And now Yisroel, what is Hashem your G-d requesting of you, merely to fear Hashem your G-d, to go in all of his ways, and to love Him and to serve Hashem your G-d with all of your hearts and all of your souls.
The Ohr Hachaim explains that there are two ways to serve Hashem, and both are necessary for a person to reach completion. He must serve Hashem from fear and love. Neither is sufficient. However, fear is a prerequisite to love, not the converse.
The reason for this is that fear causes a person to serve Hashem in totality. He will not ignore one detail in his service of Hashem, because he is scared that he has not fulfilled his obligations. Additionally, fear of Heaven will cause a person to reach the love of Hashem, too.
The possuk says ‘What is Hashem requesting of you right now?’ When a person is at the start of his journey as a servant of Hashem, all He requests is that a person fear Hashem. If he does so, he will walk in all of His ways, and will eventually reach the love of Hashem.
This explains why the Torah seems to be considering this request a minor one. Although fear of Heaven is a great level to which to aspire, when compared with love of Hashem, it is a minor level. When the Gemara (Berachos 33b) asks, ‘Is fear of Heaven a minor matter? Yes, as far as Moshe is concerned, it is a minor matter,” it does not mean to ask about the possuk’s comparison of love and fear, merely over the expression of ‘what’, that seems to be making fear of Heaven a minor matter.
The Ohr Hachaim offers another explanation. A person who has done many aveiros may think to himself that he can no longer reach any great levels of avodas Hashem, and he may give up on his mission of becoming a Tzadik. He may think that Hashem no longer has any demands on him. The Torah tells us וְעַתָה - Now, and Chazal say that אין ועתה אלא לשון תשובה – the word ‘now’ denotes Teshuva. Even if a person has to do Teshuva, Hashem still demands from him that he increase his fear of Heaven and return to Hashem and His Torah.
The possuk continues לָלֶכֶת בְכָל דְרָכָיו וּלְאַהֲבָה אֹּתוֹ וְלַעֲבֹּד אֶת ה' א לוֹקיךָ בְכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל נַפְשֶךָ - to go in all of his ways, and to love Him and to serve Hashem your G-d with all of your hearts and all of your souls.
Chazal say, ‘if you have performed bundles of aveiros, perform bundles of mitzvos to oppose them.’ Another source (Rambam end of Makkos) says that if a person has not done a single aveira in his life, one Mitzvah is sufficient to earn him a place in the World to come. The Ohr Hachaim compares this to two servants of the king. One had never angered the king in his life; the other had once caused the king to get angry. The second brought a gift to the king of a fat ox, and the first brought a bird. Even so, the king was happier with the one who had never angered him and brought a bird. The transgression that preceded the gift lessened the value of the ox. This is why a ba’al teshuva has to do bundles of mitzvos, whereas someone who has never angered Hashem can get away with only one mitzvah.
The Torah, when talking in a case of וְעַתָה - Now, and Chazal say that אין ועתה אלא לשון תשובה – the word ‘now’ denotes Teshuva, tells us that we need to end up with לָ לֶכֶת בְכָל דְרָכָיו וּלְאַהֲבָה אֹּתוֹ וְלַעֲבֹּד אֶת ה' א לוֹקיךָ בְכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל נַפְשֶךָ - to go in all of his ways, and to love Him and to serve Hashem your G-d with all of your hearts and all of your souls. He needs to follow the entire Torah for his teshuva.
