Introduction
The continuation of chapter 8 in Amos describes an entire progression: from moral corruption between man and his fellow - merchants who relentlessly pursue the poor and destitute to the point of ruining them - to the retribution that follows in its wake: the shaking of the earth, the flooding of the Nile, darkness at noon, feasts turned into mourning, and ultimately the most terrible famine of all - a famine to hear the word of Hashem. We will follow the order of the pesukim, primarily following the Malbim, along with the explanations of Rashi, Radak, Ibn Ezra, and the Targum.
"To buy the poor for silver" - What did they want from them?
לִקְנוֹת בַּכֶּסֶף דַּלִּים וְאֶבְיוֹן בַּעֲבוּר נַעֲלָיִם וּמַפַּל בַּר נַשְׁבִּיר׃ - To buy the poor for silver, and the destitute for a pair of shoes, and to sell the refuse of the grain.
The Targum renders "to buy the poor for silver" as "in order that they inherit them," meaning so that they may take possession of their land. Seemingly, what is the connection? The Radak refers us back to what was explained earlier. Rashi explains the words of Targum Yonatan: they would pervert the judgment of the destitute, and once he was found liable in court and had no money to pay, he was forced to sell his field. The judge's motive was clear: his own fields surrounded it, and the poor man's field stood like a thorn right in the middle. By perverting justice he acquired the field, consolidating all his fields into one contiguous parcel (in the manner of dina de-bar metzra, the law of the abutting neighbor).
And what is "and the destitute for a pair of shoes [na'alayim]"? There are two explanations: First, "na'alayim" is from the root of lock or enclosure (ne'ilah), meaning in order that he could lock and fence all his fields together into one estate. Second, "shoe" (na'al) refers to an act of legal acquisition (kinyan), as we find in Ruth's acquisition by Boaz: "a man drew off his shoe" - a kinyan chalifin (symbolic barter) performed with a shoe or cloth. That is to say, they would declare the innocent liable in court, so that the pauper would be forced to sell his field through a binding acquisition, through the kinyan of the shoe, which is a symbolic barter.
The Malbim explains: "To buy the poor for silver" - this was the ultimate objective. They would wait until the poor reached a point of having no bread, and then they would say: now we will buy the poor themselves for money. The destitute person no longer has anything left to give - let him sell himself into slavery. Just as Yosef did in Egypt, where once they had nothing left to give, he bought them. "And the destitute [evyon]" - the evyon is in an even worse state than the dal (poor man), for the dal is merely impoverished and weakened, whereas the evyon has reached a state where he craves and longs for anything; and him we will buy "for a pair of shoes," even for a trifling sum.
"And to sell the refuse of the grain" - nor will we even need to sell them good grain. "Bar" means grain, and "mappal bar" is that which falls through the sieve, the refuse. And even for this we will demand an exorbitant price. Would we waste fine grain on them? We will sell them the sweepings and garbage of the grain, and they will buy even that - for such a destitute person, who craves anything and possesses nothing, will buy even the absolute worst.
"Hashem has sworn by the pride of Yaakov"
נִשְׁבַּע יְהֹוָה בִּגְאוֹן יַעֲקֹב אִם־אֶשְׁכַּח לָנֶצַח כָּל־מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם׃ - Hashem has sworn by the pride of Yaakov: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
The Radak brings two interpretations. First: just as in "By Myself have I sworn, says Hashem" and "Hashem has sworn by His soul" - the Holy One, blessed be He, swore by Himself, and He, blessed be He, is "the pride of Yaakov," the pride and glory of Israel. The second interpretation: "the pride of Yaakov" refers to the Beit HaMikdash. Ibn Ezra cites a similar idea in the name of Yefet, that it refers to the Aron (Ark), which is our pride and splendor, as it says, "And delivered His strength into captivity" - this is our strength, and as in "the pride of Yaakov whom He loved, Selah." Proof of this is from what we saw earlier: "I abhor the pride of Yaakov" - which clearly refers to the Beit HaMikdash. The Beit HaMikdash is the pride of Yaakov because the Divine Glory rested there, and the Holy One, blessed be He, swears by His glory that He caused to dwell in the Temple, saying: Through your sins, you have caused My glory to depart from the Sanctuary and the Temple.
The Malbim explains in accordance with the first interpretation of the Radak - Hashem swore by His holy Name. And "Surely I will never forget any of their deeds" means that even if I do not punish them immediately, they will ultimately receive their retribution.
The Trembling of the Land and the Flooding of the Nile
הַעַל זֹאת לֹא־תִרְגַּז הָאָרֶץ וְאָבַל כָּל־יוֹשֵׁב בָּהּ וְעָלְתָה כָאֹר כֻּלָּהּ וְנִשְׁקְעָה כִּיאוֹר מִצְרָיִם׃ - Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone who dwells in it mourn? And all of it will rise up like the river, and be tossed and sink like the Nile of Egypt.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says: Shall not the land tremble on this account? How could I forget their deeds? Even if I wished, as it were, to forget, the land itself would serve as a reminder. The land will quake from its place to swallow its inhabitants, until everyone who dwells in it mourns. The meaning is this: when the people act with such corruption, with such terrible deeds in interpersonal conduct, when there is such vast depravity, the land itself demands justice from them, and nature itself seeks to destroy them.
The prophet portrays the retribution through three poetic images. The first: "Shall not the land tremble" - the earth quakes and rumbles upon witnessing such terrible deeds. The second: "And all of it will rise up like the river" - like a river that overflows and inundates the land, as explicitly stated at the end of the verse, "like the Nile of Egypt," like the River Nile that covers the ground. And by what force does it come? By virtue of the rains that fall upon the mountains of Cush. The vapors rise from Egypt, which is a warm land, and reach the mountains of Cush as clouds; there they turn into rain, rush into the rivers, and the waters flow down and return through the Nile all the way to Egypt.
Therefore it is called here ka'or ("like light/river") - after the rains that come from the atmosphere. Rashi finds it difficult to interpret or as ye'or (river), preferring to explain that or denotes rain, as in "He scatters the cloud of His light [oro]" and "He covers His hands with light [or]." Radak connects the two interpretations: or is rain, and here "all of it will rise up like the river [ka'or]" refers to the river swelling because of the rain. For at the end of the verse it explicitly says "like the Nile [ye'or] of Egypt," which indicates that the beginning of the verse also refers to the river, only it is called or after the rain from which it originates.
And what happens in the next stage? The waters of the Nile are muddy, for the river surges, sweeps sand along with it, and churns up muck and mire. And when the waters recede, the muck and mire remain on the fields. This is the parable.
And the meaning of the parable, the Malbim explains: at first there was an internal rebellion against Hoshea son of Elah. As we have mentioned several times in earlier chapters, Hoshea son of Elah sought to abolish the golden calves; he removed the guard posts (perozda'ot) and permitted pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The molders of public opinion in that generation did not like this - their calves had been taken away from them - so they went and incited rebellion against him. And just as they do today, so too back then, they resorted to slander and informing: they went to Babylon and said, "Look, Hoshea son of Elah has rebelled against you; he sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, meaning he no longer accepts your sovereignty." This internal rebellion is the meaning of "Shall not the land tremble" - the upheaval begins from within, from inside the land itself, as conspirators plot and send word to the king of Assyria. And the mission sent to Egypt corresponds to the vapor and rain rising from the land to Cush: just as vapors rise from the land, reach Cush, and return as rain to Egypt, so too he sent emissaries to Egypt seeking protection against the king of Assyria.
Because of this, the king of Assyria came like an overflowing river, in the words of Isaiah: "Behold, the Lord brings up upon them the waters of the River, mighty and many... the king of Assyria." He came, churned up muck and mire, and inundated the land. And after the flooding, the mud settles to the bottom: he exiled all its inhabitants, as it says in Yechezkel, "Then I will cause their waters to settle" - not a foot of man or beast was to be found there, and the land was left desolate and ruined. Everything will sink away and nothing will remain. And where did it all begin? With "the land will tremble" - and by sending slanderous reports to the king of Assyria, you ultimately brought ruin upon yourselves as well, for he came and swept everyone away.
"I Will Cause the Sun to Go Down at Noon"
וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה וְהֵבֵאתִי הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בַּצָּהֳרָיִם וְהַחֲשַׁכְתִּי לָאָרֶץ בְּיוֹם אוֹר׃ - And it shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth on a clear day.
"On that day" - on the day of the land's destruction. "I will cause the sun to go down [veheveiti hashemesh]" - an expression of sunset, as in "for the sun had set [ba hashemesh]." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: The distress will be so immense that the sun will set in the middle of the day. Noon is the time when a person least expects sunset, yet precisely then the darkness will fall. Just when you are basking in the peak of sunshine and success, everything will be extinguished in an instant. Rashi explains: they will enjoy great peace, and suddenly a downfall will strike.
And Chazal taught that this refers to the day of Yoshiyahu, who died by a sword of peace. Yoshiyahu was certain that his generation was righteous like him. When Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, came and wished to pass through his land, saying to him, "My war is not against you," meaning, "I do not come to fight you, only to pass through," Yoshiyahu refused under any circumstances, saying to him, "Lest I come out against you with the sword." Immediately the king of Egypt went out to battle, something that had not been part of his plan at all. And what was Yoshiyahu's mistake? He was convinced that just as he was righteous, so was his generation righteous, and the Torah contains the promise, "Neither shall a sword pass through your land," which Chazal interpret as even a sword of peace. He thought: Why should he pass through? I can withstand him. But he was mistaken, and as a result they shot him full of arrows until he was like a sieve, and the prophet lamented over him: "The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord." He was trapped by the people's corruption, even though he himself was righteous. This is the sword of peace, and this is "I will cause the sun to go down at noon": the sun symbolizes the kingdom of the House of David, which is likened to the sun, "and his throne like the sun before Me," radiating light to the entire world - the sun will set at midday; Yoshiyahu's power will be cut short, and darkness will fall.
The Malbim explains that this is the third imagery and illustration: an aspect of darkness in their land. From above - the shining sun will set, as if the Holy One, blessed be He, departs from over them, and the supernal influx ceases, darkening their fortune and success. And from below - "and I will darken the earth in a clear day," darkness from the perspective of the earth, cloud and gloom, which is the lower darkness. The parable in this is that the Holy One, blessed be He, will frustrate their counsel and defeat their might unnaturally: naturally speaking, you are mighty, but there will be cloud and gloom, and at noon, in the middle of a day of light, a sunset will suddenly arrive.
"And I will turn your feasts into mourning"
וְהָפַכְתִּי חַגֵּיכֶם לְאֵבֶל וְכָל־שִׁירֵיכֶם לְקִינָה וְהַעֲלֵיתִי עַל־כָּל־מָתְנַיִם שָׂק וְעַל־כָּל־רֹאשׁ קָרְחָה וְשַׂמְתִּיהָ כְּאֵבֶל יָחִיד וְאַחֲרִיתָהּ כְּיוֹם מָר׃ - "And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day."
According to Rashi, the verse continues with the matter of the death of Yoshiyahu. "And I will turn your feasts into mourning" - as recorded in Divrei HaYamim, that all Yehudah and Yerushalayim mourned for Yoshiyahu. "And all your songs into lamentation" - as it says there, "and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Yoshiyahu in their lamentations," for they lamented his death extensively.
The Malbim is precise regarding the order of these expressions: on a festival one does not mourn over the past, for even when there is cause to mourn, one does not mourn on Yom Tov over what has already occurred; a festival turns into mourning only because of a trouble occurring in the present or impending in the future. And this is why it says that the festival will turn into mourning, meaning there will be continuous mourning. "And all your songs into lamentation" - and lamentation specifically addresses the past. "And I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins" - sackcloth was worn for prayer and fasting over a trouble occurring in the present or anticipated in the future. "And baldness upon every head" - baldness is made over the past, over a person who has already died, where one would shear and pluck the hair of his head as a sign of mourning. Thus, the prophet addressed everything: they will lament and make baldness over the past, and they will mourn and don sackcloth over the present and the future.
"And I will make it as the mourning of an only son" - like a person mourning his only child, having no other son through whom to find comfort. "And the end thereof as a bitter day" - a person whose child dies is still comforted by the fact that he himself remains alive, but here He tells them that its end will be like the day of death itself, in which all hope is lost.
"And I will send a famine in the land" - The Famine for the Word of Hashem
הִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה וְהִשְׁלַחְתִּי רָעָב בָּאָרֶץ לֹא־רָעָב לַלֶּחֶם וְלֹא־צָמָא לַמַּיִם כִּי אִם־לִשְׁמֹעַ אֵת דִּבְרֵי יְהֹוָה׃ - "Behold, the days come, says the Lord Hashem, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Hashem."
First, take note of the wording: "Vehishlachti" with a chet, from the root of sending, and not "vehishlachti" with a chaf (casting), as many mistakenly read. Second, many cite this verse as something positive and inspiring - "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Hashem" - yet the commentators explain that, on the contrary, this is stated as a harsh consequence. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: You despised prophecy. After all, we saw what Amatzyah said to Amos: "Do not prophesy" - do not utter prophecies here. If so, days will yet come when you will long for the prophecy of Hashem and will not find it; you will seek prophecy, you will seek a message from Hashem - and none will be found.
The Malbim contrasts this with what will be said in verse 13, "In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst," which refers to literal thirst for water during the days of exile. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: Days are yet to come when the famine I will send will not be a famine for bread, nor will the thirst be a thirst for water as in the time of exile, but a famine and thirst of a different kind - to hear the word of Hashem. And when would this take place? During the Second Temple era. For during the Second Temple period, vision ceased, and the word of Hashem was rare in those days; after the last prophets, Chaggai, Zecharyah, and Malachi, all prophetic vision was sealed. Even so, Ruach HaKodesh still lingered among them and they made use of a bat kol (heavenly voice), and they still sought the word of Hashem and thirsted to hear His words.
וְנָעוּ מִיָּם עַד־יָם וּמִצָּפוֹן וְעַד־מִזְרָח יְשׁוֹטְטוּ לְבַקֵּשׁ אֶת־דְּבַר־יְהֹוָה וְלֹא יִמְצָאוּ׃ - "And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Hashem, and shall not find it."
Ibn Ezra explains "from sea to sea" - from the southern sea, which is the Red Sea (Yam Suf), to the Great Sea in the west of Eretz Yisrael, which is the Mediterranean Sea. And the Radak notes that it enumerates here the four directions bordering Eretz Yisrael, to inform you that they found no prophecy anywhere in the Land of Israel. Outside the Land there is certainly nothing to speak of, for prophecy did not occur in the lands of the nations, except for one who had begun prophesying in Eretz Yisrael and continued outside, or for a prophecy needed for the sake of the Land. And he says that even within the Land there will no longer be prophecy. They will wander and disperse to the four directions, and in all places they will roam seeking the word of Hashem and will not find it - for after the destruction, the Malbim explains, even the bat kol and Ruach HaKodesh came to an end.
Why the Hunger for the Word of Hashem Is a Negative Hunger
Chazal enumerate ten famines that came upon the world, and the tenth famine listed by the Midrash is this very one - "And I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Hashem." Rav Kahaneman asks: Surely this is unlike the other famines listed there - the famine in the days of Avraham, in the days of Pharaoh, and all the famines throughout history, which were all terrible famines, whereas here it seemingly speaks of a positive hunger: how wonderful, people hungry and thirsty for the word of Hashem!
Rav Kahaneman explains that there is also a negative aspect to this hunger. For we all know: when a person is sated and well-fed and food is brought before him, he says - no, I prefer something else; do you have roast? He looks for a particular style. But when a person is truly starving, he says: bring whatever there is. Potato peels? Bring them, and he devours everything. It is told of an Auschwitz survivor who led a tour of students there, and said to them: Today you see Auschwitz as a blooming garden, all lawns; when we were there, there was not a single blade of grass, because if even one blade sprouted, it was eaten immediately. That illustrates the kind of hunger that was there - grass unfit for human consumption, "like beasts they eat grass."
Thus, this hunger is negative in a certain sense. Had a person not reached such a state of desperate hunger, he would know to seek the word of Hashem from upright, worthy Torah scholars. But because there will be a terrible hunger for spirituality, people will consume and take whatever comes to hand: every "baba," every pseudo-kabbalist, every charlatan. Today there are "Zohar girls," young women studying the Zohar - with whom? There is someone known as "the rabbi-doctor," and all kinds of figures like that, people who do not have the slightest scent of Torah. But because there is hunger, they snatch up everything, ingest everything, and a person cannot distinguish between an authentic kabbalist and one who merely accepts payoffs. Hence, this hunger contains a severe downside as well.
The Torah Is Destined to Be Forgotten - The Gemara in Shabbat
The Gemara states in Shabbat 138b: Our Rabbis taught: When our Masters entered the vineyard in Yavneh, they said: The Torah is destined to be forgotten from Israel, as it says, "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord Hashem, and I will send a famine in the land... and they shall wander from sea to sea... to seek the word of Hashem and they shall not find it." "The word of Hashem" - this is halachah; "the word of Hashem" - this is the end of days (the ketz); "the word of Hashem" - this is prophecy. And what will they seek and wander about for? They said: A woman is destined to take a loaf of terumah and go around to the synagogues and houses of study to clarify whether it is tamei or pure, and no one understands. To such an extent, there will be no clear halachah. The Gemara raises a difficulty, noting that these matters are explicitly stated in the Torah, and establishes that it refers to a subtle doubt in the nuances of the law.
It was taught in a Baraita: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says: Heaven forbid that the Torah will be forgotten from Israel, for we have an explicit promise - "for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of its seed." Rather, how do I fulfill the verse "they shall wander to seek the word of Hashem and not find it"? That they will not find a clear halachah and a clear Mishnah in one place. And Rashi explains: halachah clear in its underlying reasons, free of dispute.
And this is what we see today: on any matter where you ask what the halachah is, they will tell you that it is a dispute among the Rishonim, this one's approach is such and that one's is such, according to this it is biblical (de'oraita) and according to that it is rabbinic (derabbanan), and according to how one understood the Rambam, it turns out that even the Rambam holds it is de'oraita. There is almost no halachah about which one can say: that is it, this is universally agreed, here everyone concurs, here there is no dispute. Certainly there are specific details like that, such as tefillin having to be black, which is a Halachah le-Moshe mi-Sinai. But in the laws of tefillin as a whole, is the halachah clear? Where are the parashiyot placed, the "Havayot" in the middle or at the end - Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam; how the tefillin are made, where the hairs emerge, and so forth. The Gra was asked why he did not put on Rabbeinu Tam tefillin, and he replied: If I wished to fulfill the obligation according to all poskim, I would need to put on sixty-four pairs of tefillin each day. This is not meant to discourage those who put on Rabbeinu Tam - on the contrary, according to the Zohar there is great reason to put on both Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam and an obligation to put on both, which is why Rav Ovadia Yosef always raised awareness and encouraged this; it is only to explain why Lithuanians do not put on Rabbeinu Tam tefillin. In any event, observe: even in a straightforward, universally accepted practice observed for generations, such as laying tefillin, disputes arose. This is the meaning of "they will not find a clear halachah and a clear Mishnah in one place."
Incidentally, it is fascinating that works were authored bearing both of these expressions: "Mishnah Berurah" is the work of the Chafetz Chaim, written for Ashkenazi Jewry; and Rav David Yosef authored "Halachah Berurah," a counterpart to the Mishnah Berurah according to Sephardic customs and following the rulings of his father, Rav Ovadia Yosef. Thus, so that people would find a clear halachah and a clear Mishnah in one place, comprehensive works have been authored even in our own era.
"On That Day the Fair Virgins Shall Faint"
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא תִּתְעַלַּפְנָה הַבְּתוּלֹת הַיָּפוֹת וְהַבַּחוּרִים בַּצָּמָא׃ - On that day the fair virgins and the young men shall faint from thirst.
Ibn Ezra explains: "On that day" - when they will not find the word of Hashem. And fainting (hit'alefut) means, as Radak explains, weariness and exhaustion of the soul, where a person can no longer maintain his strength and his soul nearly departs - what we refer to today as fainting, and just as it says, "and the sun beat down upon the head of Yonah, and he fainted."
Why specifically the fair maidens? Would the unattractive ones not weep? Ibn Ezra explains: even the fair maidens. For sorrow diminishes a person's beauty - when a person suffers, their countenance falls, "Why are your faces downcast?", and they look unwell. One who is not attractive to begin with is certainly marred by distress; but regarding someone who is beautiful, one might have thought that the ordeal would not alter their appearance as drastically. To this the verse states: the distress will be so severe that even the fair maidens will weep and their beauty will be disfigured by grief - so that even upon them the magnitude of the disaster will be clearly visible. Likewise the young men, who are always robust - the Holy One, blessed be He, has departed from them. Just as happened with Shaul, "and Hashem did not answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets"; Hashem departed from them, and once the word of Hashem is no longer to be found, they will naturally have no success.
Radak explains that fair maidens and young men are singled out because they are accustomed to pursuing worldly pleasures: the fair maidens occupy themselves with their beauty, and the young men with their pleasures and worldly delights. The verse states that even they will thirst to hear the word of Hashem and will not find it. That is to say, even those whose primary pursuit is worldly pleasure and who take little interest in the word of Hashem - even they will faint from thirst, that same thirst discussed above, to hear the word of Hashem. Thus, according to Radak, this refers to a spiritual thirst: they seek prophecy, they seek to hear the word of Hashem.
The Malbim, however, takes a different approach. "On that day" - everything stated above concerning the hunger for the word of Hashem will occur in the coming days of the future; but "that day" spoken of earlier - "and the songs of the temple shall wail on that day," "and it shall come to pass on that day... that I will cause the sun to set at noon" - is the day designated for the exile of the Ten Tribes sixty-five years later. On that day, it is not the elders and seekers of Hashem who will thirst, nor will it be a thirst for the word of Hashem; rather, the fair maidens and young men will faint from actual thirst for water. In other words, there is a distinction here: until now, the text spoke of spiritual thirst, which pertains to the elders, the people who truly understand what prophecy is, and they will faint and seek prophecy and Ruach HaKodesh. But on that day of exile, when through tribulations the songs and praises of idolatry are turned into wailing, the young men and maidens - who have no interest in the word of Hashem - will suffer literal hunger and thirst. They are not thirsty for the word of Hashem at all, but rather are "those who swear by the guilt of Samaria."
הַנִּשְׁבָּעִים בְּאַשְׁמַת שֹׁמְרוֹן וְאָמְרוּ חֵי אֱלֹהֶיךָ דָּן וְחֵי דֶּרֶךְ בְּאֵר־שָׁבַע וְנָפְלוּ וְלֹא־יָקוּמוּ עוֹד׃ - Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, and say, "As your god lives, Dan," and, "As the way of Be'er Sheva lives" - they shall fall and never rise again.
In summary:
The chapter leads us from interpersonal corruption - merchants whose aim is to buy the poor with silver and the destitute for sandals, and to sell them even the refuse of the grain - to Hashem's oath that He will never forget their deeds. And from there to retribution depicted in three images: the quaking of the earth (internal rebellion), the surging of the river (the king of Assyria sweeping through with mud and mire and exiling its inhabitants), and upper and lower darkness (the sun setting at noon, like the day of Yoshiyahu who died by a peaceful sword). The festival turns to mourning and song into lamentation, a mourning for past, present, and future all at once, like mourning for an only son whose end is a bitter day. And finally, the harshest famine of all - not for bread, nor for water, but to hear the word of Hashem: vision ceased, the heavenly voice ceased, and no clear halachah or clear Mishnah could be found in one place. And as Rav Kahaneman taught, in this spiritual hunger there is also a pitfall, for the starving do not discriminate - and whoever is starving grabs whatever comes to hand. The lesson: to take care not to despise the word of Hashem while it is accessible, and to seek it from genuine masters of Torah, so that we never arrive at the days when people will wander seeking the word of Hashem and not find it.