Introduction: The Conclusion of Sefer Malachi - The Seal of Prophecy
We stand at the final section of Malachi chapter 3, which is also the conclusion of all the words of the Prophets. Here the prophet depicts the Great Day of Judgment: the distinction that will become clear between the righteous and the wicked, the fire of the coming day that will burn the arrogant, the sun of righteousness that will shine for those who fear Hashem, and the final command transmitted to Israel for all generations - "Remember the Torah of Moshe My servant" - alongside the promise of the sending of Eliyahu the Prophet. We will proceed through the verses following the Malbim, incorporating the teachings of Chazal and the commentators.
"Between One Who Serves God and One Who Does Not Serve Him" - Two Levels in the Service of Hashem
וְשַׁבְתֶּם וּרְאִיתֶם בֵּין צַדִּיק לְרָשָׁע בֵּין עֹבֵד אֱלֹהִים לַאֲשֶׁר לֹא עֲבָדוֹ׃ - And you will return and see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
"And you will return" - you will return to this world at the resurrection of the dead, and then you will see the difference with your own eyes. Yet the distinction here is twofold: one aspect is the difference between the righteous and the wicked, and the second aspect is the difference among the righteous themselves. There is a righteous person who is considered "one who serves God", and there is a righteous person who is considered "one who does not serve Him".
Who is "one who serves God"? One who serves out of love. Ask him: What is your goal? What do you desire? He will answer: Nothing, I simply want to serve Hashem. That is his sole aspiration. And who is "one who does not serve Him"? One who serves out of hope for reward or fear of punishment. Such a person does not serve Hashem properly; rather, he serves his own expectations: that he may receive reward, that he may gain, that he will not be punished. He amasses profits for himself, meaning that he is essentially serving himself. This holds true whether the reward he anticipates is in this world or in the World to Come.
The Malbim explains: One who waits for a reward and anticipates it is like a hired laborer who awaits his wages, as we saw earlier. But a servant does not expect wages at all, for a servant receives no salary; rather, he serves his master constantly without any compensation. This is the definition of "one who serves God": one who stands as a true servant to Hashem, may He be blessed.
One Hundred Times and One Hundred and One - The Words of the Gemara in Chagigah
The Gemara in Masechet Chagigah raises a difficulty regarding the verse: "Is not righteous the same as one who serves?" - after all, "righteous and wicked" and "one who serves God and one who does not serve Him" are the same thing, so why did Scripture repeat it twice? The Gemara resolves: "One who serves and one who does not serve" - both are completely righteous, yet one who reviews his study one hundred times cannot be compared to one who reviews his study one hundred and one times.
This is well known, and cited in the margins of the Gemara, in the holy Shelah, and in the Maharsha: the initial letters of "oved Elohim la'asher" (עֹבֵד אֱלֹהִים לַאֲשֶׁר) - Ayin, Aleph, Lamed - equal one hundred and one. And the initial letters of "lo avado" (לֹא עֲבָדוֹ) - Lamed, Ayin - equal one hundred. Here is an explicit allusion within the verse itself: "one who serves God" is one who reviewed one hundred and one times, while "one who does not serve Him" is one who reviewed only one hundred times.
Allusions to One Hundred and One
Additional allusions to this matter: "And wisdom, from where (me'ayin) will it be found?" - "Me'ayin" (מֵאַיִן): Mem and Nun in gematria equal ninety, with Yud they equal one hundred, and with Aleph one hundred and one. You wish to attain wisdom? One hundred is not enough. Do not review your study only one hundred times; review it one hundred and one times, and then you will attain wisdom.
An interesting point: this also connects to "Remember the Torah of Moshe My servant." A person who wants to remember must remember the Torah of Moshe. Consider the inner letters of the name "Moshe" (משה): Mem is spelled מ-ם, leaving an inner Mem; Hei is spelled ה-א, leaving an inner Aleph; Shin is spelled ש-י-ן, leaving an inner Yud and Nun. Together, they spell "me'ayin" (מאין - from nothingness). And "Wisdom shall be found from me'ayin" - one hundred and one times (me'ayin having the numerical value of 101) - and through this one attains remembrance. So writes the holy Shelah.
Another allusion: "Michael," the guardian prince of Israel, has the numerical value of one hundred and one, which is also the numerical value of "Malachi" - and it is noteworthy that this very verse is written in the Book of Malachi. That is, one who reviews one hundred and one times merits the remembrance brought by Michael, the prince of Israel. In contrast, the angel appointed over forgetfulness - whose name is written as Peh-Vav-Tet-Hei (in other places, Peh-Vav-Reish-Hei), and we are generally cautioned not to utter the names of unfamiliar angels, as the Ari, of blessed memory, warned - has the numerical value of one hundred. Thus, one hundred represents the power of the angel of forgetfulness, whereas one hundred and one belongs to the prince of remembrance, Michael.
Yet another allusion: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth" (yishakeini mi-neshikot pihu). One of the keys to retention is for a person to articulate his learning aloud, as it says, "For they are life to those who find them" (le-motzeihem), which the Sages expounded: Do not read it as le-motzeihem ("to those who find them"), but as le-motzi'eihem ("to those who bring them forth") - with the mouth. The Gemara relates that the maidservant of Rebbe struck with a sandal a student who reviewed his studies quietly; indeed, one must study aloud. "Kisses of his mouth" (pihu) - the word "pihu" (פיהו) has the numerical value of one hundred and one: one must express it with the mouth, and review one hundred and one times.
The Kli Yakar offers a wonderful allusion (elaborated upon in the lessons on the Kli Yakar): The Hebrew root for forgetting, "shachach" (שכח), has a gematria of 328 (Shin = 300, Kaf = 20, Chet = 8). The root for remembering, "zachar" (זכר), has a gematria of 227 (Reish = 200, Kaf = 20, Zayin = 7). The difference between them is exactly one hundred and one. This signifies that each repetition brings remembrance closer and weakens forgetfulness, until, through one hundred and one reviews, the balance shifts completely from forgetfulness to memory.
Likewise, "Only guard yourself and guard your soul diligently, lest you forget the things" - the words "guard and guard your soul diligently" (השמר ושמור נפשך מאד) have a numerical value of one hundred and one, to teach that to protect oneself from forgetfulness, one must review one hundred and one times. Similarly, "For it is not an empty thing for you (mikem)" - which the Sages expounded: if it is empty, it is "from you" (mikem). The letters of "mikem" (מ-כ-ם) - Mem (40), Kaf (20), Mem (40) - equal one hundred. That is to say, if the learning remains empty and you do not remember, the reason is that you reviewed only "mikem," one hundred times; had you reviewed one hundred and one times, you would have merited to remember.
Why Specifically One Hundred and One? Because the Torah Was Given Through Moshe
It is taught that from the mouth of the Almighty, we heard only two commandments: "I am Hashem your God" and "You shall have no other gods." Had we merited to receive the entire Torah directly from Hashem, there would have been no forgetfulness of the Torah at all. Why, then, did we reach a state where we learn and forget? Because we received the rest of the Torah through Moshe, when the Jewish people said, "Speak you with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die."
Where is this alluded to? "Torah tzivah lanu Moshe" (Moshe commanded us the Torah). The gematria of "Torah" (תורה) is 611 (Tav and Reish are 600, Vav and Hei are 11), while there are 613 mitzvot. Two are missing, corresponding to "I am" and "You shall have no other gods," which we received directly from Hashem. Since it was Moshe Rabbeinu who commanded us the Torah, forgetfulness was decreed upon us, necessitating reviewing one hundred and one times. This, too, is hinted at in that very verse: "tzivah" is written without a Yud (צ-ו-ה), which has the numerical value of one hundred and one (Tzadi = 90, Vav = 6, Hei = 5). Moshe thus commands us to study one hundred and one times, just as we saw that the inner letters of "Moshe" form "me'ayin" (101). Had we received it directly from Hashem, one hundred would have sufficed.
Why Is This Single Additional Review So Significant?
A major question arises here: someone who reviewed his chapter one hundred times - if only we would review four times, or ten! In our eyes, one hundred times is an extraordinary and monumental achievement, yet we are told that this is still considered "one who did not serve Him." What makes that single step from one hundred to one hundred and one so transformative?
The sefer Agra DeKallah explains in the name of the author of the Tanya: In the times of Chazal, it was standard practice to review one's learning one hundred times. That was the established routine, and it had become second nature. Thus, one who does so does not thereby prove that he is "one who serves Him" - he merely fulfilled the norm, doing what nature and habit dictated. But one who goes beyond, overcoming his inclination, breaking his natural habit, and reviewing just one more time - he has proven that he is willing to break his nature for the honor of the Creator, and he is rightfully called "one who serves Him." That single additional review is what confers the true distinction.
This calls to mind a playful interpretation once shared regarding the phrase, "There are those who acquire their world in a single hour" (literally, be-sha'ah achat, which can also mean "at one o'clock"): In kollel, the scholars finish their morning seder at one o'clock. If an avrech stays an extra twenty minutes to learn after everyone has left, who pays him for that? No one; it is completely voluntary. For the scheduled hours, there is a stipend, but for the extra time beyond - that is where one "acquires his world." Thus we see that the primary reward lies precisely in what a person does beyond the expected measure.
"One Hundred and One" - An Insight from the Baal Shem Tov
In the name of the Baal Shem Tov, a wonderful nuance is noted. The language of Chazal is: "One who reviews his lesson one hundred times cannot be compared to one who reviews his lesson one hundred and one [me'ah ve-echad]." Grammatically, this seems imprecise (and it is interesting that an Ashkenazi sage raises a grammatical question): it should have said "me'ah ve-achat" in the feminine, since one says "pa'am achat" in the feminine and not "pa'am echad." Why, then, did the Sages use the masculine form?
Rather, the Baal Shem Tov explains: when a person studies and his learning is for the sake of Heaven, and he clings to the Holy One, blessed be He, during his study - he is called "one who serves God." And one who does not is called "one who serves Him not." Therefore, there is one who reviews his lesson one hundred times, having done nothing more than memorize his study, and he is still not considered "one who serves God." And then there is one who reviews his lesson "one hundred, and One" - not one hundred and one times, but rather he reviewed one hundred times while remembering the "One" throughout the entire endeavor. Who is the "One"? "Hashem is One," "One is our God." If the Holy One, blessed be He, is present here - this is what is called one who serves God. But one who reviewed even one hundred times without the "One," without intention for the sake of Heaven - is "one who serves Him not." This is why it specifically says "echad" in the masculine, as in "One is our God."
The Reckoning Demanded of One Who Reached One Hundred - Rav Itzele Blazer
Rav Itzele Blazer, Rav Itzele of Petersburg, the disciple of Rav Yisrael Salanter, says: this must surely be referring to a person who was capable of reviewing one hundred and one times and failed to do so, for otherwise, what would be the claim against him? And he explains the logic behind this by drawing a comparison to the nazirite.
At the conclusion of his term of nezirut, the nazirite brings a sin-offering (chatat). On the surface, this is incomprehensible: why? Simply because you ceased separating yourself from wine and ritual impurity from the dead? After all, an ordinary person who never took a nazirite vow brings no sacrifice! The answer is: any other person never attained your spiritual height; he remained below. But you, who breathed the mountain air and lived as a nazirite - why did you descend? A reckoning is demanded of you. When someone reached great heights and then fell, there is a claim against him, and that is why he is called a sinner.
Exactly so, says Rav Itzele, regarding the one who reviewed his lesson one hundred times: you already attained such deep attachment to the Torah, such sweetness of the Torah - why did you not review just one more time? Toward another person there is no such claim, for he is very far from the Torah and never even reached one hundred. But you, who attained such lofty heights and were so connected - why did you stop?
And as the holy Or HaChaim writes: if human beings were to perceive the sweetness and delight of the light of Torah, they would be driven mad with passion and burn with longing for it. If after one hundred times you did not burn with passion and yearn for it - this is the claim against you. Had you reviewed it just one more time, it would have demonstrated that burning love for the Torah. And if you stopped, it is a sign that you achieved a high level and then stepped down from it.
The Vilna Gaon: His Entire Life Stands to Review
It is told of the Vilna Gaon that when a student came to be accepted into his circle, the Gaon would instruct him to review the sugya several times, testing him: if from one repetition to the next his desire increased, he would accept him as a student. But if he saw that his enthusiasm waned with each repetition - thinking, "What, again? We already learned this!" - he would not accept him. The Gaon was looking for a student in whom a genuine longing for Torah was evident, and a longing for Torah is the ability to review again and again and again.
Repetition is difficult for a person. A person always wants to learn new things. A story is told of a study partner who, when proposed that they review what they had learned the day before and only then proceed, said: "No, let us continue from the exact point where we stopped." Once, when a teacher began the shiur just two lines earlier, a student protested: "Rebbe, we already learned that - two lines down!" Even two lines he was unwilling to repeat. And so it is always: when asked which masechet to learn, people immediately answer, "We already learned Berachot," and look for something new. Review - a person rarely even considers it. Review is a form of discipline and subjugation, a study that is less gratifying to his natural curiosity, but this is the Divine will: that a person should review and not be in the category of one who sows and does not reap. Thus, it is specifically through chazarah (review) that the quality of "one who serves God" is revealed.
Rav Chaim of Volozhin once told the Vilna Gaon that he had reviewed Masechet Sukkah seventeen times and still felt he had not mastered it. The Gaon replied: That is not enough. Rav Chaim asked: If so, how many times - one hundred and one? The Gaon answered: No, "his entire life he stands to review" - just like the Talmudic expression regarding a lost object, that throughout his life he stands under the obligation to return it, or regarding sending away the mother bird, that throughout his life he stands under the obligation to send it away. So too, throughout a person's life he must continually review his learning, and there is no limit to the matter. And the Gaon attested about himself that out of his great love for Torah, he was capable of spending his entire life studying a single Mishnah, reviewing it endlessly. And this was after he had already understood it the very first time - what we might perhaps understand only after one hundred times. This is complete submission to the Holy One, blessed be He, and this is the true definition of "one who serves God," one who reviews his lesson one hundred and one times.
We thus learn what the Gemara meant to say: do not think that the distinction between "a righteous person and a wicked person" is the same distinction as between "one who serves God and one who does not serve Him." Rather, righteous and wicked are one category, whereas "one who serves God" and "one who does not serve Him" represents an additional level within the service of Hashem. Both are servants of Hashem, except that this one did not serve Him as is fitting for Him, and did not attain the perception of the one who served Hashem properly.
"For behold, the day comes, burning like a furnace" - The Sun from Its Sheath
כִּי הִנֵּה הַיּוֹם בָּא בֹּעֵר כַּתַּנּוּר וְהָיוּ כָל זֵדִים וְכָל עֹשֵׂה רִשְׁעָה קַשׁ וְלִהַט אֹתָם הַיּוֹם הַבָּא אָמַר ה' צְבָאוֹת אֲשֶׁר לֹא יַעֲזֹב לָהֶם שֹׁרֶשׁ וְעָנָף׃ - For behold, the day comes, burning like a furnace, and all the willful sinners and all evildoers shall be straw; and the day that comes shall burn them up, said Hashem of Hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
"The day" here, explain Rashi and the Malbim, is an expression denoting the sun. This corresponds to the statement of Chazal: In the Future to Come, there will be no Gehenna; rather, the Holy One, Blessed is He, will remove the sun from its sheath - the wicked will be judged by it, and the righteous will be healed by it. "Behold, the day comes" - behold, the day on which the sun will shine forth, and then all the willful sinners and evildoers will be like straw, and this day will burn them up.
The Malbim explains that the prophet describes the Day of Judgment as a burning fire, like the fire of a furnace. The wicked, each according to his wickedness, are consumed by this fire like straw, until neither root nor branch remains of them. Rashi explains "root nor branch" based on the Targum: bar u-var bera, son and grandson, meaning that neither child nor grandchild will remain of them.
"And for you who fear My Name, the sun of righteousness shall shine"
וְזָרְחָה לָכֶם יִרְאֵי שְׁמִי שֶׁמֶשׁ צְדָקָה וּמַרְפֵּא בִּכְנָפֶיהָ וִיצָאתֶם וּפִשְׁתֶּם כְּעֶגְלֵי מַרְבֵּק׃ - And for you who fear My Name, the sun of righteousness shall shine with healing in its wings, and you shall go forth and flourish like stall-fed calves.
In contrast to the wicked, whom the coming day will incinerate, for you, the righteous - those who served out of love - the charity and good deeds you performed will themselves be like a shining sun. This is the "sun of righteousness": your deeds and righteousness will shine and illuminate like the sun, and this sun will bring healing in its wings from the burning heat of that day.
In the depth of the matter, says the Malbim, this refers to the revelation of the Divine light, which will be manifested in two ways. For light contains two aspects: illumination and burning. Light in the proper measure illuminates, but in high intensity it burns. For the righteous, the revelation will take the form of light, and for the wicked, the form of burning, as it is written in Isaiah 10: "And the light of Israel shall become a fire."
"And you shall go forth and spread out [ufishtem]" - ufishtem is an expression of spreading out and fattening, like nafish, growing and increasing. That is to say, you will spread out, grow, and fatten like stall-fed calves. "Calves of the stall" (eglei marbeik) are calves kept in a stall to be fattened, which would then be brought out to thresh the grain with their hooves.
Why Specifically the Sun? The Insights of the Abarbanel, the Maharsha, and the Maharal
The Abarbanel asks: Why specifically the sun - through which the wicked are judged and the righteous are healed? Because the sun's nature is to produce opposite effects. Consider: does the sun whiten or darken? When you hang laundry, the sun whitens; yet when a person sunbathes, his skin darkens. Does the sun harden or melt? Place wax in the sun, and it melts; place wood, and it dries and hardens; place salt, and it dries and crystallizes. Thus, the sun produces opposite effects. The wicked, who are dry, will be consumed by the sun; while the righteous, who are moist and full of vitality, will find the sun to be a source of healing.
The Maharsha writes similarly, adding that this comes to express that the change is not in the Bestower, but in the recipient. The influence emanating from the Holy One, blessed be He, is one; rather, one who prepared himself receives it as positive bounty, while one who did not prepare himself receives it as a negative thing that only harms him.
And the Maharal of Prague explains: "There is no deficiency of existence in the future, for everything will be in perfection," and therefore there will be no Gehinnom in the future to come, but rather a sun. Chammah (sun) is an expression of an aspect that transcends the physical. Every physical thing can be touched and felt, whereas light is always an expression of spirituality. Indeed, Kabbalistic works always speak of lights - of the descent of the lights into the vessels. Seemingly, light is also a physical thing - after all, it can be measured in photons, there are meters that determine how much light is present here, and anything measured with physical instruments is material. Rather, light is the most refined element in the physical world, and therefore, when one wishes to express spiritual matters, they are expressed in terms of light: the light of the Ten Sefirot and the like.
The Maharal adds: Not only will the sun in the future to come be an aspect of spiritual light, but it will also be far more refined. And where is this expressed? In the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, "removes the sun from its sheath." Currently, the light is, as it were, inside a sheath, and even though it is spiritual, it is still shrouded in a material covering; but in the future, it will emerge from its sheath and become even more spiritual. The wicked, being coarse and material, cannot withstand such spiritual light and are therefore burned. But for the righteous, who are spiritual - on the contrary, this light is an absolute delight, and for them it is "a sun of righteousness with healing in its wings; and you shall go out and leap like fattened calves."
The Light That Reveals the Truth - Rav Chaim Friedlander
These concepts appear with greater depth in the teachings of Rav Chaim Friedlander (in the volume on the Festivals, regarding Sukkot, p. 328, as discussed in the lessons on Sukkot). First, he clarifies that when "the wicked" are mentioned here, it does not necessarily refer strictly to absolute evildoers, but rather to each person according to his level.
And what is the meaning of the burning light? Light signifies the revelation of truth. In the darkness, one can do many things without being seen, but when the light arrives, everything is visible. Someone related that he was studying with one of the Torah giants on a sunlit day, and a beam of sunlight entered through the window, inside of which a great deal of dust could be seen. That great sage said to him: Look, this dust is in the room all the time and no one sees it; only because there is a beam of light do you suddenly see how much dust you are breathing. Light reveals even the hidden things, even what is normally not apparent.
This is the light of the future to come: through it, a person's hidden aspects will be revealed and his inner self disclosed. Rav Friedlander explains that it will be a day of deep soul-searching, and then a person will recognize his true stature. In today's reality, after all, a person allows himself to deceive himself, telling himself stories - how incapable he is, how difficult things are for him, how what he is doing is the right thing. But when such a powerful spotlight of the light of truth arrives, all his hidden corners will suddenly be exposed, and it will become clear to him how mistaken he was and how much he misled himself.
And what does it mean that the wicked are burned by it? The Rav explains based on the Maharal: Above, there is no physical fire, and the burning of Gehinnom means that a person will arrive in the World of Truth and comprehend the magnitude of his error - how he invested all his days in vanity and emptiness, and how everything he was granted in order to draw close to God he instead exploited to distance himself from Him and pursue desires. He will experience an immense remorse that is indescribably searing and piercing to the depths. This is Gehinnom - an inner fire of immeasurable regret. And our Sages told us this to give us a measure: take the most intense fire here on earth, and multiply it sixtyfold.
It emerges that the light of the future to come, which reveals to a person all his secrets and shows him how deeply he erred, itself brings him to immense remorse, and this is what burns him from within - "and the coming day shall burn them." In the revealed light, he sees his inner nature and his emptiness. In contrast, for the righteous person whose inner essence is now revealed as refined and pure, the light is an aspect of abundance and reward: he sees that there is reward for his accomplishment and for all his toil that he awaited all the days of his life, and here it has arrived. That day will be a day of great and immense clarity: the very same light will burn the one who realizes he has nothing, and will illuminate the path of the righteous one who sees that his deeds were correct and righteous.
"And You Shall Tread Down the Wicked" - Why Do the Wicked Not Disappear Entirely?
וְעַסּוֹתֶם רְשָׁעִים כִּי יִהְיוּ אֵפֶר תַּחַת כַּפּוֹת רַגְלֵיכֶם בַּיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה אָמַר ה' צְבָאוֹת׃ - "And you shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I prepare, said the Lord of Hosts."
The meaning of this is that the wicked will be threshed under the soles of the feet of the righteous until they become like dough (isah), like ashes under their feet. From the heat of that day in which the wicked are burned, the wicked will become like ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous. This connects to what was stated earlier: "and you shall go out and leap like fattened calves" - you will go out, spread, multiply, and grow fat like calves, whose way is to thresh grain; in this manner, the righteous will tread the ashes of the wicked until they become like dough beneath the soles of their feet. Isah is something that is pressed and crushed, and from this, the Malbim explains, also comes the term asis (juice): when a fruit is crushed and its juice extracted, one kneads (me'aseh) it and brings forth what is inside it.
On this topic as well, the teachings of Rav Dessler shed light (as explored at length in Volumes 1 and 2). What is the message behind the wicked becoming ash under the soles of the righteous person's feet? The wicked person suddenly realizes that he is completely devoid of substance: he acquired no good character trait, no mitzvah, no good deed, and he experiences a terrifying emptiness that burns down to the abyss. This is an excruciating agony, when a person realizes where he could have reached and what he lost. As Chazal taught: a person is burned only by the canopy of his fellow - when one sees what his fellow has attained and what he himself forfeited, that is the most searing burn of all.
Yet observe what the Holy One, blessed be He, is teaching: the righteous draw strength and encouragement from this. "And the sun of righteousness shall shine for you who fear My Name... and you shall trample the wicked... on the day that I prepare" - you will be strengthened by witnessing how the wicked are punished and how the righteous are rewarded. Rav Dessler explains: this very strengthening of the righteous serves as the elevation and rectification of the wicked. Why? Because the righteous achieved this reinforcement upon the back of the wicked. In the punishment and suffering of the wicked, there is a manifestation of Divine revelation - behold, whoever defied Hashem's word is punished, and whoever fulfilled Hashem's will receives reward - and from this, the righteous learn a pathway in the service of Hashem. It emerges that the wicked person was the catalyst for the elevation of the righteous, and thereby acquired a certain merit and standing.
This is the meaning of "and you shall trample the wicked" - the wicked will be like ash under the soles of the righteous person's feet, meaning that the righteous person is lifted and elevated through the very existence of the wicked. Notice that it does not say the wicked will be entirely annihilated, but that they will be ash under the soles of their feet: an instrument serving the righteous person above them, who derives from the wicked person's retribution a lesson in the service of Hashem. This dynamic itself grants the wicked a degree of inner significance, on account of which they warrant some measure of reward and enduring existence.
"Remember the Torah of Moses My Servant" - Guidance for Generations After the Seal of Prophecy
זִכְרוּ תּוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה עַבְדִּי אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִי אוֹתוֹ בְחֹרֵב עַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל חֻקִּים וּמִשְׁפָּטִים׃ - Remember the Torah of Moses My servant, which I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel, statutes and ordinances.
Sefer Malachi is the seal of all the prophets and the conclusion of prophecy (although Megillat Esther was written later, this is the final book recorded by prophets as a prophetic work). Therefore, the prophet proclaims: "Remember the Torah of Moses My servant." There will be no more prophecy; I am the final seer, and you will no longer have a prophet to consult. And if you wish to know how to act - he did not tell them to go to wonder-workers, nor to open holy letters at random, nor to cast lots, but rather: remember what I commanded Moses My servant at Horeb for all Israel, statutes and ordinances. Fulfill all that you were commanded there, and through this you will have guidance and direction on how to walk in the right path. From here on, only the Torah will guide your steps.
Indeed, when Torah giants needed to resolve a dilemma, they would employ the well-known practice (attributed to Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin): a person should immerse himself in Torah and toil in it, and only then reflect once more upon the matter at hand. By toiling in Torah for a time and pouring his mind into it, he purifies his thought and intellect and connects to the wisdom of the Torah; through that power, he can arrive at a sounder decision.
A story is told of the Chofetz Chaim: during World War I, when there was great danger in keeping the yeshivah in its place, his son-in-law asked him what should be done. The Chofetz Chaim said: "I will think about it." When his son-in-law approached him again and asked, he replied: "I am still thinking." The third time, the son-in-law came to say that he had performed the Goral HaGra (the lottery of the Vilna Gaon) and received an answer. Before he could speak, the Chofetz Chaim told him: "I have already thought about it, and I decided to follow the approach of Yaakov Avinu - 'If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, then the remaining camp shall escape.' We will divide the yeshivah into two: half will move elsewhere and half will stay here, since it is unclear which place is more perilous." The son-in-law exclaimed: "Rebbe, I performed the Goral HaGra, and that is the exact verse that came up for me!" The Chofetz Chaim responded: "And why do we need a Goral HaGra? We have answers in the Torah; there is no need for lots. For every question, there is an answer in the Torah." This is the meaning of "Remember the Torah of Moses My servant" - it will guide you through every question and doubt that arises until the coming of Mashiach.
"Behold, I Send You Elijah the Prophet"
הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ לָכֶם אֵת אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא לִפְנֵי בּוֹא יוֹם ה' הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא׃ - Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Hashem.
Radak explains: Even though I warn you to keep the Torah of Moses, nevertheless I will send you Elijah the prophet. And Elijah, though he ascended on high, his physical body remained here on earth, for every element returns to its elemental source - as seen during Elijah's ascension, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen." And after the Holy One, blessed be He, brings him to life again within a body, He will send him to herald the Redemption before the coming of the Day of Judgment, which is "the great and awesome day of Hashem." Metzudat David explains: in the merit of the Torah, of "Remember the Torah of Moses My servant," I will send you Elijah the prophet. And the Malbim adds: even before the coming of the great day of Hashem, prophecy will return to you, revealed through Elijah the prophet.
וְהֵשִׁיב לֵב אָבוֹת עַל בָּנִים וְלֵב בָּנִים עַל אֲבוֹתָם פֶּן אָבוֹא וְהִכֵּיתִי אֶת הָאָרֶץ חֵרֶם׃ - And he shall turn the heart of fathers to children and the heart of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction.
The purpose of Eliyahu is to warn both parents and children to return to Hashem, blessed is He, and those who repent will be spared from the judgment. Rashi explains: "He will turn the hearts of fathers" - toward the Holy One, blessed be He, "on/by children" - through their children. And Rashi cites a wonderful explanation in the name of Rabbi Menachem: Eliyahu will say to the children, "Go and speak to your fathers so that they hold fast to the ways of the Omnipresent."
This is precisely the reality of our generation, where children very often bring their parents back to teshuva. It has been noted that all the curses are destined to turn into blessings, and the question was asked: How can the curse "And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat" - a dreadful curse fulfilled in our history, Heaven spare us - turn into a blessing? The answer given is: Today, parents invite their son for Shabbat. The parent may be only casually observant, while the son has become God-fearing and walks in the way of Hashem. The son knows that in his father's house they eat whatever comes to hand without being meticulous about kashrut certifications, so he brings meat from his own home. "And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat" - on Shabbat you will eat the meat that your son and daughter bring, rather than your own. In this way the curse turns into good, since the child is now meticulous and beautifies the mitzvot. This is the meaning of "He will turn the heart of fathers through children" - through the children. And likewise the reverse: sometimes the parents are God-fearing and the children have strayed from the path, and then "and the heart of children through their fathers" - through the fathers he will turn the heart of the children back to Hashem, blessed is He.
The Ibn Ezra: Eliyahu Has Already Visited Here
The Ibn Ezra makes an intriguing observation. We tend to think that Eliyahu HaNavi is exclusively a matter of the future, yet it is written in Divrei HaYamim, after the death of Yehoshaphat, during the reign of his son Achazyahu: "And there came a letter to him from Eliyahu the prophet" (which, incidentally, is the source for the title of the book Michtav M'Eliyahu). Eliyahu thus sent a letter many years after his departure from this world! And if one should suggest that perhaps he wrote the letter before ascending to Heaven, and it was preserved and only later delivered to Achazyahu? The Ibn Ezra answers: That cannot be, for if so, Scripture should have written "and a letter was found" or "and a letter was brought to him." Rather, Eliyahu must have revealed himself during Achazyahu's time and dispatched a letter to him. The Ibn Ezra adds that there is no doubt that Eliyahu appeared during the era of our holy Sages as well, and as is well known, quite a few individuals were privileged to experience a revelation of Eliyahu in subsequent generations.
The Malbim's Explanation at the Conclusion of the Book
The Malbim explains: "He will turn the heart of fathers on children" - he will bring the world to repentance, so that regarding children who were driven away from the Torah of their fathers, Hashem will turn their hearts back to the fathers and they will return to the faith of their ancestors, and through this He will also turn the hearts of the fathers toward the children. And why will Hashem send Eliyahu? "Lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction" - for if He does not first send Eliyahu, they will not repent, and Heaven forbid the coming day will burn them up, and Hashem will strike the entire land with complete destruction, a blow that leaves nothing behind. Therefore, He will first send the angel of the covenant, who is Eliyahu HaNavi, to bring them back in repentance, and through this they will merit that sovereignty will belong to Hashem.
Simple Faith - The Words of the Rav of Brisk
Let us conclude with a question that was posed to the Rav of Brisk: We profess, "I will await him every day that he come" - but how can one anticipate Mashiach every day if Eliyahu HaNavi must arrive forty days prior to the redemption to herald it, as we have read in the verses here? It would follow that as long as Eliyahu has not arrived, there is nothing to anticipate. Did someone send you a message forty days ago that Eliyahu has already arrived? Furthermore, they asked him: Chazal say that Eliyahu does not come on the eve of Shabbat because people are preoccupied with Shabbat preparations, nor on Shabbat because of the question of techum above ten tefachimm - if so, on Friday afternoons, Shabbatot, and Yom Tov, is there no mitzvah to await the redemption?
The Rav of Brisk answered them: Your questions are excellent, and when Mashiach comes, with Hashem's help we will ask him this as well. In simple terms: a person must believe with simplicity. How it will unfold and what will happen - are you worrying on His behalf? We must believe with complete, simple faith; how and in what manner it will occur is known only to Hashem.
In Summary:
The conclusion of Malachi opens with the twofold distinction of the Day of Judgment: between the righteous and the wicked, and between "one who serves God" - who serves out of love like a servant who does not anticipate reward - and "one who does not serve Him," who serves out of hope for reward and fear of punishment. Chazal derived from here the difference between one who reviews his chapter one hundred times and one who reviews it one hundred and one times; and the numerous allusions (oved Elokim la'asher, me'ayin, Michael and Malachi, zachar and shachach) teach that the strength to break habit and review just one more time - or to remember the "One" within one's study - is the very definition of an oved Hashem. From there, the prophet proceeds to describe that Day: a single light emerging from its sheath, burning like a furnace against the insolent whose emptiness will be exposed, and shining as a sun of righteousness and healing for those who revere His Name, until the wicked become ashes beneath the soles of the righteous - and even in this they attain a certain elevation, by serving as the cause for the strengthening of the righteous. Finally, as prophecy is sealed, we are given guidance for all generations: "Remember the Torah of Moshe My servant" - every answer is in the Torah, without lots and without substitutes - alongside the promise of the sending of Eliyahu HaNavi, who will turn the hearts of fathers through children and the hearts of children through their fathers. It remains for us only to believe with complete, simple faith, and may the Holy One, blessed be He, swiftly hasten His Mashiach and redeem us with an everlasting redemption, Amen and Amen.