The Yismach Yisroel goes on to say that after accepting the Torah in Parshas Yisro, Hashem gives us advice how to properly keep and observe the Torah.
The main piece of advice to help someone keep the Torah and mitzvos properly is to love one’s fellow Jews as much as one loves himself, as Rav Akiva famously says (Yerushalmi Nedarim 9:4): “V’ahavta l’reacha komocha (Vayikroh 19:18) is the major rule of the Torah”, and as Hillel says (Shabbos 31B): “What you do not like, do not do to your friend...The rest is commentary, go learn it.”
This means that all mitzvos are dependent on this fundamental concept. This is the foundation of Yiddishkeit.
For this reason, before we do any mitzvah, we recite the words: “L’shem yichud Kudshah B’rich Hu b’shem kol Yisroel.” We include ourselves together with all of Klal Yisroel and, in this way, we are able to perform mitzvos properly. This is as Sefarim Hakedoshim say that by accepting to love our fellow Jews before we daven, we are saved from impure thoughts that ruin tefillos. This is also in accordance with the Sforno’s explanation of the pasuk (Tehillim 119:122): “Be a guarantor (arov) for Your servant for good; let the sinners not oppress me.” The word “arov” can mean “ta’aruvos”, a mixture. Thus, we ask to be mixed together with the rest of Klal Yisroel and, in this merit, to be saved from sinners.
For this reason, Parshas Mishpatim, which mostly deals with interactions between men, to Parshas Yisro, when we received the Torah. We further see from the Medrash Tanchuma (Siman 7) that properly upholding the laws of fair monetary interactions between men leads to brotherly love. The Medrash learns this from the verse (Tehillim 99:4): “And the might of the King who loves judgment; You founded uprightness.” Through proper judgments, peace and uprightness is increased. Once one recognizes the importance of dealing fairly with his friends, he will come to love all fellow Jews and realize that it is in his best interest to care for their best interest.
When the Torah says that the mishpatim have been placed before us, it can be understood to mean that by studying the Torah with full devotion and enthusiasm, one will come to the conclusion that he could never seek to cause harm to his fellow Jew. He will see that the ways of the Torah are pleasant (Mishlei 3:17), and he will want to be pleasant to every Jew.
In this vein, it is related that Rav Mendel of Rimanov zy”a said that from the time that he first learned the Mishnah that says (Bava Kama 36A): “Odom mu’ad l’olam” (a man is always responsible for damaging his friend), he never caused damage to anyone else. As we explained, when one learns the Torah’s rules of damages, and recognizes the inherent holiness and purity in these laws that were given to us directly from Hashem, he will realize that we are meant to love each other and be at peace with each other and, therefore, one will never want to cause harm to anyone else.
The Yismach Yisroel continues by quoting Sefarim Hakedoshim who ask how any individual can perform all 613 mitzvos. Some mitzvos only can be performed by Kohanim or Leviim, while others simply are not relevant to many people. If so, how can any one person do them all?
They answer that if one loves all of his fellow Jews literally like himself, he becomes included with them and gets credit for their mitzvos. When we all are united with each other, we become one entity and are credited with each other’s mitzvos.
The Zohar Hakadosh states that if one doesn’t fulfill every mitzvah, he must come back to this world in a reincarnation, which is a very difficult punishment. However, if one is united with his fellow Jews, he is considered to have fulfilled every mitzvah and he avoids this punishment. To this end, the Zohar says that everyone must do all he can to avoid this punishment and the only way to do so is to love every Jew like one loves himself and, in this way, merit fulfilling all 613 mitzvos.
This idea also helps us understand the pasuk in this week’s Parshah (24:7): “And he took the Sefer Habris and read it...and they said, ‘All that Hashem spoke we will do and we will hear.’” The Jewish people first said that they will do what is stated in the Torah and then said they will hear what is stated. How could they accept to do it before knowing what it says?
Many answers are offered to this question by the Rishonim and Acharonim. According to what we have stated, we can answer that when Klal Yisroel said that they “will do”, they meant that they would fulfill every one of the 613 mitzvos. This led to the question of how any individual could do every mitzvah when many do not apply to them. To answer this question, they said that they “will hear”. The word “nishma” can mean to gather (as in 1 Shmuel 15:4). They were saying that they would unite as one and, in this way, they would fulfill all 613 mitzvos.
This explains why in the previous verse (24:3), it only says that the people said that “whatever Hashem says we will do.” Additionally, in Parshas Yisro (19:8), it also only says that the people said that “whatever Hashem says we will do.” In both those places, it does not say that they said that they “will hear”.
We can answer that it already said in Parshas Yisro that “the entire nation together” said these words. They were like one man with one heart. They did not need to say that they “will hear” because it was obvious that they were united. In our Parshah as well, it says that they all answered, meaning they were united as one, and, therefore, they did not need to say that they “will hear”. In this pasuk, however, it does not say that they were all together. Therefore, they needed to say that they would unite to fulfill all 613 mitzvos.
