Deuteronómio 26:1 Midrash: Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai & Sifrei Devarim

(Deut. 26:1:) AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS THAT WHEN YOU COME INTO THE LAND, <….> (vs. 16:) THIS DAY THE LORD YOUR GOD IS COMMANDING YOU TO PERFORM….¹In the midrash the parashah actually begins with vs. 16, but the additional verse at the beginning adapts the parashah to the traditional yearly cycle of readings. Note also that verse 16 is translated to fit the context of the midrash. This text is related (to Ps. 95:6): COME, LET US BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP, LET US KNEEL <BEFORE THE LORD OUR MAKER>! Now what does the instruction mean by LET US BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP?²Tanh., Deut. 7:1. Moses simply foresaw that the Temple was going to be destroyed and that the firstfruits were going to cease. He arose and arranged for Israel to pray three times on every day, because prayer is more pleasing to the Holy One than a hundred good works. When it was decreed for him not to enter the land, he began to pray, and he said (in Deut. 3:25): PLEASE LET ME CROSS OVER AND SEE <THE GOOD LAND>. The Holy One said to him (in vss. 26–27:): ENOUGH FROM YOU! DO NOT EVER SPEAK UNTO ME ON THIS MATTER AGAIN. GO UP TO THE TOP OF PISGAH. It is therefore stated (in 26:16): <THIS DAY> THE LORD YOUR GOD IS COMMANDING YOU TO PERFORM….³I.e., to obey the command to go up to the top of Pisgah. Although the midrash understands the performance in reference to this one command, the biblical text is speaking about performing statutes and ordinances.

...“…directed toward Your habitation, which You made, O Lord…” (Exodus 15:17) This is one of the places which indicate that the throne above is aligned with the throne below, as it says “So says the Lord, The heavens are My throne, and the earth is My footstool…” (Isaiah 66:1) And it says “And He said to me, Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet…” (Ezekiel 43:7) and “The Lord is in His Holy Temple. The Lord-His throne is in Heaven…” (Tehillim 11:4) and “I have surely built You a house to dwell in…” (Kings 8:13) The Holy Temple is beloved before He Who Spoke and Brought the World Into Being. All of the world was created only with the speech of the Holy One, as it says “By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made…” (Tehillim 33:6) but when He built the Holy Temple it was, so to speak, through His action ‘which You made, O Lord.’ Oy to the nations of the world, whose ears heard that the Holy Temple is called an action in relation to the One Who Spoke and Brought the World Into Being and destroyed it. The one who said “…Raze it, raze it, down to its foundation!” (Tehillim 137:7) What does He say? “And you prophesy to them all these words, and you shall say to them: The Lord shall roar from above, and from His Holy Habitation He shall give forth His voice; He shall roar over His habitation… A stirring has come until the end of the earth, for God has a controversy with the nations…” (Jeremiah 25:30-31)

(Devarim 26:1) "And it shall be when you come to the land": Perform the mitzvah mentioned herein, in whose merit you are entering the land.