נעשה ו. נשמע Action vs. Intention.

(7) Then he took the record of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will faithfully do and listen!”

First there is the command to believe in the Creator, when it says "Hear O Israel the L-ord". His intent was not for hearing of the ear, but rather for belief and acceptance of the heart, as the verse says "we will do and we will hear" (Ex. 24:7), and "Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it" (Deut. 6:3), and similarly for all other verses which come in this way using a term denoting "hearing", the intent is only to bring to belief and acceptance.

Rabbi Elazar said: when the Israelites brought forth 'We will do' before 'we will listen', a heavenly voice called out and said: who revealed to my children this secret which the serving angels use?....that initially (essentially) they DO and thereafter listen. Because for humans, they must first hear what to do in order to do it, whereas angels, which are totally spiritual beings, have no relevance to before and after - the listening and the keeping come at once. Therefore, when the Israelites said here: 'we will do' before 'we will listen', they acted with the force and sensitivity that the angels use. This is what the question 'Who revealed this secret to my children' refers to - i.e. who gave them this power and sensitivity so akin to the angels.

נעשה ונשמע, 'we will do' for the purpose of 'we will listen' to His voice like stewards serving their teacher, not to receive a reward, but rather doing his word for the purpose of listening to his word.

(17) Shimon, his son, used to say: all my days I grew up among the sages, and I have found nothing better for a person than silence. Expounding is not the most important thing, but actions; whoever indulges in too many words brings about sin.

The Gemara raised an objection to this conclusion from what we learned in a mishna: If one was reading the passage of Shema in the Torah, and the time of reciting Shema arrived, if he focused his heart, he has fulfilled his obligation, but if not, he has not fulfilled his obligation. .......... Come and hear that which we learned in our mishna: If one was passing behind a synagogue, or his house was adjacent to the synagogue, and he heard the sound of the shofar or the sound of the Scroll of Esther, if he focused his heart, he has fulfilled his obligation, but if not, he has not fulfilled his obligation. ......Therefore, the mishna teaches that it is sufficient that one have intent and know that he is hearing the sound of a shofar.

On the topic of reward for a mitzva fulfilled without intent, ....Even a mitzva performed with ulterior motives garners reward, as Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: A person should always engage in Torah study and performance of mitzvot, even if he does so not for their own sake, as through the performance of mitzvot not for their own sake, one gains understanding and comes to perform them for their own sake.

(15) Concentration of the mind—how is this condition [to be fulfilled?] Any prayer uttered without mental concentration is not prayer. If a service has been recited without such concentration, it must be recited again devoutly. A person finds that his thoughts are confused and his mind is distracted: He may not pray till he has recovered his mental composure. Hence, on returning from a journey or if one is weary or distressed, it is forbidden to pray till his mind is composed. The sages said that he should wait three days till he is rested and his mind is calm, and then he recites the prayers.

(1) If one has recited the Amidah without devotion, he should recite it again devoutly. If he, however, concentrated his attention during the recital of the first blessing, he need not read the prayer again. If one committed an error in one of the first three blessings, he has to turn back to the beginning of the Amidah. If he made a mistake in one of the last three blessings, he turns back to the blessing relating to the restoration of the Temple Service. If he made a mistake in one of the intermediate blessings, he turns back to the beginning of the blessing in which he made the mistake, and then continues the Service in regular order to the end. The reader, if he makes a mistake when reading the Amidah aloud, follows the same rules.

“Blessings upon the head of a righteous man” (Proverbs 10:6). This is why the Talmud begins with Tractate Blessings (Berakhot), for it is the essence of everything: “Know the god of your father” (Chronicles I 28:9), and afterwards, “serve him,” for you have to know for whom you are serving. This is why a person says a blessing before each ritual act, to dedicate all of his actions to God, as the verse says, “In all your ways, know him” (Proverbs 3:6), as Maimonides wrote. This is accomplished by making the blessing, as the rabbis said the requirement [in terms of necessary age for making a blessing] is a child who knows to whom he is blessing (Bavli, Berakhot, 48a), as opposed to the rest of the mitsvot which have no requirement of knowing to whom one is making the blessing, such as phylacteries or the like. It is clear that the essence of a blessing is the knowledge of to whom the blessing is being made, and blessings were instituted for this purpose....

Because in truth, the real depth of all concepts of the Torah and Mitzvot are not graspable by man's intellect, for if man was able to grasp these concepts in their true root, then simply having intention itself without action would be enough. However, since man's intellect cannot grasp (the true meaning of the Torah and Mitzvot), he must do the actions themselves, which will cause the deep light to penetrate the heart, even if his mind isn't completely set to it in holiness. This is why the nation said 'we will do' before 'we will listen', because even without true comprehension and grasp of the light within the Torah and Mitzvot, they would do so anyways, and only after 'we will listen'.

10. The concept of “we will do and we will hear” applies on each and every level, and likewise in each and every world. Each individual, commensurate with his level, possesses the aspect of “we will do”/Torah—namely, that which is revealed to him. And [he possesses] the aspect of “we will hear”—which corresponds to the hidden/prayer.

It must be that the essence of knowledge brings one to action. Our forefathers understood this and put 'we will do' before 'we will listen', to inform us that the goal of knowledge (understanding) is action.