Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 58. "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a shofar, and declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Yaakov their sins." The Holy One tells the prophet: rebuke the people, cry out with the shofar, do not hold back, raise your voice over them like a shofar, just as the sound of the shofar is heard far off. "Cry aloud" (literally "cry with the throat"): one might have expected it to say "cry with the mouth," but the Radak explains that since speech has its source in the throat, therefore it says "cry with the throat," as in "the high praises of God are in their throat," and "my throat is dried out from my calling." So it attributes this expression to the throat. "Spare not" means: cry out continually. "And declare to My people their transgression": Rashi says these are the Torah scholars, whose every unwitting error is a transgression, for an unwitting error in Torah study is reckoned as intentional. So "declare to My people" ("My people" being those who serve Me, the Torah scholars): tell them their transgression, for even their unwitting errors are transgressions. "And to the house of Yaakov their sins": the "house of Yaakov" always expresses the lower level of the people of Israel, since if we speak of "Israel," which connotes greatness and dominion, then "Yaakov" connotes the heel (akev), those who are lower. So when speaking of women, "house of Yaakov" refers to the women. When speaking of the nation as a whole, "house of Yaakov" refers to the common folk, to people who are on a lower level and do not engage in Torah. For them, even their intentional wrongdoing is regarded as an unwitting error. Therefore, declare to the house of Yaakov their sins, their unwitting errors. Do they have no intentional sins? Yes, but because such a person is an unlearned commoner and is not aware of the halachah at all, even his intentional act is not done out of a wicked heart to violate the halachah; rather it is regarded as an unwitting error.
The Malbim explains that there are several expressions here. "Cry with the throat" means: cry out in a loud voice. "Spare not" means the crying out should be continual. "Cry like a shofar" means: raise your voice and let it keep growing stronger and stronger. For the shofar, explains the Malbim, we saw at the giving of the Torah at Har Sinai that its sound kept growing stronger. So too the prophet requests, the Holy One requests of the prophet: usually, when a person announces something, he announces it loudly at first, and afterward his subsequent announcements are already in a lower tone. That is, "most people surely know already and have heard it," so he only informs those who were not present. But the Holy One tells the prophet: no, with you I want it to be the opposite. You should cry out in a loud voice, begin with the throat (which means crying aloud), and afterward add more and more. Do not rest and say, "surely they have already heard." No, let this crying out keep growing louder and louder.
The Malbim gives another explanation of "lift up your voice like a shofar." The shofar is not merely the blowing of whoever sounds it. More precisely, it is nothing other than the sound of the breath of the one blowing into it. Meaning: if I say "a shofar," place the shofar here, does it produce any sound? A shofar has no sound in itself. What makes the shofar produce a sound? The fact that I passed air through it. Correct? So too the Holy One says: the prophet is like the sound of the shofar. For who speaks from his throat? The Shechinah speaks from his throat. Therefore, "lift up your voice like a shofar": you should be like a shofar, so that the holy Shechinah can make its voice heard through you. The voice of Hashem speaks through him like through the shofar. Another point: the shofar also produces a broken sound, a wailing sound, a sound of dread, and this sound is meant to arouse people to repentance. As it is written, "Shall a shofar be sounded in a city and the people not tremble?" The sound of the shofar arouses dread. So "cry like a shofar" means: make the people tremble, to arouse them to repentance.
And how will you do this? "And declare to My people their transgression." "Transgression" (pesha) means rebellion, and this refers to sins between man and God. Therefore He says "My people," for it is from the aspect that they are My people, so it refers to sins against Me. "And to the house of Yaakov their sins": here He speaks to them as a collective, as the house of Yaakov. So the sin of the house of Yaakov is against the collective house of Yaakov. He does not speak of them in relation to "Me," but in relation to themselves, to the house of Yaakov. Here we are speaking of sins between man and his fellow, precisely from the aspect that they are the house of Yaakov.
"Yet they seek Me daily and desire knowledge of My ways, like a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of its God; they ask of Me righteous ordinances, they desire the nearness of God." "Yet they seek Me daily." One might have inferred from here, as it were, that He is now speaking after they have already repented. The Holy One says: they seek Me daily, they desire knowledge of My ways, and they ask Me for righteous ordinances, they desire the nearness of God. But no, all of this is a complaint of the Holy One over the deteriorating state of the people. The Holy One says: they seek Me daily, as it is written, "they beguiled Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their tongue." As it were, "the high praises of God are in their throat"; as it were they seek, as it were they want to draw near to Hashem, but in truth it is only an external impression. "They desire knowledge of My ways": they supposedly go to ask the sages for rulings, as though they want to fulfill them. "Like a nation that has done righteousness": they always ask me for righteous ordinances, how one does this and how one fulfills that, how to tithe the straw and the salt. They come, as it were, always asking about the halachot, as though they intend to fulfill them. And then afterward (this is the next pasuk), when they fast and are not answered, they come with objections. "We fasted, why did You not answer? Why, Master of the Universe, did You not grant us good? What did we do wrong?" The Holy One tells them: even your fast I do not desire. And these are the pesukim we will see further on, all of it really one single flow.
The Radak explains: they seek Me daily and desire knowledge of My ways, but all of this is with the mouth and not with the heart, with the mouth and not in deed. For a person who does righteousness and justice, such a person is fit to ask exactly how it is done. "Explain to me exactly the parameter. What precisely is the obligation, so that we know exactly how to do it and how to act." But one who truly does not intend to fulfill it, why is he asking? On the contrary, says the Radak, one who does not intend to fulfill and yet asks, behold in his inquiring he doubles his sin. Had you not asked at all, that would be one thing. But if you have intent, if you ask and yet you intend not to fulfill at all, this is far more infuriating. Why did you ask? You even gave me the illusion that you still intend to do it. And this is much more infuriating, much more angering.
I once told you about the fellow who went to buy a refrigerator. He asked how much it was. The seller told him 3,500 shekels. He started to press him, pressed and pressed and pressed, and got down to 2,800. Fine, all right, he writes him checks and leaves. The seller waits for the first check to clear, but by then the buyer had already received the refrigerator; the check bounced. Fine, he thought maybe it was a misunderstanding. Again, a second check, bounced. In short, he calls him and says, tell me, what is this? You sat on me, I don't forget you. For an hour you sat bringing down my price, and now your checks are bouncing? He tells him, listen sir, I am sorry, I will tell you the truth, I am not cheating you, I have nothing to pay with. He says, you have nothing to pay with, so tell me, why did you drive me crazy for a whole hour? He says, no, I just wanted to minimize your loss for a moment. My heart ached that you would lose 3,500. This way you only lost 2,800. That isn't... he is still okay with you, and you come with complaints? Do you understand? So when a person even asks and shows interest as though he wants to fulfill it, if he then does not do it, it is far more infuriating. Behold in his inquiring he doubles his sin. The Holy One says: daily they seek, they desire knowledge of My ways, but in the end they fulfill nothing.
The Malbim says that this pasuk concludes what we read in the previous pasuk. Why "cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a shofar," and so on? Because the problem with this people is that they do not recognize their sin. They are not aware at all that what they are doing is a transgression. Regarding the commandments between man and God, the Holy One says: they seek Me daily. They think they have fulfilled their obligation with the inquiry and investigation they conduct into the mitzvot of Hashem. He has very impressive analyses about all sorts of mitzvot that I commanded. And what about in practice? No, in practice that is another matter. He has no time. He is very busy, he has no desire. So why all the study? For the analysis (pilpul). There are books in which it is written "for the sake of analysis alone; one should not draw practical conclusions." This is exactly how he studies. Now, those who write that write it so that, God forbid, no one will draw a practical conclusion and the sin be upon me. But there are some for whom all their analysis is for the sake of analysis alone; he has no intention of applying even part of it. Only what? Whether the mitzvah is like this or like that. He has plenty of analyses. They desire knowledge of My ways. They seek Me. And they think they have fulfilled their obligation with investigations and inquiries, even if they do not fulfill.
We said earlier, "and to the house of Yaakov their sins," which according to the Malbim speaks of a sin between man and his fellow. There, the mitzvah between man and his fellow is "and you shall walk in His ways": just as He is merciful, so you be merciful; just as He is gracious, so you be gracious. These are mitzvot that speak of man and his fellow. About this He says "knowledge of My ways," that is, between man and his fellow, "and you shall walk in His ways," they desire it. It is enough for them merely to desire to know what the Holy One wants, what is the way it is fitting to behave between man and his fellow. To fulfill it in practice? Nothing. He has whole analyses on the laws of guarding one's tongue, on the laws of lashon hara and all sorts of parameters and all sorts of halachot, and what comes of it? Nothing. As for fulfilling, he does nothing. Only "they desire knowledge of My ways." What he desires to know is only knowledge of My ways, meaning, as we said, "and you shall walk in His ways," which is between man and his fellow. But to do it and apply it? Not at all.
"Like a nation that has done righteousness," which speaks of the mitzvot between man and God. "And has not forsaken the ordinance of its God," which is the mitzvot between man and his fellow. He behaves as if he has fulfilled his mitzvot. But it is all, as we said, only from the lips outward. So too Hashem says, "they ask of Me righteous ordinances": between man and his fellow, what is the ordinance, how is it fitting to act justly between man and his fellow. "And they desire the nearness of God": they supposedly seek, oh, the nearness of Hashem, how to cling to the Master of the Universe, as it were, between man and God. As if they had done righteousness and justice, as if they had not transgressed any prohibition. What is the meaning of this? Says the Malbim: "justice" (mishpat) is what a person does according to the general law. "Righteousness" (tzedek) is beyond the letter of the law. There is what is coming to you by law, and there is what I gave you by charity. Mishpat is the strict law; tzedek is beyond the letter of the law. One who does mishpat can then investigate and inquire what tzedek is, that is, what is beyond the letter of the law. But one who does not even do mishpat, how can he seek what is beyond the letter of the law? First fulfill the law, then seek piety. First fulfill the halachah, then seek stringencies. They come to seek tzedek when they have not yet done the mishpat. "Like a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of its God, they ask of Me righteous ordinances." He suddenly comes to ask about righteous ordinances. What is beyond the letter of the law? Did you fulfill the law, that you suddenly seek righteousness? But one who forsakes the law, who robs, who steals, how does he begin to seek righteousness, to act beyond the letter of the law?
And they, like a nation that has forsaken the ordinance of its God, come to ask righteous ordinances. The Malbim explains that "righteousness" also hints at the fulfillment of mitzvot between man and God, such as tzitzit, tefillin; he fulfills what he is obligated to do in justice. "Nearness of God" is the higher level. "As for me, the nearness of God is my good." This speaks of the righteous, the separated ones, those who are truly close to Hashem. One who has done righteousness, who fulfilled the mitzvot between man and his fellow, can aspire to nearness of God. But one who has not done righteousness, who has not fulfilled the mitzvot he is obligated in, comes afterward to seek nearness of God? And they, like a nation that has done righteousness, desire the nearness of God. So we have mishpat, we have tzedek, and we have nearness of God. You have not yet fulfilled mishpat, how do you ask for tzedek? You have not yet done tzedek, and you are already going to ask for nearness of God? It goes in levels. As it were, they have not even fulfilled the foundation, and they are already going to seek lofty and exalted levels.
The truth is this can also be said about our generation. For our generation, many times, one can say we are a generation of externality. Rav Pincus, of blessed memory, defined us, and apparently he did not fit this generation so he was taken. He defined our generation as the generation of the instant. Once, everything required work and investment and effort. Today a person wants the entire Shas loaded onto a hard disk and to know it, that's it. He wants to be a tzaddik in a single moment; whoever reads this six times immediately transforms his heart to become a servant of Hashem. We seek everything short, everything immediate, everything instant. And because of this, we have also become a generation of externality. Notice, today everything, even in material matters, everything has become external. Go today to any technician, he will tell you, no, they no longer make things like these. He tells you, look, the body here is such and such, but there is nothing; today they make you a nice shell on the outside, something shiny like this, and the rest inside he tells you is junk. The rest is junk. It lasts two or three years, then throw it out. He will tell you this about washing machines, about air conditioners, about whatever you want. About everything, today it is all touch screens, whatever you want. Once they made durable things; today everything is external. And unfortunately, in the service of Hashem too, the reality is like this. Even in the service of Hashem, a person serves the Holy One externally, and he supposedly seeks levels and seeks attainments and lofty service and insights, but he lacks the foundation.
We see this also in the way of learning. In the way of learning, you see that once they used to learn, and at least they knew the basics. They knew how to learn Gemara. A boy in yeshiva, arriving at the younger yeshiva, would know the give and take: what the Gemara asked, how the Gemara answered, what the Gemara asked afterward, and what it then answered. Today, what? Tosafot. He knows Rabbi Shimon, he has Rabbi Shimon on the sugya. Yes, Rabbi Shimon says... Wait, wait a second, stop before Rabbi Shimon. Can you explain to me what the Gemara asked and what the answer is? No, just a second, I will explain to you Rabbi... How did you get to Rabbi Shimon and the Ketzot and all sorts of... How did you get there? In our day did they not learn this in the school? In the preparatory class? Who learned such things? First know how to read what is written in the Gemara, what the question is, what the answer is. This is how Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz taught. The Chazon Ish held very highly of his method of learning. He always used to send students to learn with him, saying to learn at Ponevezh there, because there Rabbi Michel Yehuda teaches. Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, this was his way. Ask some of those still among us who learned with him. Rabbi Toledano and others who taught here. This was the way. First learn Gemara. No, brilliant, external, externality. What is external? Yes, there is some analysis, he raises such a difficulty, and he...
The same is true in the fulfillment of mitzvot. We are more meticulous in the fulfillment of mitzvot than in the past. But what happens today? He seeks the etrog without the spot and this, and he seeks the lulav with the... again, and in what? In order to... external. But how much heart was there in the fulfillment of the mitzvah? Is this how they fulfilled mitzvot? Is this how they took etrogim and lulavim in the past? Read the Mishnah in Massechet Sukkah. How did the sexton of the synagogue pass them the lulav? He threw it in front of them. Can you imagine today throwing someone a lulav? He would throw you down all the stairs. "With this I am supposed to shake?" The sexton of the synagogue used to throw them a lulav. But what? Their service of Hashem was internal. They did not need a wrapper. So everything was genuine. Read what Sapir, the Even Sapir, who was in Yemen something like 200 years ago, 150 years ago, writes. He describes the lives of the Jews in Yemen. And he tells that he stood astonished. He arrived at the synagogue, the gabbai of the synagogue with a sack on the festival day of Sukkot, and he says he just emptied the sack out onto the ground like this, and some 50 to 60 etrogim fell out, and each one took himself an etrog and... You say, by us where is the cotton wool and where is the box and where is the safeguarding and where is... He says, no, these things did not exist in the past. And why? Not that I am saying one need not beautify the mitzvah. On the contrary, whoever can beautify it and spend his money on mitzvot, would that it be so. Since we have become a generation that beautifies externality, and in your living room you seek some parquet flooring from Italy, then would that you also seek that the etrog be so beautiful. I am not saying not to do it. I am only saying how we became a generation caught up in externality, caught up in mitzvot in their external part and not in their internal part.
I once told you about the Vilna Gaon, to whom robbers came. The students who were outside in the outer room were frightened. And the Vilna Gaon came out, having heard a noise, and they merely saw him and immediately fled. They asked him, Rabbi, how? What? A miracle? A wonder? He told them, no wonder and nothing of the sort. The Vilna Gaon told them simply: I am wearing tefillin. And it is written, "And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of Hashem is called upon you, and they shall fear you." Chazal say this refers to the tefillin of the head. So they saw my tefillin and they were frightened. So they asked him, Rabbi, we too wear tefillin. He told them, it is written "the tefillin of the head," not "on the head." Do you understand the difference? The tefillin of the head. How much of the tefillin is in your head? Not like some box you placed on top. There is no generation that had such beautifications in tefillin as our generation. See what beautifications there are. Look at photographs of tefillin from 50 years ago and 100 years ago. I am not even talking about the army-issue tefillin that look like some cardboard that underwent folding. I am not talking about that. I am talking about the tefillin that were truly made. Was there such a level of precision in the squaring? Such a level of precision in how much separation there is in the middle? There isn't, you will not find such things. And behold, are we better than they? Where are we and where are they? For with them the tefillin were in the head, they were with intent, they were in holiness. But today, where are we in this reality? This is what the Holy One says here. Behold, you see that they seek separation, piety, holiness; he seeks only to be caught up in all sorts of stringencies and all sorts of matters of safeguards and... Why? It gives him a good feeling that he attained something. Whereas on the contrary, precisely by being caught up in this and forsaking all that is behind, which are the laws, the halachot, the essential rulings. How careful are you in guarding the eyes, in guarding the tongue, in matters between man and his fellow, and... But what is he strict about? There is some point, I once read that there is some point to do it specifically in this manner, and about this he is strict.
I once told you about someone who came to ask me, it happened to be about a person who was "religious light" to the point of being empty. And he came to ask me whether it is permitted to go to the sea during the Nine Days. And his question was really about a mixed-bathing beach. Do you understand? That is, where is the person even... where is modesty at all? Where... these are Torah prohibitions at every moment. A prohibition from the Torah. Whereas the whole ruling about going to the sea, there is no halachah in this. There is no such halachah at all. There are those who say there is a prohibition of bathing in cold water, so according to their view it would also be forbidden to bathe in the sea, since that is bathing in cold water. But from the standpoint of prohibitions of going to the sea, the Three Weeks and all these things, there is no such ruling. And he seeks, he has a stringency in the matter, but as for a mixed-bathing beach, that does not concern him at all. This is our reality too, but in miniature. We are caught up in stringencies and all sorts of matters, while at the same time a person sometimes forgets the essential ruling, abandons it. So the Holy One says: first there is mishpat, then there is tzedakah, and then "they desire the nearness of God." Afterward you will seek to be with nearness of God, close to the Master of the Universe; these are high levels.
There was an incident with a certain chassid who came to his Rebbe and told him that he wanted to attain ruach hakodesh. So the Rebbe told him to fast for 40 days and afterward to roll in the snow and sleep on the ground, and then, with Hashem's help, he would merit ruach hakodesh. Well, the fellow did according to the recipe, came to the Rebbe, and said, Rebbe, I waited, I waited, nothing. Maybe cottage cheese, but no holiness. Nothing. So the Rebbe told him, he took him to the window and said, do you see that tzaddik? He says, no. He says, do you not see the horse lying there? Ah, yes, that I see. He tells him, do you know what a tzaddik this horse is? He says, this horse, do you know how many fasts he keeps? Poor thing, sometimes whole days the owner does not bring him food, only at night. And he tells him, he rolls in the snow. Do you know how many times I have seen him rolling in the snow here? And he always sleeps only on the ground. And he never... And fasting from speech entirely; lashon hara, never has he... a fast of speech his whole life. He tells him, so, a person can do all this and remain a horse. Remain a horse. One of the great ones of Israel said: where is the test? When the fast ends, how do you approach the food? He said, there is the test. See whether a person remained a horse or whether a person remained and attained some virtue, acquired something in holiness. Again, this is piercing mussar; I am not saying it to the public, I am saying it to myself. But so that we understand that our generation is a generation of externality. People look to see how he is on the outside, what impression he makes on the outside. It does not matter what he does, the main thing is that he goes with a suit and a hat. He goes with a suit and a hat? Ah, wonderful, thank God. Yes, this is a generation of externality.
I heard from Rav Abutbul, he said... he said a terrible thing. He said a terrible thing, he said there is a terrible falsehood among our public. He said a terrible falsehood among our public. And the falsehood, he says, is the matter of head-covering. One of the points he speaks about a great deal. He says this is the falsehood, this is the head-covering. A woman who goes with a wig is perceived as more modest and more righteous than one who goes with a headscarf. Her children will be accepted to the seminary and that woman's children will not be accepted to the Talmud Torah, and... ah, no, she goes with a scarf, no. He says it is dreadful, he says it is laughable, it is infuriating. How the world became upside down, I saw. So too in his time Rav Ratzaby sent a letter to one of the great rabbis, which came out right after the storm that occurred with the wigs from India. So he wrote to him: we had here an opportunity from Heaven. For several weeks women were already going without a wig, going only with a headscarf. There was a problem, it was forbidden to wear them. Immediately some rabbi arose, I will not mention his name, everyone knows him, and hurried to issue a permit and this, "we sent supervisors and it is all fine." He sent him a letter, he said, Master of the Universe, we had such an opportunity to root out this terrible falsehood. This thing, after all, was intended, the head-covering that was intended to make the woman modest, and you take and use it with a wig, and the wigs, may Hashem have mercy, how many of them are modest? Even those who permitted wigs, what were they talking about? And how many of them are modest? And Hashem preserve us, the wig, it is clear, whoever said "foreign hair" (pe'ah nochrit), the wig makes the woman foreign (nochriyah). He says, and to whom is there to speak? With whom is there to speak? He says it in a very sharp manner, on this matter of the wigs. But there is nothing to say. There is nothing to say and no one to speak with. So that in practice, as I said, we are a generation of externality. A generation that does everything on the outside, everything for the impression. Interiority, something that requires a person to give up, that requires a person to overcome himself, this you see is a weak generation, the generation is weak. May Hashem grant us merit and save us from every matter of sin and transgression.
"Why have we fasted, and You do not see; why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge? Behold, on the day of your fast you pursue your desire, and you exact all your labors." "Why have we fasted." The people, as it were, say to the prophet, as it were they argue toward Hashem: why have we fasted, why do we fast, and You, as it were, Master of the Universe, do not see our fast? You do not accept our prayers. "Why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge," as it were You make Yourself as one who does not know, does not watch over us. The enemies rule over us and You, as it were, Master of the Universe, are like one who ignores. We fasted and we do not see that You save us. What is the answer? The prophet tells them: behold, on the day of your fast you pursue your desire, you exact all your labors. I see that your fast, its purpose is for the sake of quarreling. What is the meaning of this? When there is a fast day, a day of fasting, everyone gathers to pray. They would assemble in the town square, they would gather to pray. And then, oh, there is an opportunity, so-and-so has owed me money for a long time. Good thing I met him now. So what comes out? That this fast day, instead of being a day of rectifying deeds, a day of improving character traits, becomes a day of quarrels. Everyone goes to attack his fellow, everyone goes out against those with whom he needs to settle accounts. This is what He tells them, on the day of your fast, why do you exploit the fast day? "You pursue your desire." On the fast day you seek how to find your desire, how through it to attain your affairs. And if he does not give it to him, "you exact all your labors." You press him. "To exact" is an expression for a person who demands his debt by force, a person who demands his debt in a manner that does not let a person escape him. As it is written, "you shall not exact from your brother." The meaning is that you have a fast, you have a day of fasting, but this fast and this day of fasting, what is their aim? It is only for your benefit, it is for your needs. "Your labors" here refers to your money. What is "and you exact all your labors"? It means that everything you do is in order to attain your money, that is "your labors." And why is money called "your labors" (atzaveichem, from etzev, grief)? The Radak says, because money is a person's toil and his grief. What grieves a person? Money. The endless chase after money. After he has attained the money, how to guard the money. And if he is an investor, then he is constantly under pressure: what is the state of the stock market, this went up, this went down, where is this, where is it. So it comes out that what causes a person the main grief is money. Therefore it says "all your labors," you exact your money.
It is told that there was once a certain king whose son was stricken with a severe depression. The psychologists and doctors told him that he must meet a happy person, wear that person's garment, and this would draw him out of his depression. He should wear the shirt of the happy person and this would draw him out of his depression. And the king sent throughout his entire kingdom to search for the happy person. And they climb mountains and descend valleys, they go to cities and towns, and they do not find. Who is the happy person? Are you happy? Me? Would that it were so. In aspiration. Happy? Where? They do not find the happy person. One day they arrive, already despairing along the way, and they see someone shepherding, sitting like this on some rock, leaning on a tree, his flock grazing before him, and he is playing a flute so pleasantly. Oh, it seems we have found the suitable person. They approach him and say, tell us, are you... are you happy? He told them, yes, thank God. They say to him, are you willing to do us a favor? What? To give us your shirt; the king's son is ill, there is a mitzvah to help him and this... He told them, gladly, but I have no shirt. He says, what, you have no shirt? He told them, if I had a shirt I would no longer be happy. If I had a shirt I would have to worry about it, that it not tear, worry about washing it, guarding it. If I had a shirt I would no longer be happy. He said, I am happy because I have nothing. When a person has nothing, he is not troubled, nothing bothers him, nothing harms him. What can... what will you take from me? The flute? What will you take from me? Tomorrow I will carve another one, very easily. The reality of a person is that the more money he has, the more property, the more worry. So "you exact all your labors." You exploit the fast day to demand your money, which, as we said, is "the labors," the money, to exact it from your fellows.
The Malbim explains that after telling us in the previous pasuk how all their seeking of Hashem is only external, they do not truly seek Hashem, they do not truly want His nearness, He goes on: it is not enough that this is so, they even come to argue why Hashem does not answer our prayer. That is, they still hold themselves as righteous and still have a complaint, still have a demand. And they say, "why have we fasted, and You do not see?" "Fast" (tzom), we once explained in the name of the Radak, and so too the Malbim says, "tzom" is from a term of gathering. Today "tzom" has become an expression for fasting, but truly "tzom" originally is not fasting. You can see this here in the pasuk: "why have we fasted, and You do not see; why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge." You understand from here that "tzom" is not fasting. There is "fasting" and there is "we have afflicted our soul." What is the meaning of this? "Tzom," says the Radak, as he brings in the name of his father, means a term of gathering. Like "tzomet ha-gidin," the junction of the sinews, which is a place where many sinews are gathered together. "Tzom" means gathering. When they would want to hold some assembly over the withholding of rain or over any trouble whatsoever, they would make a "tzom." They called it a "tzom." What does it mean? They gather all the people to the town square, and then they pray to Hashem, they say "Avinu Malkeinu," they say all that is needed. This is called a "tzom," and usually on that day they would also fast. And as a result of this the expression "tzom" was created for a fast day. But "tzom" is really about the matter itself of gathering. Therefore they come and say, "why have we fasted?" "We have fasted" means we have gathered. And the purpose of this gathering is to examine their deeds. Thus the Mishnah in Massechet Ta'anit says that they would gather on the fast day and the beit din would sit to see what needs rectifying, to see what corrupt things there are. How much is lacking that we do not have such a thing in this generation. They would gather and strive to rectify. The affliction is the fast. So there are two processes here. One process of gathering: what is not good, how do we rectify for the future; that is the "tzom," that is gathering. And the affliction is: how do I rectify what I corrupted in the past. And we have already spoken several times that the matter of the fast is always to rectify the past, since when a person commits a sin he has bodily pleasure, and when a person afflicts himself, fasts, he in effect removes bodily desire and its pleasures. And this offsets that. What I pampered the body with, I now rectify by afflicting the body. So the "tzom," then, is a rectification for the future. The affliction is a rectification for the past. Therefore they say about the "tzom" "You do not see," and about the affliction they say "take no knowledge." What is the meaning of this? About the "tzom" "You do not see" that we gathered. And about the affliction, what did I see? It still cannot be seen. The affliction, they say, only the One who searches heart and kidneys can know that we have remorse over our negative, evil deeds of the past. As for the very fact that we say we are gathering to do good, that is "You see," that anyone can see. But what is the purpose of your fast? Is it just a diet? Or is everyone fasting and you are therefore afflicting yourself? Or is your fast truly remorse over the past? That only the Knower of hidden things knows. Therefore they say about the affliction, "why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge?" What, are You not one who searches heart and kidneys to see that our intention is truly to return in complete repentance for all we did in the past?
The Holy One answers them: "behold, on the day of your fast you pursue your desire." A fast, an affliction, must truly be with all the heart. And one must truly remove from himself all the pleasures and physical desires. For his entire purpose is nothing but for Hashem alone. But you pursue your desire. Even on the day of the fast you seek to fulfill the desires of your heart. Let us take this to an extreme example: there is a person who, on the fast day, is shopping all day. Why? For how he will break the fast. Do you understand? All day he is busy with what food he is preparing and what courses there will be and what now and what afterward and what... What kind of fast is this? This is what He says: on this fast you are supposed to redeem yourself from matters of the flesh, not to desire them at all. Yet on the fast and the affliction you desire and you seek on this day all the matters of your desires. "And you exact all your labors." The grief you have on this day in that you separate from the affairs of the world, fine, he will afflict himself, one cannot argue, he did not eat today. He says, the very fact that he did not eat today, this is not with a willing soul, but rather "you exact." Notice what an explanation the Malbim offers. The Malbim explains the fast as "your labors": the Malbim explains, the fast, which is the thing that grieves you, you do not do it with joy, saying "I want now to draw close to Hashem and rectify my sins." Rather you exact yourself, "exact" as we said, to press, you do it as one compelled, by force, as one who has no choice. "And all your labors," the grief you have that you separate from the affairs of the world, this you exact, you do it under pressure, you do it out of necessity, not with a willing soul. The fast is like a heavy burden upon you; you only seek when it will end. And if so, He says, is this what the Holy One truly wants? Such a fast? As we explained, "tzom," says the Malbim in his explanation of the words, is from a term of joining. Many joining together, this is called "tzom." Like "tzomet ha-gidin," like a "tzammah" (braid). A braid is the binding of many hairs together. Yes, all of this is from the same idea of "tzom," like "the tzammim take hold of him," "from behind your tzammah," and so on, where the meaning is concentration and gathering.
"Behold, for strife and contention you fast, and to strike with the fist of wickedness; you shall not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high." "Behold, for strife and contention you fast." The Holy One tells them: behold, your strife, your fast, sorry, is for strife and contention. How do you want Me to desire such a fast? "And to strike with the fist of wickedness." The concept of "men of the fist" means to strike those who owe you, as the Radak explained, that you exploit the fast day to exact from your fellows, to demand your debt; you have an opportunity now, you meet him on the fast day. And if so, this fast you make it for strife and contention and to strike with the fist of wickedness. "You shall not fast as you do this day." The Radak explains, "as this day," as it were you make a fast as if I do not see you, like "swear to me as this day," "as the day," yes? "To make your voice heard on high," that you cry out in your prayer as though you pour out your soul before Me. As though you exalt the Master of the Universe. "You shall not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high?" Do you go and make a fast only so that, as it were, Hashem will say that we cried out? Is that it, that is the whole matter? Not truly an internal change?
The Malbim explains, "behold, for strife and contention you fast." The Malbim says the latter part, as we explained that "tzom" is from a term of gathering, mentioned here; it may be that it is also connected to the expression "tzimtzum," to gather and concentrate many people in one place, at one point. And He tells them, "behold, for strife and contention you fast." The gathering that you assemble for the sake of Hashem, as we explained, is a burden upon you, it is as though someone is exacting from you. What is the proof? Behold, see that when you fast and gather, it will be for strife and contention. Or in fact you will gather to strike with the fist of wickedness. That is, in order to examine to what degree the reality of this fast is not willing, I need to see a reality of a different gathering, and there, how you do it willingly, and then to prove from there to what degree the gathering here is not willing. He says, you have all sorts of other gatherings. You have gatherings of strife and contention, in order to quarrel with someone. You have gatherings where people assemble to strike with the fist of wickedness, to take revenge on someone you think must be paid back. And then I see that you come with some joy, with some willingness of heart. He tells them: behold, this strife, sorry, this fast that you fast, is far from the fitting and proper fast. Would that you would fast, meaning gather, as you "fast for strife and contention" and "to strike with the fist of wickedness." There I see, thank God, with what joy you do it, for strife and contention, to strike with the fist of wickedness, how you gather with enthusiasm. He tells them: you shall not fast as this day to make your voice heard on high. You shall not fast as this day to make your voice heard on high, as on the day you gather for strife and contention. You do not fast like that day, on this day. On that day you gather in joy for strife and contention, whereas on this day when you gather to afflict your souls, how much pain and how much sorrow, how hard it is for you, how you seek to unload. The fast that you fast, this gathering is to make your voice heard on high. But it is not like the gathering of strife and contention, for the gathering for strife and contention is with willingness of heart, and making your voice heard on high is "you exact." You feel as though someone is obligating you, you seek how to be rid of it. If the chazzan lengthens a bit, you tell him, "may his prayer be quickly accepted with favor." You start hinting to him. And then he reaches Avinu Malkeinu, he says "to our God in Heaven," you shout to him, "have mercy and the hour presses." Yes, and more, you give him all sorts of hints, come on already, when does the fast end? Don't get us stuck here another five minutes. We... there are already elderly people here, not for me, God forbid, I always don't mind fasting another day. There are elderly people here, you cannot cause them distress. Yes, he is so concerned for them outside, where the elderly are silenced. But he... he is concerned for them, yes. I told you that there are people who, out of all the laws of the synagogue, know only the laws of "burdening the public." That is all they know. Only the laws of burdening the public. In short, so He tells them: behold, see how you gather for strife and contention, and how you gather to make your voice heard on high. It is not the same thing. It is not the same thing.
The Malbim explains this also regarding the affliction. The Malbim says, the affliction, we said that the affliction is a rectification of the past. The Malbim says, your affliction is not truly an affliction. Why? Because your affliction is only external. You do not truly intend to rectify the past. For if you intended to rectify the past, you would have to make an internal change. But you do not make an internal change. You make only an external change. You only show as though you are afflicting yourselves. But truly you are not afflicting yourselves. Therefore He tells them, you shall not fast as this day to make your voice heard on high. You do not fast in order to make your voice heard on high; rather you fast only to show people that you are fasting. It is all external. It is all for the impression. And this is what the Holy One tells them: I do not want this fast. I want a fast that truly has an internal change within it. A fast that truly has remorse over the past within it. A fast that truly has an acceptance for the future within it. But your fast is only external. It is only for the impression. Therefore I do not want it.