Or HaChaim on Leviticus 18:5/אור החיים על ויקרא י״ח:ה׳

1 ושמרתם את חקותי, "You shall keep My statutes, etc." Why did the Torah have to repeat in this verse almost word for word the same directive it had written in the previous verse? Perhaps we may best explain this on the basis of Sanhedrin 74 where the Talmud explains the words וחי בהן, "so that he may live by them," as meaning "so that he will not die by them." If a Jew is forced to violate one of G'd's commandments, he should rather violate such a commandment than make a martyr of himself. The Talmud adds that there are three exceptions to this rule, idol-worship, forbidden sexual relations, and killing an innocent person. If a Jew is threatened with death if he does not violate any of these three commandments he must choose death rather than violate any of these commandments. You will observe that in verse 4 no mention is made of וחי בהם, that one should prefer life over martyrdom, whereas in our verse the Torah added the words וחי בהם. It follows that the commandments mentioned in verse 4 are those for which a person must be prepared to martyr himself and to sanctify the name of G'd by laying down his life.

2Furthermore, when we examine the different nuances in these two verses we will be enlightened further. In verse 4 the Torah writes אני ה׳ אלוקיכם, "I am the Lord your G'd," whereas in our verse the Torah only writes: אני השם, "I am the Lord." We may infer from this that the Torah addresses different Jews in the two verses. In one verse the Torah addresses the Jews who fulfil the commandments due to a feeling of love for G'd, whereas in the other verse the Torah addresses Jews who fulfil the commandments due to a fear of punishment should they fail to observe G'd's laws. Sotah 31 has already taught us that the reward for people performing the commandments out of a sense of fear of the Lord extends for up to one thousand generations, whereas the reward for people whose motivation is love for G'd extends for up to two thousand generations. It is quite impossible for a person to attain the level of serving the Lord out of feelings of love until he had first experienced the level of serving the Lord out of a feeling of fear of punishment. This is the mystical dimension of Psalms 118,19: "this is the gate of the Lord, the righteous are able to enter it." In accordance with this, verse 4 addresses itself to people who serve the Lord from a sense of fear, and the Torah writes: את משפטי תעשו, "you are to perform My ordinances, etc., ending with the words "I am the Lord your G'd," the word אלוקיכם being a clear reference to G'd in His capacity of the attribute of Justice. In verse 5, however, when the Torah addresses itself to someone who has already passed the initial stage of serving the Lord out of fear and he serves the Lord out of feelings of love, the Torah no longer has to make mention of the attribute of Justice because the person addressed would not be influenced in his observance by mention of that attribute.

3The Torah adds the words וחי בהם in our verse to tell us that when someone serves the Lord out of feelings of love, he will also partake of the good to be found in this life in addition to any reward he accumulates for use in the hereafter, in eternity. Perhaps this is why the Torah wrote the letter ו before the word חי, to tell us that the good experienced by such a person in this life is additional to i.e. ו, to the reward he stores up for himself in the hereafter. People addressed in verse 4 who serve G'd motivated by fear do not qualify for this assurance. According to what we have just explained the words ללכת בהם in verse 4 apply basically to the hereafter whereas they apply also in this life if the people concerned serve G'd because they love Him. We may explain Deut. 11,13 "It will be if you hearken diligently to My commandments…to love the Lord your G'd….and I will grant the rain of your land in its season, etc." in the same way we have just mentioned, that מצוה-performance based on love of G'd results in dividends in this life and that such people deserve reward in both worlds. This in spite of the fact that our sages in Kidushin 39 state that there is no reward in this life for מצוה-performance. The Talmud did not refer to people who receive a bonus in this life rather than the actual reward due them. The Torah (Deut. 11,14) also alludes to reward in the hereafter by commencing with the conjunctive letter ו, i.e. ונתתי. The meaning of that letter ו is that any blessing experienced in this life is only a bonus in addition to the reward itself which will be paid in the hereafter, the exact nature of which the Torah has not revealed.

4האדם, man. We have several statements in the Talmud (Baba Kama 38, Avodah Zarah 3 et al) in the name of Rabbi Yirmiyah according to which a Gentile who engages in study of the Torah may attain a spiritual level comparable to that of a Jewish High Priest. The Talmud derives this from our verse, i.e. האדם וחי בהם. The Torah does not speak of "priests, Levites, or Israelites, but only of האדם." Thus far Rabbi Yirmiyah. Rabbi Yirmiyah's comment was prompted by the apparently superfluous word האדם. He was also perplexed by the fact that the Torah wrote those few words in the third person whereas the rest of the two verses are written in direct speech. The Torah should have written אשר תעשו אותם if it wanted to be consistent with the syntax of the chapter up to this point. Rabbi Yirmiyah therefore concluded that the words האדם וחי בהם refer to someone not included in the people addressed by the Torah directly in the previous verses, i.e. neither Israelites, Levites, or priests. The only person left therefore is the Gentile. Tossaphot query this from a Baraitha in Baba Metzia 114 which quotes Rabbi Shimon as saying that only Israelites qualify for the complimentary description אדם, based on Ezekiel 34,31 "אדם אתם, אני ה׳ אלוקיכם." Tossaphot answer that we must distinguish between the term אדם and האדם. Whereas the term אדם refers only to Jews, the term האדם does not have such a narrow connotation. I saw a similar comment in the Zohar volume 1, page 25 stating that this is not merely an artificial semantic distinction. Adding a letter does not enhance the concept it represents but diminishes it. Perhaps it is true that when a Gentile occupies himself with Torah for valid reasons he too will be able to qualify for the complimentary title אדם. At any rate, Rabbi Yirmiyah sees in the additional letter ה an indication that Gentiles are included in the term אדם if they study Torah. The letter ה is not to be considered as integral to the noun האדם.