Nahmanides Highlights

(18) הישר והטוב [AND THOU SHALT DO] THAT WHICH IS RIGHT AND GOOD [IN THE EYES OF THE LORD] — This refers to a compromise, acting beyond the strict demands of the law.

"You shall do what is right and good in God's eyes"-- Our Rabbis have a beautiful midrash on this verse. They have said: "this refers to compromising and going beyond the requirement of the letter of the law."

The intent of this is as follows: At first he [Moshe] stated that you are to keep his statues and his testimonies which he commanded you, and now that he is stating that even where he has not commanded you, give thought as well, to do what is good and right in his eyes, for he loves the good and the right.

Now this is a great principle, for it is impossible to mention in the Torah all aspects of man's conduct with his neighbors and friends, and all his various transactions, and the ordinances or all societies and countries. But after He mentioned many of them- such as "Thou shalt not go about as a talebearer;" (Lev 19:16) "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge;" (19:18) "Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor;" (19:16) "Do not curse the deaf;" (19:14) "You shall rise before an elder;" (19:32) and the like, He then went back and said generally that one should do the good and the right in everything, until through this he reaches [the level of] 'compromise and going beyond the letter of the law.'

This is like what it says of the law of the neighboring landowner (BM 108a), and even what they said (Yoma 86a): his beard should be nice and his speech should be gentle with people," until he is worthy of being called "pure and right" with regard to everything.

The meaning is as follows: the Torah has warned us against immorality and forbidden foods, but it permits sexual relations between man and wife, and the eating of certain kinds of meat and wine. Since this is so, a person should think that it is permitted to be passionately addicted to intercourse with his wife, or many wives, and be 'among those who guzzle wine or glut themselves on meat' (Proverbs 23:20) and speak freely of all profanities, since this is not explicitly forbidden. The result is that he will become a scoundrel within the permissible realm of Torah [naval bi-reshut ha-Torah]. Therefore, after listing the specific conduct that is forbidden, the Torah continues with a general command that we practise moderation even in matters which are permitted...

This is a general feature of Jewish law: detailed examples followed by a general command. Thus in the case of ethics the Torah explicitly forbids certain kinds of conduct, such as theft, robbery, and overcharging in business. But it also contains general rules such as, 'You shall do that which is right and good' (Deut. 6: 18) - which include and going 'beyond the strict requirements of the law' and a willingness, for the sake of equity, to forego the full extent of one's legal rights.

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(3) ...One should be separate from sexual transgressions and all other transgressions, for any place that one find a fence or mention of sexual transgressions, one also finds a mention of the word "kadosh" or holiness. This is the language of Rashi. But in Sefer Vayikra, there is only a phrase of "You should be separate". And they learned there (Chapter 12:3), That the people should be holy because Hashem is holy and the people should be separate as Hashem is separate. According to my opinion, the separation is not only from sins of sexual transgression, like the rabbi (Rashi) says. Rather, the separation should occur in any place that we are separate. The issue comes when the Torah warns of sexual transgressions and forbidden foods, the Torah also allows sexual relations between husband and wife and allows eating of meats and wines. Therefore, a desirous person will take advantage and have multiple wives or will be a savage when it comes to drinking wine and eating meat. He will do as he pleases because there is no prohibition in the Torah. However, he will be a scoundrel in the permissions of the Torah. Therefore, the torah comes to mention specifically after the prohibitions, the general rule or law that we should be separate from the permissible areas of the Torah.

(19) לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו, it is usual for goats to give birth to two kids at the same time, and it was customary for people to slaughter one of them right away. Seeing that mother goats have an abundance of milk (expecting to nurse at least two young kids) they used the excess milk to boil the young kid in after it had been slaughtered. (Proverbs 27,27 “the goat’s milk will suffice for your food, the food of your household and the maintenance of your maids.”) It is something distasteful, revolting, something akin to gluttony, to consume the mother’s milk together with the young animal that this milk was intended to nourish. We find a parallel in the legislation not to slaughter mother animal and her young on the same day, as well as the prohibition not to take the young chicks while the mother bird is present. (Leviticus 22,25 and Deuteronomy 22,6-7) The Torah teaches you these matters as a matter of elementary culture. Seeing that on the festivals many animals are consumed, the Torah included this legislation in the paragraph dealing with other aspects of these festivals. If the consuming of these animals is prohibited under such circumstances, how much more so are mixture of milk and meat prohibited as discussed in Chulin 113.

"Should you happen upon a bird's nest" (Dt 22:6) This mitzvah is also clarified based on "Do not slaughter her and her calf on the same day." (Lev 22:2) The reason for both of them is that we should not have a cruel heart and be uncompassionate. Also, the Bible does not want us to exterminate a species even though we can slaughter one animal within that species....

Bereshit Rabbah (44:1) [says]: "What does God care whether one slaughters from the neck or from the throat? Behold, the mitzvot were given only to refine humans, as it says 'all of the words of God are refined." (Prv 30:5)

In my opinion, these aggadot all say the same thing: that the commandments do not help God, but help humans, preventing them from harm, bad beliefs, or disgusting attributes or to remember God's miracles so that we should know God.

This is the meaning of "refine:" that we should be like refined silver. For the one who refines silver is not doing so without a reason, but rather to remove every impurity. So too the mitzvoth exist to remove for our hearts all bad beliefs and to make us aware of the truth and always remember God...