Parasha: Bechukotai · Aliyah: Third (Tiferet)

ואכלתם ישן נושן, "And you will eat old store, long kept." This is a promise that the harvest which has been stored will not rot or become worm-eaten. On the contrary, you will experience that it improves with age.

וישן מפני חדש תוציאו, "and you will bring forth the old from before the new." You will not bring it forth because it has become too old and inferior, but because you have to make room for the new harvest. The reason the Torah wrote this here and not earlier when the goodness of the land of Israel is extolled is that the Torah wants to make the point that although the population keeps increasing this does not mean that there will be a contraction of the surplus experienced previously. There will still be so much that the people will eat the old rather than to have to eat the new harvest right away.

ונתתי משכני בתוככם, "And I will place My Sanctuary among you." We must understand this in a sense similar to Psalms 78,60: "the tent He had set among men." The reference is to the souls of His holy people within whom G'd had made Himself at home.

ולא תגעל נפשי אתכם, "and My soul will not abhor you." It was not enough to say that G'd will make His home inside people's souls seeing G'd was afraid that people would not take such a promise seriously. It seemed to exceed their fondest hopes. They could not imagine how a creature of flesh and blood could become "home" to G'd's presence. They would have imagined that G'd merely exaggerated out of His love for the Jewish people. People imagined something akin to what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai explained in the Zohar volume 3 page 241 on Song of Songs 5,1: "I came to My garden My sister My bride, I ate My honeycomb and drank My wine, etc." The entire verse is a parable describing the relationship between a groom and his bride, i.e. G'd and the people of Israel. Rabbi Shimon's words are worth studying. Nothing in that verse is remotely comprehensible if we try and stick to the literal meaning. The very idea of someone such as G'd Who is totally spiritual being described in such physical terms is repulsive. What G'd is trying to say to the Jewish people is that although by definition His very Essence should be revolted at the mere thought of intimacy with His creatures made of flesh and blood, this will not be the case.

והתהלכתי בתוככם, "And I will walk among you, etc." "Not only will I not find intimacy with you loathsome but I will continue to walk among you." The expression is one which one normally applies to kindred souls. It is remindful of a statement by our sages that seeing that the souls of the Jewish people originate in G'd's own Light, their having been despatched earthwards does not mean that they have become estranged from their sacred origin. The author continues in this vein elaborating on this concept of the intimacy that can exist between man and G'd and how through man's failure to choose the path of Torah this very intimacy turns into loathing.

Another (esoteric) way of explaining our paragraph is to see in it both promises for success in this world as well as promises of even greater bliss in the hereafter. The paragraph commences with the promise of adequate food supply i.e. "I will provide your rains at the proper times," followed by a promise of a secure and serene existence in the Holy Land, i.e. "and you will dwell in it in safety."

From here on in the Torah addresses blessings which will accrue in the hereafter. The most basic is "I will grant peace." Although man may live the life of the completely righteous, the fact is that the mere thought of leaving this life casts a pall over his serenity. This is especially so since man never knows when that day on which he will die will occur. G'd compensates us for this anxiety by promising that on the day such a person will depart this earth he will not experience fright of what lies beyond this physical life, i.e. "you will lie down and no-one will frighten you." G'd will see to it that the transition from one form of life to another will be smooth and painless.

When the Torah speaks of "I will grant peace," you may understand this in light of the Talmud Shabbat 10 that the name of the Almighty is שלום. At the time death approaches, G'd's Light will approach the righteous; this is the mystical dimension of the term "the kiss of death" experienced by people such as Moses and Aaron. The experience of death will thereby be transformed into an experience similar to lying down to sleep, i.e. ושכבתם. The Torah has used this expression when describing the death of the patriarchs. The secret of this is that the soul which experiences the approach of that Light which is so welcome to it longs for a closer union with it so much that it is eager to tear itself loose from whatever still binds it to this life on earth. The process feeds upon itself. I have written more about this at the beginning of my commentary on פרשת אחרי מות (page 1306). This is what Solomon had in mind when he said in Kohelet 5,11 that "the sleep of the labourer is sweet." The "sleep" he referred to is the departure of the soul from the body. The person who was a true עובד, servant of G'd, will find this experience "sweet," i.e. pleasant. The Torah adds the words ואין מחריד, to tell us that the angel of death who has the power to frighten ordinary people, making them afraid of death, does not possess the power to frighten the truly righteous.

Still another meaning of the words ונתתי שלום may relate to the preservation of the body after death so that the 4 basic raw materials of which the body is composed do not disintegrate. You are familiar with the story of Rabbi Achai bar Yoshia related in Shabbat 152 whose remains were found in good shape by Rabbi Nachman many years after his death. Obviously this could only have been due to G'd commanding the basic raw-materials man is made of not to disintegrate in this instance. We are told that this could happen by Solomon in Proverbs 6,22: בשכבך תשמר עליך, "when you go to sleep (die) it will preserve you." The "it" are the Torah study and performance of good deeds by the person Solomon speaks of. When the Torah writes ושכבתם ואין מחריד this may also be understood in the sense of what the prophet said in Isaiah 57,2 where he described the righteous as "resting comfortably in their slumber" meaning they will not be disturbed by their remains being worm-eaten. We have confirmation of this in a story in Baba Metzia 84 where it is related that the remains of Rabbi Eleazar bar Shimon which had been kept in an upper story in his house had remained intact for a number of years (18 or 22). His widow had examined them almost daily and they did not deteriorate. One day she found that a hair had fallen out and there was some blood at the spot where the hair had come out. We have numerous such stories all of which prove that when the conditions are right a body may rest in its grave without disintegrating. This may also be the reason why the Talmud Shabbat 13 describes the body's reaction to worms as being as if a living body would be pierced by a needle. Every creature is sensitive to an invasion of its body by an alien body in accordance with the general capacity for sensitivity with which it has been endowed by G'd.

The words והשבתי חיה רעה מן הארץ in verse 6 refer to the spirit of impurity which is called חיה רעה, a spiritually negative vitality which surrounds the body after death. The reason a priest is forbidden to remain in the roofed domain of a body is the very presence of that חיה רע around the dead body. This is why contact with the dead or even remaining under the same canopy with him results in such a person contracting ritual impurity for a period of not less than seven days. G'd promises here that if the lifetime of the person who has now died was marked by his observing all the commandments, his remains will not be surrounded by such a spiritually negative force so that anyone in touch with such remains would not contract ritual impurity.

As to the meaning of the words וחרב לא תעבור בארצכם, "a sword will not traverse your land," this is the Torah providing the rationale why impurity will not be allowed to surround the corpses of such righteous people. Man's death is perceived as his succumbing to the flawed sword of the Angel of Death. This results in the body becoming נבלה, unfit to serve as a sacrifice as would a body which was slaughtered with a ritually pure and unblemished knife. The Torah has described a נבלה as the kind of corpse fit to feed to the dogs (Exodus 22,30). Impurity itself is often compared to a dog, an inferior animal, representative of all that is despised. The Torah assures us that people who live the kind of life they ought to live will not experience that the sword of the Angel of Death touches their bodies.

The Torah goes on to write: ורדפתם את אויביכם, "And you will pursue your enemies." From this point on the Torah deals with the activities of the invisible spirituality which results through a person's having lived a life dedicated to Torah and its precepts. The purpose of studying Torah and performing its commandments with vigor is to pinpoint isolated "sparks" of holiness. These "sparks" are to be joined one to another so that they can reunite with their origin. They had become isolated as a result of Adam's sin and the power of the forces of the קליפה, the spiritually negative forces in our universe, to separate them from the main body of holiness. This is the mystical dimension of Isaiah 59,2: "your iniquities have created a division between yourselves and your G'd." Please read what I have written in connection with Exodus 19,5 והייתם לי סגולה and how the קליפות are described by such terms as שונאים and אויבים. See my commentary on Psalms 92,10: כי הנה אויביך ה׳ יאבדו. Here the Torah reveals how these forces of the קליפה can be pursued through the preoccupation with Torah and its commandments and how the pursuit will result in these forces collapsing, i.e. ונפלו לחרב. In short, this paragraph describes the defeat of the phenomenon called impurity. The prophet Zachariah refers to this when he writes in Zachariah 13,2: "And I will abolish the spirit of impurity." We may understand the word לחרב in our verse in the same spirit as Song of Songs 3,8: איש חרבו על ירכו, "each with his sword at his side." Concerning this verse we read in Tikkuney Hazohar chapter 7 that people who keep the covenant with the Lord by never touching anything which is forbidden to them possess the power to kill the enemies of the Lord with the breath of their lips. This is the reason the Torah did not write here the usual בחרב, but לחרב.

The words ורדפו מכם חמשה מאה, may be understood as a reference to the five Books of Moses. In other words, that which emanates from you, the teaching of the five Books of Moses, will pursue one hundred manifestations of the קליפות. You may apply Proverbs 16,26 to this situation. "A person who toils, toils for himself." Our sages in Sanhedrin 99 understand this verse as follows: "When a person toils by studying Torah in one place the Torah will toil on his behalf in another place by annihilating G'd's enemies.

The end of this verse i.e ומאה מכם רבבה ירדפו, may be understood in light of a comment by Tanchuma at the end of Parshat Korach on Deut. 10,12: מה ה׳ אלוקיך שואל ממך, "What does the Lord your G'd ask of you, etc.?" the Midrash suggests that we substitute for the word מה, "what," the word מאה, "one hundred." The word would refer to the recital of one hundred benedictions daily. The Torah promises that the merit of reciting 100 benedictions daily enables us to pursue and destroy ten thousand manifestations of the power of the קליפות.

When the Torah repeats the words ונפלו אויביכם לחרב a second time this reflects a statement by our sages in Berachot 5 according to which anyone who recites the קריאת שמע is compared to someone who seizes a double-edged sword. This is based on Psalms 149,6: "when they have the exaltations of the Lord in their throats this is equivalent to being armed with a double-edged sword." The first verse mentioning the enemies falling by the sword detailed the result of performing sacred deeds. The second verse speaks of the result of uttering holy words.

The Torah goes on: ופניתי אליכם, "and I will turn to you." This is a description of the purpose of the destruction of G'd's and Israel's enemies. As a result of the destruction of these enemies all the "sparks" of holiness will return to their roots, i.e. the "umbrella" called כנסת ישראל, the concept of the Jewish people. They will resume their classification as being part of the domain of G'd whence they had originated. From then on they will increase and multiply. Please read what I have written at the end of פרשת ויגש on Genesis 47,27 (page 382).

Another meaning of the words ופגיתי אליכם is that inasmuch as the iron curtain dividing Israel from its G'd has collapsed with the defeat of the concept of impurity, G'd can once more turn to us and cleave to us.

Furthermore, there is a message here that if Israel has made the first move in battering the wall between it and G'd, G'd in turn will help us so that we shall become ever more successful in tearing down that wall.

The words והפריתי אתכם, "and I will make you fruitful" are an allusion to the "sparks" of our holiness which had become prematurely lost and had been aborted and had therefore lost their "sparkle;" they would now resume their appointed function. The Torah adds: "and I will multiply you," to reassure us that we should not think that due to our lengthy sojourn in the domain of the קליפה we have sustained permanent impairment of our ability to develop. The Torah states that this is not so, but that our light would shine forth like the "Light of the King's face."

Another interpretation of the words והרביתי אתכם is based on the root of the word being רב, in the sense of רבנות, authority, or superiority. Accordingly, the promise here is similar to G'd's promise in Exodus 19,6 where G'd defines our purpose as a nation to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." We have explained in that context that the reference is to the Jewish people exceeding even the angels in holiness. The Torah continues with the words והקימותי את בריתי אתכם; this is a reference to the promise that the dead will be resurrected. G'd restricts this promise to those who have studied Torah. We base this on Ketuvot 111 כל העוסק בטל טל תורה מחייהו, "everyone who is preoccupied with dew, the dew of Torah will revive him." [Actually, this is an inaccurate quotation. The Talmud first said that the word טל may refer to the Light of Torah basing itself on a verse in Isaiah 26,19 i.e. that G'd's dew is equivalent to illumination. In an extrapolation of this, the Talmud continues by saying that if one did not study this divine illumination, i.e. Torah, one cannot look forward to resurrection. Ed.]

The promise contained in the words: "and I will keep My covenant" may also refer to something we learned in Sanhedrin 90 that the patriarchs personally will arise and take possession of the land of Israel as G'd had promised to each one of them separately in different chapters of the Book of Genesis. In Exodus 6,4, G'd made a specific promise that the patriarchs would be resurrected and receive the land He had promised to them. G'd is on record here that everyone who keeps the covenant with G'd will be resurrected; G'd will keep with Him the covenant pertaining to making the land of Israel his eternal possession.

We also find an allusion to where the souls will be stored during the time they wait for resurrection. The ברית the Torah speaks about is the ultimate ברית, i.e. שלום. The domain in which the souls of the Israelites will repose during that period of awaiting resurrection of their assigned bodies is what we usually refer to as the צרור החיים.

The Torah continues ואכלתם ישן נושן, this is a hyperbole for the meal G'd will serve the righteous in the hereafter when wine dating back to the days of Adam in גן עדן will be served as well as the meat of the Leviathan which G'd had salted away since time immemorial. There is nothing more ancient seeing it dates back to a time preceding the creation of man himself.

The meaning of the words וישן מפני חדש תוציאו "that you will clear out the old on account of the new," may refer to a verse in Job 38,15 which is the subject of discussion in Chagigah 12. G'd speaks about the wicked being deprived of their light. The Talmud understands that this refers to the original Light G'd created by means of which Adam was able to see from one end of the earth to the other. As a result of his sin, he and subsequent human beings were deprived of this Light. Our verse may allude to the withdrawal of the "new" light which substituted ever since for the original Light. G'd promises that in the future under discussion He will make available the original Light for the righteous.

The Torah continues: ונתתי משכני בתוככם, "And I will make My Sanctuary among you;" this means that in the future G'd will lower a Sanctuary from the Heaven as we learned in Baba Batra 75. Some of our rabbis claim that that Sanctuary will be made of Shoham stones. Others claim it will be made of Joshpeh stones, each one basing himself on scripture, i.e. Exodus 15,17: "The Sanctuary of the Lord which You have established with Your own hands." G'd promises that this Sanctuary which He has fashioned with His own hands He will erect among us and this is why it will endure forever. The reason G'd will not loathe us is because He will have done away with the spirit of impurity in this world.

Another meaning of this statement is based on what we explained in conection with Numbers 23,23 that the Israelites will form the inner circle around the Presence of G'd so that the angels will have to ask us what G'd is in the process of doing.

והתהלכתי בתוככם, "And I will walk among you." This is best understood as reflecting the promise of the prophet in Yoel 3,1 that "your sons and daughters will all prophesy." G'd's Light will walk among them i.e. a reference to the spirit of prophecy. This reminds us of Moses' wish that all the Jewish people should be granted the spirit of prophecy (Numbers 11,29).

The promise may also refer to something we learned in Taanit 31 that in the future G'd would provide a circle for the righteous and He would take up a position amongst them so that everyone of them would look at G'd and exclaim "This is My G'd let me glorify Him." The reason the Torah chose the expression והתהלכתי "I will walk is that His Light will travel to provide spiritual nourishment to the souls who are sitting around Him. This is called הליכה. The Torah continues with: "I shall be your G'd," referring either to the verse we have just equated the righteous as proclaiming, or that the very dwelling [נוה in the verse זה קלי ואנוהו Ed.] of the righteous is considered something of a divine nature. The additional promise: "and you will be My people" means that the Jewish people will be closer to G'd than any of the hosts of the heavens.

The words: "and I will be your G'd," may also reflect the contrast between then and now. Nowadays the faith in G'd is due to G'd having provided prophets for us who help us maintain our faith. In the future described in our verse there will no longer be a need for prophets as G'd will be recognised as such directly by everyone without any external assist. This is in line with the prophet's Zachariah's promise that "on that day G'd and His name will be one." The words: "and you will become My people" refer to the fact that the degree of recognition of G'd by various layers of the population will be the same; there will no longer be such distinctions as עם on the one side and בני ישראל on the other.

אני השם. "I am the Lord." We may understand this in light of the comment in Berachot 12 that in the future the outstanding attribute of G'd will no longer be the fact that He took us out of Egypt but His new manifestation as the G'd who brought the Messiah (compare Jeremiah 23,7). The first half of our verse refers to G'd who manifested Himself through orchestrating the Exodus from Egypt, whereas the second half refers to G'd redeeming us from any kind of exile, i.e. the final redemption. Please compare what I have written on Exodus 20,2.

ואם לא תשמעו לי, "And if you will fail to hearken to Me, etc." We need to know where obedience to G'd ever was something optional at the beginning of our portion so that the Torah would be justified in introducing this paragraph with the conditional "if." The paragraph should simply have commenced with the words: "If you despise My statutes, etc." Apparently, the wording of the Torah in this verse shows that the meaning of the opening paragraph of the portion "if you will walk in My statutes" refers to precoccupation with Torah study and not to performance of any specific commandmments. This is why the Torah is able to consider the alternative in our verse as something which is related to one's hearing. It is similar to Isaiah 55,3: "listen so that you will live," or Proverbs 1,5 "the wise will listen and increase learning." Inasmuch as the Torah intended to convey so many different lessons with the words אם בחקתי תלכו as I have demonstrated, the failure to exercise these options are at the root of all the misfortunes which will befall the Jewish people if they ignore such glorious opportunities as offered by the Torah in the opening verse of our portion.

Furthermore, seeing that the Torah is about to discuss the result of not carrying out G'd's wishes the Torah pinpoints the root of such non-observance as being the failure to listen to the Torah's instructions by not studying the Torah. Concerning this we learned in Kidushin 30 that G'd told the Jewish people that the only antidote to the danger of succumbing to the temptations by the evil urge is Torah, i.e. study of Torah and performance of its precepts.

Our paragraph is also concerned with awakening sleeping hearts. If someone pursues a path which is not good this is only proof that he has not acquired knowledge about G'd and the good he would derive by serving the Lord. We may therefore understand the conditional "if you will not listen" in the sense of "if you fail to understand." Failure to understand the advantages of serving the Lord may result in someone refusing to do so. The prophet Isaiah summed it up when he said that Israel went into exile as a direct result of lack of knowledge (Isaiah 5,13).

Another message contained in our verse is derived from the Torah's emphasis on the words ולא תעשו את כל המצות, "and you will not perform all the commandments, etc." Seeing we have explained on the words אם בחקתי תלכו that one's preoccupation with Torah protects one against and saves one from the evil urge (Sotah 21), the Torah here spells out the condition both positively and negatively, i.e. what will happen if you study Torah for My sake, and what will happen if you do not study for the right reasons. G'd reminds us that even if we study Torah as long as we do not do so for the sake of G'd and perform the commandments, Torah will not act as a shield for us against the evil urge.

Another nuance contained in our verse is the message that even preparedness to perform all the commandments is of not much use by itself; unless one has studied Torah in depth one simply is not able to perform all its precepts properly. As a result such performance cannot protect one against temptation by the evil urge. We may also understand this pronouncement along the lines of Menachot 110 on the verse "This is the Torah of the burnt-offering (Leviticus 6,2)." If one studies the details of the legislation of the sacrifices nowadays when there is no chance to translate one's knowledge into practice, he has fulfilled the commandment better than when the Temple stood and one performed the actual sacrificial rites without knowing all its details.

The word לי in our verse reminds us that failure to heed the words of Torah is similar to someone refusing to listen to his king when he wants to speak to his subject. The words אם לא תשמעו לי are G'd's way of saying that He, personally, will feel insulted by our failure to study Torah.

You may also understand the verse as conveying a message similar to that in Jeremiah 16,11: "and Me they have forsaken and My Torah they have not observed." Rabbi Moshe Alshech explains this verse by means of a parable. He warns that the Israelites should not think that because they studied Torah this would neutralise their abominations including idol worship as proved by the fact that the Temple had not been destroyed while idol worship was going on for hundreds of years. The Torah explains here what the parameters are to be. "If you do not listen to Me this will lead to non-performance of My commandments and eventual destruction." If, however, you listen to Me, i.e. your attitude to G'd is positive, even if you do not fulfil all the commandments, this will not bring about catastrophe either on a personal or national level.

Another way of justifying the opening words of our paragraph is that G'd is aware of how man's mind and heart functions and of the machinations of the evil urge which exploits man's psyche. G'd therefore decided to address the very first stage of any seduction planned by the evil urge. We have explained repeatedly that Satan is well aware of the intimate relationship between G'd and Israel as a result of which he never counsels that a Jew commit acts of outright rebellion against G'd and His Torah. Satan works far more insidiuously. He will ostensibly agree that everything written in the Torah is, of course, binding on a Jew but that all the additional ordinances with which the sages have surrounded Biblical Law are not really of significance and may be ignored without peril to oneself. Once a person begins to consider if there is merit to that argument he has already been entrapped by the evil urge.

In our verse the Torah addresses two kinds of seductions. 1) "If you do not hearken to Me;" this is a reference to G'd having authorised the Torah scholars to make ordinances. This authority is based on Deut. 17,12; "Any man who deliberately fails to listen to the priest who stands to minister to the Lord your G'd, that man shall die." The reason the Torah insisted on writing the word לי in our verse is to remind us that anyone who questions the authority of the rabbis is as if he questioned G'd Himself (compare Sanhedrin 110). The word לי means: "it concerns Me." Moreover, the sages are considered as the "Sanctuary" of the Lord.

Concerning the second kind of seductive tactic by Satan namely his trying to convince us that the number of positive commandments is unnecessarily large, the Torah writes: "and you will not perform all these commandments." The Torah also implies here that if someone fails to believe in the authority of the sages to interpret the law he most certainly will not fulfil any commandment. The reason is simple. The definition of the 613 commandments (מנין המצות) is something which the sages of former generations have determined. Anyone who does not accept that principle is not considered as having observed any of the commandments. When the Torah speaks of ולא תעשו this is merely the result of not listening. [The letter ו is not meant as an alternative to the words ואם לא תשמעו. Ed.]

ואם בחקתי תמאסו, "And if you will despise My statutes, etc." Why did the Torah have to repeat the conditional word ואם once more instead of being content with the opening word ואם in the previous verse? Besides, why did the Torah write בחקתי instead of merely חקתי תמאסו, "you will despise My statutes?" The letter ב is no more appropriate for describing a negative attitude to G'd's statutes than it would have been to the reference about G'd's social laws of which the Torah merely says את משפטי תגעל נפשכם, "your soul abhors My social laws" without adding the letter ב in front of the word משפטי. Moreover, why does the Torah again use the word ואם when speaking of our attitude to G'd's משפטים? Why did the Torah not simply lump together our attitudes to both G'd's statutes and G'd's social laws by writing ואם בחוקותי תמאסו, or something similar? Furthermore, why does the Torah describe the attitude of the sinners to the "statutes" as one of מאוס, i.e. "despicable," whereas the attitude to the social laws is described as תגעל נפשכם, "something your soul abhors," i.e. a stronger form of rejection? Having already described the sinful Israelites' attitude to G'd's respective commandments, why did the Torah have to elaborate that "they would refuse to carry out all these commandments?" The Torah had already mentioned in verse 14 that we speak about a situation when the Jews would not carry out the positive commandments! We had offered an explanation to that statement but we must not forget that the verse must make sense as it is written! What does the Torah mean by adding: "to break My covenant?"

Clearly, we must understand the wording of these verses as corresponding to the manner in which Satan operates in seducing us into neglecting G'd's commandments. Satan is clever enough to attack the weakest link in the chain, i.e. observance of the commandments called חקים, the ones for which the Torah does not offer a reason and which we ourselves find impossible to rationalise. Satan appeals to us on two fronts; on the one hand he claims that it is impossible to believe that someone as clever as G'd could have legislated laws that appear to make no sense. Alternately, he argues that granted that G'd may indeed have legislated such a law, but surely the legislation was not meant to be understood literally. Once Satan finds that he has the attention of his prospective victim he begins to attack other commandments also even though they appear to have good reasons. He will then easily inveigle his victim to transgress one of G'd's commandments due to some ficticious argument he presented. The doubts he sowed in his victim's mind previously had already caused the victim to become somewhat removed from holiness. Once a person has committed the first sin without experiencing negative fallout it becomes ever easier for his evil urge to lead him further astray. Eventually the evil urge will convince a person that instead of facing punishment for each one of his transgressions he might as well commit a trangression of a cardinal nature and face only a single punishment for that transgression, i.e. his treason against the covenant he became a party to at Mount Sinai.

The verses we have here confront the different stages of seduction and deception by the evil urge. The Torah first deals with the opening argument of the seducer which was aimed at undermining observance of the חקים by saying "if you will despise those of My commandments which have no rationale;" our sages in Bamidbar Rabbah 19, portray both Satan and the nations of the world as questioning the reason for the law of the red heifer. The letter ב in the word בחקתי, is a letter denoting a reason. You may translate the verse as: "If you despise My statutes because they do not have a rationale, etc." The Torah continues with the word ואם, leading to the next level of seduction by Satan, i.e. that you may follow up your initial sin by even transgressing some negative commandment. The additional ואם also means that there is separate culpability for failing to observe negative commandments.

Concerning the second assault on us by Satan, his attempt to seduce us further, the Torah writes ואם את משפטי תגעל נפשכם, this is a reference to commandments for which there is ample rationale. The reason the Torah uses the stronger "your soul loathes them" is that unless one did so what possible reason could a Jew have to defy those of G'd's laws which are demonstrably beneficial and reasonable? Ignoring G'd's statutes could at least be due to one's failure to appreciate the purpose of that legislation.

Another reason why the Torah attributes non-observance of the social laws to such strong feelings on the part of the sinner may reflect a statement in the Sefer Hayashar by Rabbenu Tam chapter 9 who views an attitude such as described here as reflecting a diseased psyche and body. Berachot 61 describes this as saying that the wicked are judged by their evil passions. This is the reason the Torah writes לבלתי עשות את כל מצותי, such people object to doing anything which G'd has said merely because G'd has said it. Finally, the words להפרכם את בריתי are the Torah's reference to Satan's ultimate challenge when he asks his victim to commit a provocative act against G'd justifying it by promising his victim that he then will have to face only a single penalty namely the one for that ultimate act of rebellion. The Torah goes on record that the prospective sinner should not be deceived but that he would be held culpable for all his transgressions. We also have this spelled out in Ezekiel 25,8 and Ezekiel 20,33 respectively. Satan had argued that the same rules which apply to mankind at large also apply to Yehudah (25,8), whereas the prophet threatens Israel in the name of G'd that it will be treated with G'd's full retributive arm (20,33).

The verses under discussion may also be understood along the lines of the Zohar volume 1 page 100 that in order to achieve perfection in one's service of the Lord three ingredients have to be present, i.e. thought, speech, and deed. By repeating the word ואם, the Torah alludes to all of these three factors. The words ואם לא תשמעו refer to a flaw in one's speech when serving G'd; the words ולא תעשו refer to a flaw in the deeds required when serving the Lord. The words ואם בחקתי תמאסו refer to flaws in the thought processes which accompany one's service of G'd. Inasmuch as one's thoughts are generated both in one's brain and in one's heart, the Torah employed the term תמאסו when speaking about thoughts originating in one's brain, whereas it used the term תגעל נפשכם when referring to thoughts originating in one's heart.

It is also possible that the Torah speaks here about three different spiritual levels that are present amongst the Jewish people. One level comprises the Torah scholars, the spiritual elite of the people whose principal concern is Torah and service of the Lord. Concerning this group of people the Torah says ואם לא תשמעו לי, "if you do not hearken to Me, etc." Seeing that this group of people have to be most circumspect in their performance of the commandments it is essential that they listen to every detail of the Torah's instructions else they forfeit their very lives. We are given an example of this in Yuma 86 where the scholars themselves debate the nature of the sin of desecrating G'd's Holy Name. What may not be considered as desecration of the Holy Name for one person may yet rank as such for another, depending on his stature in the community. Rav said that if he entered a butcher store and did not pay immediately this would be accounted as a desecration of G'd's name (seeing onlookers would assume he received it for free as a sort of bribe.) Rabbi Yochanan said that if he walked around for a distance of 4 cubits without Talit and phylacteries this would be accounted against him as the sin of desecrating the name of the Lord. Concerning such people the Torah wrote: "if you will not hearken to Me." The Torah adds: "and you will not perform all these commandments." What is meant by the word all is that such Torah scholars must observe the commandments down to the very last detail otherwise it would be held against them as a great sin. There is another category of Jews who are not well versed in the Torah but who are intelligent and certainly understand the difference between right and wrong, and who are careful to practice the virtue of gratitude. Concerning this category the Torah writes ואם בחקתי תמאסו that if they display disdain for the statutes because they do not understand their reasons G'd will punish them although He will not punish them for performance of the commandments without attention to all the finer points. There is a third category, the fools, whose knowledge is so limited that they will not perform the statutes at all, but not because they despise them. Concerning this latter category the Torah writes: ואת משפטי תגעל נפשכם; G'd will hold such fools responsible for their sins only if they loathe social laws which even they are fully conversant with and the need for which they can fully understand. This latter category of people will not be punished by the penalties listed in the remainder of this chapter. G'd will treat them as if they had sinned inadverently.

לבלתי עשות את כל מצותי, "not to carry out all My commandments." G'd limits retribution to people who are still bent on defying Him by not performing the commandments. If such people have changed their attitude and plan on observing the commandments G'd will hold off punishing them until they have had a chance to prove their penitence. G'd may even hold off punishing people who have not yet expressed the intention to mend their ways but concerning whom G'd knows that they will do so.

להפרכם את בריתי, "to break My covenant." G'd makes the punishments in store for the Jewish people in the verses following dependent on their intention to break the covenant by their failure to observe the Torah. People who violate G'd's commandments merely because it is less burdensome for them or they believe they will enjoy life better by doing so (מומר לתאבון) are not included in what the rest of this chapter threatens in the way of retribution. Torat Kohanim writes as follows on the verse ואם לא תשמעו: "There are people who do not study the Torah but they do observe its commandments. Concerning such people the Torah wrote that they will be punished only ולא תעשו, if they fail to observe the commandments. There are other people who neither study nor practice Torah laws but they do not despise others who are observant. Concerning such people the Torah writes that as long as they do not despise G'd's statutes the list of retribution which follows does not apply to them. All those who neither study, nor perform and at the same time despise others who are observant and who hate the Torah scholars to boot are included in the description תגעל נפשכם. Finally, there are people who actively prevent other Jews from observing the commandments. This latter category is meant by the words לבלתי עשות, 'they do not let others perform.'" Thus far Torat Kohanim. According to what we have just quoted from Torat Kohanim one forms the impression that the whole chapter of the retribution G'd threatens is addressed only to the final category of sinners who not only anger G'd on purpose but interfere with the observance of the Torah by other Jews. If so, we must ask ourselves why the Torah bothered to list any of the other categories of sinners altogether? The reason the Torah was not content to list only the last category of sinner is that the Torah wanted to describe the stages that lead a sinner to eventually become so entrapped by his evil urge that he even prevents other Jews from observing their religion. When reading the entire passage one appreciates the terrible consequences which ensue if one takes the first step in ignoring our traditions. This is what Jeremiah 9,12 had in mind when he describes the loss of Jewish statehood as due to the people forsaking the Torah and not listening to G'd's voice. It is the first step away from tradition which is crucial.

אף אני אעשה זאת לכם, "I will also do this unto you, etc." The meaning of the word אני is the attribute of Mercy. G'd says that under the circumstances even the attribute of Mercy will agree to the acts of retribution the Torah is about to describe as being performed by the attribute of Justice.

והפקדתי עליכם בהלה, "I will appoint terror to afflict you, etc." G'd's selection of the list of afflictions enumerated here corresponds to the negative virtues of the wicked. Inasmuch as their principal sin is the neglect of Torah study G'd measured the people with the same yardstick. Torah has been compared to fire (compare Jeremiah 23,29) "is not My word like fire says the Lord."

You have to appreciate that the Torah brings out three good qualities in a man's soul. 1) Preoccupation with words of Torah effectively refines man's soul much as the fire of the crucible refines ore into pure metal. As a result such a person does not need to descend into שאול, hades, after he dies so that his soul will be cleansed by the fires of Hell. Chagigah 27 describes the fire of Torah as being more powerful than the fire of Gehinom. The fires of Gehinom will therefore not make any impression on the soul of a person who has spent his life in Torah study. This is why Shemot Rabbah 7,4 describes Gehinom as complaining that it does not like the righteous as they undermine its power and extinguish its fire. The second advantage derived by Torah is that it illuminates one's eyes. The Israelites require a great light in order to be able to benefit from the brilliance of the שכינה, G'd's presence. G'd gave us the Torah which is called light (compare Proverbs 6,23) out of His great love for us. Torah study will enhance our power of vision. The degree of one's perception of the divine is in direct ratio to the amount of Torah one has studied. Isaiah 42,7 calls all the people who have not studied Torah "blind ones," describing the power of Torah as making the blind see. The third advantage that accrues to the person who studies Torah is that it gladdens his heart; we know this both from Psalms 19,9: "G'd's precepts gladden the heart of man," as well as from Psalms 97,11: "and for the upright there is radiance." Just as there are three distinct advantages which accrue to people studying Torah there are three kinds of corresponding penalties for those who fail to do so. Instead of the purifying fire of Torah study, G'd will smite those who failed to study with a destructive kind of fire, שחפת וקדחת, different kinds of fever. The reason the Torah also speaks about בהלה, terror, is because it is the reverse of the peace of mind one experiences as the result of engaging in Torah study. Whereas G'd had granted מאור עינים, enhanced vision, to people immersing themselves in Torah, G'd will deprive those who failed to study Torah by מכלות עינים, failure of their eyesight. Whereas G'd had granted joy to the people who did study Torah, He will afflict those who failed to do so with מדיבת נפש, feelings of melancholy.

Our paragraph also contains an allusion to success of the people studying Torah in the celestial spheres. We are taught in Uktzin 3,12 (the final Mishnah in the oral Torah) that in the future G'd will let every righteous person inherit 310 worlds. It is a well known fact that the negative experiences the wicked have to look forward to parallel the positive experiences which the righteous will enjoy. Kohelet 7,14 has already spelled this out when Solomon said: "G'd has made one as well as the other." Just as the 310 worlds described in the above mentioned Mishnah are distinguished one from the other in quality, so the 310 possible domains of afflictions for the sinners are also each different from its counterpart. Their common denominator is called קרי, the word ריק, empty, spelled backwards. This is the mystical dimension of וזרעתם לריק זרעכם, "you will sow your seed in vain." [In talmudic parlance the word קרי often refers to the result of semen which has gone to waste, i.e. which is "empty" of content. Ed.] Instead of 310 worlds the wicked can look forward to 310 different kinds of emptiness. The 310 worlds which the Mishnah spoke about are based on Proverbs 8,21: להנחיל לאוהבי יש, That G'd will give an inheritance to the righteous described as something substantial. The numerical value of the word יש is 310. The numerical value of the word ריק, empty, is also 310. The Torah therefore threatens the wicked with the exact opposite it promises to the righteous. The number of spiritually negative manifestations of the קליפה is 310. The Torah uses the word "sowing," as it is also applicable to activities of a spiritual nature such as in Hoseah 10,12: "sow righteousness for yourselves!" ואכלוהו אויביכם "and your enemies will consume it." The powers of the קליפה derive pleasure from the activities of the wicked. The Torah describes them as "the enemy of man."

ונתתי פני בכם, "And I will set My face against you, etc." The Torah speaks of G'd's angry "face." The reason that justice or judgment is called פנים, face, is that there is always a group of creatures whose whole intent is to bring about destruction. They are therefore described as "the face of G'd," i.e. the ones facing the presence of G'd. The words: "I will set My face against you" are addressed to these evil forces. The words: "and you will fall before your enemies" are about the Gentile nations all of which are branches of these forces of evil. The word פני may also mean that G'd will not hide His face from them even while He delivers the Israelites into the hands of their enemies, otherwise they would perish, G'd forbid. The Torah reveals the intent of G'd only at the very end of the passage in the words of verse 44. The reason the Torah writes the word בכם here is to emphasise that at this stage G'd's anger will become manifest against the people not against the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary will become the victim of G'd's anger only at a later stage than that discussed in our verse.

לא תשמעו לי, "you do not listen to Me." Teshuvah is made conditional on "listening" to G'd, i.e. studying Torah. True repentance is impossible without Torah study.

שבע על חטאתיכם "sevenfold for your sins." The Torah does not mean that G'd will exact seven retributions for each sin but that G'd will exact retribution for the sins of the Jewish people which number seven. The punishment will fit the crime both qualitatively and quantitatively. The seven sins consist of the following: 1) failure to listen; 2) failure to perform; 3) relating to the statutes with disdain; 4) loathing of G'd's social laws; 5) preventing others from performing the commandments; 6) breaking G'd's covenant; 7) remaining unaffected by G'd's penalties and thereby closing the gates of repentance. This explains what the sages meant when they said in Rosh Hashanah 16 that three books are open in front of G'd on New Year's Day; one contains the names of the totally wicked; one contains the names of the totally righteous, and one contains the names of the "average" people (the ones whose merits and demerits are in balance). The latter are given until the Day of Atonement to see if they will repent. If they fail to do so they will automatically be inscribed in the book of the confirmed sinners.

ושברתי את גאון עזכם, "And I will break the pride of your power." According to Torat Kohanim our verse speaks of the Holy Temple and its destruction. Seeing the Jewish people did not repent in spite of their afflictions G'd will deprive them of the Holy Temple. The Jews erred in thinking that as long as the Temple remained standing this was proof that G'd related to them positively.

ותם לריק כחכם, "and your strength will be spent in vain." The meaning is the same as if the Torah had written ותם כחכם לריק, meaning that your entire efforts will be to no avail. The Torah had to tell us this as the power of destructive forces often is only partially effective.

ואם תלכו עמי קרי, "and if you walk contrary unto Me, etc." Inasmuch as the afflictions which have been visited upon the Jewish people are clearly the hand of G'd, their failure to react is described as walking contrary to G'd.

שבע כחטאתיכם, "seven times more, according to your sins." Even though the Israelites had not become guilty of additional sins the fact that they had not become penitent is accounted as if the sins had been committed anew.

חית השדה. "the wild beasts of the field." Inasmuch as the Israelites were guilty of behaving like animals they in turn will be afflicted by animals.

והלכתי אף אני עמכם בקרי, "and then I will also walk contrary unto you." This means that from now on G'd will not bother any longer to make the afflictions fit the sins committed so that the very afflictions would serve as a reminder to do תשובה. Up until this point G'd had brought the kinds of retribution which could be traced to specific sins the people had been guilty of. Up until then G'd had done as the Psalmist describes in Psalms 62,13: "You pay each man according to his deeds." From now on the people will be deprived of the positive effect of the afflictions as they cannot relate them to any sins they have committed.

ואכלתם בשר בניכם, "and you will eat the flesh of your own sons." The reason the Torah repeats this statement by also writing: "you will eat the flesh of your daughters" is to tell you that even after having eaten the flesh of their sons their pity will not have been stirred and they will continue by eating the flesh of their daughters.

It is also possible that the Torah stresses that the sons will be eaten first so that they would not try and escape when they observed their parents getting ready to eat their daughters. The daughters were weaker and therefore less likely to escape.

It is also possible that the reason the parents would eat the sons first is because according to Rashi on Shabbat 66 fathers display extraordinary leniency and mercy towards sons. Once they had consumed the sons they would certainly not feel any compunction about also consuming their daughters.

וגעלה נפשי אתכם, "and My soul will abhor you." Why did the Torah have to spell this out? It is something that we can extrapolate from verse 11 where G'd had said that as long as the Israelites would observe the commandments they would be blessed in that G'd would not abhor them. Clearly such a blessing would not continue when the people turned sinful. If G'd wanted to write how blessings would be reversed during periods when the Jewish people rebelled against G'd, the Torah should have presented all of the previously mentioned blessings as being reversed.

We must assume therefore, that G'd listed the various punishments independent of the fact that the blessings would now be absent. I believe the message of the verse is that even the righteous who would live during these times when the bulk of the people turned sinful would not enjoy a display of G'd's favour. We find a statement to this effect in Hoseah 4,5 that "even the prophet who is among you will stumble." Another meaning of all this is that the gift of prophecy will be withdrawn [or handed to totally ineffectual individuals such as children or idiots, Ed.] so that no longer will there be prophets to admonish the people. G'd's "soul" manifests itself through His communication with His prophets. This is just about the worst curse there is and it is the reason the Torah mentioned it only after having already listed many other curses. Tragically, we are still witnessing this curse as being in effect in our own days.

ונתתי את עריכם חרבה, "and I will turn your cities into ruins." The Torah means that not only will our cities no longer be a model for other nations but that they will be inferior to the civilisation of the Gentile nations. This is a source of great distress. Isaiah had this in mind when he described the cities of Yehudah and Zion as being turned into a desert (Isaiah 64,9) unless the Jewish people would mend their ways.

והשימותי את מקדשיכם, "and I will make your Sanctuaries desolate." This is a reference to symbols of impurity in the Temple. The forces of the קליפה are also known as שממון.

ולא אדיח בריח ניחחכם. "and I will not savour the fragrance of your sweet odours." This means that G'd will not even be pleased by the good deeds of the Jewish peolpe at that time. Good deeds also qualify for the description ריח ניחח, sweet odour. Jeremiah made the same point in Lamentations 3, 5 שתם תפלתי, "He shut out my prayers."

והשמותי אני את הארץ, "And I will make the land desolate, etc." The reason the Torah uses the word אני although it is implied in the word והשמותי is to identify the Attribute of G'd causing this desolation. It is the attribute of mercy. Torat Kohanim explains that the desolation of the land is intended to deny our enemies the pleasure of what had been our land before they conquered it.

ואתכם אזרה בגוים, "And you I will scatter among the nations." This verse is best explained in conjunction with what we have learned in Ketuvot 111 that G'd made the (Jews) people swear three (two) oaths at the time they went into exile.. 1) they would not try and recapture the land of Israel by force of arms; 2) they would not start a rebellion against their host countries while in exile. 3) G'd made the nations swear that they would not oppress the Jews excessively. In our verse the Torah alludes to two things. The word אזרה alludes to the oath not to try and recapture the land of Israel by force. The word בגוים refers to the oath not to start a rebellion against the host countries. The words והריקותי אחריכם חרב, "I will draw out the sword after you," is a threat that if the Israelites do not abide by the oaths mentioned G'd would make their lives הפקר, abandoned property. The words והיתה ארצכם שממה "your land will be waste-land," is the reason why G'd has to scatter the Israelites among the nations. Otherwise He could not fulfil His decree for the land to rest by not being worked and thus make up for the failure of the Jewish people to observe the שמטה years while they occupied the land. This is also why the Torah emphasises that all this would happpen while the Jewish people are in exile, i.e. ואתם, "as for you."

והנשארים בכם, "As to those of you who are still left, etc." Here the Torah refers to Israelites who continue in their wicked ways in spite of having experienced all the curses listed come true. At this stage G'd announces that such people would be afflicted with faint-heartedness while they are in exile and they would experience fear without cause and fall even without being pursued. In spite of all the terrible experiences the Jewish people undergo while in exile they will not be wiped out as a nation.

והתודו את עונם, "And they will confess their sins, etc." Earlier commentators have not explained these verses to our satisfaction; most of their commentaries are too far fetched to be taken seriously. One of the reasons is that there appears no reason why the Jewish people at that time should confess the sins of their ancestors. As soon as they confess their own sins they are no longer guilty of perpetuating the evil ways of their fathers (compare Berachot 7). Secondly, why did the Torah (verse 41) write: "also I will walk contrary unto them?" Why does the Torah mention a punishment after the people have already confessed their sins? Thirdly, why does the Torah speak about G'd bringing the Israelites into the land of their enemies when we have heard this already in verse 33? Fourthly, what is the meaning of the words או אז יכנע לבבם הערל, "or perhaps their uncircumcised heart will be humbled?" Nachmanides interprets the word "or" as alluding to the two possible causes of the eventual redemption. Either it would occur due to repentance on a nation-wide scale or it would occur because G'd's timetable had been exhausted and the Jews had experienced sufficient punishment during their long years in exile. I believe this is a very forced explanation..

I believe the appropriate approach to these verses is an examination of the causes of sinful conduct by the people. The people who experienced G'd's retribution on their own bodies had first observed how their fathers and forefathers had failed to observe the Torah and G'd had not seemed to react. The sinners appeared to have prospered. As a result of G'd's long-lasting patience, even reading in the Torah all the warnings about what would happen if we failed to observe the Torah or even listening to the warnings of the prophets became progressively less effective. The evidence of the people's eyes contradicted what they read in the Torah. As a result it became impossible to warn people of the disastrous results in store if they continued to ignore the Torah's precepts. In fact, the so-called facts undermined the people's belief in the whole concept of reward and punishment. This is why once G'd began to exact the retribution He had warned of such misfortunes as befell the Jewish people they would not be recognised as part of G'd's system of reward and punishment. Only after most of the dire warnings in the Torah had actually occurred, matching what the prophets had warned of for a long time, would the people begin to recognise it for what it was. G'd therefore demanded that when the time came the Israelites would not only have to acknowledge and confess their own sins, but unless they also confessed that their fathers and ancestors had been at fault, confessions of their own misdemeanours would not guarantee that this would not occur again.

Confessing their fathers' sins reinforces the people's confession of their own sins as it deprives them of the argument that whatever sins they had committed were no worse than what their fathers had committed without being punished. When the Torah writes ואף אשר הלכו עמי בקרי, "even though they walked contrary unto Me," this is the Torah's way of explaining the reason why the Israelites interpreted their misfortunes as being accidental, מקרה, rather than as a natural consequence of continued defiance of Torah precepts. The people would have to confess this error as an additional sin.

אף אני אלך עמם בקרי, "Also I will walk with them as if accidental." Part of what the people have to acknowledge as part of their confession is that all G'd's retributions were justified. Even G'd's having withdrawn His personal supervision over the fate of the Jews must be acknowledged.

והבאתי אותם, "and I will bring them, etc." This is also part of what the people will say as part of their confession. The fact that the Torah demands that the people acknowledge that their exile was part of G'd's punishment in line with His warnings indicates that they had previously denied that their exile was connected to their wrongdoing. The people had argued that if G'd really wanted to use His retribution to result in the people's repentance, exile was a peculiar means to achieve this. They reasoned that exile was bound to result in assimilation, the very reverse of what G'd wanted to achieve by disciplining His people. Such considerations reinforced the people's thinking that what had befallen them was accidental and not part of G'd's design. This is why G'd wrote that they have to confess also their erroneous assessment of why they had experienced all the curses predicted in the Torah.

The words או אז mean that the exiled Israelites attribute their presence in other countries to be a result of natural migration or as an attempt by G'd to induce humility in them. G'd had known from experience that a sinner may humble himself such as Achav the king of Israel (Kings I 21, 27-29). Our sages in Berachot 7 have said that "better one severe chastisement which results in the sinner feeling humbled than 100 lashes of the whip (as these are effective only externally). Following such a humbling of oneself their guilt may become something they can acknowledge and come to terms with."

וזכרתי את בריתי יעקוב, "And I will remember My covenant, the one with Jacob, etc." The Torah announces here that whereas the confession of their guilt helps to reduce the severity of the afflictions to which G'd subjects the Jewish people, G'd has to invoke the merit of the patriarchs in order to restore them to their former status

The verse also supplies an additional reason for G'd having driven the Jewish people into exile into the land of their enemies. The abuse the people would be subjected to there will become the catalyst that will make G'd remember the merit of the patriarchs. In addition, G'd will remember the sad state of the Holy Land while its people are absent. If G'd had not first exiled the Jews He would not have any reason to remember the land itself with special kindness. As it is, the sequence וזכרתי את בריתי….והארץ אזכר makes perfect sense.

את בריתי יעקוב, if the merit of Jacob suffices, all well and good; if not G'd will also invoke the merit of Isaac, etc.

והארץ תעזב מהם…יען וביען, "And the land shall be forsaken without them..…because, even because, etc." The words יען וביען may be understood as expressing a sentiment similar to that of Jeremiah 9,12. The Talmudists (Baba Metzia 85) had grappled with the question why the land should have to be punished for the sins of the Israelites. Finally, G'd Himself explained the reason through the words of Jeremiah we have quoted. Once the people had failed to observe the Torah, the land itself was no longer interested in being occupied by the Jewish people. This reason becomes more plausible in view of the Torah's statement that during the years of Israel's exile the land had a chance to experience the many שמטה years Israel had ignored. We therefore have two good reasons why the punishment of exile was appropriate.

The words יען וביען reflect these two reasons. The Torah repeats once more: 1) במשפטי מאסו, i.e. neglect of the Shemittah legislation; 2) ואת חקתי געלה נפשם, "and their soul abhorred My statutes;" they hated Torah study. It is clear from the end that if the Israelites had been guilty of only one of these categories of sins their punishment would have taken a different form altogether. If the people had only neglected to study the Torah but had observed the shemittah legislation at least they would not have experienced exile.

ואף גם זאת בהיותם, "And yet even when they are in the land of their enemies, etc." How can this verse which speaks of a favour G'd does to the exiled Jewish people be part of this sequence of dire predictions? Perhaps this is a reference to the earlier part where G'd explained that He was entitled to withdraw His providence from the people because they had accused Him of having done so. G'd goes on record that He does not withhold His supervision from the people and does not despise them [even though the people may not be aware of it. Ed.]

The verse may also supply another consideration why exile actually saved the Jewish people. We explained, based on Midrash Tehillim 69 that G'd vented His anger on the stones and the trees in order to spare as many of the human beings as possible. Had the Jews remained in the land of Israel they themselves would have experienced G'd's anger on their bodies, much as did the land itself. Moreover, the presence of a people who had formerly been so exalted with Jerusalem as their capital, now languishing in foreign lands, maltreated by pagan kings, would satisfy even the attribute of Justice so that it would not insist on their utter destruction. The words ואף גם זאת are therefore to be understood as the cause why G'd wanted the Israelites to experience exile among foreign and hostile nations.

להפר בריתי אתם, "to break My covenant with them." This is the covenant not to exchange the Jewish people for another nation, a covenant G'd kept for the people who experienced the Exodus. It is the deeper meaning of the words: "for I am the Lord their G'd." The sign of the covenant is that G'd does not adopt another nation in our place. G'd's promise at the time of מתן תורה that the Jewish people would be an עם סגולה וממלכת כהנים was equivalent to a covenant.

The verse may also refer to the second party to the covenant, the Torah, who would be orphaned if G'd destroyed the Jewish people seeing no one would observe it. G'd would therefore have broken His covenant both with the Jewish people and with the Torah.

וזכרתי להם כרית ראשונים, "And I will remember for their sakes the covenant with the ancestors, etc." Torat Kohanim asks: "whence do we know that G'd concluded a covenant with the tribes?" They quote our verse as the source. Perhaps we should understand this in the way Jeremiah quotes G'd as remembering the time after the crossing of the sea of reeds when the Israelites willingly followed G'd into the desert, etc. (compare Jeremiah 2,2). G'd goes on record here that He will remember such deeds by our forefathers to their descendants in due course. The word ראשונים refers to the first ever generation of the Jews as a people G'd concluded a covenant with.