How To Observe Torah: Ki Tavo

(1) And now, O Israel, give heed to the laws and rules that I am instructing you to teach, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that יהוה, the God of your fathers, is giving you.(2) You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of your God יהוה that I enjoin upon you.(3) You saw with your own eyes what יהוה did in the matter of Baal-peor, that your God יהוה wiped out from among you every person who followed Baal-peor;(4) while you, who held fast to your God יהוה, are all alive today.(5) See, I have imparted to you laws and rules, as my God יהוה has commanded me, for you to abide by in the land that you are about to enter and occupy.

(6)Observe them faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing of all these laws will say, “Surely, that great nation is a wise and discerning people.”(7) For what great nation is there that has a god so close at hand as is our God יהוה whenever we call?(8) Or what great nation has laws and rules as perfect as all this Teaching that I set before you this day?(9)But take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes and so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live. And make them known to your children and to your children’s children:

(1) And this is the Instruction—the laws and the rules—that your God יהוה has commanded [me] to impart to you, to be observed in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy,(2) so that you, your children, and your children’s children may revere your God יהוה and follow, as long as you live, all the divine laws and commandments that I enjoin upon you, to the end that you may long endure.(3) Listen, O Israel, willingly and faithfully, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly [in] a land flowing with milk and honey,. as יהוה, the God of your ancestors, spoke to you.(4) Hear, O Israel! יהוה is our God, יהוה alone/ one (5) You shall love your God יהוה with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.(6) Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day.(7) Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up.(8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol*on your forehead;

(1) When you enter the land that your God יהוה is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it,(2) you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that your God יהוה is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where your God יהוה will choose to establish the divine name.(3) You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before your God יהוה that I have entered the land that יהוה swore to our fathers to assign us.”(4) The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of your God יהוה.(5) You shall then recite as follows before your God יהוה: “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation.(6) The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us.(7) We cried to יהוה, the God of our ancestors, and יהוה heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression.(8) יהוה freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents,(9) bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.(10) Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, יהוה, have given me.” You shall leave it before your God יהוה and bow low before your God יהוה.(11) And you shall enjoy, together with the [family of the] Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that your God יהוה has bestowed upon you and your household.(12) When you have set aside in full the tenth part of your yield—in the third year, the year of the tithe and have given it to the [family of the] Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat their fill in your settlements,(13) you shall declare before your God יהוה: “I have cleared out the consecrated portion from the house; and I have given it to the [family of the] Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, just as You commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of Your commandments:(14) I have not eaten of it while in mourning, I have not cleared out any of it while I was impure, and I have not deposited any of it with the dead. I have obeyed (shma) my God יהוה; I have done just as You commanded me.(15) Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the soil You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.”

(16) Your God יהוה commands you this day to observe these laws and rules; observe them faithfully with all your heart and soul.(17) You have affirmed this day that יהוה is your God, in whose ways you will walk, whose laws and commandments and rules you will observe, and whom you will obey.(18) And יהוה has affirmed this day that you are, as promised, God’s treasured people who shall observe all the divine commandments,(19) and that [God] will set you, in fame and renown and glory, high above all the nations that [God] has made; and that you shall be, as promised, a holy people to your God יהוה.

(1) Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying: Observe all the Instruction that I enjoin upon you this day.(2) As soon as you have crossed the Jordan into the land that your God יהוה is giving you, you shall set up large stones. Coat them with plaster(3) and inscribe upon them all the words of this Teaching. When you cross over to enter the land that your God יהוה is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as יהוה, the God of your ancestors, promised you—(4) upon crossing the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I charge you this day, on Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster.(5) There, too, you shall build an altar to your God יהוה, an altar of stones. Do not wield an iron tool over them;(6) you must build the altar of your God יהוה of unhewn stones. You shall offer on it burnt offerings to your God יהוה,(7) and you shall sacrifice there offerings of well-being and eat them, rejoicing before your God יהוה.(8) And on those stones you shall inscribe every word of this Teaching most distinctly.(9) Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Silence! Hear, O Israel! Today you have become the people of your God יהוה:(10) Heed your God יהוה and observe the divine commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you this day.

(19) Therefore, write down this poem and teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths, in order that this poem may be My witness against the people of Israel.(20) When I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey that I promised on oath to their fathers, and they eat their fill and grow fat and turn to other gods and serve them, spurning Me and breaking My covenant,(21) and the many evils and troubles befall them—then this poem shall confront them as a witness, since it will never be lost from the mouth of their offspring. For I know what plans they are devising even now, before I bring them into the land that I promised on oath.

(30) You shall keep My charge not to engage in any of the abhorrent practices that were carried on before you, and you shall not defile yourselves through them: I יהוה am your God.

Also, [the sources mentioned above] relate those matters which were decreed by the sages and prophets in each generation in order to "build a fence around the Torah." We were explicitly taught about [this practice] by Moses, as [implied by Leviticus 18:30]: "And you shall observe My precepts," [which can be interpreted to mean]: "Make safeguards for My precepts."

It is taught in a baraita that Joseph said to his brothers: Do not take long strides and bring the sun into the city, i.e., you should enter the city to spend the night there before the sun has set. The Gemara elaborates: Do not take long strides, as the Master said: A long stride takes away one five-hundredth of a person’s eyesight, and this loss is not worth the time saved.