Introduction: Judah Compared to Her Sisters
In this section of Chapter 16, Yechezkel continues his rebuke of Jerusalem and moves to a new stage: comparing Jerusalem to her "sisters" - Shomron and Sodom. Until now, the prophet described Hashem's kindnesses toward Jerusalem and her betrayal of Him; from this point onward, he shows that not only did Jerusalem sin, but she acted more wickedly than those she herself was accustomed to condemn and judge. From here unfolds the rebuke of disgrace and shame at the end of the chapter, leading ultimately to the great consolation of the everlasting covenant.
Who Are the Sisters: Shomron on the Left and Sodom on the Right
וַאֲחוֹתֵךְ הַגְּדוֹלָה שֹׁמְרוֹן הִיא וּבְנוֹתֶיהָ הַיּוֹשֶׁבֶת עַל שְׂמֹאולֵךְ, וַאֲחוֹתֵךְ הַקְּטַנָּה מִמֵּךְ הַיּוֹשֶׁבֶת מִימִינֵךְ סְדֹם וּבְנוֹתֶיהָ׃ - And your elder sister is Shomron, she and her daughters, who dwells to your left; and your younger sister, who dwells to your right, is Sodom and her daughters.
Here the prophet specifies who these sisters are that he mentioned earlier. Shomron sits to Judah's left, as the territory of Judah was to the south and the territory of Yosef was to its north. Sodom and the cities of the plain were in the south of Eretz Yisrael, and therefore they are considered "to your right." These are the sisters, explains the Malbim, about whom it was said earlier that you resemble them and duplicate their evil deeds.
Radak explains why Shomron is called "the elder [greater] sister": it refers to physical size. After the kingdom split in the days of Rechavam son of Shlomo, Yarov'am ruled over ten tribes while Rechavam ruled over two tribes. Consequently, in relation to Judah, to whom the prophet is speaking now, Shomron is "the greater sister" - the one that numbered ten tribes.
"Yet You Did Not Walk in Their Ways" - Three Interpretations of "Kim'at Kat"
וְלֹא בְדַרְכֵיהֶן הָלַכְתְּ וּכְתוֹעֲבוֹתֵיהֶן עָשִׂית, כִּמְעַט קָט וַתַּשְׁחִתִי מֵהֵן בְּכׇל דְּרָכָיִךְ׃ - Yet you did not walk in their ways, nor do after their abominations; in a very little while, you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.
Rashi interprets "yet you did not walk in their ways" as an expression of longing: if only you had walked in their ways! Just like "veloh im odini chai" spoken by Yehonatan, which means "if only while I am still alive." In other words: if only you had sufficed with their deeds - but you committed deeds far more abominable than theirs.
And what is the meaning of "kim'at kat"? Rashi offers two explanations. First: had your abominations before Me been only like theirs, without being more abominable, I would have considered your abominations as "me'at vekat" - a small and minor thing; but what could be done when you corrupted yourself even more than they did? Second explanation: their abominations were "kim'at kat" in your eyes. That is, of course you did not merely walk in their ways, for their deeds were in your view "small change," the trivial offenses on your daily agenda, whereas you engaged in far graver sins - "and you were more corrupt than they in all your ways."
Radak explains differently: "kim'at kat" refers to time. For a short time you stood in your righteousness following the exile of Shomron. Shomron was exiled first, in the sixth year of Chizkiyahu, after which twenty-three years remained of Chizkiyahu's reign, followed by his son Menasheh, of whom it is said that he acted more wickedly than all who came before him. Those twenty-three years were the "short time" during which you maintained your righteousness after the exile of Shomron, and immediately afterward Menasheh arose and acted more corruptly than all who preceded him.
The Malbim's Explanation: Shituf Is Worse than Outright Denial
The Malbim explains the verse in another way, and thereby resolves the contradiction within the verse itself: for at its beginning it says, "Neither did you walk in their ways," while at its end it says, "You became more corrupt than they in all your ways." According to him, "Neither did you walk in their ways" means that on the surface it appeared you were better than them, for you possessed a Holy Temple and you had faith in Hashem. But in fact, this was precisely what made it worse. What you did - combining the Name of Heaven with something else, bringing an idol into the Sanctuary as if it assists and aids Hashem in governing the world - was far worse than what your sister Shomron did.
And this is understandable: a person who possesses a little bit of Judaism - his wife lights Shabbat candles, but regarding everything else, may Hashem have mercy - cannot be brought close; he will always remain very low, because he feels that he is fine. In contrast, the complete heretic might repent tomorrow and take off like a ballistic missile soaring upward. Therefore, the Malbim says, "You became more corrupt than they in all your ways" - including the ways of the soul: what you did was more corrupt and placed you further away from the possibility of repentance.
Why Sedom Was Not Held Accountable for Idolatry
חַי אָנִי נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה, אִם עָשְׂתָה סְדֹם אֲחוֹתֵךְ הִיא וּבְנוֹתֶיהָ כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂית אַתְּ וּבְנוֹתָיִךְ׃ - "As I live, says the Lord Hashem, your sister Sedom, she and her daughters, did not do as you and your daughters have done."
The Malbim explains: Sedom was not deserving of punishment for idolatry, for they never received the religion of Hashem, nor did they stand at Mount Sinai, and they did not possess the fundamentals of faith. As it is said, "Which Hashem has apportioned to all the nations" - He smoothed it over for them. To Israel He did not smooth things over, but rather gave them the Torah; whereas the nations are subject to the celestial systems. Therefore, the primary wrath against them is not over the mitzvot between man and the Omnipresent.
So it was with the people of Nineveh: when the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to overturn Nineveh, the indictment was not for idolatry, but for matters between man and his fellow - things that basic human decency also demands and requires. A gentile is expected to conduct himself with basic human propriety, and one of the Seven Mitzvot of Bnei Noach is to establish courts, to appoint judges who will judge according to their laws so that there will be a properly ordered society. This was the indictment against Sedom. And if so, you, Yehudah, acted more wickedly than Sedom: they did not exchange their gods, whereas you exchanged your glory for that which is worthless.
The Iniquity of Sedom: Pride and Abundance of Bread
הִנֵּה זֶה הָיָה עֲוֺן סְדֹם אֲחוֹתֵךְ: גָּאוֹן שִׂבְעַת לֶחֶם וְשַׁלְוַת הַשְׁקֵט הָיָה לָהּ וְלִבְנוֹתֶיהָ, וְיַד עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן לֹא הֶחֱזִיקָה׃ - "Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sedom: pride, abundance of bread, and untroubled tranquility were hers and her daughters', yet she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy."
The Radak explains that she had both an abundance of bread and untroubled tranquility - meaning she dwelt in calm without surrounding threats, a matter of peace. And ostensibly, one must ask: what relevance does the economic and security situation of Sedom have for us here? Why is it important to emphasize this within a discussion about who acted more wickedly?
The Malbim explains: the sin for which they were held accountable was an offense between man and his fellow - "yet she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." And this is a very severe transgression. A *chet* is an unintentional sin, whereas an *avon* is a distortion of the intellect: a person commits it deliberately and by calculated reasoning, not out of being swept away by desires, but out of an intellectual decision that this is how things should be run. And so it was in Sedom, for they instituted laws and ordinances regarding this matter. Therefore, it is called an *avon*.
And what might you say - perhaps their economic situation was strained, and they had nothing to give to the destitute? To this the verse states, "pride, abundance of bread" - they had an abundance of food in great quantity, not in scarcity. And lest you say that while there was indeed bread, they feared battles and wars and hoarded grain in warehouses for a day of calamity lest there be a siege? To this the verse states, "and untroubled tranquility" - they had peace. Yet despite all this, "she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." They had no reason not to support the poor and needy, other than the iniquity itself, the intellectual distortion that says: Why on earth should I give from my own to others? They had corrupt customs and vile ordinances, the Malbim says, for this was their law - not to show kindness to the destitute and breadless.
The Difference Between Tranquility and Peace
The Malbim adds a linguistic distinction: "shalvah" (tranquility) is internal, while "shalom" (peace) is external. Even today we use these terms similarly: we speak of a person having peace with the enemies around him, and also of being a tranquil person - his inner self is serene, possessing peace of mind in his own right. Here the verse states that they enjoyed tranquility through quiet, with no disturbance around them. Why, then, did they neither give to nor sustain others? Solely out of the wickedness of their hearts.
"And They Were Haughty" - The Root of the Abomination
וַתִּגְבְּהֶינָה וַתַּעֲשֶׂינָה תוֹעֵבָה לְפָנָי, וָאָסִיר אֶתְהֶן כַּאֲשֶׁר רָאִיתִי׃ - And they were haughty and committed an abomination before Me, and I removed them when I saw it.
Why did they commit an abomination? Because of haughtiness of heart. They felt superior and elevated - why should they deign to look upon those beneath them? "And I removed them when I saw it" - when I saw their deeds, as it is said, "I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to Me." This refers to the angels sent by the Holy One, blessed be He - the same angels who visited Avraham and proceeded from there to Sodom. And what was this "abomination"? The term "abomination" is used regarding forbidden relations (arayot), referring to their intention - God forbid - to lie with Lot's guests. And when I saw their wickedness, I removed them.
Shomron Did Not Reach Even Half
וְשֹׁמְרוֹן כַּחֲצִי חַטֹּאתַיִךְ לֹא חָטָאָה, וַתַּרְבִּי אֶת תּוֹעֲבוֹתַיִךְ מֵהֵנָּה, וַתְּצַדְּקִי אֶת אֲחוֹתַיִךְ בְּכׇל תּוֹעֲבֹתַיִךְ אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂית׃ - Neither did Shomron commit half of your sins; but you multiplied your abominations more than they, and justified your sisters through all your abominations which you have done.
Shomron, unlike Sodom, did stand at Mount Sinai and received the Torah, and was therefore liable to punishment for idolatry. Nevertheless, her deeds did not reach those of Yehudah, for three reasons detailed by the Malbim.
First, "Neither did Shomron commit half of your sins": Shomron sinned only in idolatry and mitzvot between man and God. There was no robbery, oppression, or murder there. Yet when the prophet enumerates the sins of Yerushalayim, he lists many sins between man and his fellow - "in order to shed blood," "father and mother they treated with contempt in you," and the like - none of which were present in Shomron. Concerning Menasheh it is said that he filled Yerushalayim with innocent blood from one end to the other, a sin never mentioned regarding Shomron. To be sure, with Achav we find the affair of Navot's vineyard, but in general the kingdom there was firmer, and it did not suffer from such grave interpersonal offenses, but rather primarily those between man and God.
Second, "You multiplied your abominations more than they": the sins of Achaz and Menasheh exceeded the sins of the kings of Shomron both in quantity and severity. (In our text of the Malbim it reads "the sins of the kings of Yehudah," which appears to be a scribal error, as throughout he compares the kings of Yehudah to the kings of Shomron, and Achaz and Menasheh themselves were kings of Yehudah.)
Third, "And justified your sisters": the evil deeds you committed were so grave that your sisters - Shomron and Sodom - appear righteous by comparison to you. For in your midst stood the Beit HaMikdash, in your midst the Shechinah rested, in your midst sat the Sanhedrin, in your midst constant miracles occurred, and in your midst were many prophets who rebuked and sacred places where people learned to fear Hashem - none of which existed in Sodom or Shomron. Consequently, you are held to far greater account for your sins than they.
Rashi adds: "And justified your sisters" - since you acted more wickedly than they did, you made them appear righteous. Now they have an excuse to say: Master of the Universe, there are those who provoked You even more than we did; we are still all right. You gave them a pretext for self-righteousness, leading them to think that their deeds were still tolerable compared to those of Yehudah.
"You Too, Bear Your Shame"
גַּם אַתְּ שְׂאִי כְלִמָּתֵךְ אֲשֶׁר פִּלַּלְתְּ לַאֲחוֹתֵךְ, בְּחַטֹּאתַיִךְ אֲשֶׁר הִתְעַבְתְּ מֵהֵן תִּצְדַּקְנָה מִמֵּךְ, וְגַם אַתְּ בּוֹשִׁי וּשְׂאִי כְלִמָּתֵךְ בְּצַדֶּקְתֵּךְ אַחְיוֹתֵךְ׃ - You too, bear your disgrace which you have judged for your sister; through your sins, in which you acted more abominably than they, they appear more righteous than you; so you too, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, in justifying your sisters.
Radak explains: Before you sinned, you would treat Shomron as wicked and speak about her arrogantly - "we are in the right and they are the wicked ones." As Aviyah, king of Yehudah, said to Yarov'am, king of Yisrael: "And with you are the golden calves... But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; for we keep the charge of the Lord our God, whereas you have forsaken Him." This was how you boasted in the beginning.
Rashi writes: Before you became more wicked than they, you used to say about them that they deserved retribution, because they committed such severe sins.
Radak adds: Most of the kings of Yehudah were better than the kings of Shomron until Achaz, and Chizkiyahu rectified and repaired what his father Achaz had ruined. But from Menasheh onward, it is recorded that they were wicked and worshipped idols, with the exception of Yoshiyahu. Thus, you corrupted your ways just like Shomron, and it is fitting that you be humiliated for your sins - not only did you act like her, but "you acted more abominably than they"; you committed worse abominations than Shomron. And now "they appear more righteous than you" - they are more righteous than you, and you deserve punishment for that very arrogance with which you claimed that they deserved to be punished.
The Parable of the Judge: The Three Humiliations
The Malbim elaborates on this further, explaining that Yehudah is rebuked here over three matters. To explain them, he constructs a parable.
This is compared to an earthly judge before whom two common folk were brought, and their crime was found to be fraudulent commerce: they used deceitful scales and differing weights. The judge handed down their sentence: to punish them and banish them from the city in disgrace. Afterward, it became known that the judge himself stole, robbed, and extorted - and it turned out that what he judged them for, he himself had committed far more severely. The judge was brought before the king (in earlier times there was someone to judge the judge, unlike today where there is a Supreme Court that dictates the law and everything, and there is no one to judge them). The king said: First, what the judge decreed upon those two must be carried out against him, and all the more so - for their crime was lighter than his: they cheated with weights, whereas he stole, robbed, and extorted. He therefore ordered him punished and banished from the city in disgrace.
In the next stage, the king wanted to grant clemency to the judge, so he handed the case of those two back to him to judge them anew. But now, after it had been revealed that he carries not merely a small basket of vermin behind him, but an entire semi-trailer, could he possibly convict them? When he heard the case and the witnesses again, he ruled that it was proper to exempt both of them and declare them innocent. This was a terrible humiliation for him: everyone knows how he judged them previously, and everyone knows his guilt and why he is now forced to reverse his verdict - because he himself is a worse criminal than they are.
Finally, the king commanded that the two acquitted individuals be returned to the city, and incidentally, alongside their return, he ordered the judge returned as well. This is the third humiliation: along with those two criminals, the arch-criminal himself is brought back, and they preceded him in returning to the city while he returned only after them - showing that they were better than he.
The meaning of the parable: Initially, Yehudah judged Shomron and Sedom, saying they were sinful, wicked, and deserving of punishment - like the judge who passed sentence on those two. Later, it became evident that she had sinned far more than they did. Concerning this it is said, "You too, bear your disgrace which you have judged (pilelt) for your sister" - "pilelt" comes from the language of pelilim, criminal judgment: the judgment with which you judged your sister is the one by which you yourself will be judged. This corresponds to the king punishing the judge with the very same sentence he had decreed upon them. And an additional humiliation: "Through your sins, in which you acted more abominably than they, they appear more righteous than you" - it turns out that the judge himself committed greater sins.
Furthermore: When Hashem restores their captivity, He will bring the case of Shomron and Sedom before Yehudah so that she will justify them. This is the meaning of "so you too, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, in justifying your sisters" - like the judge into whose hands their case was returned to judge them a second time, and he acquits them, which in itself is a humiliation, since everyone knows why he is vindicating them.
The Third Humiliation: Being Redeemed by Way of Others
וְשַׁבְתִּי אֶת שְׁבִיתְהֶן, אֶת שְׁבוּת סְדֹם וּבְנוֹתֶיהָ וְאֶת שְׁבוּת שֹׁמְרוֹן וּבְנוֹתֶיהָ, וּשְׁבוּת שְׁבִיתַיִךְ בְּתוֹכָהְנָה׃ - And I will restore their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives in their midst.
The additional humiliation: when I restore the captivity of Sodom and the captivity of Samaria, I will restore you only as secondary to them - "in their midst", together with them, alongside them, as subsidiary to them and trailing behind them.
And what is the meaning of "And I will restore the captivity of Sodom"? Will the wicked people of Sodom return? Samaria at least makes sense - they are our brethren, the Ten Tribes, and Hashem will restore their captivity; but Sodom was inhabited by wicked gentiles. Therefore, Rashi explains: "the captivity of Sodom" - I will heal the land from brimstone and salt and settle inhabitants in it. It does not refer to those wicked people in the generation of Lot, but to the place itself, which is currently brimstone and salt, its entire land burned and uninhabitable, and the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will heal it and settle Israel within it.
לְמַעַן תִּשְׂאִי כְלִמָּתֵךְ וְנִכְלַמְתְּ מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂית בְּנַחֲמֵךְ אֹתָן׃ - That you may bear your humiliation and be ashamed of all that you have done, when you comfort them.
Through this, you will bear humiliation for your wicked deeds. Moreover, "when you comfort them" - when you are compelled to comfort them and justify them in judgment, it will bring you disgrace. For you will seek to console yourself over your own deeds and say, "It was not so terrible," and you will do this by judging them a second time, judging them charitably, as though they were upright and decent and no iniquity was found in them - and all this is brought about by your evil deeds, because of which you are forced to reconsider the previous judgment and claim that their actions were proper.
וַאֲחוֹתַיִךְ סְדֹם וּבְנוֹתֶיהָ תָּשֹׁבְןָ לְקַדְמָתָן, וְשֹׁמְרוֹן וּבְנוֹתֶיהָ תָּשֹׁבְןָ לְקַדְמָתָן, וְאַתְּ וּבְנוֹתַיִךְ תְּשֻׁבֶינָה לְקַדְמַתְכֶן׃ - And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state.
This is the third shame: Sodom and Samaria will return together with you and they will be primary, while you are the last to return to your former state - arriving only after them, treated as secondary to them rather than their equal.
"Was Not Your Sister Sodom a Mention in Your Mouth"
וְלוֹא הָיְתָה סְדֹם אֲחוֹתֵךְ לִשְׁמוּעָה בְּפִיךְ בְּיוֹם גְּאוֹנָיִךְ׃ - And was not your sister Sodom a mention in your mouth in the day of your pride?
בְּטֶרֶם תִּגָּלֶה רָעָתֵךְ כְּמוֹ עֵת חֶרְפַּת בְּנוֹת אֲרָם וְכׇל סְבִיבוֹתֶיהָ בְּנוֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּים הַשָּׁאטוֹת אוֹתָךְ מִסָּבִיב׃ - Before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Aram and all around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you round about.
The Malbim and the Radak differ in their understanding of the verse. According to the Radak, this is a rebuke: you did not recall with your mouth the report you heard concerning the overthrow of Sodom. Sodom acted haughtily, and consequently the Holy One, blessed be He, overturned them, yet on the day of your pride you did not bring this up on your lips. Why did you not say to yourself, "Pride goes before destruction"? Why did you not remember what befell Sodom, which was shattered because of its pride, at the very moment you were adopting the exact same path and feeling no apprehension for yourself?
The Malbim follows Rashi's approach more closely, interpreting the verse as a rhetorical question: after all, it was stated, "Bear your humiliation, which you judged for your sister" - meaning that the very judgment you pronounced upon your sister, that she deserved it and that retribution must be exacted from her, you yourself will have to undergo. And when did Judah demand that Sodom be disgraced? To this the verse addresses: "In the day of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered - was not your sister Sodom a mention in your mouth?" Did you not, when your situation was flourishing and exalted, speak disparagingly of her, asserting that they were wicked and that retribution was rightfully exacted from them?
The Malbim explains: You were always scorning Sodom with oaths and curses, saying, "May He Who exacted retribution from the people of Sodom exact retribution from so-and-so." Sodom was for you the quintessential example of an extreme group, a byword and a curse, constantly on your lips. In contrast to this, when your wickedness is uncovered, the daughters of Aram and the daughters of the Philistines will taunt you - for you acted exactly as Sodom did. As scripture states, "And they will see the plagues of that land and its sicknesses... like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim" (Devarim 29:21-22): the Torah describes that the downfall and destruction coming upon the people of Israel will be like the overthrow of Sodom. And since you acted as they did, their punishment naturally becomes your punishment - and even if it is not a literal overturning like Sodom's, ultimately you were exiled from the land. Sodom was a report on your lips in the day of your pride, just as you are now a byword on the lips of the daughters of Aram and the Philistines. "Who despise you from round about" - who scorn you all around; you will suffer disgrace just as you disgraced Sodom.
"You Have Borne Them" - Paying the Debt
אֶת זִמָּתֵךְ וְאֶת תּוֹעֲבוֹתַיִךְ אַתְּ נְשָׂאתִים נְאֻם יְהֹוָה׃ - You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, declares Hashem.
The Malbim explains: Through this your sin will be atoned for. Since you have received your punishment in full - through reproaches and exile - the Holy One, Blessed be He, says, "You have borne them": you have already paid the debt.
Breaching the Covenant: Rashi versus the Malbim
כִּי כֹה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה, וְעָשִׂיתִי אוֹתָךְ כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂית, אֲשֶׁר בָּזִית אָלָה לְהָפֵר בְּרִית׃ - For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath to break the covenant.
"I will deal with you as you have done" - I have brought evil upon you according to your deserts. "Who have despised the oath to break the covenant" - that oath which you accepted upon yourself at Horeb to enter into the covenant of Hashem your God, you despised it and breached the covenant; I made an agreement with you that you would observe My commandments, and you despised and breached it.
Rashi adds: "Who have despised the oath that you accepted upon yourself at Horeb" - yet I will not breach My covenant by failing to remember it, for I am not like you. That is to say, I do not act as you do; I will not break the covenant between Me and you, even though you have broken it on your part.
The Malbim, on the other hand, explains that here the Holy One, Blessed be He, recalls that the first covenant He made with them when they left Egypt was conditional: that they observe the statutes and the commandments. And since you violated the condition, the covenant is nullified from His side as well. A breach of contract is not one-sided: the moment the contract is violated on your part, the other party is no longer bound either. And what was written in the contract? The Land of Israel, the Beis HaMikdash, kingship - and all of this was conditional upon your fulfilling the terms. Since you breached it, you will be exiled from the Land of Israel, the Beis HaMikdash will be destroyed, and the monarchy will cease, for everything depended on that covenant.
"And I Will Establish an Everlasting Covenant with You"
וְזָכַרְתִּי אֲנִי אֶת בְּרִיתִי אוֹתָךְ בִּימֵי נְעוּרָיִךְ, וַהֲקִימוֹתִי לָךְ בְּרִית עוֹלָם׃ - Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
Seemingly, this verse supports Rashi's view, for Rashi said, "I will not breach My covenant by failing to remember it," and here it is written, "Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth." And Radak indeed follows this approach as well: You breached the covenant, yet I will still remember it and not breach it. The covenant of the days of your youth refers to the Revelation at Mount Sinai and the state of Israel in Egypt and afterwards in the wilderness - "the devotion of your youth... your following Me in the wilderness" (Yirmeyahu 2:2). This covenant I will remember and not breach. "And I will establish an everlasting covenant with you" - just as you accepted it forever, "for us and for our children forever" (Devarim 29:28), so too I will make it an everlasting covenant that has no interruption; and this will occur after you receive your punishments, remember what you corrupted, and feel ashamed of them.
However, the Malbim explains the verse according to his approach. The Malbim explains: Despite all this, I will remember the covenant that I established with you in the days of your youth when I brought you out of the land of Egypt, as well as the covenant I established with the Patriarchs. For a deed of Hashem cannot be completely nullified - "Whatever God does, it shall be forever," and any measure of goodness that went forth from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, even if conditional, He does not retract. Therefore, "and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant" - He will establish a new covenant with them that is not dependent on conditions, and this covenant will endure forever. Thus, there is no contradiction to his earlier words: the old covenant was indeed nullified because you violated it on your part, and Hashem merely remembers it - and to what practical end? In order to forge a new contract with you, one that will never be nullified again.
And what will be unique about that contract that will cause it to endure forever? The Malbim explains that this is as written in Yirmiyahu Chapter 31: "I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel... not like the covenant that I made with their fathers... which they broke... For this is the covenant... I will place My Torah within them... for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them." The previous covenant was conditional, and the exiles and tribulations came and caused us to stray from the path. Here, by contrast, a covenant engraved upon the tablet of their hearts is described, in a state where the yetzer hara will no longer rule over them. Then, there is no fear that they will stray from the path, nor any fear that they will breach the contract, and the attachment will be permanent. This is like a person who drew up a contract and found loopholes in it, so he writes a new, clean contract that will pass without any problems. Since there will no longer be an evil inclination within you, and on the contrary, My Torah will be engraved upon the tablet of your hearts, there is no fear that you will break the covenant - and consequently, on My part as well, the covenant will be eternal.
A Reminder of Iniquity: "And I Will Give Them to You as Daughters"
וְזָכַרְתְּ אֶת דְּרָכַיִךְ וְנִכְלַמְתְּ בְּקַחְתֵּךְ אֶת אֲחוֹתַיִךְ הַגְּדֹלוֹת מִמֵּךְ אֶל הַקְּטַנּוֹת מִמֵּךְ, וְנָתַתִּי אֶתְהֶן לָךְ לְבָנוֹת וְלֹא מִבְּרִיתֵךְ׃ - Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both older and younger than you, and I will give them to you as daughters, though not because of your covenant.
This verse is very puzzling, and it is difficult to understand what it refers to, but the Malbim, as is his way, explains it based on the parable of the judge that we saw earlier. To recall: the judge tried people for embezzlement, it was discovered that he had committed worse crimes than they had, the king punished him and banished him, then returned their judgment to his hands and he was forced to acquit them - which was a humiliation - and finally, the king restored those defendants to the city even before him, which was an additional humiliation.
Now the Malbim continues the parable: After the king restored the judge to his post, once he had paid his debt to society, the king wanted his sin to be constantly before his eyes - "and my sin is ever before me." Why is this so important? Because when a person sins and forgets, there is nothing to prevent him from repeating it, and mistakes tend to repeat themselves. But when his sin is ever before him, he remembers: "The last time I touched this, I got burned like this; I will not touch it again." The memory of the sin is what prevents its repetition. Therefore, the king commanded that the two people who were restored to the city with him, whom he had initially judged, join him permanently, and he would have to raise and support them like his own children. In this way, he would always remember that he had sinned just as they had, and remember his corruption and his restoration, and this reminder of iniquity would prevent him from straying again.
And so it is in the nimshal: Hashem says to them - I will make a sign for you that will remind you of your sins. "When you receive your sisters, both older and younger than you," "and I will give them to you as daughters" - you will raise them, and through this, you will have a constant reminder of iniquity for what you corrupted.
"So That You May Remember and Be Ashamed"
לְמַעַן תִּזְכְּרִי וָבֹשְׁתְּ וְלֹא יִהְיֶה לָּךְ עוֹד פִּתְחוֹן פֶּה מִפְּנֵי כְּלִמָּתֵךְ, בְּכַפְּרִי לָךְ לְכׇל אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂית נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - So that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth again because of your humiliation, when I forgive you for all that you have done, says the Lord Hashem.
So that you remember your way at the time when I bestow good upon you, and feel ashamed to lift your face toward Me. "When I forgive you for all that you have done" - I will pardon you for everything, and then you will know that what you receive is not because you deserve it, but because of Hashem's kindness toward you.
The Radak explains: When I establish My covenant with you - something that you did not do - you will feel shame over this. For according to the approach of Rashi and the Radak, it is not a matter of a new covenant, but rather that the Holy One, Blessed be He, upholds the original covenant. It turns out that I breached the contract on my part, while the Holy One, Blessed be He, fulfilled His part. And this is a great disgrace: I violated the contract in countless ways, and according to strict justice, the other party should have breached it as well - should I fail to provide my share, while He upholds the contract in its entirety?
And what is this "opening of the mouth"? The Radak explains: Until that time, you had an opening to speak and a claim - that from all you suffered at the hands of the nations in exile and from all the tribulations, you had already received your punishment, and that from the multitude of punishments and the length of the exile, there would no longer be any redemption. You had a claim to say: "It has been decreed against us; we are finished; there will never be redemption." Hashem says: When I establish My covenant with you and forgive you for all that you have done, you will no longer have any basis to speak against Me, nor any complaints against Me, to claim that Hashem promised and did not fulfill, that He said He would redeem and did not redeem.
Targum Yonatan explains in a different manner: "And you shall no longer boast with the words of your mouth" - you will no longer have cause to be prideful in your words. According to the Targum, the Jewish people felt, as it were, that they occupied a high and lofty status, and suddenly it becomes clear to them that everything came solely through Hashem's kindness toward us. It will be a disgrace for them rather than an honor, seeing all the evils they committed and yet He still rewarded them with good - and consequently, they will no longer boast or speak with arrogance and pride.
And the Malbim explains: "So that you may remember and be ashamed when I forgive you" - the shame will come specifically through the atonement. For you will see how atonement was granted to you: through Sodom and through Shomron, who are the daughters she took to herself, and they stand before her eyes constantly as a reminder of sin. On the contrary, they preceded her in atonement, as the Malbim explained that they will be redeemed even before her - thus it emerges that their sins were lighter in comparison to your sins. Then you will be ashamed of your past deeds and say: I spoke about them with pride and said that they deserved it, that they were wicked and committed terrible deeds, and afterward I went and committed sins more severe than theirs. This will be a reminder of sin for us. And this is the essential point: the humiliation, the constant reminder of sin, and the remorse are the primary component of teshuvah.
Grief over Sin - The Essence of Atonement
A man once came to Rav Shteinman and told him about a few "good deeds" he had done, God forbid, asking for a tikkun for them. The Rav listened to his deeds and gave him a certain tikkun: such-and-such days without meat, such-and-such amount of learning. The man asked him: "Rebbe, if I do this, will I be forgiven? Will the sin be erased?" Rav Shteinman said to him: "Tell me, have you ever lost a thousand dollars? Five hundred? A hundred? Fifty?" He said, "Yes." He asked, "And did you feel anguish?" He replied, "Yes." He said to him: "If you feel anguish over the sin you committed comparable to the grief over the loss of those fifty dollars - you are already forgiven."
And what a disgrace this is: over fifty dollars we grieve more than over, "Oy, I accidentally turned on the light on Shabbat." And what does "unintentionally" mean? If the Beit HaMikdash were standing today, you would go on Sunday and buy an animal for three or four thousand shekels, pay another six or seven hundred shekels for transport to bring it up to Jerusalem, and spend a day or two there offering the korban. And if the kohen saw that your heart was unfeeling, he would tell the Levi'im to burst into song so that your heart would break. A person would hear the singing of the Levi'im, break down, begin to weep, repent, and confess - and all this just because you accidentally turned on the light on Shabbat once! One time, by mistake. Yet we grieve over the loss of a sum of money many times more than over the loss of eternal life in the World to Come and over the misdeeds we have committed.
In summary: In this section, the prophet contrasts Jerusalem with her sisters - Shomron on her left and Sodom on her right - and shows that not only did she match them, but she surpassed them in her wickedness: Sodom was held accountable only for sins between man and fellow man born of the arrogance of abundance of bread and careless ease, and Shomron sinned solely in idolatry; whereas Jerusalem - who possessed the Temple and the Shechinah, the Sanhedrin, miracles, and prophets - sinned in everything, and even in shituf (associating other deities with Hashem), which is worse than outright heresy because it blocks the path to repentance. The parable of the judge exposed as a greater criminal than those he judged illustrates the three shames: to be judged by the very judgment she decreed upon others, to be forced to justify them, and to return to her land only by virtue of them. Ultimately, from the very depths of humiliation, redemption sprouts forth: Hashem remembers the covenant of youth and establishes an eternal covenant that is not contingent upon conditions, a covenant where His Torah is engraved upon the tablet of the heart. And the perpetual reminder of sin, shame, and remorse - these are the very essence of atonement: "So that you may remember and be ashamed... when I forgive you for all that you have done." Blessed is Hashem forever, Amen and Amen.