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Dvar for Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9)

After instructing us on the prohibitions against divination and other occult practices, we are instructed to be “wholehearted with the Lord your G-d” (18:13). This sentence doesn’t seem to follow the previous sentence so coherently and it seems to be without any context. While the meaning of the principle itself seems self-evident, how do we achieve this lofty goal?.

Though the text does not provide an answer, Rashi explains that being wholehearted with G-d involves conducting oneself with simplicity. Or HaChaim suggests that perhaps the statement itself answers our question: If you are with the Lord your G-d, then you and your life will be whole. Acceptance and faith in the present will lead to internal peace and simplicity of purpose.