In his commentary on the Zohar, the Rebbe’s father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn, writes that this verse we are studying, “You shall know that I am Havayah your God” constitutes a nearly explicit source for the Rambam’s understanding of Torah. The Rambam begins his book with the words, “The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of wisdom is to know that there is a Primary Being who brought into being all existence.”
This, as we said, is the commandment to have general knowledge of God. Then comes the entire Mishneh Torah, his central corpus detailing all the Torah’s laws. But it all leads up to the closing words describing the Messianic era:
In that era, there will be neither famine or war, envy, or competition for good will flow in abundance and all the delights will be freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know God. Therefore, the Jews will be great sages and know the hidden matters, grasping the knowledge of their Creator according to the full extent of human potential, as Isaiah 11:9 states: “The world will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the ocean bed.”
General mean? To know that there is a supreme sovereign, who is the Master of the world, who created all worlds, the heavens and the earth and all their hosts. And that is in general. But the goal of all is the particular, to know him particularly.
