Chapter 126 is one of the most familiar chapters in Tehillim, and in this part of the shiur we focus on its final three pesukim: the plea, "Return our captivity, Hashem," and the great parable of those who sow in tears and reap in joy. We will see how the Malbim, Rashi, the Ibn Ezra, and the Radak explain this imagery, and we will add to it words of mussar and explanations in the way of remez.
שׁוּבָה יְהֹוָה אֶת־שְׁבִיתֵנוּ כַּאֲפִיקִים בַּנֶּגֶב׃ - Return our captivity, Hashem, like streams in the Negev.
Rashi explains: just as streams of water in an arid land moisten and saturate it, so will we be saturated when You return our captivity. The dry earth yearns for water; the moment you moisten it, you see how it immediately drinks up the water. So it is with us - Your return to us will water us and quench our thirst, like those streams in the Negev that thirst for a bit of water. And then those who sow in an arid land with tears - for a person says: what use is it to sow here, this is the Negev, a parched place devoid of water - through those streams of water that You send there, they will reap with singing. We will have song and jubilation at harvest time, because in that place we never expected anything to grow, and behold, now it produces growth.
הַזֹּרְעִים בְּדִמְעָה בְּרִנָּה יִקְצֹרוּ׃ - Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Based on what was explained above, the Psalmist now comes and asks that the salvation be something new, entirely unexpected. When something anticipated arrives, the sense of wonder is not great; but when something completely unexpected occurs - that is where true wonder, deep excitement, and great surprise reside. This is what he is saying: Master of the Universe, if You bring the redemption before its appointed time, there will be tremendous surprise and, with it, immense joy.
If the redemption arrives at its set time - namely, at the completion of seventy years of the Babylonian exile, as the prophets foretold - then it is comparable, the Malbim defines, to one who reaps a field of grain atop a fertile valley in a rich land, who was confident in his heart that he would carry his sheaves. The joy is not especially great, because it is nothing novel. A person who sows in a fertile place knows how much seed he puts in and knows how much he will harvest at the end; everything is known in advance, he has years of experience, and he knows what the yield will be. Even when he comes to reap, there is no extraordinary joy here, since everything was clear from the start, completely according to plan.
However, if the redemption arrives before the appointed time, it is like a person who sowed in parched land, despairing from the very outset: surely nothing will grow here, surely nothing will come of this. And suddenly streams of water arrived and irrigated the ground, and when he comes to harvest - his mourning turns into joy. The sowing was done in sadness, and the reaping is done in joy, over something he had never dared to hope for. This is the meaning of "Return our captivity, Hashem" - ahead of time, in a way that makes us like streams in the Negev: those who sow in tears, having neither hope nor expectation at the time of sowing, and suddenly reap in joy. Thus we yearn that the redemption be a sudden, wondrous redemption, not one we merely anticipate along a set schedule, but one that arrives ahead of its time, and then there will truly be boundless joy at the time of the redemption.
הָלוֹךְ יֵלֵךְ וּבָכֹה נֹשֵׂא מֶשֶׁךְ־הַזָּרַע בֹּא־יָבֹא בְרִנָּה נֹשֵׂא אֲלֻמֹּתָיו׃ - He who goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed, will surely come back with singing, carrying his sheaves.
The Malbim adds an even more vivid illustration: even after the streams arrived and watered the Negev, the field owner was not updated on the weather report and had no idea that flash floods had watered the Negev. Therefore, as he walks out to the field to harvest, he is still weeping. Why? Because on the way he says to himself: what do I have to harvest? I sowed, but this is the Negev, what could possibly grow there? This is the meaning of "He who goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed" - he thinks that all he will carry back is the measure of seed he sowed, nothing more: I sowed a kor, I will barely recover a kor. And no one sows a kor simply to get a kor back; one sows a kor hoping to reap many korin! And then suddenly - "he will surely come back with singing, carrying his sheaves": he carries great sheaves, far beyond anything he anticipated, for he discovers that the land was irrigated, that there were streams in the Negev, and he discovers tremendous abundance. This joy is even greater, because it is an unexpected, overwhelming joy.
The Malbim explains the two parables written here: The first parable is that the redemption will come ahead of its time, which is "like streams in the Negev" - rain we did not anticipate. The second parable is that even at the time of redemption, we only anticipated a modest salvation, yet there will be a grand salvation. This is like the days of Cyrus, when we were under the dominion of the Persian kings, yet we still received assistance from the kings to go and build the Land of Israel. Thus, the reality itself became a joy we never anticipated nor dared to hope for.
The Radak explains "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy" by comparing the exile to the arid land of the Negev: One who sows there sows in tears, as he pleads with Hashem to send rain, for in the arid Negev there is nothing unless the Holy One, blessed be He, has mercy and brings down rain. And it is completely illogical that someone who sows there would actually reap a harvest, since the land is parched and dry. So too, the Jewish people in exile, amidst all their distress, sow - and this sowing is the performance of the mitzvos. We do this in tears, due to the suffering of exile, and we yearn for Hashem to redeem us from exile; then we will reap in joy what we sowed in tears.
In other words: everything we have done throughout the years has been sowing in tears - we were in exile and fulfilled mitzvos amidst hardship, amidst harassment by the nations, amidst persecution. And what is our hope? "Shall reap in joy" - that the stage will arrive when we receive reward for all these efforts, for all the persecutions, for everything the nations did to us. And this is what is stated in Hoshea: "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness." We eagerly anticipate reaping the fruits of all those deeds performed during exceedingly difficult periods, where we nonetheless exerted ourselves so that Hashem would reward us for them.
The Chasam Sofer cites in the name of the Ba'al HaHafala'ah a fascinating explanation of "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy," which addresses those who stumble in the sin of Pgam HaBris, the sin of wasting seed. For these individuals, there are two rectifications. The first is "those who sow in tears" - to weep in bitterness of soul, and the tears of his eyes atone drop for drop: the drops flowing from his tears atone for that wherein he stumbled. The second is "shall reap in joy" - to serve Hashem with joy. And why? Because zemirot (songs of praise) is related to the root meaning "to prune the ruthless," cutting down the kelipot (forces of impurity) like one pruning a vineyard. Therefore, the Kabbalists say that the Zemirot - the Pesukei D'Zimra that we recite in the morning before the blessing of Yotzer Ohr - are called this because they come to prune the ruthless tyrants, namely the kelipot and forces of impurity that attempt to cling to prayer.
According to this: the first rectification corresponds to Palti ben Laish - "He goes weeping," for when he was forced to separate from Michal, he went along weeping. The second corresponds to Yosef HaTzaddik - "bearing his sheaves," for Yosef nourished and sustained everyone, embodying the aspect of bearing his sheaves. And this is the aspect of pruning the ruthless: when one prunes the ruthless, he carries sheaves, as he prunes and reaps the kelipot like one pruning in a vineyard.
Rashi comments on "He goes along weeping": So do the Jewish people sow charity before the Holy One, blessed be He, with tears in exile, and "shall reap in joy" - when they receive their reward in the World to Come.
The Ibn Ezra explains: Why is he weeping? Because he fears that the seed will be lost. For when one sows in a place that is not expected to produce growth, even the seed itself is consumed and lost there. And what is meshech hazara? In the Ibn Ezra's view, it refers to the vessel containing the seed. And alumotav ("his sheaves"), written with a vav at the end, does not refer back to the person, but to the seed: that very same small amount of seed suddenly yields its sheaves - seed that produced abundant sheaves. The verse comes to tell you that those who keep the Torah and bear the yoke of exile - those who bear the yoke shall rejoice, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will gladden them in the future. Whoever endured the yoke of exile and nevertheless clung to his faith and devotion is the one who will surely come with joy, bearing his sheaves.
The Radak, on the other hand, explains that meshech is not the vessel containing the seed, but rather meshech hazara means the preciousness of the seed, as in the verse "And the value (umeshech) of wisdom is greater than pearls" - the preciousness of wisdom surpasses pearls. And why is a precious thing called meshech? Because due to its immense value, its renown spreads and extends (nimshech) afar. Everyone has heard of Queen Elizabeth's diamond; because of its extreme value, being rare and singular in the world, everyone has heard of it and its fame spreads far and wide. So too, "bearing the precious seed": seed was considered precious and scarce in the Negev, for there, in that parched region, seed was a costly commodity - it was not a place with abundant grain where prices were cheap. And the poor man who takes it and goes out to the field to sow weeps, for he fears that nothing will grow from it. But Hashem sees his tears and rains down upon the earth, and when the harvest arrives - "he will surely come with joy, bearing his sheaves."
And as we have seen, all the commentators here proceed in the same direction: the Jewish people in exile endure the yoke of exile and bear the burden of taxes in order to fulfill the Torah and mitzvos, and this is the seed in the parable. And at the time of the redemption, which is the time of the harvest, they will come to Eretz Yisrael with joy, and bear the good sheaves that the Holy One, blessed be He, will give them, leaving exile with silver and gold.
Exile forces a person to incur tremendous expenses. If a person were to eat the meat of the gentiles, his life abroad would be much cheaper. If he were to send his children to the non-Jewish educational institutions, his life would be much cheaper. Abroad, people pay a fortune for cheders, talmudei Torah, and yeshivos, because you are outside the standard state curriculum and must pay out of pocket. Even here in Eretz Yisrael this is true, though not to the same financial extent; there, it involves thousands of dollars that a person commits each month for his daughter's seminary and his son's talmud Torah, so that outside influences do not interfere with the curriculum. Thus, we endure the yoke of exile and incur immense expenses, and in the words of the Ibn Ezra: bearing the burden of taxes to fulfill the Torah and mitzvos.
And know that there are reimbursements. Everything you spend - you receive a return on it, and this is "they will leave exile with silver and gold." As is well known, Shabbat expenses are reimbursed; and the Ritva says that this is not limited to Shabbat. Expenses for Torah study are reimbursed, and this is not limited to Torah study - rather, every expense a person incurs for a mitzvah is not deducted from what was decreed for his livelihood on Rosh Hashanah, but is an account of its own. Whatever you spend on mitzvos is a separate account. Consequently, through this, "he will surely come with singing, bearing his sheaves."
Some explain by way of allusion: there is a person who gives tzedakah with no choice, having been backed into a corner and pressured. Rav Zilberstein brings a question about a person who arrived with a check from a certain wealthy man, whom he had asked: "Write me a check as if you donated one hundred thousand dollars" - even though he did not actually donate it - so that with this check he could encourage other philanthropists to give: "Look, so-and-so gave one hundred thousand dollars here," and consequently, the other person feels he cannot fulfill his obligation with less, and he too writes a check. This is what might be called a coercive check, and Rav Zilberstein discusses whether this is halachically permitted or forbidden, which we will not delve into here.
For our purposes, however: there is a person who gives because he was pressured, out of a sense of having no choice, because he felt embarrassed, because everyone else gave, or because the poor person pressed him and forced him to give - and he gives halfheartedly. In contrast, there is a person who gives with joy, and even runs after the poor to give them charity. Both receive reward in Heaven, for the Holy One, blessed be He, does not withhold the reward of any creature. What, then, is the difference? One who gave with distress and out of coercion receives according to the amount he gave - matching what you gave, you will receive. But for one who gave with joy and jubilation, it is principal yielding fruit and the fruit of fruit; his money does not sleep in the bank, but continues to grow, flourish, and yield fruit.
And this is what the verse means: "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy" - one who sows for charity, as in the phrase, "Sow for yourselves righteousness," whether he gave in tears, with no choice, or whether he gave with song, out of joy - in either case, they will all reap, for in Heaven everyone reaps and receives the fruit. What, then, is the difference between them? "He goes along weeping, carrying the measure of seed" - one who gave amid weeping and sorrow receives according to the measure he sowed. In the words of the Malbim: "The measure of seed" - it will be extended only according to what he sowed and no more. But "he will surely come with singing, bearing his sheaves" - one who gave with joy has sheaves, fruit, and the fruit of fruit, receiving far, far more. Therefore, a person must realize how crucial it is to infuse every mitzvah with joy in the service of Hashem, awakening his heart and doing things with willingness.
In his old age, the Chafetz Chaim could be heard engaged in soul-searching, admonishing himself: "Yisrael Meir, perhaps you did not fulfill the mitzvos with enough joy." Not that he did not fulfill them with joy - certainly he rejoiced with complete joy in fulfilling the mitzvos - but his intention was: perhaps it was not visibly apparent that the greatest joy for a Jew is to fulfill the mitzvos of Hashem; perhaps you did not project this sufficiently; perhaps it did not cry out strongly enough from within you.
Acting with joy is a cornerstone, and it makes the difference between whether a person earns, in that very same span of time, one shekel or one billion shekels. One who makes this calculation understands how much he must internalize: I am joyful, this is Hashem's mitzvah, I want to do this, this is the most precious thing, and for this there will be a magnificent reward. Even when a person walks to the beit midrash feeling weighed down by the world, he can catch himself halfway and say: No, I am walking briskly now, I am going to learn Torah, I will walk with joy. When a person performs things with joy, it is entirely different; it is an entirely different scale of reward. And through this, he is "bearing his sheaves."
In the sefer Otzrot HaAggadah, it is cited in the name of the holy Belzer Rebbe that at his Bar Mitzvah celebration he delivered a derashah and said as follows: During a child's early years - "He goes along weeping" - why? Because he is "bearing the measure of seed" - for the father bears the iniquities of his son. Until he recites over him the blessing, "Blessed is He Who has freed me from the punishment of this one," who bears the meshech, the sins of that seed, that son? The father. Therefore, "He goes along weeping." But "he shall surely come" [bo yavo] - and yavo has the gematria of thirteen - then it is "with song": the father rejoices that he has been freed from this burden, this yoke, and these iniquities, and from now on the son himself is "bearing his sheaves" - all the sheaves you make from now on are on your own back. The father rejoices with song, having been freed from the trouble and the burden that lay upon his shoulders.
Another explanation is brought in Otzrot HaAggadah: There are people who do not bother to study Torah themselves, saying, "My Kaddish, my child, will learn Torah for me; he will recite Kaddish for me." To this, one is told: know this, a person must exert himself to fulfill mitzvot and not rely solely on his children; children are merely a bonus.
When people would come to the Chofetz Chaim and say, "Rebbi, I want to donate such-and-such an amount so that the Rav will study for the elevation of my soul," he would reply: "I should learn for the elevation of your soul? Learn for your own soul's elevation! When a person learns now, he learns for the elevation of his own soul. For whose soul's elevation are you learning? And why wait until after death? Learn now, and that will elevate your soul." There is nothing that elevates a person's soul like the Torah he studied himself; what others give you does not carry the same value, for it is not something through which you elevated yourself.
And this is what is said here: "He goes along weeping, bearing the measure of seed" - one who relies on his seed after him to learn for him and do for him ultimately ends up walking and weeping, his expectations dashed. Things do not turn out as he thought: his child does not necessarily follow in his footsteps, does not necessarily care, and sometimes does not even make it to the synagogue to recite Kaddish. But who truly merits? "He shall come home with song, bearing his sheaves" - a person who does not rely on his children, but carries his sheaves himself: he goes to a shiur himself, he rises early for prayer himself. When he arrives in Heaven with sheaves of Torah that he learned in this world, there is nothing that elevates a person's soul and purifies it like the learning he did himself, far more than any charity or merits he might receive from others.
The personal attendant [mashbak] of Rav Shteinman, Rav Levinstein zt"l, recounted: Once, a man came and said that his late father had appeared to him in a dream wearing torn clothes, begging him to study Torah for his merit and perform mitzvot for the elevation of his soul, and the man asked what exactly he should do and how. After that man left, Rav Shteinman let out a deep sigh. I asked him what he was sighing about. He said to me: "See what this is, what a pity on a Jew - that a Jew has to come and beg for handouts from his son: 'Do a favor, open a book for the elevation of my soul, fulfill a mitzvah for the elevation of my soul.' Instead of filling his time here, he must later come and weep to his child to send him something, like a beggar knocking at the door." And he said: "What will become of us? What will become of us? How much we must utilize our time, and how carefully we must ensure that afterward we will not be like beggars knocking at the door, but rather carry our sheaves ourselves, and not be like 'one who bears the measure of seed,' of whom it is said, 'He goes along weeping.'"
The end of the psalm is a twofold plea: that the Redemption arrive before its time - "like streams in the dry land," water in an arid desert that no one anticipated - and that it be far greater than we ever hoped for: not merely the "measure of seed," but "his sheaves." And embedded within the parable is a message for our own lives: the tearful sowing of fulfilling mitzvot in exile, with all its hardships and expenses, will be reaped in joy, and there is no expense for a mitzvah that does not yield a return. Everything, however, depends on the quality of the sowing: one who gives and acts begrudgingly receives according to the measure he sowed, while one who acts out of joy and willingness reaps the principal, the fruit, and the fruit of the fruit. Therefore, let a person not rely on others or on his children to elevate his soul; rather, let him study, rejoice, and labor himself, and thereby merit to come home with song, bearing his sheaves. May Hashem grant us the merit to immerse ourselves in Torah with joy.