Parsha Pearls
“...And you should choose life...” (parshas Nitzovim, Devorim 30:19).
The above words of the Torah “and you should choose life” are known to many, and will be powerfully inspiring when heard before Rosh HaShana during krias HaTorah this Shabbos. Interestingly, the words of the Torah are: םיִּיַחַב ָתְרַחָבוּ which literally means “and you should choose the life” But what exactly is “the life”? The very next verse next explains:
לְאַַֽהֲבָה אֶת־ה' אֱלֹקיךָ לִּשְמֹעַ בְקֹלוֹ וּלְדָבְקָה־בוֹ כִּי הוּא חַיֶיךָ וְאֹרֶךְ יָמֶיךָ לָשֶבֶת עַל־הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶר נִּשְבַע ה' לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ...
“To love Hashem your G-d, to listen to His voice and to attach yourself to Him, for He is your life and the length of you days, to live on the Land that Hashem had sworn to your forefathers...”
There is life, and there is the life. Hashem tells us: chose the life!
Also notice that the mitzva of living in Eretz Yisroel is listed in this verse along with the ahavas Hashem, yiras Shamayim and deveikus. Commenting on this verse, the Ohr HaChaim writes: כי ישיבת הארץ היא מצוה כוללת כל התורה - “Living in Eretz Yisroel is a mitzva that includes in it the entire Torah.”
