469. Each Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes
September 1981
“This day, the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances, and you shall keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.” RASHI interprets, “Each day they will be as new in your eyes, as if you were commanded them that day.”
We should understand the commandment that each day they will be as new in your eyes. Clearly, this does not mean that each day he should buy new Tefillin [phylacteries] or a new Tzitzit [prayer shawl]. For this reason, it is interpreted, “as if you were commanded them that day.” However, we should still understand why they need to be “as if you were commanded them that day.”
The thing is that there are those who observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] in the manner of the general public, and there are those who observe Torah and Mitzvot in the manner of individuals. Those who want to work in the manner of individuals should engage in Torah and Mitzvot not in order to receive reward. Rather, they want to bestow contentment upon their Maker. Then, to the extent that they attain the greatness of the Creator, to that extent they want to bestow.
As is written in The Zohar about the verse, “Her husband is known at the gates,” each one according to what he assumes in his heart. It follows that the whole aim of their engagement in Torah and Mitzvot is in order to bring them to recognize the greatness of the Creator.
It therefore follows that a person who grows needs greater recognition of the Creator every day. Thus, each day he has a commandment from “the Lord your God.” “Your God” means that he knows the Creator in person, as it is “your God” in singular form.
This is the meaning of “Each day they will be as new in your eyes, as if you were commanded them that day,” since each day he must receive a commandment from a higher degree, which means that there, the greatness of the Creator is more apparent.