"Afflicted one, storm tossed, uncomforted. Behold, I will set your stones with antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires." The afflicted, storm tossed one is Knesset Yisrael, who is afflicted and whose heart storms from the abundance of troubles. The Metzudat David explains that the reference here is to Yerushalayim, that Yerushalayim is like an afflicted woman trembling from a storm wind, with none to comfort her. Like an afflicted woman trembling when there is a great storm and no one comforts her. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, behold I will set your stones with antimony. The stones, explains the Metzudat David, that the way it works when one lays a floor is that beneath the stones one cushions them with sand, so that the tiles can be set upon them. In their days they did not use mortar, so they would pave the way they pave the curbstones on sidewalks: they spread out the sand and upon it place the stones. But the Holy One, blessed be He, says, behold I will set your stones with antimony. By you, when they wish to lay the stones of Yerushalayim, they will not put sand beneath, they will put antimony, precious gems, precious stones. Upon these they will lay the floor stones. "And lay your foundations with sapphires": and the foundations of the buildings will be made of sapphire stones, for sapphire stones are among the most precious of stones. What are the sapphire stones? The Radak explains in the name of Rav Saadia Gaon that it is a white stone. The wise Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra wrote that it is a red stone. The Radak explains that it is a black pearl. The Targum Yonatan says stones of taboon, good stones, without specifying a color. Like "the brickwork of sapphire," there too he translates sapphire as "like a work of a good stone," a good stone. So the color does not matter to us, whether white, red, or black, it truly does not matter, the main thing is that it is a good stone. And it may well be, by the way, that all the interpretations are correct. For just as among fruits there are several types of colors, so too it can be that among types of stones, within that same type of stone, there are several types of colors.
The Malbim explains: after we saw the prophecy in which the Holy One, blessed be He, promises "sing, O barren one, who did not bear," that is, Am Yisrael will be gathered in and return to their land, and she who was in the state of a barren one will again sing joyfully, she will again bear children, he comes and describes to us the situation that will be: that although all of Yisrael will return to the land, Yerushalayim will not yet be built and established. And this is what he says here, "afflicted one, storm tossed, uncomforted." What is this afflicted, storm tossed one? Of whom does he speak? Of Yerushalayim. Tzion, when it is written Tzion it means Yerushalayim. "Arise and let us go up to Tzion," the intent is Tzion, Yerushalayim. So he describes that Yerushalayim will not yet be built. And then accordingly she will still be storming in her spirit, for she is not yet comforted. Eretz Yisrael has already been comforted, Am Yisrael has returned to its land, but she has not yet been comforted, she has not yet merited to be built. And then he says, "the children of the desolate one are many," Eretz Yisrael has already been built, the children of the desolate one have come in great number, but the afflicted one is not yet comforted. What does Hashem say to her? Behold I will set your stones with antimony. The stones upon which the foundation will rest will be gems, and the foundation itself will be sapphire. That is to say, the Holy One, blessed be He, tells her: do not grieve, you will yet be built and established, Yerushalayim. And it is truly astonishing what the Malbim writes here, for we are already exposed to this very reality. Am Yisrael has returned to its land, and Yerushalayim is ruined, desolate, despised, lowly. Indeed they have built us Teddy Stadium, indeed they have built us the Hall of Justice, indeed on Givat Ram sits the parliament of the heretics, but she is not yet comforted. Whoever sees how strangers and wicked ones sit on Har HaBayit, sitting there lowly while in fact on the most sacred place they have set up their house of prayer and their house of impurity, then what is left for that afflicted, storm tossed one but to lament and refuse to be comforted? Behold Eretz Yisrael has already begun its redemption, while I have not only failed to begin my redemption but they have added ruin upon her ruin. The Holy One, blessed be He, promises, "I will make your battlements of rubies and your gates of carbuncles and all your borders of precious stones." "I will make your battlements of ruby." Kadkod is a kind of good stone. Some read it kadkod and some read it kadkod. There are two views whether the dalet has a silent sheva or a moving sheva. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, I will make your battlements of a precious stone. What are your "shimshotayich"? There are several explanations of this. Rashi explains "shimshotayich" in the name of Onkelos, "a'ach." So too the Targum Yonatan brings. "A'ach," the intent is that the wooden frames of the windows will be of a precious stone. Menachem connected it with "yeshamshunah," and his explanation is: "I will make your shimshotayich of ruby," your utensils, the vessels with which you use, will be vessels of precious stones. Some explain it as the language of shemesh, sun: that the openings through which the sun shines, they make against them partitions of colored glass for ornament, this is the glass, this is essentially the window one places over the opening, and this shimshotayich will be precious stones. You will not use glass or crystals, rather you will have windows that protect against the sun, and they will be made of good and precious stones. The Midrash Tehillim brings another explanation: what is shimshotayich? From the language of "a sun and a shield." There the intent is the teeth of the wall. The wall has protrusions like teeth along its top, like the wall of Yerushalayim. So concerning this he means "I will make your shimshotayich of ruby." These teeth protruding from the wall, from the abundance of wealth that there will be, these teeth will be of precious stone. "And your gates of carbuncles." What is "your gates of carbuncles"? The Targum Yonatan translates "stones of gumrin." What is gumrin? What is gumri? What is "bisra a'gumri"? What do we do, do we not make the mugmar? Coals. Coals. Whenever it is written gumri it means coals. "Bisra a'gumri" means meat over the coals. Mugmar is spices which one places over coals to spread a fragrance. So "your gates of carbuncles," stones of coals. What does this mean? How is ekdach connected to coals? There is a smoking gun, we know, but how is this connected to coals? Rather ekdach is not our pistol, but as it is written "you who kindle fire, who gird yourselves with firebrands." Ekdach is from the language of fire. From the language of "a fire has kindled in My anger." So I will make your gates of stones that are good stones burning like torches. That is the meaning of "like stones of ekdach," like stones that burn like glowing coals, that is to say the burning, the illuminating. So the gates will be like stones of ekdach, that is to say precious stones, and the windows will be kadkod, other precious stones of a good stone. Some explain that what is written "stones of ekdach" is from the language of drilling, kedichah. Great stones such that the entire hollow of the opening is drilled within it. That is to say, this is a wonder of wonders. Today the largest diamond we know of, they say belongs to the Queen of Britain, the size of an egg. I do not know what number of egg, but so they say. In any case, stones larger than that we are not at all in the realm of, we do not know of in reality. He says there will be such great stones, as it is written that he saw there the ministering angels sawing precious stones, and he asked them why this is. They said to him, for Yerushalayim. There was a student of Rabbi Yochanan, to whom Rabbah said, expound, it is fitting for you to expound. He said, there are stones of how much was it? Thirty, if I am not mistaken, correct? Thirty amot by thirty amot. He said to him, what, where are there such things? Today one can barely find diamonds, barely tiny bits, what are you talking about? And then after he saw this he sailed the sea, saw the stones, and Rabbah said to him, expound, it is fitting for you to expound. He said to him, empty one, if you did not see it you did not believe? You need to see ministering angels shown to you and then you believe? He set his eyes upon him, made him into a heap of bones. We see what a person who lacks faith is, lacking faith is dreadful and awful. There was once someone who would come to the Chazon Ish, a yeshiva bachur, a somewhat older yeshiva bachur, and he would learn with him. Each time he would come and ask him questions in learning, and the Chazon Ish, as is known, for anyone who came to learn with him, would descend from his lofty seat and speak with him like an equal. And each time he would come and bring with him a bottle of wine. A bottle of wine, apparently one who merits to pour wine down the throats of Torah scholars is as if he offered libations. So they tell that once they mentioned some Gemara where it is written a certain midrash and such, and that student said, no, surely the Rav means this not literally, this is not... why? It is not reasonable, it is not literal. There was a certain disdain...
a great one, in this manner, toward the words of Chazal... So the Chazon Ish was very strict with him... He said, what do you mean? Chazal describe that this is how it will be. What do you mean not literally? Certainly it is so, literally. And he began to argue with him. And he said to him, and next time do not bring wine. The Chazon Ish was very careful not to drink wine touched by a person whose beliefs were questionable. He says to him, and next time do not bring wine. Dreadful, dreadful matters. What do you mean? You have doubts about the words of Chazal? Are the words of Chazal not reliable to you? Do you need proofs? Do you need angels to show you? Without this you do not believe what Chazal say? Dreadful, dreadful.
So this is what he says, "and your gates of carbuncles." Such stones that if you see an opening in the wall, they tell you the opening was drilled within the stone. Do you hear what an enormous stone? They drilled an opening within the stone. This is another explanation of "stones of ekdach." Everything, the hollow of the opening, the doorposts, the threshold, the sill, all of them are from within the stone. Mighty stones.
The Radak explains "and all your borders of precious stones": the Radak says stones of chefetz are stones that a person desires. Which stones does a person desire? Not Jerusalem stone. He prefers stones of another type, correct? Good stones and pearls. That is stones of chefetz. "And all your borders": not only Yerushalayim alone, but also the cities within the border will be stones of chefetz. The Radak says it may well be that what is written, the lamed "and your gates to stones of ekdach and all your borders to stones of chefetz," it may well be that what is written here is that the stones themselves from which the gates are built, the border in which there are stones, they themselves will become stones of ekdach and stones of chefetz. That is to say, it is not that they will build anew with precious stones, rather the lamed is a lamed of function. The intent is that this will become stones of this kind. And these matters, says the Radak, may well be literal, and may well have come to illustrate the greatness of the wealth that there will be in the future, the abundance of goodness, to such an extent that if you wish, even the gates you could make from precious, mighty, enormous stones that will be then.
The Malbim explains "I will make your battlements of ruby": this is the shoham stone. Your shimshotayich are the windows. Your gates will be of stones of ekdach. What does he intend to hint at by this? The Malbim explains that the nofech stone is the stone of Yehudah. The nofech stone symbolizes kingship. The sapphire stone is the stone of Yissachar. "Yissachar, knowers of understanding for the times," this symbolizes wisdom, Torah. These two will be the foundation. This is what is written "I will set your stones with antimony," this is the nofech stone, "and lay your foundations with sapphires," this is the sapphire stone. What are the foundations? Kingship, and wisdom and Torah. Kingship is the nofech and the sapphires are the Torah, which is Yissachar. Whose was the shoham stone? Yosef's. It is a sign of success and wealth, as it is said "and Hashem was with Yosef and he was a successful man," correct? Yosef is a sign of success. This will be the window of the sun. What does this come to hint at? This is what is written here, "I will make your shimshotayich of ruby," this is the shoham stone of Yosef, this says that the sun of success will shine its face upon them. This is your shimshotayich. "And your gates of stones of ekdach," the stones of ekdach are the stone of Levi. This is the letter that comes to symbolize the service, the service of the Beit HaMikdash. This is "the gate of Hashem, the righteous shall enter through it," this is the tribe of the children of Levi. "And all your borders of stones of chefetz," all your borders, the rest of the tribes, all of them he calls by a general name, stones of chefetz. Stones that a person desires, without mentioning names. This is all your borders. That is to say that the rest of the tribes will unite and be one entity and no longer be split into two kingdoms.
The Malbim says that dispute, division, can come from four causes, which he will now detail. Two causes are internal causes. Two causes are external causes. The internal causes: first, through poverty. When we are poor, we struggle over every penny. Whoever knows how it was, Hashem should save us, in the Shoah, over each slice of bread they quarreled. That is to say, when there is poverty, then people begrudge one another. For what you have comes at my expense. So each one wants to grab and take from the other. So dispute and division, one internal cause is poverty. Concerning this he comes and prefaces and says there will no longer be dispute. Behold I am going to set your stones with antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires, there will be immense wealth so that this cause for dispute will not exist. Another cause for dispute is dispute in faith, in beliefs. Like in the Second Temple period, Tzedukim, Baytusim. As one sometimes sees that there is dispute even among those who keep the mitzvot, Chassidim, Litvaks, and so on in this vein. Concerning this the next verse speaks: "and all your children shall be taught of Hashem, and great shall be the peace of your children." All your children will be taught of Hashem, all of them will receive the teaching and the faith from Hashem. There will not be argument, this one says Hashem wants this, Hashem chooses this path, Hashem desires this service, what you do is nonsense, how could it be, this, this, one must not believe what you believe. All of this is division and dispute. If all receive the faith from Hashem, there will not be dispute. So accordingly, when all are taught of Hashem, then great is the peace of your children. And this is as Yirmeyah said, "and no longer will each man teach his fellow and each man his brother, saying, know Hashem, for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them." One will not need to teach his fellow. For our Rebbe will be the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself. As it is written, "and your Teacher shall no longer hide Himself." What does this mean? That He who is your Teacher, who teaches you, will not hide behind His wing. Rather He will teach us all Torah, and the Torah will be directly from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He. So there is no dispute, no beliefs, no schools of thought, no differing conducts, we all serve Hashem in one manner.
Good, so here he has closed off the two possibilities of internal foes. Poverty will not exist, poverty of belief will not exist, so there will be no quarrels from monetary causes, no quarrels from ideological causes. We all know how to serve Hashem. But division in the kingdom can occur also from two external causes. One cause: they oppress one another over money. The intent, pardon me, let us be more precise, they come to oppress us over money. For I am speaking here of an external cause. The enemy comes to plunder our money. A second cause: the enemy comes to take our lives. And this creates division within the kingdom. Concerning this he comes and says, "in righteousness you shall be established, keep far from oppression for you shall not fear, and from terror for it shall not come near you." "In righteousness you shall be established." Tzion will be built, as we said, from stones of chefetz. How? As we explained before, through the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, promises us that Am Yisrael will not have among them what we explained before, not the dispute stemming from schools of thought and beliefs, Hashem, we are all taught of Hashem. Not through poverty, since the Holy One, blessed be He, will bestow an abundance of blessing upon us all. Concerning this he comes and adds and says, that which is needed for the completion of the building will be through tzedakah. Good deeds of a person toward his fellow. This will be the completion of the building. And through this we will be saved from the destroyers who come from outside. Through "in righteousness you shall be established," keep yourself far from oppression. When we give tzedakah we need not fear that someone will come to plunder our money. For when is our money plundered? When our money is not honest.
Once in Volozhin there was an informer. A person who informed on Jews to the authorities and caused enormous damage. They gathered at Rabbi Chaim Volozhin's to see what to do. In the midst of the discussion one of the people rose there out of great anger and banged on the table. When he banged on the table, the table was full of tea glasses, coffee cups, china vessels, porcelain vessels. When he banged on the table, the tablecloth was pulled, all the vessels flew to the floor, a great noise, everyone was startled. Rabbi Chaim Volozhin said to them, do not worry, nothing broke. Everyone looks at him, what do you mean nothing broke? Everything fell. They lifted the tablecloth, saw that no vessel had broken. They asked him, what is this? A wonder? How did the Rav know? He said to them, I know that my hands are clean. I do not have a penny in my house that is not my own penny, that is under suspicion of theft. And when you do not have any penny that is not yours, no damage can harm you. Diminishment comes with its partner, falsehood. When you do things through falsehood, then diminishment comes and takes. But if everything with you is in honesty, then nothing breaks, nothing is harmed. And then he added and said, it may well be that from Heaven they did this to us to hint to us: if you see that there is an informer who can harm your money, apparently the money is not always honest. Apparently the money is not always in honesty, and because of this one can harm your money. This is what he says here, "in righteousness you shall be established." Do you want them not to harm your money? Do you want the enemies from outside not to be able to harm you in your wealth? Through tzedakah. "Keep far from oppression," you will not fear oppression, that someone will oppress your money. And through this you will also keep far from terror. Terror, according to the Malbim, means one who seeks to kill us. And this is essentially the two external enemies: the one who comes to take away our money and the one who comes to take away our lives. How? Through what will the completion of the building be? Through tzedakah.
Let us note, the Malbim explained that "I will lay your foundations with sapphires" refers to the foundations, and this is as we explained above what the Holy One, blessed be He, promises through the unity among us by virtue of us all being taught of Hashem, as we explained. And "you shall be established" is the completion of the building. The Malbim says you can see this in many places in Tanach: always "to establish" a thing means to complete it. "He who builds a city, established a town." The building is the beginning, afterward he established the town, that is the conclusion. "With wisdom a house is built and with understanding it is established." What does this mean? The completion is with understanding, the completion, as we said, is the conclusion of the building. So then, how will the building be concluded? By virtue of what? By virtue of matters between man and his fellow.
Rashi explains "keep far from oppression," like it is written "shake yourself from the dust." The intent is shake yourself off, keep far from those who oppress you. There is another explanation according to the Abarbanel, that it is a command: keep far from oppression! Keep far from oppressing people. There is here, as it were, a directive, and the command is to keep far, that we distance ourselves from theft. That is, this is one explanation. There is a second possibility, that from the abundance of the wealth that we will have, we will not need to worry about those who oppress us. Why? Because we will have enough. So we will not need to go and steal from others.
"Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me; whoever gathers against you shall fall because of you." Rashi explains, "behold he shall surely fear" and dread evil decrees, he who is not with Me, that is Se'ir. Now see what Rashi explains. "Behold they shall surely gather," do you know who it is that will fear Me? He who is "efes me'oti," nothing of Me. "Efes me'oti" means he has nothing of Me. He has nothing of Me. Who is "efes me'oti"? Se'ir. Se'ir means Edom. They are nothing of Me. That is to say, I am not with him. Who shall surely gather in fear? He who is nothing of Me, whose connection with Me is nothing. I have no connection with him at all. "Whoever gathers against you shall fall because of you." Whoever assembles against you for war, or whoever provokes you, whoever can come upon you shall fall, fall upon you in battle. Shortly we will explain further the matter of "gathers with you." Rashi just explains, bringing the midrash of Chazal, that Chazal expound that in the future one does not accept converts. Why? Because in fact Am Yisrael does not want converts who come for an absorption basket. Am Yisrael wants converts who come truly out of a desire to draw close to the Torah of Hashem, the Torah of truth. And therefore in the period of Shlomo they did not accept converts. Because that was the golden age of Am Yisrael. Why did you come? Because the stones in Yerushalayim are, the gold and silver were like stones. There was legendary wealth. So is it for that you came? In the period of Shlomo they did not accept converts. It is written that also in the days of Mashiach one does not accept converts. Rashi says, where, where is this written here? Where is this found within the verse? Where did Chazal see this here in the verse? He says the explanation will be as follows. Whoever became converts with you in your poverty, shall fall to you in your wealth. Who gathered with you in the past? Who came to attach themselves to us when our situation was not good? He shall fall to you. He will continue and dwell with you in your wealth. But whoever did not dwell with you in your poverty, whom our meager situation did not suit, then he shall not fall to you in your wealth either. We will not accept him afterward.
The Radak explains, "whoever gathers with you, behold they shall surely gather but not by Me." The Radak says nations will assemble against you. "Yagur" he explains like "they gather against me, fierce ones." The intent is they will assemble against me. Shortly we will see that there are several explanations of the word "gor yagur." The Radak explains the intent is they will assemble against me. "Behold they shall surely gather but not by Me." Says the Holy One, blessed be He, the nations who will assemble against you at the time of the redemption, "not by Me," it was not I who sent them. This is the meaning of "efes me'oti." This is not from Me. Not like those who assembled against you in the past, which was from Me, by My command. Sancheriv, Nevuchadnetzar, "O Ashur, rod of My anger," I brought them. But here, "gor yagur," those who will assemble against you, "not by Me." It was not I who sent them. Now, the Radak seemingly asks, is it not written in Yechezkel that the Holy One, blessed be He, says "and I will bring you up from the far north and bring you to the mountains of Yisrael, matters will arise upon your heart" and so on? That is to say, you see that the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring them. "And I will put hooks in your jaws." Why? In order to draw you to come to Yerushalayim. So how do you say "not by Me"? They will not come from Him, they will not come from us. Pardon, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, they will not come from Me, I will not bring them. Explicit verses say that Hashem will bring them, "and I will bring you up from the far north." The Radak explains, this is the very matter. For God has set it in His heart to come there not for the harm of Yisrael. All the other times you saw that I brought them, that was to distress us. Why? To bring us back in teshuvah. But here he says it is not for the harm of Yisrael, but for their good. To take the vengeance of Yisrael upon him and upon the other nations who did evil to Yisrael. And here in Eretz Yisrael He will take His vengeance upon him for the honor of His name and for the honor of Yisrael and for their benefit, that their plunder and spoil will be for Yisrael. And this is what he says, "not by Me." Not from Me will they come to do you harm. Even though their thought is such, but "not by Me," Heaven forbid, your harm will not come from Me. Rather what they come for is only to do you good. And unlike Sancheriv and Nevuchadnetzar in the past, who did not come to do good but came to do harm and that was from Me, I sent them to do you harm so that you would return in teshuvah. "Whoever gathers with you shall fall because of you." Whoever assembles to come then to war against you shall fall because of you. As it is written, "upon the mountains of Yisrael he shall fall." For long months they will gather only the corpses. Why? From those, seven months, from those who will come here, he shall fall because of you, he will come here and fall in battle.
The Malbim explains that the verse here is stated in a tone of wonder, with a question mark. "Behold they shall surely gather but not by Me?" Is it possible that someone will provoke war against us and it will not be from Me? says Hashem. Will someone gather war against us and it was not I who sent him? And after without Me "the shield of the mighty is defiled," a poetic expression of the Malbim, the intent is after without Me there are no wars, who gathers with you? Who would take it to heart to come to dwell with you, meaning to provoke war with you, to make strife with you? Or who shall fall upon you to plunder money from you? For everything depends on Me. And this, says the Holy One, blessed be He, says the Malbim, is corresponding to what he said earlier. "Keep far from oppression," no one will oppress you. Concerning this he says, who shall fall upon you? Who will come to oppress you? Corresponding to what he said, keep far from terror, no one will kill you. This is what he says, who gathers with you? Who will come to kill Am Yisrael? Who will have such power? The Malbim explains that if we wish to examine the root g-r-r, "gor yagur," we see it in three possibilities. One possibility, fear. "And Moav feared." But then it always comes with a mem afterward. "And Moav feared before Bnei Yisrael." Not against Bnei Yisrael, not Bnei Yisrael. Before Bnei Yisrael. This always comes with a mem. There is g-r-r that comes in the context of connection, joining. Like "they gather against me, fierce ones." And then immediately after it comes "against me," al. "They gather against," the intent is they will assemble against him for war. And there is also from the language of provocation, tegar. "Yagur" from the language of tegar. "Do not provoke war with them." And then it comes with a beit. So we have, yes, do not provoke him, do not provoke them, this comes with a beit. So we have either the language of fear and that is with a mem, or the language of gathering and that is with al, or from the language of provocation, meaning to provoke, strife, and then it comes with a beit. Here we see something new, that it comes with "et." "Behold they shall surely gather but not by Me, whoever gathers with you." Not whoever gathers in you, whoever gathers against you, whoever gathers from you, but whoever gathers with you. The Malbim says its explanation is a provocation of war that comes from both sides together. There is a provocation of war in which I provoke against you, and this provocation is called with a beit, "do not provoke them." Do not provoke him. But when we wish to say that both sides make war equally, that comes with "et." "Whoever gathers with you." For he is with you in war. You come and he also comes. So the expression "with you" is understood. "With you" he gathers. "With you" he provokes, the two of you as if provoking one another. And this is what he says here: whoever comes to provoke you, then you have nothing to worry about, since in the end "he shall fall because of you." "He shall fall because of you" means either you will prevail, for they will fall there, or the Malbim explains like "and the raid of the queen of Sheba fell." "And it fell" means it fell upon him, fell upon him like he came with his army upon him to conquer it. That is the meaning of it fell upon him. And he explains yet another interpretation: whoever gathered against you in war in ancient days shall fall to you to assist you. This fits very well with the Malbim's explanation in Sefer Daniel, that there will be a war, the future war, whoever hears the recording, there are wondrous things there by the Malbim about the future war, truly a precise description of everything that will be. And there the Malbim explains that what is written about the future war, the war will actually be between Yishmael and the nations of Edom. And the war will be that the nations of Edom will subdue the nations of Yishmael while we actually will not need to do anything. So the Malbim in Sefer Daniel explains. They will come to fight here, they will come to make war here, and they will fight one another and we will not need to do a thing. And this truly fits very well with all that we see now. For we see on the one hand the nations of Yishmael awakening, we see on the other hand the nations of Edom coming to fight against them, and he tells you only that the coming war will be in Yerushalayim. Those who will come against them will be the nations of Edom, that they will not come against us. Even though ostensibly from the verses it could be understood as if the nations of Edom will come against us, he says no, they will come to fight in order to subdue Yishmael, and they will fell Yishmael, they will fight against them. And then hear how wondrous. "Whoever gathers with you shall fall because of you." Whoever in the past gathered with you, provoked war against you, who is that? Edom, shall fall because of you. He shall fall to you to be among your helpers. According to what the Malbim says there it is very wondrous. For those who throughout all the generations fought against us, those nations of Edom, they will now fall because of you, join us in order to fight against the enemies who rise against us.
"Behold, I have created the smith who blows the coal fire and produces a tool for his work, and I have created the destroyer to ruin." "Behold I have created the smith." Who is the smith? The smith is the craftsman who makes the sword. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, who created him? He makes the sword, but who created him? Behold I have created the smith. By virtue of what does this smith work? By virtue of what does he create the sword? "Who blows the coal fire." Who created the coal fire? I too created the coal fire. That is to say, not only the worker, but also the means, which is the coal fire, that too I created. By virtue of what does this fire work? By virtue of blowing. That is, with a bellows they would blow and thereby intensify the fire. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, this blowing too, which heats the fire to melt the iron, this too is from Hashem. "Who blows the coal fire," the blowing too is from Him. The producing of the tool, and this is "produces a tool for his work," this too, that the tool is completed, this too is from Him. "And produces a tool for his work." The material from which he made it, this too is from Hashem. The sword that he made. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, I have created the destroyer, this is the iron material, in order to ruin, with which one can kill and ruin. And also the purpose, for what is the destroyer? In order to ruin. Also the purpose I made, which is the ruining. And so, says the Holy One, blessed be He, since the material and the worker and the means and the form and the purpose, all of it is the work of My hands, then if I do not wish to destroy, who can destroy? That is to say, if at one of the stages here there had been an intervention of a foreign force, then you could say he did it. But if at none of the stages is there any force besides Hashem, may He be blessed, then who can act without His will, may He be blessed? Says the Holy One, blessed be He, "and I have created the destroyer to ruin." I am the one who created everything, and so who can destroy if not for My will?
"No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Hashem, and their righteousness is from Me, says Hashem." Says the Holy One, blessed be He, since, as we explained, the material and the worker and the means and the form and the purpose, all of it, says the Holy One, blessed be He, I created, "I have created the smith who blows the coal fire, who produces a tool for his work," and accordingly I have created the destroyer to ruin, then accordingly all these forces are given into My hand, since they come from My power. So no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper. Every weapon, Rashi says every weapon of war, every implement of war which they polish and sharpen in order to fight you, "yotzer," this is from the language of "knives of flint," Rashi explains. "He turned back the edge of his sword." The sword they make it flint, that it be sharp. The Radak explains "yotzer" is from the language of "He formed it," from the language of forming, yotzer. So every weapon that they form and make from it flint in order to fight and to strike Am Yisrael, it shall not prosper for its owners and shall not harm you, it shall not be able to harm Am Yisrael. And also if someone wishes to defeat you in judgment, you shall condemn. You, Knesset Yisrael, shall condemn him. The intent is, if someone comes with claims against Am Yisrael, whoever wishes to sway Am Yisrael from their faith, says the Malbim, whether it be with the sword, whether it be with a strong hand, whether it be one who wishes to sway us through arguments and claims, the Torah promises in every way, the prophet promises, it will not prosper. This is the heritage of the servants of Hashem from Me, and this too is the heritage of their righteousness from Me. That is to say, this is the reward that they will have. Since they are servants of Hashem, and since there is in them righteousness, there are in them mitzvot, good deeds, then this is the heritage of the servants of Hashem and their righteousness, this they receive because they are servants of Hashem and because of their righteousness, this they receive from Me, says Hashem.
The Rambam has a reference to this statement in Iggeret Teiman. And it is known that in his time there were many people who were greatly pressured by the gentiles who forced them to convert their religion, and there were those who even went and gave up their lives even over a matter for which there is no need to give one's life. And the Rambam wished to send them a letter to strengthen them. He sent them a letter called Iggeret Teiman. I will read to you his words. "And because the Creator singled us out with His mitzvot and His statutes, and our superiority over others became clear in its principles and its laws," the intent is the superiority we have through the laws of Hashem, which are upright, as it is said "and what great nation is there that has statutes and righteous laws." Since it is so, that we have the righteous laws and the true Torah, "all the nations envied us over our religion with a great envy." Everything that the nations do, everything by which they distress Am Yisrael, is because they envy us over the fact that the true religion is with us. "And their kings were pressed on account of it to raise against us hatred and enmity, and their desire is to fight against Hashem and to make strife with Him. But He is God, and who can contend with Him?" Who are you, you cannot contend with the Master of the Universe? For Hashem is God, who can contend with Him? "And there has not been a time from when the Torah was given to us until this time of ours" that every gentile king, everywhere where they wrote gentile they turned it into idolater, but this is not necessarily an idolater, every gentile king, "that there is not any gentile king who overpowers or coerces or gains strength or forces, whose initial intent and mind is not to nullify our Torah and to break our religion by force, by victory, and by the sword." There is no king from ever who did not try to fight against the religion of Yisrael. "Like Amalek and Sisra and Sancheriv and Nevuchadnetzar and Titus and Adrianus, and many like them. This is one of the two movements by which they intended to defeat the divine will." This is the one movement, he means there were two movements, two actions by which they wished to defeat the divine will. One way is to nullify our Torah, to break our religion by force, by victory, and by the sword. "But the second movement," the intent is the second movement, the second way, "are the sharp ones among the rest of the kingdoms and the wise ones among the other tongues, like the Edomites and the Persians and the Greeks, who these, in a directed manner, set their intent to nullify our religion and to break our Torah with claims that they claim against it and with difficulties that they compose." If the first are barbarians, he comes with a sword, the law of Muhammad by the sword, a crusade, either you accept our religion or we kill you. The second are already more sophisticated. They come with claims, they come with proofs, they come with reasonings. And therefore he takes specifically the more refined nations, the more enlightened, the Edomites, the Persians, the Greeks. "They set their intent to nullify our religion and to break our Torah with claims that they claim against it and with difficulties that they compose. And their aim in all this is to break the Torah and to erase its traces in their compositions, just as the coercers intended in their wars." That is to say, this and this, their intent is one. Their intent is to nullify the Torah of Hashem. So if he does not wish to do this in a violent way, or he cannot in a violent way, then he tries to do it in a sophisticated way of claims. "And neither this nor that shall prosper," for the Holy One, blessed be He, informed us through Yeshayahu, and this is our verse: that every coercer or victor who intends to nullify our Torah and to abolish our religion with weapons, the Creator will shatter his weapons of war and they will not succeed. He comes in war in order to fight against the Torah, Hashem will shatter his weapons of war and they will not succeed. And this is by way of a parable, that is to say that his counsel will never be fulfilled. That is to say, He will shatter his weapons of war, do not think that the sword will break. Rather the intent is he will not succeed in his war. Likewise, every claimant who intends to abolish what is in our hands will come out obligated by the law in his claim and it will be nullified and will not endure. That is to say, his claims will work against him, and he will come out obligated in his claim, and his claims will not be strong claims that can endure. As it is said, "no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper." Which weapon? A weapon that comes to fight against us. "And every tongue that rises against you in judgment," which tongue? Those who came to argue against us. "You shall condemn," we will condemn him and prove his emptiness. "This is the heritage of the servants of Hashem, and their righteousness is from Me, says Hashem." Says the Holy One, blessed be He, this is My promise, that never will a coercer or victor succeed in transferring us from our religion by force or in transferring us from our religion by argument. And indeed there were many debates from the dawn of humanity against Am Yisrael, particularly in the era of the Rishonim. There were debates, there is the debate of the Ramban, there is a book called Sefer HaVikuach, and it brings dozens of debates that took place with priests, with clergy. Kings in their days would bring people to debate, the sages of Yisrael, so that they would prove to them the truth of Islam or the truth of Christianity mainly. And in the end they all came out obligated. There was not one debate in which they came out with the upper hand. What is the simple reason? As one of the great ones of Yisrael once said. He said, it may be that we are very poor lawyers, but we have the best case in the world. We have the best case in the world. When you have a case that is clear, with compelling evidence, even if you are not a successful lawyer, the case speaks for itself. So even if we are not such masters of argument, we have a case, and the case is true. With such a case you certainly come out victorious. So even if they bring the most successful lawyers, what can they do? You have a case that is a bundle full of holes. Your case is entirely falsehood from beginning to end. So how can you come out ahead? Let the most brilliant lawyer come, he will not succeed in selling ice to Eskimos. It is, it is, it is clear, it is vanity. "And these two intents, that is, the nations who intend these two intents, it occurred to them that this building is not easy to demolish, and nevertheless they made a covenant to demolish the foundations of the building that were sunk in a faithful depth."
He says, they already saw that they cannot prevail against this building, the building of the Torah and the faith of Am Yisrael. And nevertheless they made a covenant, many nations joined together in order to demolish the foundations of the religion that were sunk in a faithful depth. And in all this they add toil, meaning, when I place a foundation, if the foundation rests on the ground, one can easily knock it over. But if it was sunk in a faithful depth, I dug fifty meters into the earth and sunk the foundation, then it is truly strong that it cannot be uprooted. So they did not make a covenant to demolish the foundations of the religion that were sunk in a faithful depth. And nevertheless they could not. "And in all this," the intent is despite all this, "they add toil and grief, and the building will stand in its strength," nothing will help them. "And the truth will mock them and laugh." The truth will laugh at them. That is to say, the Holy One, blessed be He, who is the truth, sits and mocks and laughs at them, and mocks and laughs at them over the fact that they intend, in the weakness of their intellect, an intent that has no end. That is to say, this is like when you see some bird that begins lifting grains of sand from the seashore to cast into the water. You ask it why? What are you doing? It tells you, I am trying to dry up the sea. Whoever sees this sits there laughing, says, yes, yes, keep going, alright, I am waiting to see your progress. Do you understand? So this is how the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and mocks and laughs at them. The Holy One, blessed be He, sits mocking them, making a mockery of them as it were, what a task they have taken upon themselves, an impossible task, until they intend, in the weakness of their intellect, an intent that has no end. You intend to do a thing that has no hope. And concerning this matter said David HaMelech, peace be upon him, with ruach hakodesh, seeing their intent to nullify the religion of truth, and seeing that the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and laughs at them, concerning this David said, the gentiles say, "let us break their bonds and cast off their cords from us." And we will cast off from them the Torah, as we said that it was sunk in a faithful depth, that it endures. "He who sits in the heavens laughs, Hashem mocks them." At the barren attempts that the gentiles make, Hashem laughs, Hashem mocks them. "And still we are examined and tested by these two sects, from the days of our kingdom and part of the days of our exile." And still we are examined and tested, the intent is the Holy One, blessed be He, sends in order to examine us and test us through these two sects. Those who come to change our religion by the sword, and those who come to change our religion by the power of claims. Says the Rambam, still we are tested by these and by those.
In truth, there was a third way, to which the Rambam does not refer. And to our sorrow it is the harder of these two. And the harder way is not the way of the sword, nor the way of debate and disputation. Today everyone knows that when you want to convince someone, you try to twist his arm, he will apply counter force, you will not succeed. Try to break him, he will receive even more force and strength. The way is to buy him. The way is to buy him. A hand that you are unable to break, caress it, kiss it. And this is what Yaakov says, "save me now from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav." Rabbi Finkel said, what Hitler, may his name and memory be erased, did not do to us, America did to us. America, with the golden path it opened for us. What assimilation, unbelievable. If we make a reckoning of how many Jews were lost to the Jewish people, far more than were lost in the Shoah. Lost, lost without return. Now those who were lost in the Shoah died as Jews, died al kiddush Hashem, there is no grasping their tremendous level in Heaven. But those lost to seventy to eighty percent assimilation, and in France and countries in Europe there is over one hundred percent assimilation, which is dreadful and awful, so in this reality one must understand that this is a dreadful and awful Shoah, not by sword, not by war, not by disputation. By come, desires, pleasures, come take, we accept you, we give to you, we grant, just connect with us. "Let us travel and I will go alongside you," says Esav. And of this Yaakov is most afraid. "Save me now from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav." Therefore today they tell us brother, brother, all those from politics tell us brother, this brother does not sound good to us. We remember such a brother in history and it ended very badly. We do not want brother. Save me now from the hand of my brother. Whoever comes to convert us from our religion, come, we will make tracks for you, we will arrange shortened service for you, tailored, we will arrange kosher food for you, we will arrange for you, come, you must have core studies, you, Heaven help us, core studies coming, come learn a bit more, a bit of secular education, a bit, come, draw closer. It will not help. It will not help. And therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, helped us. And how did the Holy One, blessed be He, help? That He inserted into the government people who came in order to fight. And they do not understand that they carried out precisely the opposite action. The worst thing for us as those who keep the mitzvot is when they come to us with enticements. That is the worst, it is hard to stand against enticement. But when they come to fight, we will break you, we will draft you by force, we will put you into camps, we will imprison you, we will impose criminal penalties on you. Very good, that is excellent, this way, this way you should speak to us. This way speak to us. Do not speak to us with enticements. Enticements we can be enticed by, that is dangerous. Threaten us, and then, then we will show you what we know. The draft, the latest draft cycle, the smallest of all draft cycles. The smallest of the chareidim of all draft cycles. Why? We will strangle you, we will tear you apart. Good, let us see who is stronger. Three thousand three hundred years we have laughed at people like you. We have trampled them, they are in the garbage bin of history. You will strangle us? When you come to fight against someone, he fights for his religion and his faith, but when you come and tell him, come, I have a position for you, a senior position, there is a salary, there is a car, there is a cellphone, you just need to be flexible here and there, you just need to not quite take off the kippah, but come let us cut corners. That is dangerous, we can be enticed, that is dangerous. What kindness the Holy One, blessed be He, did with us that they exposed their claws and they come in war. For in war we are strong. When they come against us, Am Yisrael, even though they bowed to the idol, Mordechai came and said there is war here, war, everyone rose up. Everyone rose up, fast, taanit, they return to Hashem, may He be blessed. In war we are strong. Enticements are the hardest. The Rambam spoke of a period of wars, to fight against us with the sword, to fight against us with disputation, with debate. But the Rambam does not speak of the third aspect, which is the hardest of all, and that is the way of enticement. And the way of enticement, one must know, is the hardest, for when they draw us close it is, it is, it is very dangerous. This warmth can melt us. When they told the Chatam Sofer that Napoleon granted emancipation, and he promised equal rights to the Jews, the Chatam Sofer felt great grief over this. He said, when a Jew comes to attack him, he knows how to defend himself. When they come to erase his Torah, he knows how to protect himself and his Torah. But when they give us equal rights, when they embrace us, go know where this will lead. Go know where this will lead. And how right the Chatam Sofer was, two hundred years of enlightenment proved what the Chatam Sofer said. And this is essentially our reality. To know not to be enticed. To know that even if they come and promise and all sorts of things they will give you and budgets and... the aim is one. As the Rambam says, that there has not been since the Torah was given to us until this time of ours that every king who overpowers or coerces or gains strength or forces, his initial intent and mind is not to nullify our Torah. So it can be an erev rav from within us, it can be kings from outside, but this is essentially the aim. The aim has not changed. The aim is to fight against Hashem and against His anointed, and one must know that we are in a period of a difficult test, but in the end, in the end the truth will prevail, and we already see how the building begins to crumble, and soon this too will collapse with a great crash, and the truth will prove its way.