Комментарий к Дварим 5:16

כאשר צוך [HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER] AS THE LORD THY GOD HATH COMMANDED THEE — Also regarding honouring parents they received command at Marah, as it is said, (Exodus 15:25) “There He appointed for them a statute and a judgement” (cf. Rashi on that passage and Note p. 243) (Sanhedrin 56b).

ולמען ייטב לך, even in this life already. As our ages (said Peyah 1,1) that “there are commandments for the fulfillment of which one “eats” the dividends in this life whereas the principal is reserved for use in the world to come.” Honouring father and mother is one of those commandments.

כאשר צוך ה' אלוקיך, “as the Lord your G’d had commanded you.” You heard it from Hashem, directly; and Moses adds immediately:

He added an explanation in the commandment, Honor thy father and thy mother ‘as the Eternal thy G-d command thee’¹⁶⁹Verse 16. from the mouth of the Almighty, as I have explained,¹⁷⁰Above, Verse 5, at end. and therefore he added, and that it may go well with thee, just as it is said, Yea, the Eternal will give that which is good, and our land shall yield her produce.¹⁷¹Psalms 85:13.

Vers 16. Die Beifügung ולמען ייטב לך in כבד את אביך וגו׳ sagt jedem kommenden Geschlechte im Lande, dass sie das Heil jeder ihrer Gegenwart nur dem treuen und hingebungsvollen Zusammenhange mit der Vergangenheit verdanken, und jedem gegenwärtigen Geschlechte in Israel nur so viel Glück erblüht, als es mit ehrendem Gehorsam die Geschichts- und Gesetzesüberlieferung als ewig fortzutragendes Erbe aus den Händen der Eltern übernimmt (siehe zu Schmot 20. 12). —

ולמען ייטב לך, “and in order that it will go well with you;” in the first version of the commandment to honour our parents, this promise of a reward was absent. In other words, G-d promises an additional reward for honouring our parents. A careful reading of the first version of the Ten Commandments will reveal that the letter ט is the only letter of the Hebrew alphabet that did not appear in it. The second version therefore includes it, as that letter symbolises טוב goodness. Moses caught on to this and took it upon himself to make up for this deficiency by adding a line that included this letter.

ולמען ייטב לך, “and so that it will be for your benefit.” The construction here is similar to Psalms 85,13: “The Lord also bestows His bounty, and our land yields its produce.” [Basically, without G’d’s input the land would not yield its produce, but the latter is visible evidence, the former is just as real but invisible to man. Ed.] He continued to explain the ninth Commandment