Our chapter addresses a fundamental question: what is a genuine fast? The people lodged a complaint, "Why have we fasted and You did not see?", and the prophet responds in the name of the Holy One, Blessed be He, that the fast they observe is not the fast He desires. In this part of the chapter, we learn what is truly demanded: uncovering wickedness, rectifying injustice, opening one's hand to the poor, and turning away from evil in thought, speech, and action. And from this flow the great promises: "Then your light shall burst forth like the dawn," and "Then you shall call, and Hashem will answer."
הֲכָזֶה יִהְיֶה צוֹם אֶבְחָרֵהוּ יוֹם עַנּוֹת אָדָם נַפְשׁוֹ הֲלָכֹף כְּאַגְמֹן רֹאשׁוֹ וְשַׂק וָאֵפֶר יַצִּיעַ הֲלָזֶה תִּקְרָא־צוֹם וְיוֹם רָצוֹן לַה'׃ - Is such a fast as this the one I choose, a day for a person to afflict his soul? Is it bowing one's head like a bulrush, and spreading sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to Hashem?
The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: Is this the fast that I choose? Is this what I desire, that you bow your head like a bulrush and spread sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast and a day acceptable to Hashem? All these things are merely external, done for show, lacking any inner transformation, without remorse for the past or resolution for the future. So Radak explains, and Malbim follows the same path: the Holy One says, I do not desire such a fast. I want a fast that brings inner change, regret over the past, and a commitment for the future.
הֲלוֹא זֶה צוֹם אֶבְחָרֵהוּ פַּתֵּחַ חַרְצֻבּוֹת רֶשַׁע הַתֵּר אֲגֻדּוֹת מוֹטָה וְשַׁלַּח רְצוּצִים חׇפְשִׁים וְכׇל־מוֹטָה תְּנַתֵּקוּ׃ - Is this not the fast I choose: to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to untie the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
Radak explains chartzubot as meaning knots or bonds, as in "there are no pangs [chartzubot] in their death." When wickedness grows strong and multiplies, it looks like a tight, unbreakable knot that cannot be severed. When we observe the movements of factions of hatred and their offshoots, it looks like a tight knot that cannot be pulled apart; commentators say the government has many long years ahead. And we plead before the Master of the World: the wicked have banded together and forged their alliances; Master of the World, untie these knots, remove the fetters of wickedness!
"Untie the bands of the yoke [motah]" - motah can be understood as related to bringing collapse (lehamit), like the wicked person who brings ruin upon the poor and precipitates disaster upon him. Another possibility brought by Radak is that motah is a noun, the yoke placed upon an animal's neck, as in "Then Chananyah took the yoke-bar" regarding Chananyah ben Azzur, who took the bar and placed it upon his shoulders. The metaphor is: when they relentlessly pressed the poor to pay their debts and the people cried out against injustice, this extortion was like a heavy yoke set upon the neck of a beast. You are placing such a crushing burden upon poor people who have no means to pay!
"And that you break every yoke" - the Targum, cited also by Rashi, renders: "and remove every perverted judgment," meaning every corrupt ruling, any judgment that deviates from the path of uprightness, remove it. "To let the oppressed go free" - this refers to the indentured servants crushed beneath the hand of their masters, violating the prohibition "you shall not rule over him with crushing labor"; send them free at the end of seven years. We indeed find that Yirmeyahu had to rebuke his generation for this, as they oppressed their servants beyond seven years under the pretext that debts remained to be collected from them, until he persuaded them to release them. This, too, is part of rectifying one's ways: release the servants you subjugate to freedom.
Malbim does not interpret chartzubot as bonds, as Radak does, but rather divides the word into two components: chor (hole or pit) and tzav (covered). The term tzav denotes being covered, as in "covered wagons" (aglot tzav), which are enclosed wagons as opposed to open carts. A chartzov is thus a covered pit. Evil conceals itself within its hidden cavity, and it is this covering that must be breached: "loosen the concealed pits of wickedness."
The foundation of the matter: generally in Lashon HaKodesh there is no four-letter root (there is a dispute regarding this, but this is the accepted view), and if a four-letter root is found, it is a compound of two roots. For example, "marze'ach": there is no such root, but rather a combination of "mar" (bitter) and "zach" (to depart). "Zach" means to depart or move away, as in "the Choshen shall not be removed (lo yizach)," and like "mizach" (pier) in contemporary Hebrew. When a person goes to a tavern (beit marze'ach) and indulges in alcohol ("the bitter drop"), bitterness departs from him, hence its name. Based on this same principle, the Malbim explains "chartzubot" as a compound of "char" and "tzav."
From here emerges the primary purpose of the fast according to the Malbim: the fast is an assembly, and the entire purpose of gathering is that during the assembly, the wickedness of individuals hidden away in holes will be exposed. The wicked carry out their deeds in the dark so they will not be discovered, and during the gathering these points must be addressed: whoever knows of an illicit deed that was done should expose it, and in this way the matter will become public knowledge.
In our era of communication, the possibilities for fraud have grown immensely. In the past, to steal, one had to break into someone's home, search for the money, and take it; today there are many ways to defraud someone without ever meeting the victim - one only sees his money. On the other hand, just as the opportunities for fraud have grown, so too have the opportunities for exposure: a single defrauded person creates media resonance, and very quickly the breach is closed.
For example: people used to call and say there was a glitch on the line, asking you to press two or three digits. You press them naively, confident it is the phone company, but in reality you just authorized that person to route free calls all over the world through your line. Suddenly a bill for three thousand shekels arrives, and they tell you: sir, you authorized it. Meanwhile, that person is calling all kinds of unrecognized numbers and having a field day at your expense. In the past, one could do this endlessly, because there was no way for people to know; today, once the matter was publicized, any request to press digits immediately raises suspicion, and a person says: no, I will call the company myself and ask. Thus, exposing wickedness creates publicity for it, and once publicity exists, the criminal can no longer use the same scheme, because people catch on immediately. This is "to undo the fetters of wickedness (patach chartzubot resha)."
And for this purpose there is a fast, which as mentioned is an assembly: everyone gathers, and anyone aware of an injustice tells his fellow and warns others away from him, and deeds done in secret are uncovered as well. Many times a person has a complaint about someone, and suddenly discovers that many others have complained about him too, and it becomes clear that the problem is not isolated but systemic, an entire system of wrongdoing - and then there is the power to act against the wrongdoer, even to the point of removing him from his position. There is a legal adage: sunlight is the best disinfectant, as one Supreme Court justice once put it. And this itself explains why judges are appointed in the dark, without anyone knowing and without accountability: they know that sunlight disinfects. How else could a friend bring a friend, how could we get our own crowd in, how could we prevent people whose views do not suit our agenda - "from the unenlightened public," as Barak put it (and make no mistake, he means you; though he later expressed regret over the phrase, it suffices to understand the mindset) - from having their voices heard? That is done in the dark. The way to defeat injustices is simply to expose them, to present them and talk about them, and automatically the wrongdoing is undone because people know to be on guard against it.
When the distortion of justice and unlawful conduct are not the work of an individual but of an association - where many saw that crime pays and joined together, turning crime into organized crime - there is no way to confront it except by everyone assembling together and taking collective action, for an individual certainly cannot stand against a criminal syndicate. The Malbim explains: although one must act both against individuals and against the collective, with an individual one must scrutinize every minor detail, whereas with the sin of a collective, it suffices to dismantle their association. If you catch an individual offender, hold him strictly accountable for every crime he committed; if you uncover an organized criminal association, it suffices to break it up, and once broken up, the crime itself dissolves. This is "untie the thongs of the yoke (hateir agudot motah)": those who formed an association (agudah) to pervert (lehatot) justice - untie and disband them.
Consequently, the elements correspond to one another: corresponding to "undo the fetters of wickedness," exposing the concealed evil, it says "and let the oppressed go free" - the crushed who suffer from him will be set free. And corresponding to "untie the thongs of the yoke," it says "and break every yoke" - every association that banded together to pervert justice, we shall sever from its corrupt, destructive practices, and through this we remove wicked deeds and bring about the rectification of character traits and actions.
הֲלוֹא פָרֹס לָרָעֵב לַחְמֶךָ וַעֲנִיִּים מְרוּדִים תָּבִיא בָיִת כִּי־תִרְאֶה עָרֹם וְכִסִּיתוֹ וּמִבְּשָׂרְךָ לֹא תִתְעַלָּם׃ - Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the moaning poor into your home; when you see the naked, that you clothe him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
What is truly demanded of a person? Break off of your bread and give to him. And what is an "ani marud" (a destitute or wretched poor person)? Rashi explains: one who groans and moans over his affliction, from the root of "my affliction and my misery (onyi u'merudi)," and like "I am distraught (arid) in my complaint and moan" - I groan and sigh in my prayer. The Radak explains "merudim" as meaning displaced and wanderers, as in "Yehudah remembered her affliction and her wanderings (marudeha)" - her wanderings. "And do not hide yourself from your own flesh": feeding the hungry and clothing the naked is an obligation toward all of Israel, but regarding relatives who are your own flesh, the obligation is far greater and more distinct; one should give to them before they reach a state where they must beg door-to-door, giving them enough for their sustenance, as it says, "No person shall approach anyone who is his close flesh (she'er basaro)." And one who does so is truly righteous.
We have already mentioned the story of the wealthy man who was approached for a donation. He said, "What are you talking about? I have a brother who is destitute, and you are asking me to give to you?" Some time passed, and that destitute brother came to them and described how terrible his situation was. They said to him, "But you have a wealthy brother!" He replied, "Tremendously wealthy, but I have never seen a single penny from him." They went back to the wealthy brother and asked him, "What did you tell us?" He said, "Did I say I give him anything? I said I have a destitute brother, and if he doesn't receive anything - will you receive anything?"
אָז יִבָּקַע כַּשַּׁחַר אוֹרֶךָ וַאֲרֻכָתְךָ מְהֵרָה תִצְמָח וְהָלַךְ לְפָנֶיךָ צִדְקֶךָ כְּבוֹד ה' יַאַסְפֶךָ׃ - Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of Hashem shall gather you in.
Rashi explains: Just as the break of dawn cuts through the dense darkness, so will your light break forth. "Arukah" means healing, as in "I will bring healing (arukah) unto you." And Radak adds: If you perform these deeds, you will need neither fasting, nor sackcloth, nor ashes - good deeds take the place of all the rectifications mentioned earlier. Through them, your light will break forth like the dawn, and just as dawn gradually brightens, so will your light illuminate. "And your healing shall spring up quickly" - if until now you suffered damages, misfortunes, and afflictions in body and wealth, now that you improve your ways, your healing will sprout up swiftly like vegetation from the earth, which is why the verse uses the phrasing of growth.
It is likewise explained in the holy books that in place of ascetic self-affliction, one can fulfill "and redeem your sins through charity" - giving tzedakah stands in place of self-affliction. For money touches blood, and blood is exchanged for blood (the Hebrew word damim means both money and blood): the money one takes out of his pocket corresponds to the vitality and blood he drains from himself when fasting and diminishing his fat and blood. Tzedakah possesses immense power to atone for sins even without physical suffering; indeed, for some, the pain of opening their hand and pocket is harder than the pain of fasting.
The author of the Tanya makes a fascinating point: the Rabbinic dictum that "one who spends should not spend more than a fifth" applies to a person who has no sins. But one who has sins - "all that a man has he will give for his soul," and he should spend all his wealth for the atonement of his soul, and in such a case they did not say "do not spend." After all, if a person needs a surgery and is told, "Either sell your house or you will die," would we tell him not to sell because of "one who spends should not spend more than a fifth"? "Skin for skin, and all that a man has he will give for his life" - and the same is true in spiritual matters.
After explaining which fast is favored, the Malbim adds: Know that Hashem does not desire self-affliction of the soul. The Holy One, blessed be He, does not desire that you refrain from eating, but rather that you feed the hungry. Therefore the verse continues: "Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the wretched poor into your home?" Here the verse enumerates the three needs of the poor person: food, clothing, and shelter. Corresponding to food: "Share your bread with the hungry" - even if you only have a single loaf, slice it in half and give to the hungry. Do not give the poor leftovers and low-grade food; rather, give him from your own bread, from what you yourself eat.
There is a story about a miserly wealthy man whose gabbai approached him on Erev Shabbat to inform him that he would be hosting guests. In a panic, he ran to the market and bought several cheap, small fish that were well past their prime for the guests, while for himself he bought a large, exquisite fish as fitting. He thought: We will serve the small fish first, the guest will fill his belly, and then we will bring out the large fish when he can no longer eat. As it happened, Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra - a towering genius in all areas of Torah and the sciences of his time - was the guest at his table. He grasped the scheme immediately: before him were three shriveled sardines that had seen better days, while in the corner waited a fish fit for Rebbes. What did he do? He leaned down to the first fish and began whispering to it, then to the second, and then to the third. Overcome with fear, the host asked, "What are these incantations? Are you practicing sorcery?" He replied, "To tell you the truth, I have always been curious to know what the Splitting of the Red Sea looked like, and these fish seemed quite elderly to me. I asked the first one, and it told me: 'I wasn't around then, ask my friend.' I asked the second, and it said: 'I am indeed older, but I wasn't there either, ask the third.' I asked the third, and it told me: 'I am older than both of them, but I wasn't there either; however, I have a very old and large friend in the kitchen - he surely remembers.'" The host was thoroughly embarrassed and had no choice but to bring the large friend out from the kitchen and serve it to the guests. Regarding this it is said: Share your bread with the hungry - your finest bread, and not two-day-old bread while taking the choice portion for yourself.
There is a story of the Gerrer Rebbe: a wayfarer once came to him saying he had no tefillin, and the Rebbe gave him the tefillin of the previous Rebbe. His son entered, stunned, and said, "The tefillin of the Gerrer Rebbe? A man once paid a hundred thousand dollars for the tefillin of the Gerrer Rebbe!" (And incidentally, do not take this lightly. Once, someone asked an Orthodox rabbi why they disregard Herzl. He told them, "Heaven forbid, I value him immensely. If someone brought me the tefillin of the Vilna Gaon, I would pay a hundred thousand dollars for them; the tefillin of Ravina and Rav Ashi - a million dollars; the tefillin of Moshe Rabbeinu - a hundred million dollars; and the tefillin of Herzl - a trillion dollars! So do I disregard him? Just bring them... But a person who never put on tefillin, and you ask why people disregard him?") The Rebbe replied, "Do I put them on?" The son answered, "No, the Rebbe has his own pair." He said to him, "The Rambam explicitly rules as halachah that when a poor person comes, one must give him from the choicest fat, from the finest and most beautiful. Would you want me to give him something inferior? And what is the finest and most precious item I possess? These tefillin. I gave them to this Jew so that he may put them on." Who among us would think like that? We would immediately make a financial calculation of what could be done with such tefillin. But he thought: to a poor person, one gives what is beautiful and finest. That is "Is it not to share your bread with the hungry" - from your own bread, from the very best.
Corresponding to shelter, it is said: "And bring the wretched poor into your home" - provide him lodging in your home. And corresponding to clothing: "And do not hide yourself from your own flesh" - when you buy clothing, let it be as important to you as if you were putting it on your own flesh, and buy clothing for the poor person in the same manner. All human beings are of one flesh; do not feel that you are giving to a stranger, but to someone who is a part of you, flesh of your flesh. Through this, you will merit the great level: "Your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of Hashem shall gather you in," "Then shall your light break forth like the dawn," and "Your healing shall spring up quickly" - in the merit of giving the poor person from what is good and choice.
אָז תִּקְרָא וַה' יַעֲנֶה תְּשַׁוַּע וְיֹאמַר הִנֵּנִי אִם־תָּסִיר מִתּוֹכְךָ מוֹטָה שְׁלַח אֶצְבַּע וְדַבֶּר־אָוֶן׃ - Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry out, and He will say, "Here I am," if you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness.
Earlier they argued: "Why have we fasted and You did not see?" - Master of the Universe, we fast and You do not answer! Now the Holy One, blessed be He, says: If you do not settle for the fast about which it was asked, "Is such the fast I have chosen?", but instead act with lovingkindness, "Share your bread with the hungry" and the like, then you will call and I will answer; through the goodness of your deeds I will answer you, I will see your fast, and I will hear your prayer.
"If you remove the yoke [motah] from your midst" - any tilting [hatayah] and deviation from the upright path, which is something far more subtle than outright injustice and robbery; remove that as well. "The pointing of the finger" - the Radak explains that many people point at others and cast blame: "It is him, it is you." And the way of the world is that when a person blames his fellow, the fault lies within himself; notice that when one points a finger forward, three fingers point back toward the sender - you say, "He is guilty," and three fingers say, "You are guilty." Therefore, before you cast blame on others, examine yourself thoroughly. And even a quarrel without physical blows, merely an accusatory finger, remove from your midst. "And speaking wickedness" - even quarreling with words, and even wicked speech, and this is what was noted earlier with "untie the cords of wickedness," which includes wicked words as well.
The Malbim notes the two expressions in the verse: "you shall call [tikra]" and "you shall cry out [teshava]." Calling refers to times of calm, whereas crying out always refers to times of distress - as King David does in many places, and as Jonah cried out from the belly of the fish, from the depths of the sea. And the promise is twofold: if you call in times that are not of distress, the Lord will answer and fulfill your requests. And if you cry out in a time of genuine distress, not only will He answer, but "He will say, 'Here I am'" - meaning, I am already prepared to save you even before you called; I have long been right here.
And so we see many times that the Holy One, blessed be He, prepares the remedy before the affliction: trouble arrives, and it turns out that long beforehand, the Holy One, blessed be He, had already caused the salvation to sprout. Just like Esther, who was made queen long before Haman's decree: the entire episode of Ahasuerus and Vashti took place in the third year of his reign, while Haman's decree occurred in the twelfth year - nine years earlier. The Holy One, blessed be He, arranged for Vashti to be removed and Esther crowned, so that when the trouble arrived, the cure was already in place. This is "You shall cry out, and He will say, 'Here I am'" - I am already waiting for you right here with salvation.
And the Malbim emphasizes: all this is on condition that "you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness." Here there is "turn away from evil" across three areas, before we have even arrived at "do good." Turning away from evil alone is enough for the Holy One, blessed be He, to fulfill your desire immediately, and even in times of distress to be ready right there. These three areas correspond to thought, action, and speech: Corresponding to thought - "remove the yoke from your midst," from within the heart and innermost conscience, as every slight inclination and deviation in outlook is called motah. Corresponding to action - "the pointing of the finger," for even pointing a finger at your fellow, not the entire hand but a mere finger, is a negative action, and you must remove it. Corresponding to speech - "and speaking wickedness," corrupt and evil speech: slander, gossip, falsehood, and flattery. If you fulfill these three, then "you shall call, and I will answer; you shall cry out, and I will say, 'Here I am.'"
The chapter teaches us that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not desire an external fast of bowing one's head like a bulrush and lying in sackcloth and ashes, without remorse and without resolution for the future. The chosen fast is to "untie the cords of wickedness" - to expose the evil lurking in hiding and bring it to light; "undo the bands of the yoke" - to disband syndicates of crime; "and let the oppressed go free" - to remove the burden from the downtrodden. And after turning away from evil comes doing good: "Share your bread with the hungry" from the finest of your bread, provide shelter for the destitute poor, and clothe the naked as though it were your own flesh. Charity stands in place of self-affliction - money in place of lifeblood [damim chalaf damim] - and regarding this it is promised: "Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will spring up quickly." And finally, turning away from evil in these three realms - thought (yoke), action (pointing the finger), and speech (speaking wickedness) - is enough to merit "Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry out, and He will say, 'Here I am'" - for the Holy One, blessed be He, is already waiting for us with salvation even before we call.