Introduction: Three Verses from the Letter Ayin in Chapter 119
All of Chapter 119 is a song of love for the Torah, and in the letter Ayin we reach verses that have become universally known: "It is a time to act for Hashem; they have voided Your Torah." This is one of those verses whose homiletical interpretation (derash) is far more famous than its literal meaning (peshat). We will review the plain explanations of the commentators, the teachings of Chazal, and the marvelous things said about it in the name of the luminaries of the generations, and from there we will continue to the two verses that follow it.
"It Is a Time to Act for Hashem" - The Plain Meaning According to Rashi
עֵת לַעֲשׂוֹת לַיהֹוָה הֵפֵרוּ תּוֹרָתֶךָ׃ - It is a time to act for Hashem; they have voided Your Torah.
Rashi explains that the verse is linked to the previous verse: "Give me understanding that I may know Your testimonies" - to understand how to act for Your Name's sake. That is: how one must act concerning those who have voided Your Torah; what is the path by which they may find forgiveness from Hashem, and how they may gain favor before Him, so that the Holy One, blessed be He, will accept them and pardon them. King David says: when I know through which path those who have voided Your Torah find favor before You, I will do the same for any sin in my hand. I will learn this path, and I too will be accepted before You for wherever I have stumbled.
Alongside this, there is the well-known derashah of Chazal: "It is a time to act for Hashem - they have voided Your Torah"; when it is necessary to act for the sake of Hashem, it is even permitted to set aside the Torah. We will soon see examples of this in the words of the Gemara.
Rashi's Aggadic Teaching: An "Idle Stroller" Who Makes His Torah a Matter of Set Times
Rashi cites another derashah, and this is a major novelty: "I have seen it expounded in the Aggadah: 'It is a time to act for Hashem; they have voided Your Torah' - meaning: an idle person and a stroller, who makes his Torah into occasional times." What is an idle person and a stroller? A person whose time is completely free, a retiree. He goes to the bank, then to the National Insurance office, then drops by the medical clinic to see what is going on there, simply because he has not been there in three days. For such a person, if he makes his Torah "occasional" - allocating a fixed half-hour in the evening - he is considered to have breached the covenant. For an idle person ought to toil in Torah throughout all hours of the day. These are Rashi's words. You are free, so why not engage in Torah? One who has his entire day free and says, "I have a shiur in the evening" - that is "making a time to act for Hashem," and regarding him it is said, "they have voided Your Torah." When your time is open, make the pursuit of Torah your primary occupation.
Radak and Ibn Ezra: A Time for Hashem to Exact Vengeance
Radak, and likewise Ibn Ezra, explain that the verse is missing a word, as it were: it is a time for Hashem to exact vengeance upon those who have voided Your Torah. There is a time when the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring retribution upon all those who harmed the Jewish people, from all those who oppressed us, and from all those who persecute us at every opportunity. And even though at this time You are long-suffering toward the wicked, a time will come when You will exact punishment from them, and that will be the time of the Redemption.
Radak quotes the prophecy of Malachi: "And you shall return and see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble, and the coming day will burn them up, said Hashem of Hosts, leaving them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My Name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings, and you shall go forth and leap like calves of the stall. And you shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I prepare, said Hashem of Hosts." It is for this time that we wait: when we return and see between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him, for the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact retribution from all the nations that have persecuted us for thousands of years.
The Time of Old Age and the Time of Trouble
Radak brings another interpretation in the name of Ibn Ezra that is close to Rashi's explanation: the wicked violated Your Torah even at a time when they should have acted for Hashem - namely, in old age or in a time of distress. A person already sees that most of his hair is gone; what falls out on the comb is all that remains on his head. He begins to wither - "and let the dry land appear" - dry patches start showing everywhere, both in the hair and across the body. A person begins to realize that soon enough he will be smelling the flowers from the roots, and that it is time to repent, time to wake up. Yet here, the wicked violated Your Torah even when they should have acted for Hashem, and here the claim against them is far greater. When a person is young, passions rage within him and he is certain he will conquer the world; but at sixty, seventy, eighty - you already understand that you are past all that. So why not improve one's ways now? Why not act for the sake of Hashem? And likewise in a time of distress: a person finds himself in trouble, sees how the Holy One, blessed be He, is speaking to him, and still stops up his ears.
The Gemara in Berachot: The Verse is Expounded in Both Directions
In Berachot 63a, Rava said: "This verse is expounded from its beginning to its end, and from its end to its beginning." From its beginning to its end: "It is a time to act for Hashem" - for what reason? Because "they have violated Your Torah." That is, it is a time for God, blessed be He, to bring retribution upon the world, because they have violated Your Torah. This is how Radak explains it, that the verse refers to the Holy One, blessed be He. But some expound it regarding man himself: when must a man gird his loins? When "they have violated Your Torah." This is no time to rest on one's laurels; this is no time to remain passive and sit on the sidelines. When you see that they have violated Your Torah - stand up, act, do something.
And from Its End to Its Beginning: A Temporary Measure
On the other hand, the verse is expounded from its end to its beginning: "They have violated Your Torah" - for what reason? Because "it is a time to act for Hashem." And here it refers to the righteous: Your prophets violated Your Torah. This is the well-known homiletical interpretation. Eliyahu the Prophet offered sacrifices on Mount Carmel during the prohibition against high places. Gideon took the bull that his father had raised for the Baal and offered it to Hashem. "They violated Your Torah" - because it was an hour of "a time to act for Hashem."
You learn from here that when there is a need for a prophet to perform an act contrary to a mitzvah of the Torah, he is permitted to do so - but only as a temporary measure (hora'at sha'ah). A temporary measure means that no person in the world, and certainly no prophet, is permitted to introduce new mitzvot, for the Torah was not given through prophecy. It was given once to Moshe Rabbeinu, and that was final. If a prophet comes and says that Hashem commanded him this or that mitzvah, we do not listen to him. And even if it were the angel Gabriel delivering new commandments to Muhammad, "the madman" in the words of the Rambam - it is of no effect. We do not accept Torah from a prophet. And this is why Moshe was the greatest of the prophets: there can be no updates. Could anyone who comes after him be greater than Moshe? Moshe experienced prophecy at the highest possible level. It is impossible for a lesser prophet to come and say: true, Hashem told Moshe that, but now He told me otherwise. Thus, what we learn here is only this: it is permissible as a temporary measure to perform an act even contrary to Halachah in order to draw the Jewish people closer - like Eliyahu who sacrificed during the prohibition of high places, and like Gideon who sacrificed the bull prepared for Baal.
The Yerushalmi: Receiving a Reward Equal to All of Them
The Yerushalmi states: "'It is a time to act for Hashem, they have violated Your Torah' - if you see people despairing of Torah, stand up and grasp hold of it, and you will receive the reward of all of them. What is the reason? 'They have violated Your Torah - it is a time to act for Hashem.'" This is the very foundation we mentioned: the time when a person must act and not sit on the sidelines is when they have violated Your Torah. And the wondrous thing added by the Yerushalmi is: you receive a reward equal to all of them.
Indeed, it is written in the holy books that at certain times a person receives a reward equal to all of them. Sefer Chasidim defines this: these are mitzvot that have the status of a meit mitzvah (an unattended corpse). There are times when people do not learn Torah. Friday is a weak day for Torah study. Purim is a weak time for Torah study. One who learns Torah on Purim - fortunate is he and fortunate is his portion, for he receives a reward equal to all of them! Where are the yeshivot on Purim? Where are the kollels? Every day from nine in the morning, thousands of kollels operate in Israel and around the world - and what happens on Purim from nine in the morning? Thank God, people are going around fulfilling mitzvot, but Torah study is certainly lacking. And whoever utilizes this time to learn - one can manage everything: to learn Torah, send mishloach manot, give gifts to the poor, hear the reading of the Megillah, and partake in the Purim feast. Everything is possible, if only a person uses his time wisely. And specifically at such a time, one receives a reward equal to all of them.
An Erev Shabbat Kollel - and Why It Was Opposed
Incidentally, someone once wanted to establish a Friday kollel, two hours before Shabbat. That is the weakest time for Torah study: who sits and learns then? Everyone is under the pressure of showers, the children, and preparations for Shabbat. A teacher once asked little Danny: Where is the Holy One, blessed be He, found? Danny answered: On Friday, in the bathtub. The teacher asked: What makes you say that? Danny replied: I don't know, but I hear Mommy banging hard on the bathroom door and screaming, "Master of the Universe, get out already!" In any case, it is a hectic time. But Rav Shteinman did not encourage the idea, and other leading Torah figures did not agree to it either. Why? Because it is a stressful time - and who is feeling the stress? The wife at home, with the children, the preparations, the cooking, the hotplate, and the Shabbat timer. And the husband says: I'm off, two hours before Shabbat I'm sitting in the beit midrash learning Torah. All respect to you - but you left your wife to collapse at home! That is why they did not approve. True, Torah study is exceedingly important and its virtue is immense, but if the burden falls on one's wife, this is certainly not the right way.
The Holy Shelah: Circumstances Brought About So That Punishment May Come
The holy Shelah writes, quoting the Rambam in his commentary on the Mishnah at the end of Berachot: "'It is a time to act for Hashem, they have voided Your Torah' - when the time comes to exact retribution from them, circumstances present themselves to people causing them to breach the Torah so that the punishment may befall them." This matter is profound, vast, and deep, deep - who can fathom it?
To illustrate this with an example: the Ramchal explains in Da'at Tevunot regarding the afflictions of Rebbi: "Through an incident they came, and through an incident they departed." They came through an incident - the famous episode where he said to that calf, "Go, for this you were created." They departed through an incident - when he saw the maidservant in his house sweeping away the young rodents, and he said to her, "And His tender mercies are over all His works," and through that, the suffering left. And he asks: This is truly astonishing. Rebbi spoke the truth - the calf was indeed created for this purpose! Should he suffer thirteen years of such agony because of this, where it is written that his screams could be heard in the neighboring town? Was that a proportionate punishment?
Rather, pay attention to the precise phrasing: it does not say, "Because of an incident they came and because of an incident they departed," but rather, "Through an incident." Rebbi's suffering was decreed upon him due to Heavenly calculations. We do not know what they were - a reckoning of spiritual rectification, purification, or the protection of the generation. After all, the Gemara states that throughout all the years Rebbi suffered afflictions, no woman experienced a miscarriage, showing that this provided immense protection for his entire generation. What, then, took place? To use an analogy: if you smear an infection on unbroken skin, nothing happens, but if a person has the slightest scratch on his body, the infection can enter and he may even die. Did the person die because of the scratch? No. The infection killed him, and the scratch was merely the opening through which it penetrated. Exactly so with Rebbi's suffering: "Go, for this you were created" was the tiny scratch through which the infection entered, but the infection itself was a decree of Heaven. For from Heaven, even when something is decreed upon a person, it is not brought upon him without some immediate justification; therefore, the slightest cause was required to usher in the suffering, and likewise the slightest cause was required when the time came for it to depart - when he showed compassion to those rodents.
In a similar vein, the Shelah explains here in the name of the Rambam: when the time comes to exact retribution from them, the Holy One, blessed be He, arranges circumstances for them to breach the Torah so that the punishment may fall upon them. The immediate circumstance is not the true underlying cause; it is merely the portal through which that which had already been decreed is applied to them.
Rav Elchanan Wasserman in the Name of the Chafetz Chaim: Hafarah Rather than Hatarah
Rav Elchanan Wasserman cites a wonderful insight from the Chafetz Chaim. "They have voided Your Torah (heiferu Toratecha)" - meaning they have uprooted the Torah. Consider this: in the laws of vows, there is the concept of release (hatarah) and the concept of annulment (hafarah). One goes to a Torah scholar to have a vow released; a father or husband annuls the vow. What is the difference? There are several differences - retroactive versus from that moment on - but one key difference is that when a scholar releases a vow, he requires an opening and regret; he needs a justification. In contrast, a husband or father annuls the vow without needing any reason whatsoever. He hears that she made such-and-such a vow, and if it pertains to matters that affect him, such as affliction of the soul and the like, he tells her on the day he hears it, "It is annulled for you," and that is it. Even if she did not hear him annul it, and even if he said it to himself, the vow is annulled.
The Chafetz Chaim explains: King David comes to teach us the difference between earlier generations and the final generations. In earlier generations, there were transgressors, but they offered pretexts for their actions, excuses and rationalizations - they "released" the Torah. But this generation, "they have annulled Your Torah": without pretext, without explanation. Why? "I feel like it," "I don't feel like it," and that is all. They annul the Torah with neither reason nor rationale. This is the final generation, in which insolence increases. And precisely for this reason: "It is a time to act for Hashem." At such a time, says the Chafetz Chaim, act for the sake of Hashem, and when they have annulled Your Torah, through this you will receive a reward equivalent to all of them, as the Yerushalmi phrases it.
"Therefore I Loved Your Commandments" - Because I Loved
עַל כֵּן אָהַבְתִּי מִצְוֺתֶיךָ מִזָּהָב וּמִפָּז׃ - Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, even fine gold.
Rashi interprets the words "Therefore (al ken)": Because (al asher) I love Your commandments, it is fitting for You to teach me what that time of favor is, in which I may act for the sake of Hashem, blessed be He, and You will find favor in me. For according to his approach, "It is a time to act for Hashem" refers to the way in which the Holy One, blessed be He, finds favor and forgiveness for those who have voided Your Torah. King David says: I love Your commandments, so teach me what that time and that path are, through which I may obtain favor before You, that You may desire me and be pleased with me. And Rashi adds: there are many instances of "therefore (al ken)" whose meaning is "because (al asher)," such as "for therefore I have seen your face," and "for therefore you know how we encamp in the wilderness" - all bearing the meaning of "because."
The Radak: When They Pursue Monetary Gain, I Grow Stronger
The Radak explains: Since I see that they have voided Your Torah and are chasing after illicit gain - their entire business and preoccupation being to collect and amass wealth. What is the world occupied with twenty-four hours a day? What is the central ambition? Money. A person wants wealth because he believes that through it he will attain happiness and acquire everything, so the primary daily pursuit is after money. King David says: But I, in contrast to them - "Therefore I love Your commandments." When I see that this is what they pursue, on the contrary, I am strengthened in my aspiration to love Your commandments, and for me it is more precious than gold and fine gold. They chase after gold and fine gold - gold and fine gold do not interest me; what interests me is to pursue Your commandments.
And this is what we said: precisely at a time when the violators of the covenant are actively doing evil, that is the time to strengthen oneself for the good. When they worsen their relentless pursuit of money, I strengthen myself and pursue the mitzvos even more than they pursue fine gold. And one who sees the wicked breaking the Torah and strengthens himself - him Chazal call wise.
"I Regard All Your Precepts as Upright" - One Truth Versus Ever-Changing Falsehood
עַל כֵּן כׇּל פִּקּוּדֵי כֹל יִשָּׁרְתִּי כׇּל אֹרַח שֶׁקֶר שָׂנֵאתִי׃ - Therefore, I declare all Your precepts concerning everything to be right; I hate every false way.
The Torah's precepts are upright in my eyes, and I defend them against those who scorn them and claim they are not righteous laws. But their own judgments and ways, which they present as the upright standards - they are a path of falsehood, and them I hate.
And see how many times laws have changed among the nations, and how many times educational theories have shifted. Every era brings a new method, every generation a new psychological trend. Yet we have held onto the very same approaches for thousands of years. Why? Because when you walk in falsehood, you must constantly search, moving from one lie to another. But when you possess the truth - that is it; having already found it, there is no need to keep searching. Once, little Danny sat at the piano hitting a single key over and over: plink, plink, plink. His father said to him, "Danny, there are many other keys; play around a bit, explore." He answered, "Daddy, they are searching; I already found it." A person must realize: when you have the truth, you do not search for alternatives. Once you have found the truth, the search is over.
The Malbim: Precepts, Judgment, and What Accompanies a Person
The Malbim places the central emphasis here on "precepts" (pikudim). We have explained that pikudim are the mitzvos commanded as memorials of historical events - such as the Pesach offering commemorating the Exodus from Egypt, the redemption of a firstborn donkey (peter chamor), and similar commandments. The Malbim explains: since I know there is a time when You will enter into judgment over every hidden thing, and since I know that there is Divine providence, reward, and punishment - therefore "I loved Your commandments more than gold, even fine gold."
And why? Because gold and fine gold will not save a person from punishment: "Wealth will not avail on the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." What will avail a person? "Your righteousness shall go before you" - when? When "the glory of Hashem gathers you in"; then your righteousness goes before you. Charity and righteousness are what accompany a person, but neither silver, nor gold, nor precious stones and pearls accompany him. Therefore, David says: I loved Your mitzvos more than gold and fine gold. Since I know that the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring every deed to judgment and demand an accounting of what one did during his lifetime, I do not chase after gold and fine gold, which will be useless on the Day of Judgment. Rather, I seek the mitzvos - for they will speak in my defense and serve as advocates on the Day of Judgment. "Therefore, I declare all Your precepts concerning everything to be right; I hate every false way."
In summary: "It is a time to act for Hashem, for they have voided Your Torah" is expounded from every angle: as a plea to know the way to find favor and forgiveness; as an indictment against one who has free time yet relegates his Torah study to mere set intervals; as a promise that a time will come when Hashem exacts retribution from the wicked; as sanction for an emergency ruling (hora'as sha'ah) for prophets like Eliyahu and Gideon; and as the rallying cry of the Yerushalmi: when you see people giving up on the Torah, stand up and hold fast to it, and you will receive a reward equal to them all. The Chafetz Chaim added that a generation that voids the Torah without any pretext at all is precisely the time to act for the sake of Hashem. From here, David continues to the next two verses: when the entire world chases after gold and fine gold, I strengthen myself to love the mitzvos more than they do, for I know that there is judgment, and that only the precepts and righteousness go before a person - not silver and gold. And when you hold the truth in your hands, you no longer seek the paths of falsehood that shift with every generation.