Parasha: Haazinu · Aliyah: Fifth (Hod)

איכה ירדף אחד אלף, "How could one man pursue a thousand?" This refers to the fact that one Gentile suddenly was able to put to flight one thousand Jews. During all the normal wars between the various nations such a thing was unheard of. Not a single enemy amongst the nations possesses such superiority over his opponents.

Another meaning: "How could one special nation amongst all the Gentile nations pursue one thousand Israelites? Please compare what I have written on Leviticus 26,8 on the verse: "five of you will pursue one hundred."

אם לא כי צורם מכרם, "unless their Rock had sold them." The reference is to the attribute of Justice, as I have explained in connection with verse 4. Moses added וה׳ הסגירם, "and even the attribute of Mercy had delivered them." Unless both the attribute of Justice and the attribute of Mercy cooperated it is impossible to explain a decline of such dimensions in the fortunes of the Jewish people.

כי לא כצורנו צורם, "For our Rock is not like their Rock, etc." Moses means that the reason that one Gentile was able to put to flight a thousand Jews was not due to G'd's lack of power but to His deliberate decision to "sell out" His people. Israel's troubles are not due to the sudden prowess of the Gentile nations. Israel's source of strength, as we pointed out in connection with the debacle of the spies, is not comparable to the short-lived source of strength of the idolators. This is the mystical dimension of Proverbs 12,19: ועד ארגיעה לשון שקר. "but a lying tongue endures only briefly." We can learn from the idolatry practiced by many nations when they worshiped the god Kemosh, a national god of the Moabites. Although, according to Rabbi Saadyah Gaon, many marvellous deeds were attributed to that deity, it did not take long before people ceased to worship it. Many other deities which enjoyed a great reputation in antiquity suffered a similar fate. Our Rock, by comparison, remains at the height of His power as even the Gentiles admit, compare Maleachi, 1,11: "for My name is great among the nations." If these nations observe the downfall of Israel they too will arrive at the conclusion that their religion is true, after all. ואיבינו פלילים, "yet our enemies judge us." The word is used in the sense it is used in Exodus 21,22 ונתן בפלילים, "he shall pay it, (the damages) by order of the judges." Whereas up until then even the nations had admitted that the power of the G'd of the Jews was in a class by itself, the demise of the Jewish people will convince them that they had been wrong.

כי מגפן סדם גפנם, "for their vine is from the vine of Sodom, etc." The Torah here provides the reason why the Jewish people have been "sold" by G'd. The reason Moses says מגפן, from the vineyard instead of simply גפן, is to remind us that everything that exists in the domain of sanctity has its counterpart in the domain of the סטרא אחרא, the spiritually negative domain. This is what we have been taught by Solomon in Kohelet 7,14: "G'd has made the one as well as the other." Israel has been compared to a vine already in Psalms 80,9: "You plucked up a vine from Egypt." The counterpart is the vine originating in Sodom. This is why Moses speaks of Israel in disgrace as representing a vine from Sodom. ענבמו ענבי רוש, "its grapes are grapes of gall." Seeing that not all Israel's branches are vines from Sodom, Moses describes them as containing such parts, i.e. מגפן instead of the whole vine, i.e. גפן. The reason Moses uses the comparison with Sodom is that just as Sodom's measure of guilt was complete before G'd destroyed it, so Israel would not be destroyed until its measure of guilt is complete.

ומשדמות עמורה, "and from the fields of Gomorrah." On the branches of a holy tree, the higher the branch the more holy its character. The highest branch, due to its extreme holiness, is described in the masculine gender to reflect that this is the one which provides the input, whereas the lowest is described in the feminine gender to reflect the idea that it is the recipient of that input. Moses described Israel's attachment to an evil root. He called the first one גפן, vine, masculine, to describe the fact that it provides the input, whereas the secondary one is described as שדה, field, which is feminine in Hebrew, reflecting its passive role as the recipient of that input. The intelligent reader will understand how to transfer concepts which are familiar from sanctity to its counterpart when dealing with spiritually negative phenomena.

הלא הוא כמוס עמדי, "Is it not concealed with Me?" Moses means that on account of the reaction of Israel's enemies to its punishment, G'd has so far refrained from dispensing the justice due for the sins committed by this people. If they appeared to do well this was not proof of their innocence, nor that they would not eventually be made to suffer the punishment they were guilty of. G'd reserved the indictment in anticipation of the Day of Judgment. Concerning that day, the prophet said (Isaiah 10,3: "and what are you going to do on the Day of Judgment (punishment)?" Read up on how much even the prophet Samuel was afraid of that day when he was asked to materialise before Saul (Chagigah) 4 and he thought that he was about to face that day of Judgment. Moses repeats the statement by saying חתום באוצרותי, "sealed in My treasuries." We may compare this to Exodus 34,7 where the Torah speaks about G'd being נושא עון, "suspending punishment for sins." Once G'd reaches the point where He is no longer able to tolerate the wickedness, He seals them in His treasuries and takes His revenge on the evildoers by even removing the sun from its orbit (if need be) as we have been told in Nedarim 8, "a day on which the sun will burn like a furnace." When Moses adds לי נקם, "Mine is the vengeance," this is a reference to G'd personally exacting this punishment.

לי נקם ושלם, "Mine is the vengeance and the retribution." As mentioned previously and in Avodah Zarah 3, when that day arrives G'd will remove the sun from its orbit and the wicked will be burned by it whereas the righteous will experience the sun's heat as therapy and be healed by it. The sequence of the words לי נקם ושלם, means that at one and the same time what will be G'd's vengeance against the wicked will be the payment of a reward for the righteous.

לעת תמוט רגלם, "at the time when their foot will falter." This is the mystical dimension of Sotah 49 of the period known as עקבות משיחא. It is a period when the feet of Samael will begin to totter as the wicked will falter. [actually that folio in Sotah only describes the breakdown of social mores during the period preceding the arrival of the Messiah. Ed.]

כי קרוב יום אידם, "for the day of their disaster is near." This is the day referred to by the prophet as "the day of the Lord" (Tzefaniah 1,6).

והש עתידות למו, "and the future will rush towards them." These are the words of comfort which will all be fulfilled once the wicked get their just deserts. At that time G'd will hasten to keep His promises to the righteous.

כי ידין ה׳ עמו, "When the Lord will judge His people, etc." After having concluded the subject of the people who have caused G'd to become angry, the Torah now turns to Israel as a whole, assuring the people that He will not quarrel with them forever. The words כי ידין השם mean that G'd will take a look at what many righteous have endured, some of whom have been murdered, others burned, etc. G'd will comfort Himself, i.e. relent, when He observes all this. This is why Moses says ועל עבדיו יתנחם, "and on account of His servants (what happened to them) He will relent." He relents on account of those of His children who remained His loyal servants. Furthermore, when G'd sees that the Israelites do not have the strength to save themselves from exile, and their righteous do not enjoy enough authority to discipline the sinners, He relents. He is aware that there are no longer any prophets amongst the Israelites, nor the outstanding men of former years whose influence on the people had beeen considerable. Compare Michah 7,1 אין אשכול לאכול, "there is not a cluster to eat." This is an example of Moses saying: כי אזלת יד, "G'd sees their might is gone." The words אפס עצור, mean that neither what was guarded nor preserved is still left." We find a similar statement in Samuel I 9,17: זה יעצור בעמי, "He will deliver My people," [King Saul. Ed.] The literal meaning is more like "he will stop the rut of My people," or "he will stop everybody from doing what he feels like, and introduce discipline into the lives of the nation." At any rate, it is a reference to the people being in a state of disarray. ועזוב, "and it is abandoned." This is a reference to the disarray the people find themselves in and which makes them feel abandoned. At that point,

אי אלוקימו Israel will begin to ask at such a time: "where is their G'd, the Rock that used to be its refuge?" Even though the deeds of the Israelites are not such that they qualify for G'd's intervention on its behalf, the people will come with a complaint against G'd although they observe only a small part of G'd's Torah. They do at least feel that their G'd ought to take them under His wings. They are conscious that they suffer all kinds of afflictions on account of the Lord being their G'd. They allowed themselves to die for the sake of the holy name of G'd, even. This is why they (the survivors) look to G'd hopefully, i.e. צור חסיו בו, "the Rock in whom they sought refuge."

יקומו ויעזרכם, "Let them arise and help you!" There are two kinds of idolatry and idolators. 1) Someone is wholly committed to serve idols for their own sake. 2) Someone who only serves idols for self-serving purposes, i.e. in order to manipulate the deity for his own purpose. G'd forbade both kinds of idolatry in Exodus 20,4. Concerning the person who only goes through the motions of serving an idol for what he expects to get out of it, G'd said here: "let the deity arise and help you, i.e. you will be sorely disappointed." Concerning the other type of idolator G'd says sarcastically: יהי עליכם סתרה, "let them be a hide-out for you!"

אשר חלב זבחמו יאכלו, "the fat of whose offerings they used to eat, etc." This is G'd's response to their words. The sequence of the words here has to be read as follows: "For G'd will judge His people…and He will then relent considering all they have already suffered, taking into consideration also their present state of utter helplessness plus the fact that after all the people do turn to Him." G'd then responds that those who used to offer sacrifices and eat the fat parts themselves experienced that not therein lay their salvation יקומו. They should arise (anew) in order to finally realise that their salvation did not lie in the number of their sacrifices but that only G'd is the Saviour. This is the meaning of ראו עתה כי אני השם, "See, now, that only I am the Lord" (verse 39).

ראו עתה כי אני אני הוא, "See, now, that I, I am He." Moses repeats the word אני twice, once each vis-a-vis the two kinds of idolators we have just described. The word אני, emphasises "I and no one else" when applied to the first kind of idolator, whereas it means "I alone," when applied to the second kind of idolator. He continues: ואין אלוהים עמדי, "and there is no other deity with Me," that there are no intermediaries between G'd and His creatures.

אני אמית ואחיה, "It is I who kill and who bring to life." This statement is addressed to the people who believe that there are two distinct forces at work in the universe, a benevolent one and a destructive one. The Torah goes on record that this is not so, but that all fateful decisions are exclusively G'd's domain. In order to emphasise that G'd intervenes even in what appear to be minutiae, G'd adds: "I strike down and I heal."

ואין מידי מציל. "and there is no one who can rescue from My hand." This means that all creatures are mortal. In order to make this point clear G'd did not say ואין מציל מידי, but ואין מידי מציל.