As to which was the first and greatest command, the rabbis
were in grave doubt. Most agreed that the smallest and least
command was the one concerning the bird’s nest, recorded in
Deut. 22:6, 7; but when it came to the first and greatest, they
were in doubt, whether it was the one respecting the observance
of the Sabbath, or the law concerning circumcision, or the
one concerning fringes and phylacteries, while still others
contended that the omission of ceremonial ablutions was as bad
as homicide. With these distinctions and differences and absurd
hair-splittings in mind the young lawyer addrest the master
with the question, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
What a majestic answer was that which he received! Nothing in
it about fringes and phylacteries, nothing about ceremonial
washings, nothing about attitudes and genuflections; but the
grand answer which will abide for all time to come: “Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, this is the
first commandment.” This answer goes to the heart of the matter.
Eighteen hundred years have not suggested any improvement or
addition to the great answer, nor will eighteen hundred years to
come, because it embraces all other answers and is the sum total
of morality.--_The Golden Rule._
(1903)