Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 27. "And the word of Hashem came to me, saying. And you, son of man, raise a lament over Tzur. And say to Tzur, who sits at the entrances of the sea, merchant of the peoples to many islands, so says Hashem Elokim: Tzur, you have said, I am perfect in beauty." Hashem gives Yechezkel another prophecy, and now He tells him to raise a lament over Tzur. To mourn over the downfall of Tzur. "And say to Tzur, who sits at the entrances of the sea." What does "at the entrances of the sea" mean? Like an entryway, where all the ships arrive to unload their goods. And she, Tzur, is a merchant of the peoples to many islands. She is the merchant of the peoples. What does this mean? A merchant (rochel) is the person who buys goods from the great trader and sells them from place to place, going from place to place, selling to individuals. What we call a retailer. This is called the seller, as opposed to the wholesaler who sells to those who buy in bulk; the retailer sells to those who buy in single units. This is called the rochel, and the rochel is the person who goes around, walking and circulating through the towns to sell his wares, and from this comes the expression we also spoke of before regarding a rogel, right? "You shall not go about as a talebearer (rachil)," the meaning being a person who follows after someone in order to hear what he will say, and this is also the way of the spy who goes about, and rogel and rochel are roots that are close to one another. It says to her: you receive the goods from the great traders and you sell them to the islands in the sea, like a merchant, this was the way of Tzur.
Tzur says, I am perfect in beauty. You boast that your beauty is from yourself. And regarding this, now all the coming pesukim will prove that your beauty, Tzur, is not your own, but all your beauty is taken from others or given to you by others, but you have no beauty of your own. Rashi brings: what does "you have said, I am perfect in beauty" mean? What is the emphasis on "I"? Rashi says: until now everyone said about Yerushalayim that it is perfect in beauty, as it appears in Eichah chapter 2, "the joy of all the earth." As it appears in Tehillim 48. Now you boast to say, I am perfect in beauty. Not Yerushalayim, I am perfect in beauty. And this is connected to what Chazal say, that Tzur was filled from the destruction of Yerushalayim. What does "perfect in beauty" mean? "Perfect in beauty" means like completeness, that is, absolute, total beauty, the utmost, entirely beauty. I am perfect in beauty, in this she boasted.
"In the heart of the seas are your borders; your builders perfected your beauty." "In the heart of the seas are your borders," your beauty depends on the borders, meaning that what surrounds you is the sea. You are an island in the sea, situated among it, and not only that, but also the islands that are all around in the sea, they too as it were mark out your borders, as though she is the central island with satellite islands around her. And your beauty comes through the neighbors who are around you, all the islands of the sea to whom you sell your wares as we explained; through this you became wealthy. And your beauty also comes from the fact that your builders perfected your beauty. Those who built you strove to make you beautiful. If so, in simple words, your beauty is not intrinsic. The builders and the materials from which you were built come from the peoples who are around, from those who built you all around, but this is not beauty of your own. And now he will show how all her beauty is taken from her surroundings.
"They made all your planks of cypresses from Senir. They took a cedar from Levanon to make a mast for you." He compares the entire island of Tzur to a ship in the sea, and now this ship is entirely built from a combination of components, and the ship is beautiful and magnificent, and now he will say to you: what are you boasting about with your ship? Everyone here around contributed a part, and you did not make this beauty. This is now the parable he will employ, and let us see how he details it one by one. He begins with "of cypresses from Senir they built for you." This ship was built from cypresses. From this they made the planks of the ship. The planks of the ship are what surrounds the ship on the outside. These are the planks of the ship. He says this is from Senir, not from Tzur. That is, this is not a part of yours, it comes from outside. And the cedar which they took to make you a mast, that too is not yours; it too they took from Levanon to make a mast for you. The mast is the pole located in the center of the ship.
"Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; they made your deck of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the islands of Kittim." Your oars they made from oaks of Bashan, this too is not yours. "They made your deck of ivory." What does "they made your deck of ivory" mean? The Malbim explains that the meaning is the board with which they steer the ship. And in fact his proof is that it does not say "karshayich," which is plural. It says "karshech," that is, there is one single board with which they would steer the ship, and it they would make of ivory. "Shen" means the tusk of an elephant. And what is this "karshech"? The Malbim explains that the "karshech" is what is called in Yiddish "der ruder." What is "der ruder"? Does anyone here know English? What is "ruder"? A rudder. A rudder. "Der ruder" means a rudder. So then, the "karshech" spoken of here is the rudder, and therefore it is a single board with which, and Rashi also goes in this direction, that it is located at the rear of the ship and with it they steer the ship right and left. They made it of ivory, and where did this ivory come from? "Inlaid in boxwood," it was born in Ashur and they brought it from the islands of Kittim, from a place called Kittim. So here you see that this too does not belong to you, but all these parts came to you from other places.
"Fine linen with embroidery from Mitzrayim was your sail, to serve you as a banner; blue and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering." "Fine linen with embroidery from Mitzrayim was your sail." Now he moves to speak about the sails. The sails of the ship, this is also what is called in Rashi's language the curtain; in the language of Chazal it is called the curtain of the ship, or its banner, which is a kind of cloth that serves as a curtain, which is essentially the sails. "Fine linen with embroidery from Mitzrayim," this too is not from you. They brought it embroidered in fine linen, and "embroidered in fine linen" means magnificent and beautiful, this they brought from Mitzrayim, these sails, to serve you as a banner, which is the banner that we mentioned, the banner that they hang upon the mast. Besides this he says to her, blue and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. The ship has a covering. What is a covering? The Radak says the covering is the tent of the ship, to cover over the people of the ship from spray and rain and heat. They had some sort of tent with which they would cover the ship. And this tent, where did the covering come from? It was of blue and purple, very magnificent, very beautiful, but it was from the islands of Elishah. They brought it from the islands of Elishah, they did not bring it from your own. So then, come and see how all the wealth and honor and glory of Tzur is not from herself, it is through the trade of many peoples, of distant islands. What he really means to say here is: you developed very, very much, but by the strength of the peoples who came around you to trade with you. From this you developed greatly, but there is nothing here from yourself and from your own strength that brought you to this greatness.
"The inhabitants of Tzidon and Arvad were your rowers; your wise men, Tzur, were within you, they were your pilots." "The inhabitants of Tzidon," after he describes the ship itself and its equipment, how it was made by many peoples, nothing there belonging to Tzur but everything belonging to the peoples around, he says: even those who steer the ship, those who do the work of the ship - now they speak of the human aspect of the ship - he says they too come from other peoples. Just as the wealth and trade came to her from outside, he wants to say to her: the wise men and those who lead you as a country, Tzur, they too come from outside, they came from other peoples. "The inhabitants of Tzidon," these are the ones who row the ship. Those who row the ship are the inhabitants of Tzidon and Arvad. And those wise men who were found within you, who are the wise men of Tzur, are your pilots, they steer the ship and rule over it, from them came king and officers. It emerges then that these wise men are not from you, they are the inhabitants of Tzidon and Arvad. They were the ones who steered the ship and they too are your pilots. "Chovlayich" (your pilots) is in the sense of "rav ha-chovel" (the captain). And why is the captain called "rav ha-chovel"? Because he was responsible for the spreading of the sails. And the spreading of the sails, as is known, was done by means of ropes (chavalim). Whoever has seen pictures of Viking ships sees this very, very clearly, how it is built with sail upon sail upon sail, and everything was done in a very sophisticated way with pulleys that would pull ropes, and through this all the sails would be spread. And afterward they pull other ropes and through this the sails would be folded. So the captain, since he was in charge of this, of the matter of the ropes and the sails, therefore he was called "rav ha-chovel." So he says to her: here you see, all those who as it were steer the ship, they too are not from you. So the leaders of Tzur, those who are supposedly wise men, they too are not from you, they too came only from the peoples around you. Another explanation why the captain is called "rav ha-chovel": because he needed cunning strategies (tachbulot) to steer the ship. For as is known, steering the ship was not an easy task. Much strategy was needed to steer the ship, because many times you need to sail in the direction from which the wind comes against you. And then you need to know in which way to sail the ship so that you do not arrive at such a situation where the wind will take you to the opposite place from that to which you want to arrive.
They tell of one of the great sages of Israel, I think Rav Shach said this, I am not sure, but one of the great sages of Israel: they tell that once one of the prime ministers or the president or a minister came to him and said, tell me, how can it be? You say that you Jews pray for the welfare of the state. He says to him, you Jews are here and pray for the welfare of the state. And you are also in the opposing country, with which we are at war, and there too you pray for the welfare of the state. So tell me, I want to know, which prayer is accepted? Which prayer is accepted? What in the end is accepted? So the Jews pray for your welfare, you know, but there are Jews on the other side who pray for the welfare of the state where they are, which is the other place. So then, ostensibly there is some clash here between the prayers. He said to him: notice that in the prayer for the welfare of the state we open with a pasuk. He said to him: we say the pasuk, "He who gives a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters." He says, ostensibly what is the connection between a prayer for the welfare of the state and "He who gives a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters"? He says to him: here, notice, in the sea a wondrous thing happens. He says there is a ship that goes out from east to west, and there is a ship that goes out from west to east, and he says the winds ostensibly should be opposite in order to succeed in bringing each ship to its destination. And in the end you see that, baruch Hashem, both ships reach their destination. Even though ostensibly they need opposite winds. So He who gives a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters creates a special path for the ship so that it will succeed in arriving, even though it is against the direction and the wind is against it, and nevertheless it succeeds in arriving, "He gives salvation to kings." He says to him: the Holy One, Blessed be He, already knows how to arrange matters, just as He arranges matters in the sea and both ships reach their destination even though they are in opposite directions, He will already arrange matters so that everything will be all right in the end. What does "arrange matters" mean? Well, between us, "arrange matters" means that the Jews in the end will not come out harmed, that is the main thing, right? This is essentially our matter, the prayer for the welfare of the state, because we are in the state, in the end part of the state, we do not want to be harmed when the state is harmed.
Let us continue. "The elders of Geval and its wise men were within you, repairing your breaches; all the ships of the sea and their sailors were within you to barter your merchandise." "The elders of Geval and its wise men," they were expert in building, as we saw, "and the builders of Shlomo and the Givlim carved." These are the elders of Geval. They were repairers of your breaches. They were as it were in charge of repairing the ship. From them they took wise men to enact ordinances and customs in the state, this in the analogue. He says to her: they, all the ships of the sea and their sailors, were within you, meaning they came to barter your merchandise. What does "to barter your merchandise" mean? Even when you were a trader, you needed a guarantee, because as we know, a person who goes and buys goods does not always have the cash on hand to buy the goods. What he does, he takes on credit. You take on credit; who really will guarantee that you will repay the money? So they bring guarantors. They bring guarantors. So he says to her: they were guarantors for you. All the ships of the sea and their sailors were within you to barter your merchandise. Since all their trade was through you, then also the confidence to give you goods on credit was not by your own strength. It was by the strength of those same ships of the sea and their sailors, which again here too is a figurative expression, the meaning being those who came to trade here, they were willing to sign a guarantee for you in order to ensure that you would repay the loans that you take. So here too this matter of trade did not come by your strength but by another's strength. What is "their sailors" (malacheihem)? From what source is the expression "melach"? The sailors of the ship. So Rashi brings in Chumash that it is like "seasoned, pure, holy." What does the sailor do with the oars? He stirs the water of the sea. What do they do, pay attention to the oars, they stir the water. This is what the sailors do. "Memulach" means mixed. "Seasoned, pure, holy" means mixed. So this is the expression of "melach" from the language of stirring. Some explain that "melach" comes from the language of saltiness, since he knows the water of the sea, so to speak drinks it, he senses by the taste and already knows where to sail, to which side, in which direction, this is from the language of "melach" (salt). Thus some explain that this is the source of the expression "melach."
"Paras and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war; shield and helmet they hung within you, they gave you splendor." "Paras and Lud and Put were in your army." That is, even your men of the army, those who as it were fight your war, this was a purchased army. These were fighting men who were mercenaries. Paras and Lud and Put, they are the ones who were in your army. So they too were not part of your army, of your people, but only people who came from around. And they "hung, hung within you, they gave you splendor." What does "hung within you" mean? The Malbim explains that "talu" is from the language of "tel," a high and steep mound. They set up mounds upon mounds of shield and helmet. Shield and helmet are instruments of war. He says, as it were, through their strength and power, they gave the strength to Tzur so that it would not be conquered. And this "gave splendor." What does "gave splendor" mean? Because when a state has military power, this is splendor for it. This is strength for it. The little missile man from North Korea, whom we thought for a moment might become big but it turns out he remained small, he is very powerful, even though who is he and what is he at all? What, what is his strength at all? The moment he has an atom bomb, then no one relates any longer to the size of the state, to the situation there, to the economy, nothing. There are people there hungry for bread, but that is no longer of interest. The moment he has fighting power, military power, this is the splendor of the state. He speaks, people enter into fear. Great powers like China, like Japan, are wary and afraid of whom? Of someone who has instruments of war. So he says, they, since shield and helmet they hung within you, they made mounds of shields and helmets, that is, there is military power here, they gave you splendor, this gives you splendor and power against the nations opposed to you. The Radak, on the other hand, explains that what is written "hung within you" does not mean from the language of making mounds and hills of shields and helmets, but rather it was their way to hang the shields and helmets on the tops of the towers and on the walls. They would hang a nail on the wall and hang there the shield and helmet. So then, he wants to say your men of war hung shield and helmet within you, to say that there were within her many men of war who would hang their helmets and their shields upon her walls.
"The sons of Arvad and your army were on your walls all around, and the gammadim were in your towers; they hung their quivers on your walls all around, they perfected your beauty." "The sons of Arvad and your army were on your walls all around." The sons of Arvad are your men of the army, those who guarded your walls; they too are not yours, but they are the sons of Arvad. The sons of Arvad are a nation. The sons of Arvad, it is written, we saw above that they too were repairers of her breach, so too they were guarding her from the enemy who came from outside. "And the gammadim were in your towers." What are gammadim? Targum Yonatan explains that gammadim is the name of a nation, Kapotkaei. These are called gammadim. But Rashi brings an additional explanation, "I heard in the name of Rabbi Menachem: because they descend in the sea down to the depth of the gates a gomed (cubit) of measures deep, they were called gammadim." Some explain that gammadim is like "amudaim." "Amudaim" in the language of Chazal is a diver. Today too in our Hebrew we also use this expression "amoda'i," perhaps today it is less common, but "amoda'i" is a diver. So some explain that gammadim means amudaim, and they, why are they called gammadim? Because "gamad" is "gomed." A gomed is the length of a cubit. The measure of a cubit is called gomed. So they would measure the depth of the sea. Why would they go down into the sea? Usually it was to fetch pearls from there. So therefore there were those who were divers who would dive into the sea and bring out the pearls from the sea. So one explanation is that these gammadim are divers. Some solve it, says Rashi, with an additional explanation, that they are dwarves. And they go in the measure of a cubit. The meaning is that his size is a cubit. This is a gomed, its height. Therefore it is called gammadim. And they were on the wall, says the Metzudat David, and therefore they placed them specifically there, the dwarves in the towers, so that they would not be seen. For if they would be seen they could be harmed. So they took and placed such compact people, who are dwarves, and there they could hide without being seen, without being seen so the enemy would shoot arrows against them. "In your towers they were, they hung their quivers on your walls all around." "Their quivers" (shiltehem) means the case in which they would place the arrows, this is called shiltehem. The Malbim says: they would place the gammadim in your towers, and when they went up on your high towers, the Malbim says they appeared from below like dwarf men whose length is a cubit. According to the Malbim the meaning is not that they took actual dwarves and placed them on the towers, but rather the meaning of the matter is that because of the difference in height, they appeared small, they appeared as dwarves. They tell of one once who was, on a floor, I do not know which, the hundredth floor, somewhere in New York, and he looked out the window like this, afterward he went down below, and he suddenly sees someone approaching him, beginning to hug him, to kiss him. He asks, what happened? What? He says to him, what, you do not recognize me? He says to him, no, from where do I know you? So the one who came down from above says to him, what, what do you mean? I know you, from when you were this small. He remembers him this small, fifteen minutes ago he was this small, we know him. Well, alright, in any case, so here the Malbim says the same thing: when they would look from below to above, the towers were so high that those who were looking from below would see those sitting above in the tower as dwarves. They would see him as small. This, this is the meaning of "and gammadim were in your towers." And they placed their quivers, mounds upon mounds, as we explained according to the Malbim, they hung on your walls all around, mounds upon mounds on your walls, they placed heaps on your walls, their quivers, right, which means the case of the arrows; some say shiltehem means the shields, right? They placed this on your walls, and this is what brought your special beauty. And not as you say, I am perfect in beauty, since your beauty is not really from you, but your beauty is gathered from various peoples around.