Re'eh: the reward

רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה׃

See, this day I set before you blessing and curse:

The reader is commanded to look at things that  have no substance. This seeing means to make sense of the world.  The statement sensitizes me  to the two verses that follow and the subtle difference between them: 

אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְ

a blessing,  asher ,that [if], you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:

and 

וְהַקְּלָלָ֗ה אִם־לֹ֤א תִשְׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙

and curse, im, if you do not obey the commandments of your Gd

Many English translators do not emphasize the difference in word choice and translate the asher  of the first sentence as "if."  This approach is justified by other instances of asher seeming to mean "if." However, the usual translation of asher is "that".  Asher implies a description, mathematically, a subset to which the predicate belongs.  Here it would mean that the blessing is (in part) the obedience. 

A superficial reading of Rashi stands behind the simplifying translation to "if."

 את הברכה. עַל מְנָת אֲשֶׁר תִּשְׁמְעוּ:

THE BLESSING — with the condition that you should obey

 

Just as asher can be understood as "if," al menas can be simplified to if.  But if Rashi had meant that we simply translate asher as "if" this time, he would have said "im", the same word used in the next sentence in the text which always means "if." This point is made by Eliahu Mizrachi, quoted by the Gur Arye.  In Genesis there is a sentence in which Rashi says asher should be translated as "if. " There Rashi uses im. 

 The Maharal of Prague (author of the Gur Arye) goes on to point us to a recent daf yomi (Gttin 74) that elucidates  the meaning of al menath. It is a payment on credit. The reward is given assuming the fulfillment of the condition. 

Onkolos, official translation of Torah into Aramaic renders the verse: 

יָת בִּרְכָן דִּי תְקַבְּלוּן לְפִקּוּדַיָּא דַּיְ

      ... The blessing—that you heed [obey] the commandments of

This is an accurate translation and makes no assumptions. Onkolos' love of the observance is reflected in the story ( Avodah Zara 11a) of his contagious  faith in Judaism. The way he touched the mezuzah was so moving that the soldiers sent to arrest him converted. I can imagine that Onkelos derived great blessing from the observance. 

Several commentators over many generations express this idea: the observance is itself a reward. 

       IBn Ezra

(12th Century)

כי בשמעכם הנה אתם מבורכים

As you hearken behold you are blessed

to 

     Malbim

(19th  Century)

א"כ זה עצמו מה שתשמעו אל מצות ה' הוא הברכה,

 Therefore that, itself , that you keep the commandments of Gd , that is the blessing.

Or HaChaim (18th Century) 

הוא אשר תשמעו כי השמיעה בתורה הוא תענוג מופלא ומחיה הנפש כאומרו (ישעי' נ''ה) שמעו ותחי נפשכם,

For the observance of the Torah is a wonderful pleasure and awakens the soul. 

Rav Hirsch (19th Century) 

Die Erfüllung der göttlichen Gebote ist schon selbst ein wahrer Bestandteil des Segens, der nicht nur dem Gehorsam nachfolgt, sondern bereits in dem Gehorsam und der treuen Pflichterfüllung seine Verwirklichung beginnt.

The fulfillment of the divine commandments is itself a true part of the blessing, which not only follows obedience, but already begins its realization in obedience and the faithful fulfillment of one's duty.

Every year, when I read this sentence, I think about my father, wearing his tfillin at morning services in his synagogue in Florida. What a complex, al menath, conditional payment. After all he had been through:  Soviet soldier, prisoner of war, hunted Jew, slave in death camp, displaced person, refugee, ... this was what he wanted to do. This was his pleasure; his longed for reward. 

Now it is my reward.