DEUT571 Do not forsake the Levite by not giving him the gifts to which he is entitled. Hashem wants only good for His nation, Israel, for He chose them from out of all the other nations. They are a wise and understanding people and He wants to benefit them so that all who behold them will recognize that they are descendants of seed that He has blessed, and that they are people of truth and deserve fame. For this purpose, He orchestrates ways that bring about that their main occupation is Torah--that they toil in Torah and apply themselves to it day and night. He designs a fitting and pleasant system of laws containing strong and prized behavioral norms so that all Jews, young and old, will acquire knowledge of Him. One of His means for strengthening and implanting Torah knowledge within the Jewish nation is His choice of one entire tribe that receives no portion of land in Eretz Yisrael. No member of this tribe goes out to the fields to plow, sow, irrigate or reap. Thereby, they all are free to utilize their time for learning and understanding the ways of Hashem, and for teaching justice to their brethren, the other tribes of Israel, throughout the Land. Since Hashem has chosen one tribe to have Torah as its sole occupation--for all time--and from them will the rest of the nation seek Torah and will heed their rulings and advice, He wants the nation to provide this tribe a livelihood. He is concerned that their ability to acquire and disseminate wisdom not suffer for lack of bread. From this mitzvah one learns that it is a duty to help and support all who are occupied in Torah study full time, for these are the ones who play the greatest role in assuring the future of the one true faith. They strengthen their faith. They promote peace and love their fellow Jews, and have no time to run back and forth chasing after a livelihood. Therefore, he who has mercy on them and seeks to promote their welfare will receive Heaven's mercy. In the World to Come he will sit beside them and enjoy a portion similar to theirs.

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DEUT575 Pray to Hashem. Hashem, Creator and Master of the world, wants good for His creations, so He teaches them to fulfill His commandments, all of which are precious opportunities for them to earn merit and good. In order to benefit them, He opens the door for them, and by entering they are able to attain all of their wants. He gives them the opportunity to pray to Him for all of their needs, for His [sic?] has the power to meet their needs and will respond to all who call out to Him in truth. In addition to having informed us of this opportunity, Hashem commands us to take advantage of it and regularly request from Him all of our needs and heart’s desires. What is more, the mitzvah fixes in our minds and makes us more aware that He is to be Master of all good and blessing, and His eye surveys all of His works and all that we do, and at all times He hears our cries to Him. Through fulfillment of this mitzvah we strengthen our belief in Him, in His Kingship and in His unlimited powers, until no doubt remains in our minds about these matters. We recognize that there is no power before Him that can stop or hinder Him from doing whatever He wishes.

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DEUT577 Perform ritual slaughter as commanded. As to why the site of the slaughter is the throat, it is known that a cut there causes blood to flow out faster and more freely, compared to when the cut is made elsewhere on the body. Therefore, the Torah commands that the slaughter be performed there, because from there all of the creature’s prohibited blood will flow out, so we can fulfill the Torah’s command, “Do not eat the soul with the meat.” Another reason involves pain. Because of man's lofty status in the grand design of creation, the Torah permits him to eat the meat of animals, and use them for his other needs, but the Torah forbids him to cause them undue pain. By means of perfectly sharp knife and slaughter at the neck, we do not cause the creature any unnecessary pain.

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DEUT578 Do not eat any limb of a live animal. Key concept: So that we do not teach our souls the abominable trait of cruelty. What heinous cruelty it is to tear off a limb or cut out the flesh of a live animal and afterwards eat what was removed! We already have explained several times the great benefit in acquiring positive character traits and distancing ourselves from the negative traits. He who is good clings to the good, and Hashem--Perfect Goodness--wants to bestow blessing upon us. Therefore, He commands us to choose the good, so that we are worthy to receive His blessings.

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DEUT581 Bring to the Beis HaMikdash all animals that you sanctify outside of the Land of Israel. See [[DEUT560]] Deuteronomy 12:14 offerings CHINUCH 291

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DEUT592 Do not add onto any mitzvah. Hashem is absolute perfection, and so are all of His deeds and commands. Therefore, any addition to any of His mitzvos actually detracts the mitzvah and spoils it, and all the more so if one leaves something out from the mitzvah.

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DEUT666 Do not make incisions on your skin as a sign of grief over the dead. … our nation was chosen by Hashem to possess His Torah. In that we possess His precious wisdom as embodied by the Torah, it is not fitting that we be grief-stricken by any of His deeds. We are to mourn death only in the manner prescribed in His Torah [See [[LEV868]] Leviticus 21:2 impure CHINUCH 168-9], but to act like fools and intentionally hurt ourselves and damage our bodies is forbidden. Such is not the way of the wise and the understanding. Such practices are for ignoramuses and lowly people who know nothing of Hashem's ways and wondrous deeds.

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DEUT670 Do not eat of offerings that have become disqualified for the Altar. The Torah puts holy objects off limits to us and does not let us approach them. Similarly we are kept from entering places of high sanctity. These prohibitions helped to instill in us awe, respect and fear of all things holy. They teach us to value the holy. The idea is to awaken us from our slumber and soften our hearts, so that when we come to the Beis HaMikdash to ask for forgiveness for our sins, we appear before Hashem in the appropriate state of mind. Thereby, He will hearken to our requests and save us from all our woes.

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DEUT693 Separate the tithe for the poor. See [[EXOD709]] Exodus 22:24 lend CHINUCH 43-4

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DEUT708 Key concept is to teach us not to show them pity. We must feel very distant from them, for thereby we will not be drawn towards their practices or their ideas about any subject.

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