Chapter 13 is the concluding chapter of Sefer Nechemya, and it is a chapter dedicated to repairing breaches. Nechemya returns to Jerusalem after an absence and discovers that all three matters the people had accepted upon themselves through covenant and oath - setting aside terumot and ma'asrot, observing Shabbat, and separating from foreign women - had relapsed into deterioration. The chapter opens with a reading of the Torah in the ears of the people, and from there unfolds the series of rectifications that Nechemya enacts, one by one.
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נִקְרָא בְּסֵפֶר מֹשֶׁה בְּאָזְנֵי הָעָם וְנִמְצָא כָּתוּב בּוֹ אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָבוֹא עַמֹּנִי וּמוֹאָבִי בִּקְהַל הָאֱלֹהִים עַד־עוֹלָם׃ - On that day they read in the book of Moses in the ears of the people, and there was found written in it that an Ammonite and a Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of God forever.
What is meant by "on that day"? According to the Metzudat David, it refers to the day on which they sanctified the wall. But the Malbim explains that "on that day" connects to what follows: I am about to relate all the events of that day, and on that day we read from the book of the Torah of Moshe in the ears of the people and found written, "an Ammonite and a Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of God forever." The Malbim's explanation is very compelling, for otherwise it is hard to understand why they suddenly read specifically this passage. Therefore it states, "On that day" - further on you will see what occurred on that day, and then you will understand why we needed to read this verse before the people. Thus, this verse serves as an introduction to what is recounted below.
כִּי לֹא קִדְּמוּ אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּלֶּחֶם וּבַמָּיִם וַיִּשְׂכֹּר עָלָיו אֶת־בִּלְעָם לְקַלְלוֹ וַיַּהֲפֹךְ אֱלֹהֵינוּ הַקְּלָלָה לִבְרָכָה׃ - Because they did not greet the Children of Israel with bread and water, and hired Balaam against them to curse them, but our God turned the curse into a blessing.
The punishment is for failing to greet Israel with bread and water, and not only that, but they even hired Balaam to curse them, and our God turned the curse into a blessing. Here a famous question arises: How is it possible that the Torah first takes them to task for the minor offense and only afterward for the grave one? This is comparable to a person standing before a court, where the prosecutor requests a consolidation of charges. The judge approves, and the lawyer opens: "Your Honor, this individual double-parked on a major thoroughfare and disrupted traffic," and only then adds: "And one more thing - he is also charged with murder." Is this how one opens? Begin with the murder, recount the details of the crime, and as an afterthought tack on a five-hundred-shekel fine. But to start with double-parking and conclude with murder? That is precisely how the verse seems here: "They did not greet the Children of Israel with bread and water" - true, not very polite, it would have been decent to offer some bread and water - and then, "and hired Balaam against them," meaning they attempted to destroy you! That should have been mentioned first, not second.
The Malbim resolves this: mentioning "they did not greet them with bread and water" first serves to preempt any possible excuse. For they might argue: Why did we hire Balaam? Because we were terrified of you! But if your claim is true and you acted out of dread, why did you not greet Israel with bread and water? After all, if there is a hand you cannot break, kiss it. When someone faces a terrifying and formidable force, he immediately sues for peace and strikes an alliance. A little bread and water would have solved your problem. Since you did not greet them with bread and water, it proves you were not afraid of Israel at all. And if you were not afraid, why did you go hire Balaam to curse them? Thus, the verse first disproves any potential defense, and only then presents the primary accusation, leaving them with no rebuttal whatsoever.
The Dubno Maggid famously offered an extensive parable on this theme. He explains the claim along lines similar to the Malbim, yet slightly different: When they were challenged, "Why did you not greet Israel with bread and water?" they replied, "Do we have the funds to provide bread and water for six hundred thousand people? And that is only the adult men; include women, young children, and toddlers, and you reach several million people! Where would we find the money for that?" To this came the response: You had no money to bring them bread and water, but "he hired against them Balaam the son of Beor" - an immense fortune to pay Balaam, his house full of silver and gold, that you did have? By this very fact, their defense was utterly shattered.
Why, then, did the Torah place the grievance of bread and water first? Because at its core, this was an issue of profound ingratitude. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Avraham, "Go forth from your land and from your birthplace," and who joined him? Lot. Avraham was under no obligation to take him, yet he took him, provided him with bread and water, cared for him, sustained and supported him, and fed him at his own table - until he saw he could no longer live alongside him and sent him on his way. Even then, when the kings came - the four against the five - Avraham Avinu went in person, he and his servant Eliezer, or even if we say with a tiny force of 318 men - which is practically nothing. For in the chronicles of world history, Chedorlaomer's war against the kings appears as a world war: an all-out clash involving numerous nations, a massive war. Yet Avraham went out with 318 men - not even a company, not a brigade, essentially nothing - and nonetheless risked his life for Lot. If so, the most basic ABC of hakarat hatov (gratitude) dictates that when the descendants of Avraham approach you, you should at the very least greet them with bread and water! Yet they failed to do so. One who lacks the trait of gratitude is unworthy of entering the congregation of Israel at all, and therefore, "an Ammonite and a Moabite shall not enter."
And lest you say: Ultimately nothing came of the curse, so he cursed - what happened? Regarding this, the verse comes and says, "And our God turned the curse into a blessing." What Bil'am did was extremely severe; it could have finished us off, and only through Hashem's kindness did He turn the curse into a blessing. Do not be like that smart-aleck who, during the First Gulf War, said that the missiles Saddam was firing were made of cardboard, harmless nonsense - after all, he saw forty missiles and nothing happened. How foolish he was - for Hashem allowed one missile to strike in Saudi Arabia and two hundred soldiers were killed, and suddenly it became clear that this was not "nothing." Not nothing - rather, it was Hashem's kindness upon us. And this, unfortunately, is part of our trouble, that our senses have become dulled: if someone attempted to carry out a massive terror attack and did not succeed, people say, "Yes, that could have been dangerous," and dismiss it, whereas we ought to treat it as though, Heaven forbid, an attack had occurred and people had been killed - that is how one ought to react: It is Hashem's kindness that you were spared, but consider what could have happened! This is what the verse tells us: according to nature there should have been destruction for the Jewish people, but Hashem turned the curse into a blessing for us.
וַיְהִי כְּשָׁמְעָם אֶת־הַתּוֹרָה וַיַּבְדִּילוּ כָל־עֵרֶב מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And it came to pass, when they had heard the Torah, that they separated all the foreign mixture from Israel.
When they heard the Torah and saw that "an Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of Hashem," they separated "all the foreign mixture" - anyone of mixed descent, anyone intermingled: Ammonites and Moabites, and even those who had converted. For it says, "shall not enter into the congregation of Hashem forever," and even conversion does not avail him.
The Malbim asks: But haven't the nations been scrambled, and we have the established halachic principle that "anyone who separates, separates from the majority" (kol defarish meruba parish)? Therefore, a person today may marry a female convert from Lebanon, Egypt, or anywhere in the world, and we do not tell him that he is marrying an Ammonite or a Moabite, because the nations were scrambled; once she converts, we attribute her lineage to the majority of nations who are permitted to enter the congregation of Hashem. If so, why did they rule strictly here to forbid them? The Malbim explains: Although Nevuchadnezzar and Sancheirev, who lived earlier, had already scrambled the nations - as we saw when Sancheirev exiled the Kingdom of Israel to Chalach, Chavor, and the Gozan River, and brought the Cutheans here, and the nations had already begun to be intermingled - nevertheless, there were still people of verified lineage. There were well-known families that married only within their own clan and tribe, even among the nations. Those individuals of verified lineage were forbidden to them, and them they had to send away.
וְלִפְנֵי מִזֶּה אֶלְיָשִׁיב הַכֹּהֵן נָתוּן בְּלִשְׁכַּת בֵּית־אֱלֹהֵינוּ קָרוֹב לְטוֹבִיָּה׃ - And before this, Elyashiv the Kohen, who was appointed over the chambers of the House of our God, was closely associated with Toviah.
וַיַּעַשׂ לוֹ לִשְׁכָּה גְדוֹלָה וְשָׁם הָיוּ לְפָנִים נֹתְנִים אֶת־הַמִּנְחָה הַלְּבוֹנָה וְהַכֵּלִים וּמַעְשַׂר הַדָּגָן הַתִּירוֹשׁ וְהַיִּצְהָר מִצְוַת הַלְוִיִּם וְהַמְשֹׁרְרִים וְהַשּׁוֹעֲרִים וּתְרוּמַת הַכֹּהֲנִים׃ - And he prepared for him a large chamber, where formerly they had placed the meal offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil - the portion commanded for the Levi'im, the singers, and the gatekeepers - and the heave offering for the Kohanim.
Now Nechemya recounts the background of the whole affair: Prior to this, Elyashiv the Kohen had a chamber adjacent to Toviah's chamber. Toviah, no less, prepared for himself a large chamber right next to the chamber of Elyashiv the Kohen. In that chamber they previously stored the meal offering, frankincense, sacred vessels, and tithes - everything designated for the Kohanim and Levi'im. Since during that period people had stopped bringing terumos and ma'asros there, the chamber remained empty. Consequently, Elyashiv went and arranged this chamber for his friend and associate Toviah - Toviah the Ammonite.
Incidentally, from here we see that the name Toviah is not originally a Jewish name: Toviah appears in Tanach as the name of an Ammonite, and ostensibly this indicates that it is inappropriate to name a child this way, unless one says that the one choosing the name intends "Tov Y-ah" (the goodness of God). Even so, one must examine: if the name does not appear anywhere as the name of a righteous person, one should not use it. Consider the name "Matan": a person names his child Matan and explains that he has in mind the gift (matanah) that Hashem gave him; nevertheless, if one were to consult Rav Chaim Kanievsky, he would immediately instruct him to change the name to "Natan" - and indeed, several people have done so - because Matan was a priest of Baal, and that is the only place where this name appears. Thus, if Toviah were a name that appears only in connection with a wicked person, straightforwardly "we do not invoke their names" (ein maskin bishmayhu); we do not name children after them.
Yet upon further examination, the sefarim note that one may certainly use the name Tuvia, even though Toviyah the Ammonite was wicked, because the name predates him with Moshe Rabbeinu: the Gemara in Sotah 12a cites Rabbi Yehudah that "his name was Tuviah" - referring to Moshe Rabbeinu, derived from "and she saw him that he was good [tov]". Furthermore, we find this name among the Amoraim: Rav Zutra bar Tuvia, who was a talmid of Rav; Rabbah bar Tuvia; and Rav Tuvia bar Mattanah. Moreover, Tuviah is a combination of "tov" and "Kah", meaning the goodness of Hashem. The name also appears earlier, in Zechariah chapter 6: "And the crowns shall be for Chelem, and for Toviyah, and for Yedaiah, and for Chen ben Tzephanyah", where Rashi explains that these were men who volunteered silver and gold, and those crowns were hung in the windows in the heights of the Heichal, as recorded in Masechet Middot. Thus, these were upright and righteous individuals, and therefore one may name a child after them. Additionally, note that in Tanach the name is always vocalized "Toviyyah" (with a cholam on the vav and a chirik under the beit), whereas colloquial usage is "Tuvia" - pronounced with a shuruk rather than a cholam or chirik.
וּבְכׇל־זֶה לֹא הָיִיתִי בִּירוּשָׁלִָם כִּי בִּשְׁנַת שְׁלֹשִׁים וּשְׁתַּיִם לְאַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל בָּאתִי אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ וּלְקֵץ יָמִים נִשְׁאַלְתִּי מִן־הַמֶּלֶךְ׃ - But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artachshaste, king of Babylon, I went to the king, and after some time I asked leave of the king.
Nechemya clarifies: understand that such an act could only have occurred because I was not there; let no one say, "How did you fall asleep on your watch?" I was not in Jerusalem, because in the thirty-second year of Artachshaste, king of Babylon, I had gone to the king, and after some time I requested permission from him to return to Jerusalem, having previously gone back to Babylon.
וָאָבוֹא לִירוּשָׁלִָם וָאָבִינָה בָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אֶלְיָשִׁיב לְטוֹבִיָּה לַעֲשׂוֹת לוֹ נִשְׁכָּה בְּחַצְרֵי בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים׃ - And I came to Jerusalem, and I perceived the evil that Elyashiv had done for Toviyah, by making him a chamber in the courtyards of the House of God.
And when I returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, I realized the terrible evil: they had brought in a gentile, from the very Ammonites and Moabites concerning whom the Torah commanded that they shall not enter the congregation, and arranged a chamber for him in the House of Hashem. It was an outright desecration of the Mikdash.
וַיֵּרַע לִי מְאֹד וָאַשְׁלִיכָה אֶת־כׇּל־כְּלֵי בֵית־טוֹבִיָּה הַחוּץ מִן־הַלִּשְׁכָּה׃ - And it grieved me exceedingly, and I cast out all the household goods of Toviyah out of the chamber.
וָאֹמְרָה וַיְטַהֲרוּ הַלְּשָׁכוֹת וָאָשִׁיבָה שָּׁם כְּלֵי בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת־הַמִּנְחָה וְהַלְּבוֹנָה׃ - Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the House of God, with the meal-offering and the frankincense.
The matter was exceedingly grievous and distressing to me, and so I took all his belongings and cast them out of the chamber, clearing away all his household items. Afterwards, I commanded that the chambers be purified, since these chambers had originally held the sacred vessels, the meal-offering, and the frankincense, and therefore required purification to be fit for that purpose once again. "And I brought back there" - I restored the vessels of the House of God, the meal-offering, and the frankincense to their place.
וָאֵדְעָה כִּי־מְנָיוֹת הַלְוִיִּם לֹא נִתָּנָה וַיִּבְרְחוּ אִישׁ־לְשָׂדֵהוּ הַלְוִיִּם וְהַמְשֹׁרְרִים עֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה׃ - And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given, so that the Levites and the singers who did the work had fled each to his field.
Once I cleared the chamber and sought to return to it what had been stored there in the past, restoring it as the place where the portions of the Levites were brought, I discovered another problem: the portions of the Levites were not being given; people were not bringing the terumot and ma'asrot. What was the consequence? The Levites fled, each to his field. Each one went to his own field to provide food for himself, for if he did not sow, plow, and labor, no one would sustain him. And so the Levites and the singers who performed the sacred service abandoned their posts and ran to their fields to tend to their crops.
וָאָרִיבָה אֶת־הַסְּגָנִים וָאֹמְרָה מַדּוּעַ נֶעֱזַב בֵּית־הָאֱלֹהִים וָאֶקְבְּצֵם וָאַעֲמִדֵם עַל־עׇמְדָם׃ - Then I contended with the rulers and said, 'Why is the House of God forsaken?' And I gathered them together and set them at their posts.
I contended with the prefects and told them: Why is the House of God forsaken? What does it mean that people look for Levi'im for the service, look for Kohanim, and are told they are not here - they went out to work? This was not the Torah's plan. The Creator intended that we sustain them and they devote themselves to the service of Hashem, the holy of holies; a Levi is not supposed to go out and plow his field. Therefore, I gathered them all and restored them to their posts.
וְכׇל־יְהוּדָה הֵבִיאוּ מַעְשַׂר הַדָּגָן וְהַתִּירוֹשׁ וְהַיִּצְהָר לָאוֹצָרוֹת׃ - And all of Judah brought the tithe of grain, new wine, and oil into the storehouses.
Through this, all of Judah returned to bringing the tithes to the storehouses, to be distributed to the Levi'im so that they would have food to eat and would not need to abandon their service in search of a livelihood.
וָאוֹצְרָה עַל־אוֹצָרוֹת שֶׁלֶמְיָה הַכֹּהֵן וְצָדוֹק הַסּוֹפֵר וּפְדָיָה מִן־הַלְוִיִּם וְעַל־יָדָם חָנָן בֶּן־זַכּוּר בֶּן־מַתַּנְיָה כִּי נֶאֱמָנִים נֶחְשָׁבוּ וַעֲלֵיהֶם לַחֲלֹק לַאֲחֵיהֶם׃ - And I appointed over the storehouses Shelemyah the Kohen, Tzadok the scribe, and Pedayah from the Levi'im, and alongside them was Chanan son of Zakkur, son of Matanyah; for they were considered trustworthy, and their duty was to distribute to their brethren.
"Va'otzerah" - from the word for storehouses (otzarot), meaning I placed treasurers in charge of the storehouses: Shelemyah the Kohen, Tzadok the scribe, and Pedayah from the Levi'im; "and alongside them" - meaning adjacent to them, assisting them - also Chanan son of Zakkur, son of Matanyah. And what was the appointment based on? Not on family connections, not on political favoritism, and not on cronyism, but rather "for they were considered trustworthy, and their duty was to distribute to their brethren": I appointed upright people whom I could trust, so that when it came time to distribute, they would distribute equally to all, and there would be no injustice or embezzlement.
זׇכְרָה־לִּי אֱלֹהַי עַל־זֹאת וְאַל־תֶּמַח חֲסָדַי אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי בְּבֵית אֱלֹהַי וּבְמִשְׁמָרָיו׃ - Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the House of my God and for its watches.
Nechemya pleads: Master of the Universe, remember in my favor this deed that I have done, and remember that I fenced off the breach that existed here until I arrived; let it not be erased, but rather remain, as it were, always before Your eyes. We have already learned earlier that Nechemya's book is not named after him; rather, in the Rishonim it is always referred to as "Sefer Ezra" as an umbrella title for Ezra and Nechemya. The Gemara asks why his book was not named after him and answers: because he took credit for himself, asking Hashem to remember his deeds and good work. And as we noted, it is not fitting for a person to ask Hashem to remember his good deeds, for Hashem remembers good deeds in any case, and whatever we truly deserve we will receive in the end. Yet here he asks once again: Remember me concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds.
The Malbim explains: There are three matters here that we saw earlier they had accepted upon themselves with an oath. The first - to bring the tithes; the second - to keep Shabbat; the third - to distance themselves from foreign wives and send them away. When Nechemya left Jerusalem, the situation deteriorated once more, and all three commitments they had taken upon themselves in covenant and oath were breached: they stopped giving tithes, they stopped observing Shabbat as we will see below, and they went back and took foreign wives again.
And regarding this, Nechemiah comes and says: Master of the World, now when I stand in the breach and restore the matter to its proper state, I ask that You reckon this merit for me as righteousness, as if I had instituted it now from the very beginning. And what does this mean? Which is harder - establishing something and founding it, or continuing to operate something that was already established? To establish something when there is nothing, from scratch, is much harder; once it exists, merely organizing it and running it is easier. This is not referring to cases where founding is easier - like establishing a yeshiva versus sustaining a yeshiva; there, it is indeed often easier to establish a yeshiva and find donors than to find donors who will provide food for the bachurim every day. Rather, it refers to the fact that founding an institution or practice is fundamentally harder than maintaining it. When Nechemiah initially instituted the separation from foreign women, it was exceedingly difficult; now, when they relapsed and he must separate them again, it is easier, because "the law" was already enacted and accepted, people are merely violating it, and it is easier and simpler to step in and correct it. Therefore, Nechemiah says: Master of the World, right now I am only coming to correct and repair, for as for founding, I have already founded it previously as we saw in chapter 10 - and I ask that You grant me reward for this repair and reckon it favorably for me as if I were founding it anew from the very beginning, where the difficulty is greater and the reward is greater.
In this section of the chapter, we began with the Torah reading that brought up the prohibition of "an Ammonite and a Moabite shall not enter," and we learned from the Malbim and the parable of the Dubno Maggid how the order of claims - "they did not meet them with bread and water" before "and hired Bil'am" - closes their mouths to any excuse of fear, revealing that the root of their disqualification is ingratitude toward the seed of Avraham who saved Lot. From there, we moved to the separation of "the entire mixed multitude," and the explanation that even after the nations were intermingled, individuals with known lineage still remained who needed to be excluded. Afterward, we saw the three breaches of this chapter: a chamber in the Beit HaMikdash that was given to Toviyah the Ammonite, and his eviction along with the purification of the chambers; the portions of the Levi'im that were not given, causing the Levi'im to flee to their fields, followed by Nechemiah's contention with the prefects until they were restored to their posts and the tithes to the storehouses; and the appointment of trustworthy treasurers rather than cronies. Finally, we examined his plea, "Remember this for me, my God" - that this repair be credited to him as if he had founded it anew, since laying the foundation is more difficult and its reward is greater.