ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף תהילים 37:16

AND WITH ALL ‘M’ODECHA.’ The meaning thereof is “very exceedingly,”²³⁷Literally: “very very much,” from the word m’od — muchness, abundance. the purport being “love Him mightily.” And in the opinion of our Rabbis²³⁸Berachoth 54 a. it means “with all your wealth,” for the property of a person is called m’od (muchness, abundance) because it is described in terms of great quantity, just as it is called hamon (abundance, multitude): Better is a little that the righteous hath than the ‘hamon’ (abundance) of many wicked;²³⁹Psalms 37:16. behold, they are as all ‘hamon’ (multitude of) Israel.²⁴⁰II Kings 7:13. It is also called chayil (wealth): They carry upon the shoulders of young asses ‘cheileihem’ (their riches);²⁴¹Isaiah 30:6. I will give ‘cheilcha’ (thy substance) and all thy treasures for a spoil;²⁴²Jeremiah 17:3. ‘eth hachayil hazeh’ (this wealth).²⁴³Further, 8:17. The verse here is thus stating, “[Love Him] with all the abundance of your wealth.” Similarly, it is stated, And like unto him [King Josiah] was there no king before him, that turned to the Eternal with all his heart, and with all his soul and with all ‘m’odo’ (his wealth),²⁴⁴II Kings 23:25. because they volunteered in the removal of the idols and the observance of the Passover-offering.
The purport of “the love [of G-d]” has been explained by our Rabbis, the most explicit of their statements is what they said in the Sifre:²⁴⁵Sifre, Eikev 41. “Perhaps you will say ‘I will study Torah in order that I be called wise, in order that I lead an academy, in order that I live long, or in order that I merit the World to Come.’²⁴⁶See Vol. II, p. 227, Note 346. Therefore, Scripture says, to love the Eternal your G-d etc.”²⁴⁷Further, 11:13. “But whatever you do, do it out of love for G-d,” (Sifre) and ultimately the honor will certainly come (Rashi ibid.). Now the reason why Moses constantly says to them: that it may be well with thee,²⁴⁸Further, Verse 18 and that thou mayest prolong thy days,²⁴⁹Above, 4:40. that ye may live, and go in and possess the Land²⁵⁰Ibid., Verse 1. [when in the light of the exhortation that we are to do the right thing only for the sake of the love of G-d], is that he admonishes them through reproofs to fear G-d, saying that if they will sin they will not possess the Land, or they will not prolong their days upon it. Or [another explanation] may be that the pious person must both love and fear G-d, and the Rabbis have said:²⁵¹Yerushalmi, Berachoth IX, 8. “Observe [His law] out of love, and observe it out of fear. Observe it out of love, for a lover does not despise, and observe it out of fear for if you come to reject [His authority], you will not do it.” This has already been explained in the words of the Sages.²⁵²See in Rambam’s commentary to Mishnayoth, Aboth 1:3.

בכל מאדך, “with all your resources.” Nachmanides explains the word as if the Torah had written מאד מאד, “very very much,” i.e. “love Him exceedingly much.” According to our sages the dimension of love for G’d mentioned here is the one that is expressed in terms of one expending money or its equivalent to demonstrate that love. The reason why ממון, money or tangible assets are referred to as מאד, is because it is viewed in terms of something one amasses, i.e. המון, “a great quantity of something,” is closely related to the word ממון. Compare the proverb, Psalms 37,16 טוב מעט לצדיק מהמון רשעים רבים, “better the little that belongs to a righteous person than the great abundance of the wicked.” Moses demands that we love the Lord with the great abundance at our disposal. As to the very nature of “loving” the invisible and incorporeal G’d, our sages define it negatively i.e. what is not love of G’d. You are not to study Torah in order to make a name for yourself as a great scholar, or in order to qualify for long life both in this world and in the world to come; but you should do so because of who the author of the Torah is, i.e. לשמה, in admiration of His great name. (Nedarim 62) This, of course, raises the question of why Moses said למען ייטב לך ולמען תאריך ימים על הארץ, “in order that you will be well off and in order that you will enjoy many years on earth. etc., etc.” These words are not to be understood as an encouragement to perform the Torah for the sake of reward, but to inspire a degree of fear, seeing that such reward implies that if one does not qualify for it one qualifies for being deprived of what we nowadays would term “quality of life.” Alternately, the message in Moses’ words is that the pious must be oriented in two directions when performing the commandments; 1) love, 2) fear, awe. He must be conscious of love for him by His Creator, and requite that love, and at the same time he must be in trepidation not to anger his Creator by treating His commandments with disdain by neglecting them.