Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
Our parashah warns Benei Yisrael not to follow the ways of the evil nations around them. Then it states:
(ה) וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֤ם אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי֙ וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֔י אֲשֶׁ֨ר יַעֲשֶׂ֥ה אֹתָ֛ם הָאָדָ֖ם וָחַ֣י בָּהֶ֑ם אֲנִ֖י יהוה׃
You shall keep My laws and My rules, that a person should do, va-hai bahem—I am God.
“Va-hai bahem” literally means “and live in them.” But what does that actually mean?!
Bekhor Shor says va-hai bahem means that following the Torah is a safe lifestyle:
שֶׁלֹּא יְהוּ שָׁנָיו מִתְקַצְּרוֹת שֶׁאֵינוֹ מֵת אֶלָּא מִיתַת עַצְמוֹ, אֲבָל חֻקּוֹת הַגּוֹיִם, שֶׁגּוֹזְלִים וְחוֹמְסִים וְגוֹנְבִים וְרוֹצְחִים... מְקַצְּרוֹת יְמֵיהֶם, שֶׁבָּאִים בַּעֲלֵי הַמָּמוֹן וְהוֹרְגִים אוֹתָם...
If you follow the rules of the Torah, your life will be longer because you’ll die of natural causes.
But the ways of evil nations, who steal, and take, and thieve, and murder… shorten people’s lives. For example, robbery leads to murder…
The Gemara (Yoma 85a-b), though, teaches a major principle from these two words!
מִנַּיִין לְפִקּוּחַ נֶפֶשׁ שֶׁדּוֹחֶה אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת?
…אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה אָמַר שְׁמוּאֵל: ״וָחַי בָּהֶם״ - וְלֹא שֶׁיָּמוּת בָּהֶם.
How do we know that we can break Shabbat in order to save a life?
…Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel: “va-hai bahem”—you should “live through” the mitzvot, and not die through the mitzvot.
- The Gemara uses these words to teach about the sanctity of life in Judaism. Why is preserving life more important than other mitzvot like Shabbat? Does the teaching in the Gemara surprise you? Why or why not?
- Could both of these explanations be true? Which one do you think is the primary meaning in the pasuk? Can you think of other ways to explain these words?
- Grammar check! Is our pasuk in second person (speaking TO you), or in third person (speaking ABOUT you)? Answer: both! Do you see where the shift from second person to third person happens? How do you understand this change? Does this grammar change relate to the way the pasuk is understood?
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