Psalm 126 is one of the most familiar psalms in the book, a short psalm filled with yearning and anticipation for redemption. Rashi explains that the psalm was spoken concerning the return to Zion from the Babylonian exile, after seventy years of exile. The Malbim explains that King David composed this psalm about the return to Zion and the exiles. In this lesson, we will examine the first three verses and see how the Rishonim and the Malbim explain the wondrous expression, "we were like dreamers."
שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת בְּשׁוּב יְהֹוָה אֶת־שִׁיבַת צִיּוֹן הָיִינוּ כְּחֹלְמִים׃ - A Song of Ascents: When Hashem brings back the captivity of Zion, we were like dreamers.
Radak brings two ways to understand the word beshuv. One possibility: this does not mean restoring something, but rather an expression of rest and settling, as in, "Return (shuvah), Hashem, to the myriads of thousands of Israel," which conveys settling down - "and when it rested, he said" - and similarly, "then Hashem will return (veshav) your captivity and have compassion on you." A second possibility: it refers to actual repentance (teshuvah), meaning when Hashem brings back the returnees of Zion in repentance, and the children of Zion return to Hashem, then "we were like dreamers" - all the suffering of the exile will seem to us like a dream. From the sheer joy we will experience then, all the troubles of the exile will be forgotten, vanishing like a passing dream.
Ibn Ezra explains that the Jewish people are the ones who will say, when Hashem returns their captivity, "we were like dreamers": such a wonder can only be seen in a dream. The Jewish people will say - we cannot believe our eyes; this is something that happens only in a dream.
The Malbim explains the verse in a completely different way. Here it is important to note: in all the printed editions, the text of the Malbim reads "mitziyon tikvat Yisrael," which is completely unintelligible. An examination of the Malbim's manuscript, preserved today in the National Library, reveals that it actually reads "metzayen" - "depicting the hope of Israel" - a very common phrasing in the Malbim's writings. The Malbim's language is always lucid; he does not write riddles. Once this textual error is corrected, everything falls into place: the psalm depicts the hope of Israel, what they hope for - that Hashem will fulfill His promise through His prophets to restore their captivity.
And what does this hope feel like? Like someone dreaming a prophetic dream. Notice the precision: not an ordinary dream, but a prophetic dream. A person who dreams a prophetic dream sees the future right now. This is one of the qualities of a true dream, even when not strictly prophetic: one sees things vividly and clearly, as though they are happening right now before one's eyes. As noted in Mishnat HaChalomot, this is one of the signs mentioned in the classic works to discern whether a dream is true. Notice how the Torah always describes dreams: "and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright," "and behold, your sheaves gathered around," "and behold, in my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile" - behold, behold, behold! What does "behold" signify? Here, right before my eyes, I see it happening vividly right now.
And if this is true of a dream, how much more so with prophecy, for a true dream is merely one-sixtieth of prophecy. The prophet sees things right now vividly before his eyes, as though the event is occurring in reality at this very moment, and he rejoices over it just as one rejoices over a good thing that already exists. As Yirmiyahu says: "Upon this I awoke and saw, and my sleep was sweet to me" - I had a good sleep, I awoke and saw, I see it right before my eyes.
The Malbim explains: there is no difference between the prophet's vision in prophetic contemplation and witnessing the events in actual reality, except for one thing alone - the prophet's joy is not expressed outwardly. He has neither laughter nor singing, but he possesses joy in his heart, for he perceives the events within his heart. He does not break into dance and singing in the midst of prophecy, but his joy is complete within his heart.
And this is the meaning of the verse: When Hashem brings back the captivity of Zion - we were already like dreamers; we had already seen it in vision, we had already seen it in a dream, where "dream" here means prophecy. We had already seen in advance what we are now experiencing in reality. The only difference is that "then our mouth will be filled with laughter" - when it actually occurs, the joy will burst forth from the mouth, whereas in prophecy a person experiences neither singing nor laughter, but only joy in the heart.
The book Shirat Yonah cites in the name of Dudaim BaSadeh another explanation of "we were like dreamers." When a person has a bad dream, the Gemara states that it is a good omen for him. Why? "His sorrow is sufficient" (atzivutei masteih) - the grief he experienced is enough. As explained in Mishnat HaChalomot, Chazal note that David never saw a good dream, whereas Doeg and Achitophel never saw a bad dream. The reason is that when Heaven does not wish to grant goodness to a wicked person, he is shown a good dream, and "his joy is sufficient" - you have already received your reward through the joy of the dream. Conversely, Hashem does not wish to subject a righteous person to actual suffering, so he is shown a bad dream and suffers within the dream; the Holy One, blessed be He, says: This is enough for you, you have already been exempted from actual affliction.
So too it will be at the time of the Redemption: we will then understand that all the sorrow of the exile was actually for our good, so that the Holy One, blessed be He, would hasten the salvation. This is the meaning of "we were like dreamers" - it will become clear that everything we endured in exile was a sort of bad dream that came in place of actual suffering. What we now view as terrible and severe will be revealed as not nearly as bad as we thought, but quite the contrary - a bad dream substituted for real calamity.
Targum Yonatan offers a fascinating explanation here, interpreting hayinu kecholmim not from the root of dreaming (chalom), but from recovery (hachlamah) - meaning, we were like people recovering from illness, as in the verse, "and restore me to health and make me live" (ve-sachlimeni ve-hachayeini). This concept fits the return to Zion beautifully: until now, in exile, we are like the sick; when the Redemption arrives, we will be like those recovering from that illness.
The Ya'arot Devash explains this based on the statement of Chazal that sleep is one-sixtieth of death. When Hashem returns the captivity of Zion, it will become clear to us that everything we experienced throughout the exile was merely a dream, only one-sixtieth of true life. For then we will attain true life and genuine spiritual grasp, and we will see that all we experienced until now was merely a fraction of complete and eternal life - just as Chazal taught that Shabbat is one-sixtieth of Gan Eden, meaning only a slight taste of the real thing.
Why do Chazal always specify "one-sixtieth," rather than one in a hundred or one in two hundred? This is also explained in Mishnat HaChalomot: because less than one-sixtieth is nullified (batel), whereas one-sixtieth is the smallest measure that still imparts flavor. When Chazal wish to convey that something possesses a slight yet tangible connection to another realm, they designate it as one-sixtieth - the absolute minimum at which one can still perceive the taste of Gan Eden.
Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian explains, citing the Chafetz Chaim: When Yosef went missing and the Egyptian ruler mistreated the brothers, Yehudah raised difficult questions - why did you ask us in the first place whether we had a father or a brother? Why did you demand that we bring him down, why did you imprison him, why did you accuse him? Mountains of perplexities and utter lack of understanding. Then Yosef uttered just two words: "I am Yosef" - and instantly, every question was resolved. There was no need to answer each question individually, explaining why this happened here and that happened there; through a single revelation of "I am Hashem," everything falls into place.
So too, when Hashem returns the captivity of Zion, it will become evident that everything was a dream. And what happens to a person who is inside a dream? He wakes up - and it is over. There is no need to explain everything that transpired, because all the questions existed only while inside the dream. Once you awaken, you realize: ah, it was all a dream.
Rav Kahaneman similarly observed: if someone is being chased in a dream by people trying to kill him, and in another moment they will take his life, how do you save him? You simply wake him up. Our entire reality today - that the whole world wants to swallow us, that we are threatened from this side and threatened from that side, these are arming themselves and those are threatening - is a dream: "we were like dreamers." What needs to happen? Simply to awaken us. The moment we are awakened, it will become clear that it was all like a fleeting dream, and how the Holy One, blessed be He, is "I am Hashem." This is the ultimate Redemption: a reality in which there are no more questions and no misunderstandings, and in which everything that appeared frightening and terrible receives a single answer that resolves everything.
אָז יִמָּלֵא שְׂחוֹק פִּינוּ וּלְשׁוֹנֵנוּ רִנָּה אָז יֹאמְרוּ בַגּוֹיִם הִגְדִּיל יְהֹוָה לַעֲשׂוֹת עִם־אֵלֶּה׃ - Then our mouth will be filled with laughter and our tongue with singing; then they will say among the nations: Hashem has done great things for these.
The Ibn Ezra notes with precision: why does the verse say "our mouth" (pinu) in the singular rather than "our mouths" (piyoteinu)? To teach that the mouth of each and every individual will be filled with laughter. And then it will be proclaimed among the nations, "Hashem has done great things for these" - see, the people of Israel are redeemed by Hashem.
The Radak explains that the statement "Hashem has done great things for these" is an expression of wonder and astonishment: how could the Holy One, blessed be He, perform such a tremendous wonder for them? And this astonishment will intensify in proportion to how lowly the nations viewed us. The more they constantly portrayed us as occupiers, corrupt, abusive, and callous - the greater the astonishment will be when it suddenly becomes clear that these are the people of Hashem.
The Malbim explains the two verses together. The laughter currently in our hearts, at the time of prophecy, cannot fill our mouths, for we have not yet entered the actual redemption. But then our mouth will be filled with laughter: what is now only in potential - joy in potential rather than in actuality - will then be realized in practice; then we will sing, praise, and give thanks, for the redemption will become reality.
This is the difference between the nations and us: the nations were not given prophecies about the redemption, so when they see us redeemed, it will come as an immense surprise, and they will say, "Hashem has done great things for these" - something completely new that never crossed their minds. For us, however, there was prophecy, and prophecy foresaw everything in advance, so it is nothing new to us. Already at the time of prophecy, when we were like dreamers and merely beheld the vision, we already rejoiced in our hearts. For us, this is an old joy, not something newly born. It is comparable to two people, one of whom received advance notice while the other did not: the one who was notified in advance is not so overwhelmed with excitement. Those who are astonished are the nations, saying, "Hashem has done great things for these," while we say: we already knew in advance that this was destined to happen.
In the sefer Yosef Tehilot, he cites in the name of the Sages of Castile: one might have thought that because the people of Israel were in a harsh exile and endured terrible bitterness, any redemption whatsoever, even the smallest one, would seem immense to them relative to what they had suffered - like people content with very little. Regarding this, the verse comes and says: "Then they will say among the nations: Hashem has done great things for these." The nations, who enjoyed tranquility all along, who sat beside springs of abundance and prosperity, say according to their own high standards, "Hashem has done great things for these." Do not say that the goodness is great only relative to our lowliness; the nations, who have every luxury, are the ones who testify to the sheer magnitude of the goodness.
This also explains the continuation of the passage: "Hashem has done great things with us" - the nations add and say, this goodness is so great that even had Hashem done such great things with us, we too would rejoice. That is to say: we, with all our prosperous standing, had we received such a bounty, would have experienced immense joy; how much more so for the Jewish people, who suffered so terribly and now arrive at this vast abundance! It is like telling someone: this is a gift that even Bill Gates would be thrilled to receive. What could one possibly give him? What could still excite him? Yet the nations say: even if Hashem had done such great things with us, we too would rejoice, for even to us it would be vast abundance.
The Midrash in Parashat Beshalach expounds: "'Then our mouth will be filled with laughter' - from here is an allusion to the resurrection of the dead from the Torah." At first glance, this is puzzling: what is the connection between the resurrection of the dead and "then our mouth will be filled with laughter"? Regarding the redemption itself, it is readily understood that our mouth will be filled with laughter and joy, but from where is there proof for the resurrection of the dead? Furthermore, sechok is not merely joy, but something that provokes actual laughter.
This explanation is well known among the darshanim, originating in the book Divrei Aggadah by Rav Steiner: A man married at age twenty, left his wife pregnant, and passed away. Regarding techiyat hameitim (the resurrection of the dead), it is written that the Holy One, blessed be He, resurrects the dead just as they were during their lifetimes; otherwise, we would not recognize them at all - we need to know who is being spoken of. If a seventy-year-old man were raised looking like a seventeen-year-old youth, who would recognize him? But when he is raised as he was at the time of his passing, everyone knows who he is. Now, that father will arise as a twenty-year-old, while his son, who passed away at age one hundred, will arise as a centenarian. People will then see the hundred-year-old son holding hands with the twenty-year-old father, showing him honor and calling him "Father." They will say, "How could he be your father? He is your grandson, maybe your great-grandson!" And he will answer, "No, this is my father." "Then our mouth will be filled with laughter" - and from here we find an allusion to techiyat hameitim in the Torah.
הִגְדִּיל יְהֹוָה לַעֲשׂוֹת עִמָּנוּ הָיִינוּ שְׂמֵחִים׃ - "Hashem has done great things with us; we were rejoicing."
The Radak explains: Hashem has done great things with us, therefore we were rejoicing. The joy is immense and our mouth is filled with laughter because Hashem performed a wonder and bestowed great goodness upon us, far beyond anything we had expected.
The Metzudat David raises a difficulty: Why does it say "we were rejoicing" in the past tense? It should have said, "Hashem has done great things with us - we will rejoice"! He answers: We trusted in Him even while we were in exile, and already back then we rejoiced in the knowledge that the Holy One, blessed be He, would do great things with us. And this is what makes a Jew unbreakable - he possesses endless hope and anticipation. For us, hope never runs out: we always know that Mashiach will come, that there will be redemption, and that everything we go through is temporary; we made it through Pharaoh, and we will make it through this as well. This is what gives us joy and hope even in the midst of exile. We are so certain that Hashem will do great things with us at the time of redemption that we do not break in advance; rather, we are already filled with joy beforehand out of complete anticipation and faith.
One can suggest another way to explain these verses. "Nations" (goyim) does not necessarily refer strictly to non-Jews; it can also refer to the Jewish people, as in the verse, "For this nation (hagoy hazeh) is Your people" - Am Yisrael is also called a "goy." Simply put, when the people of Israel stand at their elevated spiritual level, they are called "Yisrael," and when they are on a lower level, they are called a "goy."
Accordingly: Sometimes a person looks at his own observance of Torah and mitzvot and says, "This is not worth much." "Hashem has done great things with these" - meaning those avreichim, those who study Torah diligently all day long, those who have deep kavannah in prayer; look at where someone like that is holding when he davens! But we are not there, and what we do does not have much value. Hashem has done great things with those people, but as for us - even when we learn, it is not on the level of the truly great talmidei chachamim, the tzaddikim. A person then tends to belittle himself. And the great tragedy is that this is part of the yetzer hara's scheme: to make a person fail to value his deeds, so that he discounts them and ultimately abandons them. After all, if my prayer is not worth much and my Torah study is not worth much, why should I invest effort in them?
To this, the verse comes and says: You are mistaken! "Hashem has done great things with us" - provided that "we were rejoicing." If you fulfill Torah and mitzvot with joy, you will discover that Hashem has done great things with us. That is, every mitzvah you fulfill with joy equals the value of a mitzvah performed by a tzaddik. The holy Ari said of himself that he attained all his lofty spiritual levels through studying Torah with joy - a true marvel, spiritual attainments unparalleled for generations, and all stemming from the power of joy.
And we can say that the two are interdependent: If you learn to appreciate the Torah and mitzvot you perform, you will naturally fulfill them with joy. But when you go about thinking, "Hashem has done great things with these" and not with me, you fulfill the mitzvot with heaviness and reluctance, feeling that it has no value. Conversely, when you know that "Hashem has done great things with us," you fulfill the mitzvot with joy, and then your deeds truly equal the deeds of the greatest individuals.