Every commandment that I
command you this day you shall keep (tishmerun) to do, that you may live
(tiḥyun) and multiply, and come and possess the land that the Lord swore
to your forefathers. Deuteronomy
8:1
Netziv’s
systematic approach is that the addition of the letter “nun” at the end
of a verb (tishmerun and tiḥyun in our verse) serves to limit
that verb. Based upon his approach, Netziv explains that the form of the
verb “tishmerun” teaches that even if not all mitzvot can be
observed in practice, there is an obligation to study all mitzvot. There
are mitzvot which will become obligatory only upon entering the Land,
and others which will be apply only following the fourteen years of conquest
and division of the Land, “yet Moses admonished Israel to study all the mitzvot
in order to be able to practice them at the relevant times.”
Netziv
explicitly states the implied message:
From this we learn that
the same is true in times of exile (which will follow Israel’s entry into its
Land).
That is, it is incumbent upon us to
study even those mitzvot which are not currently applicable, such as
those connected to the Temple.
Based
upon Netziv’s approach, the word “tiḥyun” as well is delimiting,
and indeed, he comments:
Spiritual vitality cannot
be completely realized until Israel enters its Land.
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