R. Elazar Hamodai interpreted the verse "And you shall apprise them of the statutes and the laws" (Exodus 18:20) as a comprehensive guide to righteous living. Each phrase in the verse, he argued, maps to a specific ethical obligation that Moses was to teach the people.
"You shall apprise them" — this means to make known to them "the house of their life," which R. Elazar Hamodai explains as instruction in earning a livelihood. Before anything else, people need to know how to sustain themselves honestly. Torah cannot be studied on an empty stomach, and charity cannot be given from an empty hand.
"The way" — this refers to the visiting of the sick. When the verse says "the way they shall go," it means the path of compassion. A person who ignores the suffering of others has lost the way entirely, no matter how many commandments they observe.
"They shall go" — this points to the burial of the dead, one of the most sacred obligations in Jewish law. It is called chesed (Lovingkindness) shel emet, "true kindness," because the dead cannot repay the favor. The person who buries the dead acts with pure generosity.
"In it" — this refers to the practice of lovingkindness in general, the broad category of gemilut chasadim that encompasses every act of kindness between human beings.
"And the deed" — this is the law itself, the formal legal code. "That they shall do" — and here R. Elazar Hamodai makes his most striking point — this means going above and beyond the letter of the law. God expects not merely compliance but generosity of spirit.