PARSHAS NITZAVIM
“And you shall choose life that you may live you and your descendants.” (Devarim 30:19)
Rav Chagai said “Not only did I give you two paths I even went beyond the letter of the law and said to you: ‘You shall choose life.’ ” (Midrash Rabbah Re’eh 3)
The Midrash’s words “beyond the letter of the law” beg explanation. Isn’t this act of choosing life a basic command upon which all of avodas Hashem depends? How can we say that it was given to us beyond the letter of the law?
Furthermore there’s another midrash on parshas Bechukosai that seems to demand a similar explanation. The pasuk says: “If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and do them.” Chazal say: “If you fulfill the mitzvos I consider it as if you did them.” How do we understand the words “as if you did them”? This seems to mean that even if Bnei Yisrael didn’t actually fulfill the mitzvos Hashem counts it as if they did them. But what if they actually did fulfill the mitzvos? Why should that be counted “as if” they did them? (Yalkut Lekach Tov)
