshe to be our intermediary and relay the message to us.
Even so… these first two Commandments, themselves, are comprehensive.
The First Commandment which declares the fact of God’s existence is the root of all the 248 positive directives.
The Second Commandment is the root of all 365 negative commandments. And really, says the midrash, both the positive and the negative are contained within the first one.
The Second Commandment is the root of all 365 negative commandments. And really, says the TEST 111, both the positive and the negative are contained within the first one.
The first commandment: understanding that everything comes from God
If we really understood what it means that God is one, as expressed through the First Commandment, our instinctive and reflexive response to the world would always accord with [the Torah].
And so, the entire Torah is contained within the first commandment… Every Jewish soul heard these words straight from their Creator…
The goal of our lives individually and collectively is to achieve an ever-deepening integration of what it means that G-d is one. And towards this end, says the midrash, Hashem restates this fundamental truth over and over and over again. Each day Hashem rebroadcasts the First Commandment out into the world.
Why don’t we hear it? What keeps us from taking it in?
If Hashem bothers to reiterate the First Commandment each day then we need to make the silent space to hear His message.
[However, making silent space can only come about through quiet, honest reflection on events without outside distractions. It is only through such a medium that we can consider the meaning of both individual and collective events that we have experienced and focus on the message. Such an experience, when done properly, can allow us to see that nothing happens by coincidence, and every step is part of Hashem’s plan.]