If you will surely listen to My commandments that I command you today, to love Hashem your G-d, and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul,
The Ohr Hachaim parses every word of this possuk. First, as we have seen many times, the word וְהָיָה is an expression of happiness. It is insufficient to keep the mitzvos and follow them, a person must do so with happiness. Then he will receive the reward this parsha tells us.
אִּם שָמֹּעַ תִּשְמְעוּ – if you shall listen to the mitzvos. Shlomo Hamelech says in Koheles (2:2) לִּשְחוֹק אָמַרְ תִּי מְהוֹלָל וּלְשִּמְחָה מַה זֹּה עֹּשָה - I said of laughter, "It is foolishness;" and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?" The only happiness that is worthwhile is the happiness of a mitzvah. A person’s happiness is worthwhile, but only if he listens to the mitzvos that Hashem commanded them. The Torah repeats the word שָמֹעַ תִּשְמְעוּ to hint at another concept. The possuk (Daniel 2:21) says יָהֵב חׇכְמְתָא לְחַכִּימִּין - He gives wisdom to the wise. Only when a person begins with some wisdom can he be granted more wisdom. Our possuk says that a person who listens to Hashem will have more to listen to and merit many more mitzvos.
The possuk continues לְאַהֲבָה אֶת ה' א לוֹקיכֶם וּלְעׇבְדוֹ בְכׇל לְבַבְכֶם וּבְכׇל נַפְשְכֶם - to love Hashem your G-d, and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul. The Ohr Hachaim explains that we have been taught many times that reward for mitzvos is not granted in this world. Hashem rewards people in the world to come, not in this world.
However, if we serve Hashem with all of our hearts, and our mitzvos are complete, we will receive our reward in this world too. The next possuk says וְנָתַתִּי מְטַר אַרְ צְכֶם בְעִּתוֹ - then I will give the rain of your land in its time. The extra וי"ו tells us that the reward we will receive in this world is in addition to the reward that we will receive in the world to come. We will not lose out in the next world even as we receive reward in this one.
In addition, the Gemara tells us that three things are not dependent on a person’s merits but rather on a person’s constellation at birth. A person cannot change his luck; these three things are only given to a person based on his birth situation. However, when a person serves Hashem with his entire heart, he will be supported from Heaven with sufficient sustenance, even against a person’s predestined luck.
The Ohr Hachaim then discusses a question that is discussed by many Sefarim. The first Parsha of Shema says וְאָהַבְתָ אֵת ה' א לוֹקיךָ בְכׇל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכׇל נַפְשְךָ וּבְכׇל מְאֹּדֶךָ - You shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your resources. A person is commanded to love Hashem with all of his heart, soul, and resources. Even at the threat of any of these three items being taken away from him, he must love Hashem. If someone wishes to take away our lives, or that which our souls desire, or our money to get us to abandon Hashem, we must lose all of those things not to abandon Hashem. However, in this parsha, the Torah only says וּלְעׇבְדוֹ בְכׇל לְבַבְכֶם וּבְכׇל נַפְשְכֶם - and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul. The possuk does not demand that we give up our money and resources to serve Hashem. Why does the Torah leave this out in the second Parsha?
The Ohr Hachaim explains with a Gemara. The Gemara asks on the first possuk, what does the Torah mean with וּבְכׇל מְאֹּדֶךָ? To whom is this possuk talking? If a person is commanded to give up his life for Hashem’s sake, why does he need to be commanded to give up his money for Hashem too? The Gemara answers that there are some people who value their money more than they value their lives, and even if they were willing to give up their lives, they would still not give up their money. This person is commanded to give away his money too.
The Ohr Hachaim explains that the kind of person who values his money more than his life is unique individual. The public does not act like this. Only in the first parsha, where the pessukim speak in the singular language, they are talking to the individual. This person must be exhorted to give up his life and money. However, in the second Parsha, where the language is to the public, we do not expect them to act like this, and once they are exhorted to give up their lives, do not have to be told to give up their money too.
Reb Chaim Brisker would explain this in a short and pithy statement: “While an individual may be crazy enough to value his money more than his life, the public is not that crazy.”
Reb Chaim Volozhiner has another answer to this question. In Nefesh Hachaim (1:8), he quotes a disagreement between the tanna’im about the correct way to live. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says that a person must abandon all issues of this world and only spend his life studying Torah. Rabbi Yishmael disagrees and says that a person can act like a normal person, living with the flow of the earth. Chazal decide this argument by saying that many people attempted to act like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and were not successful. The Nefesh Hachaim explains this to mean that the public cannot live the life of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, only individuals can do so. The public must work in the fields, keeping their minds occupied with Torah. Only great individual people can choose to abandon all endeavors in this world.
Now we can understand the two chapters of Shema. The first one talks to the individual, who must give up his money for Torah. He has to be willing to live of privation of want for Hashem’s sake. The second parsha is talking to the public, who are not obligated to give up their ability to make money for Torah.
The Nefesh Hachaim (2:1) offers another explanation. The first Parsha is discussing the mitzvah of loving Hashem, and a person is obligated to love Hashem more than his money. Our possuk mentions לְעׇבְ דוֹ בְכׇל לְבַבְכֶם וּבְכׇל נַפְשְכֶם – to serve Him with all of your heart and all of your soul. This is about davening to Hashem with the entire soul and heart. Money would not apply here, a person cannot daven with his money.
