Ramban cites the pasuk “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever” (Shemot 31-17) He says that this informs us that every generation will need to follow the Torah. It is therefore important to teach the Torah. The coming generations need to follow the Torah. How can they possibly follow Mitzvot if we don’t teach them? The philosophical work of Sefer Haikarim says that the Shemah Yisrael paragraph says that we need to love G-d. The rest of the paragraph is an elaboration of how one should love G-d whether in thought speech or action. He states that “Veshinantam” refers to speech. Wearing them as Tefillin and putting Mezuzot on a door are an action of love of G-d. (Ikarim 3-35)

The Sifrey further states that “Lebanecha – to your children” really refers to your students. A similar example refers to “The Children of the Prophets” (kings 2 – 2 – 3) which really refers to the students. mailto:steve@gindi.co.il