Commento su Deuteronomio 30:19

העדתי בכם היום את השמים ואת הארץ I CALL AS WITNESSES AGAINST YOU THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH, which exist for ever, and when evil will befall you they will be witnesses that I have warned you regarding all this (cf. Targum Jonathan on). Another explanation of העדתי בכם את השמים וגו׳ I CALL THE HEAVEN [AND THE EARTH] AS WITNESSES AGAINST YOU: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, “Look at the heavens which I have created to be at your service; have they perhaps ever changed their character? Has the orb of the sun perhaps ever failed to rise in the East and to give light to the whole world, just as is stated, (Ecclesiastes 1:4—5) “And the sun riseth, and the sun goeth down [and hasteth to its place where it arises]”?! Look at the earth which I have created to be at your service! Has it perhaps ever changed its character? Have you perhaps sown it and it did not bring forth, or have you sown wheat and it brought forth barley?! Now how is it with these that have been made neither with the end in view that they should receive a reward nor that they should suffer a loss — for if they act meritoriously (if they follow the natural laws by which they are governed) they receive no reward and if they were to fail they would receive no punishment? They have never changed their character! You, who if you act meritoriously do receive a reward and if you sin do receive punishment, how much the more so should you obey the commands of your Maker! (Sifrei Devarim 306:1).

ובחרת בחיים, you will opt for eternal life

העירותי בכם היום את השמים ואת האריץ, "I call as witness against you today both the heaven and the earth, etc." This whole verse appears superfluous in light of verse 15 where Moses asked the people to choose life rather than death. Why did he have to repeat it? Besides why did Mose change the sequence and choice here? In verse 15 the choice was between life and goodness on the one hand and death and evil on the other. Here the Israelites are given choices between life and death and blessing and curse. What did Moses mean when he rephrased what he said in verse 15? Besides, why did Moses not simply exhort the people to "choose life?"

העידותי בכם היום את השמים ואת הארץ, “I call upon heaven and earth this day to bear witness against you;” although Moses had called on heaven and earth as witnesses against the people already once before, here he adds “life” and “death” as an additional dimension to encourage the people to make the right choice when they have to make a decision. “Life” and “Death” are only different words for the concepts of “Blessing” and “Curse.” Moses urges the people to choose wisely, i.e. to choose Life.

So that when evil befalls you, etc. Rashi wants to answer: They had not yet done anything [bad], so for what could they be invoked as witnesses? He explains, So that when evil befalls you, etc. I.e., they serve as witnesses to Hashem's warning.

V. 19. הערתי וגו׳. Durch die vorangegangenen Segen- und Fluchverkündigungen sind Himmel und Erde zu Zeugen des Gottesbundes mit uns und zu dessen Vertretern gegen uns bestellt. Wie die Zeugen dem Versuche des Verbrechens warnend entgegenzutreten haben und, wenn der Warnung nicht Folge geleistet ist, die Bestrafung herbeizuführen, ja in erster Linie zu vollziehen haben, יד העדים תהיה בו בראשנה (Kap. 17.7), so zeigt die ganze תוכחה, wie Gott durch Himmel und Erde zuerst seine Warnungen sendet, und wenn diese überhört sind, sie auch zu Werkzeugen des verschuldeten Unterganges gebraucht, ebenso wie sie auch die Vermittler seiner Segnungen sind, wenn wir uns derselben durch Pflichttreue würdig gemacht.

העידותי בכם היום את השמים ואת הארץ, “I call as witness against you this day both heaven and earth;” witness in the positive as well as in the negative sense of the word. If you will perform the commandments in the Torah heaven and earth will testify on your behalf; if not, they will testify at the heavenly tribunal against you. They will do this by heaven denying the essential rain to make your crops ripen. (Deut. 11,17)

ובחרת בחיים THEREFORE CHOOSE THE LIFE — I show you these (“I set life and death before thee) in order that you may choose the portion of life. It is like a man who says to his son, “Choose for yourself a good portion of my real estate”, and sets him in the best portion saying to him, “Choose this!” And concerning this it states, (Psalms 16:5) “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup, אתה תומיך גורלי”, i.e. “You place my hand on the good lot, saying, ‘Choose this!'”

למען תחיה אתה וזרעך, so that both you and your offspring will experience this life לאהבה את ה' אלוקיך, when I said to choose “life,” I did not mean that you should keep the laws for the sake of the reward in store for you, but that you should make this choice for the sake of true “life.” This alone is sufficient reason to choose this option. Whatever satisfaction you experience during life on earth should be with a view to the kind of life in store for you after your body has died.

Another interpretation of “I invoke as witnesses, etc. The Holy One, may He be blessed, said,” etc. Because according to first interpretation you might ask that it should have said, I warn you before heaven and earth, because they are to serve as witnesses to the warning. Therefore he says, Another interpretation, etc. And according to the other interpretation you might ask why the verse says העדותי which is an expression that denotes testimony or warning. Therefore he also says the first interpretation.

ובחרת בחיים למען תחיה וגו׳ nicht ohne unser ernstliches Wollen, nicht gedankenlos und nicht willenlos und nicht zufällig wird das "Leben" gewonnen. Du musst das Leben wählen, wenn du "leben" willst.

We must understand terms such as "good" and "evil" to refer to life in this world. It makes sense therefore that Moses told the people: "I place before you life and death," i.e. reward and punishment in this world. If the Israelites would be good they would live, if they would sin they would die. These are the two choices we have in this world.

However, there are two more choices which pertain to the hereafter. Moses calls them ברכה and קללה, respectively, i.e. "blessing or curse." These are not immediate choices, or better, the results of such choices will not become known immediately. The whole approach is similar to what we have in Deut. 28,6: "You are blessed at your arrival (in this world) and you are blessed at your departure (from this world)." As you enter this world without sin so you will leave it without sin (compare Baba Metzia 107). Moses had to separate these two paragraphs from one another in order for us to appreciate that he talks about different domains in each paragraph.

When he continues "and you shall choose life," this is the purpose of our existence in this world. Moses means that we should concentrate on immediate problems such as making sure that G'd will grant the necessary rainfall as a result of our observing the commandments.

Although earlier (verse 15) Moses mentioned חיים וטוב together, i.e. a reference to choices covering both our terrestrial life and preparing for our hereafter, in our verse here the emphasis is on the here and now.