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<span style="color: rgb(0, 111, 201);">'Note found interesting was that R' Yosef Greenwald assumes that</span><br>
<span style="color: rgb(0, 111, 201);">venishmartem me'od lenafshoseikhem isn't about preserving life, but</span><br>
<span style="color: rgb(0, 111, 201);">preserving one's ability to pull the ol mitzvos. (That sounds weird,</span><br>
<span style="color: rgb(0, 111, 201);">but an animal "pulls a yoke", no?) Which includes preserving life. And</span><br>
<span style="color: rgb(0, 111, 201);">thus includes intoxication and other mind- or mood-altering chemicals</span><br>
<span style="color: rgb(0, 111, 201);">that could hamper one's ability to function.'</span><br>
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<div class="PlainText">The odd thing about v'nishmartem me'od l'nafshoseichem is that it's a 'blank pasuk'. Ie despite sounding like a tzivui which we'd need Chazal to define more precisely it is in fact not brought anywhere in Chazal at all. Not in halacha
nor aggadeta. Rishonim don't say much if anything about it either as far as I recall. </div>
<div class="PlainText">So that leaves us fairly free to guess what it means, I suppose. I'd assumed it means preserving health, inasmuch as nefesh usually refers to life force, and we wouldn't need it to refer to preserving life itself, since that's covered
by a) prohibition of suicide and b) al taamod al dam reyecha. </div>
<div class="PlainText">And preserving health would presumably be in order to keep mitzvos the better, no?</div>
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<div class="PlainText">And I think an animal bears a yoke and pulls a plough. Lashon Hakodesh is always 'nosei ol'. Which corresponds better to bear than pull. So we carry/bear the ol mitzvos I think. </div>
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<div class="PlainText">Ben</div>
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