Commento su Deuteronomio 32:47

כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם FOR IT IS NOT A VAIN THING FOR YOU — it is not for nothing that you are to occupy yourselves laboriously with it. because much reward depends on it, כי הוא חייכם FOR IT IS YOUR LIFE (life is the reward). Another explanation: There is not one empty (ריק i.e., apparently superfluous) word in the Torah that, if you properly expound it, has not a grant of reward attached to it for doing so. You can know this, for so did our Rabbis say: It states (Genesis 36:22) “And Lotan’s sister was Timna”; (Genesis 36:32) “and Timna was concubine [to Eliphaz, Esau’s son]”. Why is this stated? Because she (Timna) said, “If I am unworthy to become his (Elphaz's) wife, would that I would become his concubine!”. And why all this (why does Scripture enter into all these details of her birth and marriage; of what interest is it to us)? To tell you in what distinction Abraham was held — that rulers and kings (Lotan was one of the chieftains of Seir, cf. Genesis 36:20—21) were eager to connect themselves by marriage to his descendants (Sifrei Devarim 336:1; cf. Rashi on Genesis 36:12).

V. 47. כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם. Wie der Begriff: von etwas voll sein auch מלא מ־ auszudrücken ist, wie: רוח מלא מאלה יבוא לי, ein von ihnen erfüllter Wind kommt mir, d. i. sie werden durch einen Sturm aufgehoben und zu mir gebracht (Jirm. 4, 12). so scheint auch רק מ־: leer von etwas, von etwas nicht erfüllt, zu bedeuten, und כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם hieße: denn es ist kein von euch leeres Wort, es ist kein Wort, dessen Inhalt nicht ganz und gar ihr selber bildet. Entweder: diese bezeugende Aufforderung zur Erfassung und Erfüllung des Gesetzes ist kein für euer ganzes Sein und Wollen gleichgültiges Wort, euer ganzes Sein und Wollen liegt in ihm. Oder: In der ganzen Lehre gibt es kein Wort, in welchem nicht ihr, d. h. euer ganzes Sein und Wollen enthalten wäre. Kein Wort der תורה ist gleichgültig. In jedem liegt eine für euer ganzes Sein und Wollen wichtige Wahrheit. אין לך דבר ריקם בתורה שאם תדרשנו שאין בו מתן שכר בעולם הזה והקרן קיימת לו לעולם הבא. (ספרי)

כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם, “for it is no vain thing for you;” You will not perform all these commandments without compensation. If you do not study the Torah you will notknow when you transgress its laws and will die on account of not having studied them. (A reference to actively transgressing negative commandments) By the same token you will not know which commandments to fulfill in order to qualify for the rewards in store for you, and you will miss out on that.

That if expounded would not yield recompense, etc. Rashi needed his second explanation because according to the first explanation it is difficult, it should have only said, “Focus your thoughts ... to all the statements of the Torah ... for it is your life...” Why did Scripture write, “For it is not a futile thing for you, etc.”? Therefore Rashi gave his second explanation that they are two separate concepts. This is what it means: There is nothing futile in the Torah, i.e. there is nothing that is written without purpose. Furthermore, “if expounded, etc.” means that there is nothing in the Torah which if you expound it, etc. Therefore it is written, “for you,” to allude to the reward which is the essence of a person and the purpose of his success. According to the second explanation it is difficult why it is written “for it is your life”? The reason for this focus was already given. Alternatively, the [order of verses] should have been reversed, i.e., it should have written after “all the statements of this Torah,” “for it is your life” and then “for it is not a futile thing for you, etc.” Therefore Rashi also gives the first explanation.

VV. 48-52. Siehe Bamidbar zu Kap. 20, 12 u. 13; 27, 12-14.

From the following comment by the Rabbis: Lotan’s sister was Timna, etc. I.e. from here he proves that there is nothing futile written in the Torah. But he is not bringing proof from here that it will yield recompense for expounding [theTorah].