Freedom and Obligation
By Rabbi David Polsky

The last paragraph of this week’s parasha speaks about the commandment of tsitsit. Many of us are familiar with it because it is recited twice a day, as the third section of kriat shema. Through the last verse’s discussion God taking us out of Egypt, the parasha’s recitation also fulfills our daily obligation to remember the exodus from Egypt. Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik (the Rav’s uncle) wonders why the exodus is recalled in this paragraph. What does it have to do with the larger themes of the Shema? He explains that the primary purpose of the exodus was to lead us into worshiping God. The line about God’s redemption of us from Egypt therefore fits quite well in the Shema, whose purpose is accepting the yoke of heaven.