Chapter 22 in Yechezkel is the haftarah for Parashat Acharei Mot among Sephardim and Yemenites, while most Ashkenazim read it on Parashat Kedoshim. The chapter follows directly from the previous prophecy: we saw Nevuchadnetzar standing at the crossroads, casting lots to determine which way to turn - toward Jerusalem or toward Rabbah of the Ammonites - and all the omens pointed toward Jerusalem. Here, the prophet wonders: Were the Ammonites more righteous than the people of Israel? Why is Nevuchadnetzar coming specifically against Israel? Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, details before him the iniquities and corruptions on account of which Jerusalem specifically is being punished.
(1) וַיְהִי דְבַר־יְהֹוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר׃ (2) וְאַתָּה בֶן־אָדָם הֲתִשְׁפֹּט הֲתִשְׁפֹּט אֶת־עִיר הַדָּמִים וְהוֹדַעְתָּהּ אֵת כׇּל־תּוֹעֲבוֹתֶיהָ׃ - (1) The word of the Lord came to me, saying: (2) And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then make known to her all her abominations.
If you come to judge them in order to understand why they incurred destruction - whom are you judging? The "bloody city." Why is it called this? For two reasons: because they shed blood within it through murder, and because the enemy is destined to enter and slay victims within it. That is, both because of what was done inside and because of what the enemy will do to us. And if you wish to know why they deserve the punishment - "then make known to her all her abominations," to show that the judgment and sentence are true and just.
And what is the meaning of the repetition "will you judge, will you judge"? The Malbim explains that the prophet was hesitant within himself whether it was proper for him to judge, investigate, and scrutinize Jerusalem's sins. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: Are you hesitating whether to judge the bloody city? On the contrary - make known to them all their abominations, demonstrate to them how deeply they have corrupted their ways, and through this they will have the explanation as to why Nevuchadnetzar is coming against them.
(3) וְאָמַרְתָּ כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה עִיר שֹׁפֶכֶת דָּם בְּתוֹכָהּ לָבוֹא עִתָּהּ וְעָשְׂתָה גִלּוּלִים עָלֶיהָ לְטׇמְאָה׃ - (3) And you shall say: Thus said the Lord God: A city that sheds blood within itself, so that her time will come, and has made idols upon herself to defile herself!
"A city that sheds blood" - the Radak notes that although it says "city," the intention is to the people who dwell in it, just as in the verse "a tumultuous city, a joyous city," which refers to the people of the city. And why the emphasis on "within itself"? There are two reasons: First, the more publicly an act is committed, the greater the sin; and they shed blood not in secret, but openly, in the center of the city. Second, "within itself" implies that its interior was filled with blood, as was said of Menashe, who filled Jerusalem with blood from one end to the other. Therefore, "so that her time will come" - the time of her destruction has arrived.
"And has made idols upon herself to defile herself" - "gilulim" refers to idolatry practiced upon the mountains and hills. And what does "to defile herself" mean? The Radak explains that the impurities regarding which Israel was warned exist in levels: there is impurity through physical contact, above that is the severe impurity of forbidden relations, and above all is idolatry, which is a true impurity of the soul. It was precisely on account of these last two matters that the Holy One, blessed be He, caused the nations in the land of Canaan to be exiled, and concerning them the Torah stated, "You shall not do according to the deeds of the land of Canaan" - acts of illicit relations and idolatry, which are the most severe of all. Likewise, the Torah states, "You shall be holy," and immediately presents the opposite: "Do not turn to idols" - turning to idolatry is the polar opposite of holiness and is the pinnacle of impurity. Furthermore, when Rachel sat upon the teraphim, she said to Lavan, "The manner of women is upon me," and Chazal teach that idolatry defiles like a niddah - for the most severe impurity is that of idolatry, an impurity of the soul.
The Malbim similarly explains that the verse comes to state that the primary decree came about through bloodshed, and through it "so that her time will come" - the time of doom has arrived; and in addition to this, there was also idolatry, "and has made idols," along with the other abominations detailed further on.
(4) בְּדָמֵךְ אֲשֶׁר־שָׁפַכְתְּ אָשַׁמְתְּ וּבְגִלּוּלַיִךְ אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂית טָמֵאת וַתַּקְרִיבִי יָמַיִךְ וַתָּבוֹא עַד־שְׁנוֹתָיִךְ עַל־כֵּן נְתַתִּיךְ חֶרְפָּה לַגּוֹיִם וְקַלָּסָה לְכׇל־הָאֲרָצוֹת׃ - (4) You have become guilty by the blood that you shed, and defiled by your idols that you made; you have brought near your days, and have reached your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the lands.
The prophet testifies before them that the primary guilt and punishment was due to bloodshed. We indeed see that when the Destruction finally came, it was stated to be "because of the sins of Menasheh," who filled Jerusalem with blood from end to end - demonstrating that the primary guilt upon them stemmed from the matter of bloodshed.
"And with your idols that you made you became defiled" - for the guilt of bloodshed, they could have attained atonement once they received their punishment, but they continue to draw defilement upon themselves through the idols. Therefore, through bloodshed, "you have brought near your days" - the time of destruction will arrive swiftly; and through the idols, "and you have reached your years" - the time of downfall will come, and different, altered years will begin for you.
Let us explain the meaning of this: The Malbim notes in several places that the term shanim ("years") conveys shinuyim, the changes that occur in the world, whereas yamim ("days") describes the continuous passage of time, not necessarily for the worse. Shanim is generally used for the worse, as changes are usually not for the good - as a person ages, changes are not favorable; a person gradually dries out, his vitality and constitution change, he declines and deteriorates, approaching old age. Similarly, Pharaoh asked Yaakov, "How many are the days of the years of your life?" - how long is the duration of the changing years of your life? Likewise: "The fear of Hashem increases days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened": on the positive side Scripture uses the term "days," while for the wicked it uses "years," because with the wicked everything is in the realm of adverse change. Therefore, here: "You have brought near your days" - your days of goodness have drawn near their end; "and you have reached your years" - days of negative change have already arrived.
"Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations" - even among the nations where you are exiled you will be a disgrace, and you will have no rest. The Malbim explains in several places the distinction between these terms: goyim ("nations") refers to nearby peoples, while aratzot ("lands") refers to distant nations. This is why the verses consistently state, "And I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the lands" - first among the neighboring nations, and subsequently throughout the distant lands. Indeed, Israel's exile took place in these two stages: first they were exiled to Babylonia, and from there they were scattered to all the lands.
And what is kelesah ("mockery")? The Malbim explains that there is a difference between cherpah ("reproach") and kelesah: cherpah is disgrace, when one is reviled, whereas kelesah means being made an object of laughter and ridicule, which is even worse. He tells them: Not only were you among the neighboring nations, but you went further and were dispersed to all the distant lands; and not only were you reviled, but you were also mocked, becoming an object of ridicule and derision, even in all the distant lands. For the neighboring nations at least know us and have a history with us, and when they witness our downfall, they rejoice and heap scorn. But the distant lands do not know us and have no dispute with us, so one might have thought that there we would find rest. Yet the verse informs you otherwise: "and a mockery to all the lands." Even in distant lands with which we seemingly had no interaction, when we are exiled there, we will become an object of ridicule and mockery.
These words were fulfilled within us with terrifying precision, even in places where we never expected to suffer disgrace and persecution. The gentile always found a reason to persecute the Jew, with cause or without cause, and the Jew was always hunted and made an object of ridicule and derision, just as the Torah promised: "And among those nations you will find no repose, nor will there be rest for the sole of your foot." Furthermore, the Torah warned that in those places the gentiles would constantly speak of us and harp upon us - "And you shall become a proverb and a byword": they speak against the Jew, draw caricatures of him, and he features at the top of every headline. There is no rational logic to this, and it could never have been anticipated in advance, yet the Torah foresaw it thousands of years earlier. Der Stürmer was filled with caricatures of Jews supposedly seeking to conquer the world, and everywhere the Jew was depicted in a grotesque, mockable light. And when enemies from without were not enough, enemies from within arose - the informers from our own midst, that fifth column we had there, of whom today's left-wing ideologues are the third, fourth, and fifth generation; and those who establish new funds today against the Jewish people are merely continuing what was already done for two hundred years or more in Europe. There, they battered their fellow Jews from within, writing about them with pens dripping with venom and words of contempt and degradation. It is utterly horrifying to anyone with even a slight knowledge of history, and the Torah testified to it in advance.
(5) הַקְּרֹבוֹת וְהָרְחֹקוֹת מִמֵּךְ יִתְקַלְּסוּ־בָךְ טְמֵאַת הַשֵּׁם רַבַּת הַמְּהוּמָה׃ - Those near and those far from you will mock you, you defiled of name, abounding in tumult.
The distant lands will mock you because you are "defiled of name" - for your reputation has spread far and wide that you are impure. The nearby nations will mock you because you are "abounding in tumult" - for they see with their own eyes the upheavals within you, the internal turmoil, the internal hatred, and the internal murders of which we spoke, and because of what they witness, they hold you in contempt.
And so it was even in distant places that had never laid eyes on a Jew. It is told of a man who encountered a rabbi at the far end of the world, somewhere in Australia, and kept staring at him intently. The rabbi asked him, "Can I help you?" The man asked, "Are you a Jew?" He replied, "Yes." The man asked, "Could you take off your hat for a moment?" The rabbi asked, "Why?" He said, "I want to check something." He removed his hat, and the man began feeling his scalp. The rabbi asked him, "What are you looking for?" He replied, "I am looking for the horn. I was told that Jews have a horn growing out of their head" - for that was indeed how they depicted them in caricatures. He wondered: Jews don't have horns? People became utter fools to that extent. And this is the meaning of "They will mock you... defiled of name": the purported ill repute of the Jewish people reaches the entire world. A person may have never seen a Jew nor suffered anything from a Jew - the Jew never took his job nor lent to him on interest - yet he still hates the Jew. For you are "defiled of name": you possess a tarnished name that travels so far that even the distant lands mock you.
(6) הִנֵּה נְשִׂיאֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אִיש לִזְרֹעוֹ הָיוּ בָךְ לְמַעַן שְׁפׇךְ־דָּם׃ - Behold, the princes of Israel, each according to his might, were in you in order to shed blood.
A nation is generally upright when it heeds its leaders. In this regard, a story is told by Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef: When he traveled to Russia, he was informed that there was an opportunity and President Putin wished to meet with him. He was cautioned beforehand that a meeting with Putin is not intended as a conversation, but primarily to listen. He recounted that when he arrived, Putin asked him: What preserved the Jewish people? What preserved the Jewish people for 3,300 years without changing, while all the other nations changed, dispersed, and assimilated? When he began to answer, Putin signaled with his hand - as if to say: Speak only when I tell you to speak. Then Putin said to him: I will tell you. What preserved the Jewish people was your great leaders - the rabbis, the guides, and the communal heads; that is what preserved the Jewish people across thousands of years. And he was quite right: in every place where there were no communal leaders, the people assimilated and scattered, even if they initially had God-fearing individuals, gradually disintegrating. What happened to Bulgarian Jewry? What happened to the Ethiopian community, who had kessim but no Torah, so their study remained superficial and disconnected from the Shulchan Aruch and Halachah? By contrast, consider communities unseen for thousands of years - Yemenite Jewry, who had no contact with the outside world for two millennia, yet when they arrived here, they observed the very same Torah, donned the same tefillin, recited the same prayers, everything identical. Why? Because they had rabbis and Torah giants among them. Wherever there were rabbis, the community was preserved; wherever there were none, it was not.
And this is what the Malbim explains here: The people rectify their actions by listening to their leaders - the princes, who were chosen because of their stature, or the fathers, for a son naturally obeys his father; at least, that is how it once was, when there was a guide who educated. But here he says: See, they do not accept what their leaders teach them, because the leaders themselves are wicked and shed blood unjustly, by brute force.
And what is meant by "arm" (zero'a)? The Malbim explains that the arm is the prime instrument of force; when a person wants to accomplish something, he acts through the power of his arm. A prince who establishes justice through the rule of law - justice is his arm, this is his strength: the authority to judge Israel when they stray from the path. But if he does not prevail through justice, he is merely an "arm-wielding man" - raw physical force alone, violent might. By what authority do you come? If through the authority of Halachah and the Torah, you have established the dominion of Torah, Halachah, justice, and law; but if you act on your own whim, you have established the rule of brute force. This is "each according to his might was in you": every one of them acted with the power of his arm, rather than through righteousness and justice.
(7) אָב וָאֵם הֵקַלּוּ בָךְ לַגֵּר עָשׂוּ בַעֹשֶׁק בְּתוֹכֵךְ יָתוֹם וְאַלְמָנָה הוֹנוּ בָךְ׃ - Father and mother they treated with contempt within you; the convert they dealt with through extortion in your midst; the orphan and the widow they wronged within you.
Just as awe and respect for the leaders departed, because the leaders had corrupted their ways, so too was honor lost for father and mother - "they treated with contempt within you." Furthermore, they oppressed the vulnerable: they extorted and wronged the convert, the orphan, and the widow.
Rashi notes: All the abominations warned against in Parashat Kedoshim appear here. And the Radak explains that here the prophet enumerates the severe transgressions that any person ought to avoid even without the Torah's explicit warning - basic human decency dictates that one must not oppress an orphan or wrong a widow, for these are inherently helpless individuals. Yet it was precisely them that they oppressed, and for that very reason: who would protect them? The convert has no family, relatives, or supporters; the widow has no husband; the orphan has no father - there is no one to defend them, and therefore people permitted themselves to oppress and exploit them.
(8) קׇדָשַׁי בָּזִית וְאֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתַי חִלָּלְתְּ׃ - You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.
What is meant by "You have despised My holy things"? The Radak explains: As the verse states, "And you bring that which was stolen, and the lame, and the sick" - bringing a sick and lame animal as a sacrifice is an act of disdain, demonstrating how lowly the service of Hashem is in your eyes. "And profaned My Sabbaths" - as Yirmiyahu warned concerning the desecration of the Sabbath, as we saw earlier.
The Malbim explains, based on Sefer Yetzirah, that the world contains the concept of Ashan - an acronym for Olam (world/space), Shanah (year/time), and Nefesh (soul/person) - representing three forms of holiness: the holiness of the soul, the holiness of the year (which is the holiness of time), and the holiness of the world (which is the holiness of place). The holiness of the soul is embodied by Israel, and within them, the kohanim. The holiness of time includes Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Pesach, Sukkot, and Shavuot - sacred occasions. The holiness of place begins with the Land of Israel, which is holier than all other lands, Jerusalem which is holier still, the Temple Mount, the Beit HaMikdash, and the Holy of Holies.
The Malbim notes that here they corrupted all three realms: sanctity of soul (the human realm) - parents, leaders, and the elevated, prominent individuals whom the Torah commanded us to honor, and we have already seen that they disgraced them; sanctity of space (the world realm) - the sacred sites, the Temple and the Holy of Holies, regarding which it says, "You have despised My holy things." After all, we saw that Menashe placed an idol in the Sanctuary, and later we will see that Yechezkel is given a visionary tour of the Temple while on the Chebar River, where the Holy One, blessed be He, shows him the forms of idolatry carved into the inner chambers of the Temple - demonstrating that they desecrated even the most sacred place; and corresponding to sanctity of time (the year realm), the Shabbats and festivals - "and My Sabbaths you have desecrated."
(9) אַנְשֵׁי רָכִיל הָיוּ בָךְ לְמַעַן שְׁפׇךְ־דָּם וְאֶל־הֶהָרִים אָכְלוּ בָךְ זִמָּה עָשׂוּ בְתוֹכֵךְ׃ - "Men of slander were within you in order to shed blood; and upon the mountains they ate within you; depravity they committed in your midst."
"Men of slander were within you" - they carried tales from the weak to the powerful in order to shed innocent blood for nothing. Anyone who wanted to settle a score with his fellow would go to the thugs and say: "Did you see? So-and-so did such-and-such" - so that they would eliminate him.
"And upon the mountains they ate within you" - Rashi explains that they worshiped idols on the mountains, and so Targum renders it: "and upon the mountains they served abominations within you," because they would conduct idol worship on the mountaintops and under every luxuriant tree, as was the way of idolaters. "Depravity they committed in your midst" - this is general, and the specific details of this depravity will follow. Rashi explains that zimmah (depravity) stems from zemam, meaning schemes of wickedness, whereas Radak, and similarly evident in the Malbim, explain zimmah as sinful counsel, as in the Targum, which generally refers to matters of forbidden sexual relations (arayot).
The Malbim explains that bloodshed occurred among them from three causes: First, through the princes who shed blood in her midst, as we saw earlier. Second, "men of slander were within you" - who inflamed passions, incited, and thereby brought about bloodshed. Third, through bribery, as verse 12 will state, "They took bribes within you to shed blood." And it is not without reason that he enumerated these three, for they correspond to the three things of which it is said that they remove a person from the world: envy - this is the talebearers, where one envies his fellow, slanders him, and carries reports from one person to another; lust - this is bribery, where the lust for money drives one to shed blood; and honor - this is the princes. Envy, lust, and the pursuit of honor remove a person from the world, and they lead a person to remove others from the world, bringing about murder. And besides bloodshed, there was also idol worship and illicit relations: corresponding to idolatry - "upon the mountains they ate," from idol sacrifices; and corresponding to illicit relations - "depravity they committed in your midst." Thus Scripture has enumerated for us the three cardinal sins.
(10) עֶרְוַת־אָב גִּלָּה־בָךְ טְמֵאַת הַנִּדָּה עִנּוּ־בָךְ׃ - "A father's nakedness was uncovered within you; a woman impure in her menstruation they afflicted within you."
Why does it specifically mention "a father's nakedness"? Radak explains that this is the gravest of all forbidden sexual relations, as stated in the Torah, "The nakedness of your father you shall not uncover," which means that a person is forbidden to have relations with his mother. Notice that here it is phrased in the singular - "a father's nakedness he uncovered within you," rather than "they uncovered," whereas the rest is in the plural - "a woman impure in her menstruation they afflicted within you." What accounts for the difference? It hints at what Chazal say regarding King Amon, who multiplied guilt by cohabiting with his mother, and similarly stated regarding Yehoyakim; therefore, it used the singular form, referring to those specific individuals who stumbled in this sin.
And why does it say, "they afflicted within you," rather than "they uncovered" or "they cohabited with"? Likewise, in the next verse, "and a man his sister, his father's daughter, afflicted within you" - using the language of affliction. Radak explains that both for a woman during her state of niddah and for a virgin, intercourse causes physical distress, which is why in both cases it employs the terminology of affliction.
(11) וְאִיש אֶת־אֵשֶׁת רֵעֵהוּ עָשָׂה תּוֹעֵבָה וְאִיש אֶת־כַּלָּתוֹ טִמֵּא בְזִמָּה וְאִיש אֶת־אֲחֹתוֹ בַת־אָבִיו עִנָּה־בָךְ׃ - "And one committed an abomination with his neighbor's wife, and another defiled his daughter-in-law in depravity, and another afflicted his sister, his father's daughter, within you."
Radak explains: Do not think this refers to just one individual, for the word ish ("a man") can also refer to many, as in "And a man came from Baal-shalishah" and "Any man of your seed," meaning every single man. Each and every man defiled his neighbor's wife, his daughter-in-law, and his sister. And regarding his sister, it is understandable why it says "he afflicted [her] within you", for it refers to an unmarried sister whom he violated while she was still in his father's house. Moreover, when a close relative - her own brother - acts in this way, it is certainly an affliction for her.
(12) שֹׁחַד לָקְחוּ־בָךְ לְמַעַן שְׁפׇךְ־דָּם נֶשֶׁךְ וְתַרְבִּית לָקַחַתְּ וַתְּבַצְּעִי רֵעַיִךְ בַּעֹשֶׁק וְאֹתִי שָׁכַחַתְּ נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - They have taken bribes within you in order to shed blood; you have taken interest and usury, and you have extorted your neighbors by oppression, and you have forgotten Me, says the Lord God.
"They have taken bribes within you in order to shed blood" - the kings and officers took bribes from litigants to shed innocent blood: someone who deserved to be found guilty would pay, and the judge would declare his opponent guilty and sentence him to death.
"You have taken interest and usury" - regarding the vocalization: lakachat is equivalent to lakacht ("you took"), but the pronunciation is difficult due to two consecutive shevas, and so it is vocalized with a patach. Similarly, veyada'at instead of veyada't, and several other places vocalized with a patach where a sheva would normally be expected. The same applies to shachachat - meaning shachacht ("you forgot"), as we would say in Hebrew, but due to phonetic difficulty it is pronounced with a patach, which is why it reads shachachat and lakachat.
And why the double phrasing, "interest (neshech) and usury (tarbit)"? Chazal address this question and state simply: neshech and tarbit are essentially the same thing, but the Torah used both terms so that one who violates it transgresses two negative commandments - "Do not take from him interest or usury." In truth, in Rabbinic terminology, as learned in the chapter Eizehu Neshech, when Chazal use the term tarbit they usually refer to rabbinically forbidden interest (ribit d'Rabbanan), but that is specifically in Rabbinic parlance; it cannot apply to the Torah text itself, since when the Torah writes "Do not take from him interest or usury," it refers to a Torah prohibition. So what is the difference between them? One explanation is that it is meant to incur liability for two prohibitions. Others suggest that neshech and tarbit describe two aspects of taking interest: on the one hand, it "bites" (noshech) the other party, as the interest gnaws at the borrower who must pay it; on the other hand, it increases (marbeh) the lender's assets, as the meter is constantly running and he earns more and more. Neshech affects the borrower, and tarbit increases the lender's wealth - two outcomes resulting from the taking of interest.
"And you have extorted your neighbors by oppression" - the Targum renders this as "and you caused your friends to benefit through extortion," meaning you allowed your allies to profit from what you extorted and plundered from others. You let your "allies" benefit from what you stripped and withheld from the vulnerable members of your own nation - the orphan, the widow, and the convert. And who were these "allies" that received the spoils of this oppression? They gave these extorted funds to Assyria and Egypt as bribes, hiring mercenaries to come to their aid when troubles began. In the end, this payment was completely in vain; not only did they fail to help, but they proved to be a "crushed reed of a staff," which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it, as the prophet tells them - and ultimately it brought them no benefit. Nevertheless, you went and robbed your own people in order to pay your "allies," Assyria and Egypt.
"And you have forgotten Me" - there are two explanations for this: first, that you did not trust in Me or turn to Me for help, but instead sought the help of nations that ultimately came to destroy you, forgetting that I have been your shield and savior from of old. Second, that I warned you against all these transgressions, yet you pursued your desires, failing to remember that I commanded you to refrain from them.
The Malbim explains: After mentioning the forbidden relationships, he returns to bloodshed, because the final decree was due to bloodshed; the initial strict judgment and destruction were brought about by bloodshed, which is why he emphasizes it primarily. He also explains vatvatze'i ("and you have extorted") as an expression of robbery, as in "So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain (botze'a batza)" (Proverbs 1:19), meaning one who steals. Furthermore, he explains that batza denotes profit, as in "What profit (mah batza) is there if we kill our brother" (Genesis 37:26) - what gain will we derive from this? This is the meaning of the verse: you went and committed oppression to enrich your allies, Egypt and Assyria.
(13) וְהִנֵּה הִכֵּיתִי כַפִּי אֶל־בִּצְעֵךְ אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂית וְעַל־דָּמֵךְ אֲשֶׁר הָיוּ בְּתוֹכֵךְ׃ - And behold, I have struck My hands together at your ill-gotten gain that you made, and at your bloodshed that was in your midst.
"And behold, I have struck My hands" - Radak explains that this is a metaphor for a person in anguish who claps hand against hand, similar to what was said earlier, "I will also strike My hand against My hand," as we saw above. "At your ill-gotten gain" (el bitze'ech) means "concerning your ill-gotten gain" (al bitze'ech). And Chazal say: Yechezkel enumerates twenty-four sins, yet the seal was set on all of them only on account of robbery, as it says, "And behold, I have struck My hands" - over what? "At your ill-gotten gain." The divine judgment was triggered primarily by the sin of robbery.
"And for the blood that was within you" - Radak explains that Scripture writes "your blood" in the singular, but the reference is general, referring to the vast amount of blood shed. This is similar to the verse, "And I have ox and donkey" (Bereishit 32:6), which means oxen and donkeys, as Scripture frequently employs the singular form with a plural meaning.
And the Malbim explains: "I have struck My hands," just as we saw in the previous chapter, "And I too will strike My hands together" - that the final decree for Nevuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem was not sealed over idolatry and forbidden relations, but solely "over your dishonest gain," primarily on account of extortion and oppression, as Radak cited. Similarly, we found regarding the generation of the Flood that the final decree against them was sealed only on account of theft.
(14) הֲיַעֲמֹד לִבֵּךְ אִם־תֶּחֱזַקְנָה יָדַיִךְ לַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה אוֹתָךְ אֲנִי יְהֹוָה דִּבַּרְתִּי וְעָשִׂיתִי׃ - Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken and I will act.
The Malbim explains: If the decree had been sealed on account of sins between man and God, there would still have been room for repentance - you would repent, and Hashem would grant you atonement. But since the decree was sealed over sins between man and his fellow man, here repentance is of no avail until one restores what was extorted and returns what was stolen. Therefore Hashem says: Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, for the days when I execute judgment upon you? "I, Hashem, have spoken and I will act" - and from the moment I pronounced the decree, it is as if the deed is already done, and what is already done cannot be undone.
The Malbim explains in several places that God's speech is itself tantamount to actual execution. As we see, the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world with ten utterances: one might have supposed that He spoke and now an action needs to be carried out - but we are told no, "He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm" (Tehillim 33:9). With the Holy One, blessed be He, speech itself constitutes the realization of the matter. This is the meaning of "I, Hashem, have spoken and I will act": if I have spoken, it is already as though I have done it, and there is no longer any possibility of revoking it.
(15) וַהֲפִיצוֹתִי אוֹתָךְ בַּגּוֹיִם וְזֵרִיתִיךְ בָּאֲרָצוֹת וַהֲתִמֹּתִי טֻמְאָתֵךְ מִמֵּךְ׃ - And I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the lands, and I will consume your impurity out of you.
As discussed, there is the expression "to scatter" and the expression "to disperse," and there are "nations" and "lands": scattering refers to dispersing, while winnowing denotes an even wider, finer scattering, and this is "and disperse you through the lands."
"And I will consume your impurity out of you" - through this, your impurity will come to an end. How so? Radak explains that Israel did not worship idols in exile. All idol worship, as we see, took place here in the Land of Israel, and once they were exiled, they no longer engaged in idolatry. And although the Torah states, "And there you will serve gods of wood and stone" (Devarim 4:28), Chazal explain: "And there you will serve" - meaning that you will serve nations that worship idols. It does not mean that you yourselves will worship idols, but rather that you will be subjugated to nations that serve idols. And what is "wood and stone"? Wood refers to the Christians, who have the wooden cross, and stone refers to the Muslims, who revere the stone in their shrine in Mecca, the Kaaba, where anyone who journeys there is called a Sheikh or a Hajji and celebrations are held. Therefore, "and there you will serve" does not mean that we will worship idols, for in truth they did not practice idolatry in the lands of their exile; rather, they served the nations that worship idols, and it is considered as though we are humbled before idolatry, since one is subservient to those who worship idols. This is the meaning of "and I will consume your impurity out of you" - that impurity of idolatry will cease there, and will no longer accompany you among the nations.
(16) וְנִחַלְתְּ בָּךְ לְעֵינֵי גוֹיִם וְיָדַעַתְּ כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה׃ - And you shall be profaned in yourself in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
Here is an example of what we mentioned regarding the vocalization: it is written "וְיָדַעַתְּ" and not "וידעְתְּ", for the same reason that it is difficult to pronounce two consecutive shevas.
And what is the meaning of "And you shall be profaned in yourself in the sight of the nations"? There are several interpretations here. Rashi explains that it means "you will tremble" over what you have done, and simply put, "tremble" is from the root of illness and shaking, as in "and the queen trembled exceedingly" in Esther, and so too here "ve-nichalt" is in the sense of illness and distress. Others explain, and so Radak cites in their name, that it is from the root of profanation (chilul) - that the honor of Israel will be desecrated in the sight of the nations.
In contrast, the Malbim explains that "ve-nichalt" is from the root of nachalah (inheritance or heritage) - neither trembling nor desecration. The meaning of this is: you will take possession of yourself. For Israel's heritage from the Patriarchs is our status as a holy nation; this is our inheritance, and Hashem is our portion. And on whom does this inheritance depend? On us: to the extent that we sanctify ourselves, so Hashem will be our inheritance, and if not - as we see, He scatters us among the nations. Now he says, "And you will possess yourself in the sight of the nations" - there you will return to your original heritage; you will inherit yourself, what is truly yours, what you inherited from your fathers: that you are a holy nation. In simple terms: the strengths you had previously, the holiness within you that you inherited from your ancestors - you will return to take possession of them. And what is that inheritance? "And you shall know that I am Hashem" - you will return to know Hashem as in days of old, which is the heritage you received from your fathers.
In this chapter, the Holy One, Blessed is He, asks the prophet to make known to Jerusalem all her abominations, so that they may know that the judgment is true and just, and that Nevuchadnezzar is not coming upon them without cause. Enumerated here are the three cardinal sins - bloodshed (on the part of the princes, the slanderers, and through bribery, representing jealousy, desire, and honor), idolatry, and sexual immorality - as well as the desecration of the holy realms of soul, time, and space, and the oppression of the convert, the orphan, and the widow. Even so, Yechezkel enumerates twenty-four sins and seals the indictment only with robbery, like the Generation of the Flood; therefore, repentance is of no avail until the stolen property is restored, and "I, Hashem, have spoken and will do it." Yet within the rebuke lies consolation as well: in exile the defilement of idolatry will come to an end, and ultimately, "and you shall possess yourself" - we will return to inherit the heritage of our fathers, the holiness within us, and know Hashem as in days of old.