The Torah has a long list of Commandments which are reminders of the exodus of Egypt. The Chinuch (a book on commentaries of Mitzvahs published anonymously on the 13th century in Spain) writes that a person might ask why the Torah needs so many commandments to commemorate this event. Wouldn’t one have been enough? He replies that there is an important principle we may derive from this. We have to know that a person influences himself by his actions. Our thoughts are connected to our behavior, both for good and bad. Even if a person is very wicked and has done much wrong, if he devotedly attaches himself to Torah study and the performance of good deeds, he will eventually become a righteous person. His heart will follow in the path of his behavior and his thoughts will become more elevated.
Basically what The Chinuch is saying is that to be good you just have to do good.
Excerpts from “Growth Through Torah” by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin
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