Kommentar zu Dewarim 30:15

את החיים ואת הטוב LIFE AND GOOD — the one is dependent upon the other: if you do good, behold, there is life for you, and if you do evil, behold, there is death for you. Scripture goes on to explain how this is:

SEE, I HAVE SET BEFORE THEE THIS DAY LIFE AND GOOD, AND DEATH AND EVIL. He returns to exhort them yet again, to tell them that there are two courses in their hands and it is in their power to walk in whichever they desire, and there is no power below or above that will withhold them or stop them. And he calls heaven and earth to bear witness against them a second time,⁷⁵Further, Verse 19. after he had said,I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish,⁷⁶Above, 4:26. for now he said, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death⁷⁵Further, Verse 19. which are the blessing and the curse, and that I have counselled you that you should choose life, that hou mayest live, thou and thy seed.⁷⁵Further, Verse 19. Thus he is now like someone who has the witnesses sign at the end of all his words.
Vayeilech

Life and the good. If it is life that you seek, look towards the good, to do that which is good in the eyes of Hashem. And if you ask, why “good” is not mentioned first, for it is through the good actions that one merits life, the answer is that it comes to warn us not to do that which is good in Hashem’s eyes only in order to live. But rather to live in order to do that which is good. A person should not seek life for material gain, but only in order to spend his life serving his Creator.

את החיים, eternal life, not just life on earth.

If you act with goodness, then you have life, etc. Rashi is answering the question: The verse should have mentioned each thing and its opposite, life and death, and good and bad, as it does below (v. 19). Furthermore, See, I have placed before you, etc. implies that man's acts of goodness are in Hashem's hand, but this is not so because they say (Megilla 25a), Everything is in the hand of Heaven except for fear of Heaven. Therefore Rashi explains, “One hinges on the other — If you act, etc. meaning that if on your account do good, etc., I will give you life, but if on your own you do bad, I will give you death. Because it in your hands to choose of the good or of the bad, and you choose from whichever you want.

V. 15. ראה וגו׳ ist ein an das damals gegenwärtige Geschlecht gerichtetes Nachwort. Durch alles, was ich euch in Vorhergehendem im Namen Gottes anzukündigen hatte und nach allem, was ihr von Gottes Waltungsmacht und Wahrhaftigkeit erfahren habt, müsst ihr euch selbst sagen, dass euer Wohl und Weh fortan ganz in die Hand eurer Wahl gelegt ist. חיים ist hier und im folgenden nicht bloß das physische Leben. Es ist die gesunde bestimmungsgemäße Gesamtentfaltung der leiblichen, geistigen und sittlichen Persönlichkeit eines Einzel- und Volkslebens und bildet den Gegensatz dazu: מות das Gesamterliegen in allen diesen Beziehungen. טוב ist das ungetrübte Glück im Gefolge eines solchen חיים, sowie רע das vollendete Unglück, das dem מות, dem Abgestorbensein seiner Bestimmung zuteil wird.

ואת הטוב, the pleasant aspects of life on earth.

ואת המות, eternal oblivion.

ואת הרע, the unpleasant aspects of life on earth.