Psalm 128 is one of the "Songs of Ascents," describing the blessing of the one who fears Hashem: blessing in livelihood, blessing in one's wife, blessing in children, through to the overarching blessing flowing from Zion to all of Israel. In the lesson before us, we will examine the verses describing the blessing of the home - the wife and the children - and from there to the communal blessing: "May Hashem bless you from Zion," "and may you see children born to your children, peace upon Israel."
אֶשְׁתְּךָ כְּגֶפֶן פֹּרִיָּה בְּיַרְכְּתֵי בֵיתֶךָ בָּנֶיךָ כִּשְׁתִלֵי זֵיתִים סָבִיב לְשֻׁלְחָנֶךָ׃ - Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the innermost chambers of your house; your children like olive saplings around your table.
What is a "fruitful vine"? Rashi explains: she bears many children. And why are the children compared specifically to olive saplings? Because the olive tree cannot receive grafting - likewise, there is no blemish in your children, no mixture of any corrupt influence, but rather they are righteous like olive saplings.
Some offer a fine insight on this very distinction: Why is the wife compared to a vine and the sons to olives? In past times - and fundamentally it remains so today - for every one daughter who goes astray, there are several young men who go astray. It is easier to raise a daughter who aspires to Torah than to raise a son who will immerse himself in Torah, for his inclinations, trials, and struggles are far more difficult. Consider how wine is extracted from the vine: a gentle press on the grape and wine immediately flows. But oil from an olive? It requires crushing, pressing, and further crushing until a single drop of oil appears. That is the meaning of "your children like olive saplings" - it requires tremendous effort to produce upright and worthy sons from them.
The Radak explains that this, too, is among the finest worldly conduct: that you instruct your wife to be like a fruitful vine in the innermost chambers of your home. She is likened to a vine because it was the only tree in their times planted directly inside the house. They would plant it in the recesses of the house, at the edge, and as it grew, they would train its branches outward toward the sun. Thus, the roots were inside and the branches outside.
So it is with the wife: she herself remains within the home. The "way of the wayward woman" is described as "now outside, now in the streets"; here, however, Scripture speaks of a righteous woman. And why does it say "in the innermost chambers" (beyarketei) rather than simply "in your home"? Because even inside a home, some areas are more private and modest than others. The yarketei habayit are the furthest recesses, the most modest part of the home. She is not like the wicked woman in Mishlei who sits at the doorway of her home, surveying passersby, with a comment for everyone and idle conversation with all. Here, we speak of a woman whom only her husband and children see.
In contrast, the branches extend outward: the husband goes out for his livelihood and Torah study, and the sons go out as well - they are the offshoots, the branches that go out to bear fruit and flourish "from the bounty of the yields of the sun," for the sun shines only outside, and only through it do grapes develop properly. If you are worthy that your wife conducts herself in the innermost chambers of the home in this modesty, you will merit that "your children like olive saplings" - as the Gemara relates regarding the story of Kimchit, who through her extraordinary modesty merited great sons.
There are two further reasons for the comparison to an olive tree: an olive tree cannot accept grafting, so its saplings are true to kind - "sons like their fathers" - free from any suspicion of illegitimacy, since their mother was modest within the innermost chambers of her home. Furthermore, olive leaves are evergreen; olive trees never shed their leaves and never wither. In the same way, the children will always maintain their splendor and beauty, constant in their good deeds.
The Radak offers an original explanation here: "Around your table" - that they will be before you to serve you when you eat. You have sons who serve you. And do not take this lightly, because today reality has flipped: children sit and say, "Mom, bring me this; Dad, can you get me that?" Parents become waiters for their children. But the Radak says the opposite - they will be before you to serve you, and they will always be around your table.
And one should know that according to halachah this is forbidden. It is forbidden for a son or daughter to say to a father or mother, "Bring me..." We have already related the story of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, who in his youth wrote a sefer and needed to print it. His father was traveling to Tel Aviv to the Friedman press (the older generation surely remembers the name appearing on the sefarim of the Kehillos Yaakov), and Rav Chaim asked him to print his sefer as well. His father took it. The Kehillos Yaakov volumes were published, many volumes, while Rav Chaim's sefer suffered one delay after another - once with the plates, once with the paper. A year passed and the sefer still had not been printed. He asked his father, "Why are there so many delays?" The Steipler replied, "It could very well be because you asked me to take your sefer to the printer." That is, you should have said: "Abba, give me your sefer, I will take both of ours and go have them printed" - and not the other way around.
From this a person should realize: parents are not servants. You need a fork? Stand up and get a fork, and ask who else needs one and bring for others as well. Do not sit and say, "Mom, get me a fork" - is she at your beck and call? This is a brazen generation. And the blessing here is that you will merit that your sons will be before you to serve you when you eat. Furthermore, "around your table" - that they will not be cast loose, gluttons and drunkards, each eating in a different place every time, partying here and going there, but rather always around your table, at home, and you will not have to search for them in other places; they will eat and drink only at your table.
Based on the principle that a woman should not be constantly going out but should remain in the innermost parts of her home, the commentators raise a difficulty: in one place it is written, "He who finds a wife finds good," while elsewhere it says, "And I find more bitter than death the woman." What is the truth? One explanation is: "Finds a wife" - he found her once, and from then on she is at home, and that is true goodness. But "I find" in the present tense - every time he finds her anew: now she returns from the mall, now she returns from here, now from there. When you find her anew every day, constantly going out and coming back, going out and coming back - that is more bitter than death.
The Malbim takes a direction similar to the Radak, yet slightly different. "Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine" - that she will bear children; and she resembles a vine planted in the recesses of the house, which raises its branches and tendrils onto the roof of the house, spreading out over it and sheltering the entire house. So too is the woman: she dwells in the tent, in the innermost parts of the home, and despite this, she is the one who shelters and guards the entire home.
And the sons are compared to olive saplings, which do not accept grafting, and from which oil is produced for light. So too, your children will be true seed, shining with the light of knowledge and sitting around your table - for oil and the menorah are a symbol of wisdom.
The Gaon Rabbi Ezra Attia, Rosh Yeshivah of Porat Yosef and teacher of Rav Ovadia Yosef, Rav Ben Tzion Abba Shaul, and other Torah giants, asks: Why is it written "eshtecha" with a segol rather than a chirik? He explains: "Ishah" with a chirik can also stand alone. But the alef with a segol - "eshet" - never appears on its own, but always in the construct state. When is it vocalized with a segol? In the construct state. "Ishah" on its own can be a divorcee, a widow, or single - representing a woman who stands independently. But "eshtecha" with a segol is always tied and connected: eshet chaver, always attached. Thus she will always be connected to her husband and her home, never betraying his covenant, but always leaning upon her husband and cleaving to him.
הִנֵּה כִי־כֵן יְבֹרַךְ גָּבֶר יְרֵא יְהֹוָה׃ - Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears Hashem.
This is the blessing a person seeks here in this world. The Radak explains: through these character traits and this conduct, the man who fears Hashem will be blessed. And the Malbim adds: everything stated up to this point pertains to the blessing of the man himself. Although his wife and sons were mentioned, this too is part of the man's blessing - that he have blessing in his home through a good wife and upright children. From here onward, Scripture begins to speak of the blessing flowing outward from him to the entire nation, about the broader path of perfection: "May Hashem bless you from Zion" - here the verse refers to the nation as a whole, whereas until now it addressed the private individual.
שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת אַשְׁרֵי כׇּל־יְרֵא יְהֹוָה הַהֹלֵךְ בִּדְרָכָיו׃ - A song of ascents: Praiseworthy is everyone who fears Hashem, who walks in His ways.
In the sefer Yosef Tehillot, an insightful interpretation is cited in the name of the author of Battei Kehunah: one who fears Hashem possesses all the virtues enumerated in this chapter - "When you eat the labor of your hands, you will be praiseworthy and it will be well with you," "Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine," "Your children like olive shoots"; praiseworthy in this world and good for him in the World to Come. If so, someone wishing to bless his friend or son need not elaborate and list blessing after blessing, but can suffice with two words: "Be God-fearing." For whoever fears Hashem and walks in His ways - all of this abundance is drawn upon him.
And this is what the verse concludes: "Behold, for so shall a man be blessed" - with what do we bless a man? "[As one who] fears Hashem." This is how to bless: bless him to be a God-fearing person, and consequently everything is included in that, as we have seen in our chapter.
יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהֹוָה מִצִּיּוֹן וּרְאֵה בְּטוּב יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ׃ - May Hashem bless you from Zion, and see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
Rashi explains "from Zion" - this refers to the gate of heaven, and that goodness will lead you to rejoice in all the bounty Hashem bestows upon you. The Radak explains: "May Hashem bless you from Zion" - from the dwelling place of His Shechinah, which is Zion, and you will merit seeing the good of Jerusalem when Israel returns from exile and arrives here; and you will merit seeing good all the days of your life, both while in exile and in the prosperity of Jerusalem.
The Radak adds that the phrase "and see the good" is a single mention serving a dual role - an expression we have noted several times from the early commentators in biblical exegesis. It is as if it were stated twice: "and see the good of Jerusalem" and "and see good all the days of your life." That is to say, the verse does not mean only that one will see the good of Jerusalem all his life, but that even before you arrive in Jerusalem, even while still in exile, you will experience goodness and an abundance of blessing all the days of your life.
The Malbim explains: "May Hashem bless you from Zion" - this is the blessing of the entirety of Israel emerging from Zion, where Hashem commanded the blessing for the entire nation, and you will receive it by virtue of the community, from the collective merits. If you exert effort for the collective - "and see the good of Jerusalem" - you will merit seeing the good and success of the community, and all the days of your life will be dedicated to good, granting you enduring success throughout them.
The Malbim points out in several places the difference between Zion and Jerusalem: the general populace lived in Jerusalem, whereas Zion was the dwelling place of the dignitaries, adjacent to the Temple and the sacred precinct. This is similar to what we observed regarding Shushan: Shushan was divided in two, with a river separating Shushan from Shushan the Capital (Shushan HaBirah). Shushan itself was home to the masses, while Shushan HaBirah was the domain of the aristocracy, royalty, officials, and dignitaries. So too here: the blessing originates in Zion, in the more sacred place, in the place of the Temple from which spiritual bounty descends, and from there it extends to the good of Jerusalem, and from there to all the days of your life.
וּרְאֵה־בָנִים לְבָנֶיךָ שָׁלוֹם עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And see children born to your children; peace upon Israel!
Rashi explains: "And see children born to your children" - so they will not come to quarrel over chalitzah, and then there will be "peace upon Israel." The explanation is: the brother who performs chalitzah or yibum acquires the estate of the deceased. Normally, when a person dies childless and there is no yibum, his brothers inherit his estate. But if he dies childless and his widow is subject to yibum, the brother who performs yibum acquires his entire estate. From this, strife can easily arise: who will merit to perform yibum and receive the inheritance? Even though the mitzvah begins with the eldest brother, quarrels can still develop - for instance, if one of the brothers betroths her preemptively, thereby forbidding her to all the other brothers. And how is this strife prevented? "And see children born to your children" - your children have sons who inherit the estate, so the widow does not require a yavam (levir), and consequently, there is "peace upon Israel," with no quarrels.
Ibn Ezra writes here: "And see" (ure'eh) serves for another clause as well. This is another phrasing used by the early commentators, akin to "standing in place of two" that we mentioned earlier, and its meaning is identical: the word is read twice. "And see children born to your children, and see peace upon Israel" - as if "and see" were written in the second half of the verse as well.
Radak explains: You will merit longevity, to the extent that you will see children born to your children, and you will see peace upon Israel at the time of the ingathering of the exiles, when the Redeemer arrives in your days. And if you do not merit to live until then, at the very least you will be among the righteous dead who will be resurrected, and when you rise at the resurrection of the dead, you will behold peace upon all of Israel.
The Malbim adds: Make every effort so that the children born to your children will also serve the ultimate purpose of "peace upon Israel." That is to say, it is not enough to educate your own children in Torah, mitzvot, and fulfilling Hashem's will; you must also ensure that through your grandchildren, perfection and peace will be achieved for all of Israel.
The heart of the matter is that a person must guard against the decline of the generations. Often we see a father who is righteous, his son average, and the grandson wicked. Why? Because the father did not exert sufficient effort to ensure that his children would walk in the path of Hashem. This is not always the case - sometimes a parent truly strives and does not succeed. But frequently the father himself is still traditionally observant, yet he sends his children to secular high schools and academies so they can acquire general education, know things, and understand the world. Education is wonderful, but tell me: how much Torah is there? How much fear of Heaven is there? Are you raising a child there for God? What exactly do you hope will come out of it?
Therefore, a person must realize: just as you are meticulous with your own spiritual standing, ensure that your children receive the finest Torah education, and your grandchildren as well. Then you will fulfill "and see children born to your children" - and know that there is wholeness and perfection for the community of Israel; all the days of your life will be dedicated to the good of Jerusalem, and the days of your children's lives to the benefit of the community, all of Israel.