Chapter 10 is the concluding chapter of Sefer Ezra, and it is the chapter in which everything Ezra wept over at the end of the previous chapter is put into action: repairing the breach of the foreign wives. The chapter teaches us how a leader rebukes the public, what power the community possesses to make a fence, and how difficult and courageous it is to perform the will of Hashem when it cuts into the living flesh of family life. We will follow it according to the order of the pesukim.
וּכְהִתְפַּלֵּל עֶזְרָא וּכְהִתְוַדֹּתוֹ בֹּכֶה וּמִתְנַפֵּל לִפְנֵי בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים, נִקְבְּצוּ אֵלָיו מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל קָהָל רַב מְאֹד, אֲנָשִׁים וְנָשִׁים וִילָדִים, כִּי בָכוּ הָעָם הַרְבֵּה בֶכֶה׃ - "Now when Ezra prayed, and when he confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the House of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men, women, and children; for the people wept very bitterly."
"Harbeh vekheh" - much weeping. When examining who gathered, one realizes how deeply this affected everyone: the men - those who had married foreign wives; the women - the foreign women who were married to them, or their Jewish wives whose husbands had taken a second, foreign wife alongside them; and the children - those children who were now to be separated, since they were children of a foreign mother and therefore considered non-Jews. All the families were weeping.
וַיַּעַן שְׁכַנְיָה בֶן יְחִיאֵל מִבְּנֵי עֵילָם וַיֹּאמֶר לְעֶזְרָא: אֲנַחְנוּ מָעַלְנוּ בֵאלֹהֵינוּ וַנֹּשֶׁב נָשִׁים נָכְרִיּוֹת מֵעַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ, וְעַתָּה יֵשׁ מִקְוֶה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל עַל זֹאת׃ - "And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra: 'We have trespassed against our God, and have taken foreign wives of the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing.'"
Shechaniah ben Jehiel comes and says: We acted improperly, we have trespassed. The Malbim asks: Later in the chapter, we see that the sinners were few, not the majority of the nation - why then does he say, "We have trespassed"? Rather, this was a communal sin for two reasons: first, the leaders of the people took part in it; and second, it was done in public.
Here lies a crucial principle: anything done publicly carries a gravity of betrayal far beyond the proportion of the sin itself, for when something is done in secret, there is no desecration of Hashem's Name (chilul Hashem). Therefore, the Gemara says that one who sees his evil inclination overpowering him, in a situation where he cannot overcome it, should at least minimize the damage: let him go to a place where he is not known, and let him dress in black there. Wearing black itself will stir him, reminding him of mourning and reminding him of the day of death. There is, Heaven forbid, no permission granted here to commit a transgression; all that is said is that if one is about to commit such a sin, at least let no desecration of Hashem's Name result from it.
There is another reason for this: as long as a person preserves his good reputation in his hometown, he can maintain his spiritual standing and return to it. But when a person knows that his good name has been destroyed, he says, "That's it, it's over, I have nothing to lose" - he might as well take off his yarmulke. Conversely, when a person knows that in his community people still hold him to be an upright, honest, God-fearing person, he will regret what he did, mend his ways, and return to his former standing.
From this derives a major guideline in raising children, often discussed: do not try to expose to the child everything we know about him. Often, this causes him to feel, "They already know everything about me, I have nothing to lose." As the Gemara notes regarding an elder for whom an action is beneath his dignity, "at times you may turn a blind eye." Parents must act with wisdom, knowing what to overlook and what to address. Sometimes, quite the opposite, overlooking the matter is what will build him up, whereas speaking about it and exposing his shame will cause him to say: everyone already knows my true state anyway, so I will stop putting on an act and behave however I please.
This, then, is the meaning of "We have trespassed": by virtue of communal responsibility (aravus), since the matter was done openly in public and everyone knew of it, the sin reflects upon the entire nation, as if it stemmed from everyone. One cannot say, "That is his personal problem." "The hidden things belong to Hashem our God" - what is hidden is his personal matter, and the Creator of the world will judge him; but when something is public and manifest, there is collective responsibility. Therefore he says, "We have trespassed" - a communal breach of faith, and not only of those individuals who will be mentioned later.
"Yet now there is hope (mikveh) for Israel concerning this thing" - "mikveh" in the sense of hope (tikvah): is there hope that if we resolve to protest this matter, the sin will be removed and the transgression atoned for? Until now we lacked the power to protest, for we were not under our own authority but under the king's authority. But here power was granted to us - the governor was Zerubbabel appointed by the king, and we have our own judges, our own officers, and our own power to punish. If so, since we can change the situation, perhaps there is hope that we can now protest, and through this, the situation of Israel will change for the better. Others explain "mikveh" literally: is there a ritual immersion pool (mikveh) that can purify such a transgression?
Our Sages learned from here that someone who comes to rebuke others should not place the blame entirely on them. A speaker should not stand up and say, "You are this and that," for then people will not accept it from him. Rather, he should say, "We have an issue with such-and-such" - always including himself among them, even if he does not have this problem himself. When you say "we," the listener is receptive, since you have included yourself in the collective. But when you come and say, "You have a very serious problem," he views you as a moralizer looking down from above, a great righteous man who seeks out our flaws and defects - and that is something a person is unwilling to accept. This was the wisdom of Shechaniah ben Yechiel of the descendants of Eilam: "We have acted treacherously against our God" - he attributed the sin to himself as well, even though he was not guilty of it, placing us all together within the problem.
וְעַתָּה נִכְרָת בְּרִית לֵאלֹהֵינוּ לְהוֹצִיא כָל נָשִׁים וְהַנּוֹלָד מֵהֶם בַּעֲצַת אֲדֹנָי וְהַחֲרֵדִים בְּמִצְוַת אֱלֹהֵינוּ, וְכַתּוֹרָה יֵעָשֶׂה׃ - And now, let us make a covenant with our God to send away all the foreign wives and those born of them, according to the counsel of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the Torah.
Let us make a covenant with our God to send away all the women and the children born of them, for this is the counsel of Hashem and the will of the Holy One, Blessed be He. "And of those who tremble at the commandment of our God" - even back then there were charedim: anyone who trembles over the commandments of Hashem. "And let it be done according to the Torah" - it shall be done precisely as the Torah prescribes.
קוּם כִּי עָלֶיךָ הַדָּבָר וַאֲנַחְנוּ עִמָּךְ, חֲזַק וַעֲשֵׂה׃ - Arise, for the matter rests upon you, and we are with you; be strong and act.
Arise and act promptly in this matter, and we are with you. Indeed, extraordinary strength and courage were required here. This was no simple situation: to approach many people and say to them, "Gentlemen, starting tomorrow, you are getting divorced" - starting tomorrow, you must send this woman away from your home, and these children from your home, because they are not your halachic children but the children of the foreign woman, Gentile offspring - send them away. This was an exceedingly difficult thing. We already find in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu: "and the people wept according to their families" - over family matters, over the fact that illicit relations were forbidden to them. Such mass divorce required immense courage, which is why they came and told him: Arise, for the matter rests upon you, and we are with you. We are your backing, we will encourage you and lend you authority - be strong and carry out the will of Hashem, and we will support you.
וַיָּקָם עֶזְרָא וַיַּשְׁבַּע אֶת שָׂרֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם וְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל לַעֲשׂוֹת כַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה, וַיִּשָּׁבֵעוּ׃ - Then Ezra arose and administered an oath to the officers of the Kohanim, the Levi'im, and all Israel, to act according to this word; and they took the oath.
Ezra administered an oath to the officers of the Kohanim, the Levi'im, and all Israel "to act according to this word" - to send away those women; and "and they took the oath" means that they agreed, establishing the consensus of all of Israel to do as he requested. The Malbim explains why an oath was necessary: they knew that there would be many who would object and refuse to send away their wives, and they knew that Ezra lacked the authority to punish except in accordance with Torah law. Under Torah law, if someone cohabits with a Gentile woman, zealots may strike him, but the Torah does not prescribe stoning, death, kares, or any judicial punishment at all.
True, Chazal state that one who cohabits with a Gentile woman is liable on account of NaShaG-ZaH - Niddah, Shifchah (maidservant), Goyah (Gentile), and Zonah (harlot), transgressing four prohibitions simultaneously. And in the holy books it is written that one who cohabits with a Gentile woman has her tied to him like a dog. Furthermore, it is written there that the reason this matter is not explicitly penalized in the Torah is that it has almost no remedy: the Torah details sins for which there is a rectification, whereas here, as it were, the Torah has no answer for it, no simple remedy for you - and because there is no rectification, it is not recorded.
It turns out, then, that there is no explicit penalty in the Torah for this, and this is where the practical problem begins: you stand up and declare, "It is forbidden!" - but where are the teeth? A law without teeth is no law. You said it is forbidden, but what can you do to me? Lashes are not written, stoning is not written - what will you impose on me? Therefore, they understood that they needed to create a deterrent, and that this deterrent could only be established through an oath: if we all accept this upon ourselves with an oath, the community possesses the authority of a king, allowing them to inflict far harsher punishments than those prescribed by the letter of the law.
And where do we find such a precedent? In the incident of the Concubine of Gibeah (Pilegesh b'Givah). In those days there was no king in Israel, and that is why what happened occurred. When the community of Israel came to wage war against the sinners, the tribe of Binyamin - where did their authority come from? On the basis of a single concubine being violated by scoundrels, do they go to war against an entire tribe? A king possesses such authority: a king may establish safeguards and punish beyond what the Torah strictly mandates - "he shall restore the lamb fourfold," "the man deserves to die"; where is this written in the Torah? Rather, "I am king," and as king, I establish deterrent punishments. But for a community without a king - from where do they derive this power? There too, in the incident of the concubine of Gibeah, everyone stood together, joined hands, and took an oath; and once the collective takes an oath, it carries the authority of a king, making it permissible to enact measures that are not strictly mandated by the written Torah law. The community has the power of a king to impose severe and harsh punishments for sins and breaches among the people. Therefore, "Ezra arose and made the chiefs of the Kohanim, the Levi'im, and all Israel swear to do according to this word" - that everyone accepted upon themselves to act in accordance with whatever the collective would decide.
וַיָּקָם עֶזְרָא מִלִּפְנֵי בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶל לִשְׁכַּת יְהוֹחָנָן בֶּן אֶלְיָשִׁיב, וַיֵּלֶךְ שָׁם לֶחֶם לֹא אָכַל וּמַיִם לֹא שָׁתָה כִּי מִתְאַבֵּל עַל מַעַל הַגּוֹלָה׃ - Ezra arose from before the House of God and went to the chamber of Yehochanan son of Elyashiv; and when he went there, he ate no bread and drank no water, for he was mourning over the treachery of the exile.
After seeing him falling to his knees, weeping, mourning, and afflicting himself, Ezra arose from before the House of God and went to the chamber of Yehochanan son of Elyashiv. And what is the meaning of "and he went there" when "and he went" had already been stated? Rather, even though he arrived there, he still ate no bread. That is to say, even though the public fast was over, he personally did not end his fast, "for he was mourning over the treachery of the exile" - over the betrayal committed by the returned exiles.
וַיַּעֲבִירוּ קוֹל בִּיהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלַיִם לְכֹל בְּנֵי הַגּוֹלָה לְהִקָּבֵץ יְרוּשָׁלָיִם׃ וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָבוֹא לִשְׁלֹשֶׁת הַיָּמִים כַּעֲצַת הַשָּׂרִים וְהַזְּקֵנִים, יָחֳרַם כָּל רְכוּשׁוֹ וְהוּא יִבָּדֵל מִקְּהַל הַגּוֹלָה׃ - And they issued a proclamation throughout Yehudah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles to gather in Jerusalem; and whoever does not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his property shall be confiscated and he himself shall be separated from the congregation of the exile.
They issued a proclamation to all the returned exiles who had come up from the diaspora to the Land of Israel: everyone must gather in Jerusalem, for there is an urgent message. And whoever does not come - and here we see the manifestation of the power of communal consensus, which carries royal authority, "according to the counsel of the princes and the elders" - all his property will be confiscated: his house, his field, everything he owns, and he himself will be separated from the community of the exile.
וַיִּקָּבְצוּ כָל אַנְשֵׁי יְהוּדָה וּבִנְיָמִן יְרוּשָׁלַיִם לִשְׁלֹשֶׁת הַיָּמִים, הוּא חֹדֶשׁ הַתְּשִׁיעִי בְּעֶשְׂרִים בַּחֹדֶשׁ, וַיֵּשְׁבוּ כָל הָעָם בִּרְחוֹב בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים מַרְעִידִים עַל הַדָּבָר וּמֵהַגְּשָׁמִים׃ - And all the men of Yehudah and Binyamin gathered in Jerusalem within the three days, on the twentieth day of the ninth month; and all the people sat in the open square before the House of God, trembling on account of the matter and from the rains.
All the men of Yehudah and Binyamin assembled within three days as they had been summoned, in the ninth month - which is the month of Kislev - on the twentieth of the month. Since they had no halls large enough to accommodate such a crowd, all the people sat in the open square in front of the House of God. "Trembling on account of the matter and from the rains" - two things: shuddering over the gravity of the situation, and trembling from the downpour.
וַיָּקָם עֶזְרָא הַכֹּהֵן וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם: אַתֶּם מְעַלְתֶּם וַתֹּשִׁיבוּ נָשִׁים נָכְרִיּוֹת לְהוֹסִיף עַל אַשְׁמַת יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ וְעַתָּה תְּנוּ תוֹדָה לַה' אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם וַעֲשׂוּ רְצוֹנוֹ, וְהִבָּדְלוּ מֵעַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ וּמִן הַנָּשִׁים הַנָּכְרִיּוֹת׃ - And Ezra the Kohen arose and said to them: You have acted treacherously and taken foreign wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. And now, make confession to the Lord, God of your fathers, and do His will, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.
"You have acted treacherously" in the plural, for all Israel are responsible for one another (arevut), and by virtue of mutual responsibility, the guilt rests upon everyone; therefore, he wanted a collective agreement from everyone to acknowledge the iniquity. "Make confession [tenu todah]" - this does not mean giving thanks for receiving a gift, but rather an admission, an acknowledgment: confess your sins. This is the stage of confession (vidui). "And do His will" - regret the past and make a resolution for the future. "And separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives" - this is the forsaking of the sin (azivat hachet). Here we see the proper order of repentance: first confession, and then forsaking the sin.
וַיַּעֲנוּ כָל הַקָּהָל וַיֹּאמְרוּ קוֹל גָּדוֹל: כֵּן כִּדְבָרְךָ עָלֵינוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת׃ אֲבָל הָעָם רָב וְהָעֵת גְּשָׁמִים וְאֵין כֹּחַ לַעֲמוֹד בַּחוּץ, וְהַמְּלָאכָה לֹא לְיוֹם אֶחָד וְלֹא לִשְׁנַיִם כִּי הִרְבִּינוּ לִפְשֹׁעַ בַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה׃ - And the entire congregation answered and said with a loud voice: "Yes, as you have spoken, so must we do. But the people are numerous, and it is the rainy season, and we lack the strength to stand outside, nor is this a task for one day or two, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter."
The matter is just and right, and we must carry out what you have said. However, the people are numerous and the timing is unsuitable, for it is now the rainy season. If we remain sitting here and begin reviewing each case individually, one by one, it will be exceedingly difficult; it is impossible to have everyone sit in the rain, and no one has the strength to stand outside. And if one were to say: "Let us delay for a day or two, it is not so terrible" - they answer him: No, this task is not for a day or two, but will take a long time, and detaining the entire nation here in the pouring rain for an extended period is impossible. "For we have transgressed greatly in this matter" - we acknowledge that there is grave wrongdoing here that must be rectified, but not at this very moment.
יַעַמְדוּ נָא שָׂרֵינוּ לְכָל הַקָּהָל, וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר בֶּעָרֵינוּ הַהֹשִׁיב נָשִׁים נָכְרִיּוֹת יָבֹא לְעִתִּים מְזֻמָּנִים, וְעִמָּהֶם זִקְנֵי עִיר וָעִיר וְשֹׁפְטֶיהָ, עַד לְהָשִׁיב חֲרוֹן אַף אֱלֹהֵינוּ מִמֶּנּוּ עַד לַדָּבָר הַזֶּה׃ - Let our leaders stand for the entire congregation, and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city and its judges, until the burning anger of our God is turned away from us concerning this matter.
And this is the proposal: Instead of you, Ezra, handling the entire matter personally - an extremely difficult undertaking - let the officers of the people stand in place of the entire congregation, remaining here in Jerusalem, and whatever they decide will be considered as having been done with the consent of the entire community. Any decision reached by the leaders of the people is acceptable to us. We will return to our homes, and afterward the leaders will set about rectifying all the breaches of the generation, including this one, and thereby remove Hashem's wrath from upon us so that no cause for wrath remains. And this is the meaning of "concerning this matter" (ad ladavar hazeh) - they will rectify all breaches, up to and including this breach; that is, everything will be set right. Stay here and deliberate, and they will see how to ensure the matter is resolved.
אַךְ יוֹנָתָן בֶּן עֲשָׂהאֵל וְיַחְזְיָה בֶן תִּקְוָה עָמְדוּ עַל זֹאת, וּמְשֻׁלָּם וְשַׁבְּתַי הַלֵּוִי עֲזָרֻם׃ - Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them.
We are speaking of Jews - could it ever be conceived that everyone would simply agree? There is no such thing. There must always be someone who insists on the contrarian view: "You say this, but one could just as well argue the opposite." Someone always arises who thinks he understands better than everyone else; there is always a Korach in every community. And regarding this it is said, "And the sons of Korach did not die" - they still exist, taking root in every single generation. Here they are recorded for eternal infamy: Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this, rising merely to cavil and oppose, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them - two additional accomplices. Yet from here we actually witness the greatness and virtue of the Jewish people: the entire community agreed with Ezra's words, and only these four stood up to object, because sending away the foreign wives did not sit well with them.
וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן בְּנֵי הַגּוֹלָה, וַיִּבָּדְלוּ עֶזְרָא הַכֹּהֵן אֲנָשִׁים רָאשֵׁי הָאָבוֹת לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם וְכֻלָּם בְּשֵׁמוֹת, וַיֵּשְׁבוּ בְּיוֹם אֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הָעֲשִׂירִי לְדַרְיוֹשׁ הַדָּבָר׃ - And the children of the exile did so; Ezra the Kohen and men who were heads of the paternal houses according to their ancestral homes, all of them designated by name, were set apart, and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
All the returnees from the exile acted accordingly: the people returned to their affairs and their fields, while Ezra the Kohen and the paternal heads remained in Jerusalem, separated from the rest of the populace. On the first day of the tenth month they convened "to examine the matter" (ledaryosh hadavar) - to investigate the situation, to determine what needed to be done and what practical measures to take.
וַיְכַלּוּ בַכֹּל אֲנָשִׁים הַהֹשִׁיבוּ נָשִׁים נָכְרִיּוֹת, עַד יוֹם אֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן׃ - And they concluded with all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.
They completed the rectification regarding all those men who had taken foreign wives, by the first day of the first month. The matter was concluded, and they succeeded in resolving the entire problem - that is, reaching a state where all those men sent away their wives.
וַיִּמָּצֵא מִבְּנֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים אֲשֶׁר הֹשִׁיבוּ נָשִׁים נָכְרִיּוֹת: מִבְּנֵי יֵשׁוּעַ בֶּן יוֹצָדָק וְאֶחָיו, מַעֲשֵׂיָה וֶאֱלִיעֶזֶר וְיָרִיב וּגְדַלְיָה׃ וַיִּתְּנוּ יָדָם לְהוֹצִיא נְשֵׁיהֶם, וַאֲשֵׁמִים אֵיל צֹאן עַל אַשְׁמָתָם׃ - And among the sons of the priests who had taken foreign wives were found of the sons of Yeshua son of Yotzadak and his brothers: Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Yariv, and Gedaliah. And they gave their hand to send away their wives, and being guilty, [they offered] a ram of the flock for their guilt.
"And they gave their hand" - an allusion to a solemn handshake of oath to which they committed themselves, and in accordance with that handshake they came and sent away their wives, meaning they divorced them. And what is meant by "a ram of the flock for their guilt"? After all, strictly speaking, there is no such obligation by the letter of the law, so one might say this was a temporary decree (hora'at sha'ah). However, the Malbim explains that among them were those who had taken their maidservants, and one who has relations with a designated maidservant (shifchah charufah) is obligated to bring a guilt-offering ram - and this is the guilt-offering ram they brought here.
And why is it especially important to mention the Kohanim? Because when a Kohen has relations with a foreign woman, all his children become chalalim (disqualified from the priesthood). Here is something noteworthy: the man himself does not become disqualified, only his children. How is it possible for a person's father to be a Kohen while he himself is not a Kohen? Because his father had relations with a disqualified woman: he took a divorcee, a chalalah (a woman disqualified from the priesthood), a convert, or the like - and the children have the status of chalalim. The father is never personally disqualified; the ones who are always harmed are the children.
וּמִבְּנֵי אִמֵּר: חֲנָנִי וּזְבַדְיָה׃ וּמִבְּנֵי חָרִם: מַעֲשֵׂיָה וְאֵלִיָּה וּשְׁמַעְיָה וִיחִיאֵל וְעֻזִּיָּה׃ וּמִבְּנֵי פַּשְׁחוּר: אֶלְיוֹעֵינַי, מַעֲשֵׂיָה, יִשְׁמָעֵאל, נְתַנְאֵל, יוֹזָבָד וְאֶלְעָשָׂה׃ וּמִן הַלְוִיִּם: יוֹזָבָד וְשִׁמְעִי וְקֵלָיָה הוּא קְלִיטָא, פְּתַחְיָה, יְהוּדָה וֶאֱלִיעֶזֶר׃ וּמִן הַמְשֹׁרְרִים: אֶלְיָשִׁיב. וּמִן הַשֹּׁעֲרִים: שַׁלֻּם וָטֶלֶם וְאוּרִי׃ - And of the sons of Immer: Chanani and Zevadiah. And of the sons of Charim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Yechiel, and Uzziyah. And of the sons of Pashchur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Netanel, Yozavad, and Elasah. And of the Levites: Yozavad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah - he is Kelita - Petachiah, Judah, and Eliezer. And of the singers: Elyashiv. And of the gatekeepers: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.
After concluding the enumeration of the Kohanim - the descendants of Immer, Charim, and Pashchur - Scripture moves on to list the Levites, including the Levite singers and the gatekeepers. From there onward, Scripture enumerates those of the rest of Israel: of the sons of Parosh, Elam, Zattu, Babai, Bani, Pachat-Moav, Charim, Chashum, and Nevo - dozens of names in detail. And in conclusion:
כָּל אֵלֶּה נָשְׂאוּ נָשִׁים נָכְרִיּוֹת, וְיֵשׁ מֵהֶם נָשִׁים וַיָּשִׂימוּ בָּנִים׃ - All these had taken foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
That is, some of them had also fathered children from those women; not all of them had children with them.
Chapter 10 is the chapter of rectification: from the weeping of Ezra and the weeping of the congregation; through the words of Shechaniah son of Yechiel, who taught us how to rebuke - using the phrasing "we have transgressed," speaking collectively out of mutual responsibility (areivut), and with the recognition that a public sin is incomparably greater than a private sin; through the oath that endowed the community with royal authority to punish and erect protective fences where the Torah prescribed no explicit penalty, just as occurred with the Concubine of Giv'ah; through the assembly of the people in the open square of the House of God on the twentieth of Kislev, their confession, and their renunciation of sin, along with the practical arrangement instituted by the leaders and elders; through to the completion of the task on the first day of the first month, when the entire people - except for four who arose to provoke opposition - supported the undertaking. And here Sefer Ezra concludes, praise be to God; and with God's help, in the next lesson we will begin Sefer Nechemiah.