Ve'etchanan: repetition

The parsha contains the Shema, the Orthodox pledge of allegiance,  a  paragraph that  is repeated twice daily .  That tradition devolves from a few words, contained in the Shema: and you shall speak in them when you go to sleep and when you stand  (wake) up. We make those words true by the repetition. 

Repetition makes anything more plausible,  No matter how remote it seems at first, repetition makes us  comfortable with it.  Something that seems right does not need repetition, but after hearing it many times, we begin to believe anything may be true.The mantra. The chant. 

The parsha also contains a copy of the Ten Commandments.  The tradition of reading this section, like the section in Exodus, with a special cantillation reveals that they are to be considered copies of one another.  But that is not the case.  The deviations are not large, the overall meaning is almost the same ( to my reading), but the changes are obvious.  Famously, concerning Shabbath, the first edition says Shamor (keep) and the Deuteronomy edition says Zachor: remember.  The rabbis say that Gd uttered both words at once to teach us laws concerning the Sabbath ( e,g kiddush) 

The Shamor/Zachor is  the beginning of the variances.  Oxen and donkeys appear in the second and  not the first edition.  The exodus from Egypt is emphasized in  Deuteronomy and the creation is emphasized in Exodus. the restatement  clarifies the first draft. They are   presented to a somewhat different audience.  Relating the Shabbath to creation is a message to all the world, presented to people who are  recently liberated from Egypt.  The repeat comes as  a people are about to disperse throughout their promised land and need to b reminded of their common, unifying experience. 

The people did not want to hear  Gd declare the law.  They wanted Moshe to transmit it, to interpret the law.  The people wanted a copy, not the original.  the original is too hot to handle. The consequence of misinterpretation  are too dire. We needed some entropy, some room for ambiguity and growth