Chapter 59 of Yeshayahu is one of the most severe chapters in its description of the generation's condition: the prophet begins by stating that there is no barrier on the side of the Holy One, Blessed be He - "Behold, the Lord's hand is not too short to save" - but rather, sins are what create the separation. From that point onward, he describes deterioration across every parameter: bloodshed, falsehood, perversion of justice, and the loss of truth, until the situation reaches a point where the Holy One, Blessed be He, redeems solely through His own power. In this lesson, we will focus on the final section of the chapter: "Truth is lacking," "And He saw that there was no man," and the garments of salvation and vengeance in verse 17.
וַתְּהִי הָאֱמֶת נֶעְדֶּרֶת וְסָר מֵרָע מִשְׁתּוֹלֵל, וַיַּרְא ה' וַיֵּרַע בְּעֵינָיו כִּי אֵין מִשְׁפָּט. (טו) - And truth was lacking, and he who turns away from evil is considered mad; and the Lord saw, and it was evil in His eyes that there was no justice. (15)
The Gemara in Masechet Sanhedrin (97a) expounds this verse as one of the signs of *ikvesa deMeshicha* - the period directly preceding the arrival of Mashiach. The Gemara enumerates many other difficult phenomena there: a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies are the members of his household, the dwellers of the border wander from city to city - and to our great sorrow, all of them have been fulfilled in our midst, and Mashiach is truly at the doorstep. In our context, the Gemara asks: What is the meaning of "and truth was lacking" (*ne'ederet*)? The academy of Rav said: This teaches that it becomes separated into flocks upon flocks (*adarim adarim*) and goes its way. And what is the meaning of "and he who turns away from evil is considered mad" (*mishtoleil*)? The academy of Rabbi Sheila said: Whoever turns away from evil is treated as a fool by the people.
Truth becomes divided into flocks upon flocks. Indeed, there has likely never been a generation where truth is split into so many factions as our own. Everyone claims that truth is with them, everyone is certain that they are right, everyone knows that their path alone is correct and all the rest is vanity and chasing after wind. This is not referring merely to secular versus religious, but to "truth is lacking" within the Torah-observant camp itself; and not only across the different shades of kippot, but even within the yeshiva world itself, one suddenly sees two opposing camps: those who accept and those who do not, those who maintain there can be compromise and those who insist there is no room for compromise. We have never been in a state where truth is fractured into so many distinct flocks. The point is not to decide between them what the truth is, but merely to observe how this prophecy itself has been fulfilled in our times: we are already in the generation where truth is fragmented, and every flock is convinced that it alone possesses the truth.
On the words "and he who turns away from evil is considered mad (*mishtoleil*)," Rashi explains: The entire world says of him that he is a fool; *mishtoleil* denotes foolishness, as in "He leads counselors away stripped of their sense (*sholal*)" - leading someone down the path of folly. If a person is righteous, God-fearing, and serves Hashem, people say of him: "Listen, something burned out inside him; he has a screw loose. Why does he sway like that? Why does he take an apple, talk to it [recite a blessing], and only then eat? Something is wrong with him." A certain professor, among the founders of an anti-religious league, remarked about his son who became a *baal teshuvah* and an *avrech* in Kiryat Sefer that he would have preferred him to return from Goa intoxicated on mushrooms than to become religious. When asked, "To such an extreme?" he replied, "From drugs, one can be rehabilitated." Consider this: the one who turns away from evil, who becomes a refined *ben Torah*, who knows his purpose in the world and fulfills Hashem's will - he is deemed mentally defective. And who is considered sane? The two-legged beasts who pant after every lust, who are drawn after every material pursuit, people who have made their belly their god - they are deemed the sane ones. This is one of the signs of *ikvesa deMeshicha* witnessed today in its most extreme manifestation.
Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim, the Ben Ish Chai, interprets the words of the Gemara in a positive light. "And truth was lacking (*ne'ederet*)" refers to the wisdom of truth (*chochmat ha'emet*), which is Kabbalah, the esoteric dimension of the Torah. How fitting these words are for the master who uttered them, who was steeped in the secrets of the Zohar. The meaning is not that it will be absent, but that it will be studied in flocks upon flocks (*adarim adarim*): toward the era of *ikvesa deMeshicha*, people will engage in the study of Kabbalah in widespread, distinct groups. This too can be seen today. And why "flocks upon flocks"? Because within the wisdom of Kabbalah itself, there are varied approaches and schools: there is the Chassidic school, the Ashlag approach, the Vilna Gaon, and the Ramchal. All of them study the teachings of the Ari z"l, yet each school directs the material along a different path - one toward the Rashash, another toward applying these insights to the practical realm of action, and so forth. Here is an expression of "flocks upon flocks" in the study of Kabbalah.
The Ben Ish Chai further observes regarding his own era: private individuals study Kabbalah, each one in an obscure corner and in secret. As is told of the Chofetz Chaim, who once followed his rebbe, Rav Nachum of Horodna, and saw him hiding a book in the *genizah* of the synagogue. After his rebbe left, he searched the *genizah* and discovered that his master was immersed in Kabbalah - *Etz Chaim* and kabbalistic texts. The following night, he hid in the beit midrash - in the women's gallery, it is said - and when his rebbe arrived, took out the book, and began to study with fiery passion, the Chofetz Chaim saw literal fire enveloping him. He immediately understood that this was not a consuming fire, but the spiritual flame of Torah study. What is astonishing about the story is that the Chofetz Chaim was only thirteen years old at the time, yet at that tender age he was already worthy to perceive the fire surrounding Rav Nachum of Horodna. In any case, in earlier generations people studied in privacy, and the hidden wisdom was never studied openly. In the future, however, says the Ben Ish Chai, everyone will study it just as they recite Tehillim, "and you will find them flock upon flock in the house of study."
According to this approach, the phrase "and he who turns away from evil is considered mad (*mishtoleil*)" is also interpreted positively: the era will be one of spiritual elevation, such that anyone who merely turns away from evil - meaning he has not yet reached the level of "doing good," but merely refrains from wrong - will be considered deficient in the eyes of people, for a complete tzaddik must both turn away from evil and actively do good. Knowledge and righteousness will increase so greatly that one who merely avoids sin will not be regarded as notable at all; only one who both turns away from evil and actively performs good will be deemed righteous. May our eyes behold His merciful return to Zion and witness these promises fulfilled before us.
וַיַּרְא כִּי אֵין אִישׁ וַיִּשְׁתּוֹמֵם כִּי אֵין מַפְגִּיעַ, וַתּוֹשַׁע לוֹ זְרֹעוֹ וְצִדְקָתוֹ הִיא סְמָכָתְהוּ. (טז) - And He saw that there was no man, and He was astonished that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness sustained Him. (16)
Rashi explains: The Holy One, blessed be He, relented concerning the misfortune and desires to redeem us, but "He saw that there was no man" - there is no tzaddik to stand in the breach. "And He was astonished that there was no intercessor" - like a person who stands astonished and silent in his bewilderment, stunned and mute from utter amazement. And why? Because there is no intercessor, and to intercede means to pray: there is no one possessing merits to pray on behalf of His people Israel. And when this is the situation - "His arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness sustained Him": if we have neither merits nor strength, the One who acts is the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself. Hashem's own arm brings salvation, and "His righteousness" - in that Hashem is righteous, from this perspective He will redeem us, without our being worthy and deserving.
Here Radak elaborates and raises a question: In the Torah, we see that redemption is contingent upon teshuvah - "And you will return to Hashem your God and listen to His voice," and afterward, "Then Hashem your God will return your captivity and have compassion upon you"; and likewise, "From there you will seek Hashem your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and with all your soul" - why "you will find Him"? "If you search for Him." This implies that an awakening from below (itaruta d'letata) is required, an action on our part, and through repentance and changing our deeds we will become worthy and deserving, and the ingathering of the exiles will arrive. Yet here in our verse it is written otherwise: "He saw that there was no man, and He was astonished that there was no intercessor" - there is no one repenting and no one praying, and consequently, "His arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness sustained Him" - His own arm and not ours, and we have no share in the matter. This appears to be a contradiction.
Likewise, Yechezkel says: "Not for your sake do I act, O House of Israel," "And I will bring you out from the nations," "And I will purge from among you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land of their dwelling, but they shall not enter the land of Israel"; and in the Torah it is also written, "And I will remember for them the covenant of the ancients." Here you see that the matter stems from Him, blessed be He, without connection to us: Hashem will remember the covenant of the ancients while we are unworthy - not for our sake, but through His own merit, blessed be He. So what is the truth - is it dependent on us, or is it not dependent on us?
Radak says: If we delve deeper, we will see that Chazal already addressed this question - whether Israel is redeemed through the merit of teshuvah or even without teshuvah. Rabbi Yochanan said: The son of David comes only in a generation that is entirely innocent or in a generation that is entirely guilty. In a generation that is entirely guilty - as it is written: "And He saw that there was no man, and He was astonished that there was no intercessor," and then "His arm brought salvation to Him"; that is, in a situation where the entire generation is guilty, there is no alternative, and as it were, Hashem is compelled to redeem us by His own power. And in a generation that is entirely innocent - "And your people, all of them are righteous, they shall inherit the land forever," by virtue of all being righteous. And juxtaposed with this, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi pointed out another contradiction: on the one hand, "and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man came," while on the other hand, "humble and riding upon a donkey" - as studied in the chapters of Sefer Daniel. With the clouds of heaven means in a miraculous way, whereas humble and riding upon a donkey hints at a lowly state and a low spiritual stature. And the Gemara answers: If they merit - with the clouds of heaven; if they do not merit - humble and riding upon a donkey.
Here is that very same principle: there are two tracks for redemption. If we repent and awaken, Mashiach will come, as it were, from Heaven, entirely through miraculous wonder; but if we are not worthy, he will come in a physical, material way, like a pauper riding on a donkey. And Rabbi Eliezer said likewise: If Israel repents, they are redeemed immediately - and on the other hand, there is the dimension of "in its time" (be'itah). Some say that if they are not worthy of "I will hasten it" (achishenah), they receive "in its time" (be'itah) - but indeed, be'itah here is not spelled with a tet (as in fear or dread), but with a tav: there is a set time from Him, blessed be He, in which the redemption will come, whether they are worthy or unworthy, righteous or wicked. In contrast stands "I will hasten it": if the initiative comes from us and we awaken, becoming worthy of redemption through our own efforts, we will merit "behold, with the clouds of heaven" in a spiritual manner, and be redeemed early. But if not, the redemption will ultimately arrive, yet accompanied by "and I will purge from among you the rebels and those who transgress against Me," and a pauper riding on a donkey. Likewise regarding the prophecy of Gog and Magog, discussed at length in the chapters of Zechariah, there are two prophecies: one path is terrifying with harsh tribulations for the Jewish people, while the other path is more gentle. Both are true, and the question is which path will be chosen: if we choose the good path, the Jewish people will merit a redemption in which only the nations suffer harm; if not, there is another path in which a third of the Jewish people, Heaven forbid, will perish, along with other harsh tribulations described there.
Radak concludes: We see that they were uncertain whether the ingathering of exiles would occur through teshuvah or not, and this was due to the apparent contradiction among the verses. The verses can be reconciled: the majority of Israel will return in repentance after they see the signs of redemption. On one hand it is written that they will repent, and on the other hand it is written that we are unworthy and Hashem will bring the redemption - and both are true. Hashem will initiate the redemption, the redemption will commence, and then the majority of Israel will repent. And as for what is written, "He saw that there was no man" - this refers to the collective of Israel, who will not return in repentance until they see the signs of redemption, and at that point there is truly no man and no intercessor. "Man" (ish) always speaks of the collective, as in "Now the men of Israel (ish Yisrael) had sworn at Mitzpah." For concerning individuals one cannot say "there is no man": there has never been a situation where there were not individual tzaddikim in Israel; even in the harshest periods, even in the generation of Achav and other wicked rulers, there were also righteous individuals. From this he also deduced that "a generation that is entirely guilty" is not to be understood literally as meaning every single person is guilty - there is no such thing, as there are always tzaddikim. Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, initiates the process of redemption in a generation where "there is no man and no intercessor" from the perspective of the collective, and subsequently through this the nation will awaken, and many will return in repentance.
"His arm brought salvation to Him" - meaning there is neither helper nor supporter, but the arm of Hashem, blessed be He, alone. Does Hashem need our help? Radak explains: A person's deeds and righteousness act, as it were, as helpers and supporters to the One who saves him. In truth, Hashem does not need us, but the Holy One, blessed be He, established a reality in His world where our prayers, our study, and our good deeds infuse strength into holiness. This was discussed at length in Nefesh HaChaim, which elaborates on the verse "Ascribe strength to God": there is an aspect in which a person lends strength to the Shechinah, and there is, Heaven forbid, an aspect in which a person lends strength to the Sitra Achra (the Other Side) and the forces of impurity, weakening the Shechinah and holiness, transferring power to the impure forces. As explained, this does not refer to His Essence, blessed be He, but to the reality revealed to us through the unfolding of the Sefirot; in that realm it is indeed relevant for a person to direct abundance into the holy Sefirot, thereby causing abundance to descend to us. Conversely, Heaven forbid, a person can create blockages in the spiritual conduits, causing abundance to divert to the nations rather than to us, leaving us unworthy of redemption. And when we are unworthy - by what power will Hashem act? Solely by His own power, and not through the power of man below praying, learning Torah, and thereby ascribing strength to God.
And there is an additional aspect here: "He appoints over them a king as harsh as Haman." The Holy One, blessed be He, will bring the redemption, but it will unfold along a difficult path, and the Jewish people will need to awaken - except that this awakening will come through distress. And it is very likely that this is Radak's meaning when stating that they will repent after the onset of redemption. For why else would they repent? If everything goes smoothly without performing mitzvot, a person might say: Excellent, Master of the Universe, keep it going! When a wicked person sees that things go well for him despite his wickedness, he persists in his evil and does not repent. Rather, the redemption will progress through hardship: redemption is visible as the Jewish people return to their land, yet on the other hand, the land of Israel can feel fraught with danger. The redemption has begun, yet obstacles arise - and this itself prompts repentance. On one hand, Hashem's hand is visible as part of the Jewish people returns to its land after two thousand years of exile and begins rebuilding it, fulfilling: "And you, mountains of Israel, shall yield your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel, for they are soon to come," and the land that had been desolate like a forsaken and mourning widow suddenly begins to yield its produce - concerning which the Gemara states: There is no greater revealed sign of the End than this, a true shining of the Divine countenance. Yet on the other hand, complications arise. And this tension itself brings the nation to repentance, just as our recent generation has witnessed an awakening to teshuvah unmatched thirty or forty years ago. Thus these developments unfold hand in hand: at the beginning of redemption "there is no man," and in the second stage the Jewish people begin to awaken from within, thereby becoming worthy of redemption - whether through benevolence or, Heaven forbid, through tribulations brought upon us by the Holy One, blessed be He.
Furthermore, Radak notes a precise nuance in the phrasing: "His arm brought salvation to Him" - whom does the Holy One, blessed be He, save? Us! It should have said, "His arm brought salvation to us." Rather, explains Radak, a master must save his servant: we are Hashem's servants, and when the idolaters torment us, the One who must rescue us is the Master of the Universe; and through the salvation of the servant, the master is saved. We all recognize this concept from Patach Eliyahu: the Shechinah is in exile. From the day Israel went into exile, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, I have not entered My house, and My head is filled with dew. When the Jewish people are in exile, the Holy One, blessed be He, is also, as it were, in exile. And when the Jewish people are in pain, the Shechinah says: "My head is heavy, My arm is heavy" - My head aches, My arm aches. As recounted regarding the revelation of the holy Shechinah in the study hall of Maran the Beit Yosef, where they heard her wailing with a terrible, awe-inspiring cry: "Due to your sins I wallow in the dust, and if you knew even a fraction of the Shechinah's anguish, eating and drinking would hold no sweetness for you." Thus, "His arm brought salvation to Him" means that when the Holy One, blessed be He, brings us out of exile, He also saves the Shechinah that is in exile, making it a salvation for the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, Himself.
Malbim explains this entire progression in a slightly different manner. Prior to our verse, the prophet described in detail the degradation of Israel and the evil of their deeds: "Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter"; "We grope along the wall like the blind," "We stumble at noon"; "We all growl like bears, and moan mournfully like doves; we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us"; "Transgressing and denying Hashem, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood" - an appalling state of deterioration across every measure.
נְגַשְׁשָׁה כַעִוְרִים קִיר וּכְאֵין עֵינַיִם נְגַשֵּׁשָׁה, כָּשַׁלְנוּ בַצָּהֳרַיִם כַּנֶּשֶׁף בָּאַשְׁמַנִּים כַּמֵּתִים. (י) - We grope along a wall like the blind, and like those without eyes we grope; we stumble at noon as in twilight, in dark places like the dead. (10)
נֶהֱמֶה כַדֻּבִּים כֻּלָּנוּ וְכַיּוֹנִים הָגֹה נֶהְגֶּה, נְקַוֶּה לַמִּשְׁפָּט וָאַיִן לִישׁוּעָה רָחֲקָה מִמֶּנּוּ. (יא) - We growl like bears, all of us, and moan continually like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. (11)
וְהֻסַּג אָחוֹר מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה מֵרָחוֹק תַּעֲמֹד, כִּי כָשְׁלָה בָרְחוֹב אֱמֶת וּנְכֹחָה לֹא תוּכַל לָבוֹא. (יד) - And justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. (14)
After such a description, the Malbim explains: Hashem saw how low His people's state had sunk, and He will no longer act for our sake, but will redeem us for the sake of His Name. Even though we are undeserving, and as it were, Hashem has despaired of redemption blossoming from our side - He will bring about the salvation without our merits. For when salvation comes through our merit, it takes one of two forms: either through our deeds, where by the power of our good deeds we are worthy of salvation, and this is called an "ozer" (a helper) - merit, as it were, helps the Holy One, blessed be He, to redeem us, by adding strength to holiness; or through prayer, where the righteous person prays for the redemption, and this is not quite a helper, but a "somech" (a supporter).
And you may ask: Do we not pray for the redemption? After all, every day we say, "May the offspring of David, Your servant, speedily flourish"! But we have already discussed this: Scripture says, "Why has the son of Jesse not come, neither yesterday nor today, to the meal [el halechem - to the bread]?" (I Shmuel 20:27). We are constantly praying, so why has the son of Jesse not come? The answer is "to the bread": our prayers are focused on bread - for livelihood, for good health, to marry off the children, to have nachas, and if wealth comes too, baruch Hashem, it wouldn't hurt. All our requests are "to the bread," not for the son of Jesse, not for the Shechinah in exile (shechinta be-galuta). True prayer indeed possesses great power - not as an "ozer" (helper), but as a "somech" (supporter). A supporter is like someone catching a falling person so he does not drop, whereas a helper is someone actively lending a hand. Concerning this the prophet says: "And He saw that there was no man" - no person worthy in his deeds to serve as a helper. And the thing that causes astonishment, wonder, and bewilderment, is "that there was no intercessor [mafgia]" - and "mafgia" denotes prayer, as in "Do not pray for this people, nor intercede [al tifga] with Me" (Yirmeyahu 7:16), and the phrase "to demand insistently [lidrosh be-mafgi'a]." Even the support of prayer is lacking. And since He has neither a helper nor a supporter from our side, the Holy One, blessed be He, must, as it were, carry out the action entirely on His own, not through the power of those below and not through us.
And corresponding to the absence of a helper - "His own arm brought salvation to Him." The Malbim previously taught us the distinction between the "hand of Hashem" (yad Hashem) and the "arm of Hashem" (zero'a Hashem): the hand of Hashem is when the act is performed through us by the power of Hashem, whereas the arm of Hashem is when the act is performed by Hashem, may He be blessed, without any human involvement. The explanation is this: when a person moves their hand, the hand does not move on its own - inside the arm there are hidden muscles that transmit force and cause the hand to contract. It turns out that the arm is the hidden part and the hand is the revealed part. When Hashem brings salvation and we are partners in it, that is the "hand of Hashem": there is a revealed hand, and the Holy One, blessed be He, operates behind the scenes. But when we are not involved at all, the hand does not move whatsoever, and only the "arm," as it were, operates - only the Upper Part, only Hashem, may He be blessed, purely an awakening from Above (itaruta de-le'eila).
And corresponding to the "support" that Hashem awaited - namely, that the righteous would pray - Scripture says, "and His righteousness sustained Him." The supreme righteousness, for the sake of which the Holy One, blessed be He, acts without any human deed, is the support that arouses Him to bring salvation. The salvation comes by the power of the arm, and what drives it is supreme righteousness - the sublime Divine chessed, or in the Malbim's words: "The sublime power that moves everything of its own accord, without looking to any cause outside of Himself."
In the books of the Kabbalists - and particularly the Ramchal, who elaborates on this extensively - it is explained that the Master of the World has two systems of governance: the Governance of Justice (Hanhagat HaMishpat) and the Governance of Oneness (Hanhagat HaYichud). The Governance of Justice means that the Holy One, blessed be He, grants abundance and directs His world according to justice - as the politicians put it, "give and take": if they are worthy, they receive; if they are not worthy, they do not receive. Under this governance, the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, bound Himself to clear laws when He created His world: there is the Attribute of Justice (Middat HaDin) and the Attribute of Mercy (Middat HaRachamim), and when the Attribute of Justice prosecutes, abundance cannot be granted; rather, the Attribute of Mercy must intervene and bestow. And how does it bestow? Not arbitrarily, but just like in a courtroom: Do you have evidence? Do you have proof? Do you have arguments? Come and plead your case, search for merits. This is the constant governance, functioning according to law and justice, based on the deeds of those below and what they deserve.
In contrast, the Governance of Oneness is not a constant governance, but one through which the Master of the World directs His world in times of need, according to His will and wisdom when the situation demands it. One prime example is the Exodus from Egypt. And what is "Oneness" (Yichud)? When we declare the Oneness of Hashem, it means: "There is none else besides Him" (ein od milvado). Under the Governance of Justice, there are those who advocate to the right and those who accuse to the left, and it appears as though there are separate forces - the chariot of holiness and the chariot of impurity, the power of the sitra achara (the other side); indeed, sorcery (keshafim) is called so because it "contradicts the Heavenly retinue" (makchishin pamalya shel ma'ala), giving the illusion that there could be something else besides Him, Heaven forbid. But the Governance of Oneness is absolute: there is none else besides Him. When the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to redeem the Jewish people, even if accusers arise and argue, "These [the Egyptians] are idolaters and these [the Israelites] are idolaters," Hashem, in His absolute Oneness where there is none else besides Him, acts purely as He wills. Let them prosecute, let them oppose, let there be adversaries - there is none else besides Him.
And this is what the Malbim hints at regarding the concept of "righteousness" (tzedakah): the supreme righteousness through which "His own arm brought salvation to Him," where the Holy One, blessed be He, activates His arm even without the hand. The meaning of this is solely through the Creator's will, the sublime force that moves everything on its own without looking to any cause outside of Himself. As it were, He looks at no one; there is only the Master of the World. And if there is only the Master of the World - there is no strict judgment, no court, no accusers, nothing at all, for there is none else besides Him. However, Hashem does not run His world in this manner constantly, for the standard governance is the Governance of Justice, while the Governance of Oneness is, in the words of the Ramchal, a mode of governance that the Holy One, blessed be He, employs only in very specific situations. When we pray for the Holy One, blessed be He, to reveal Himself in His world, we are asking for the Governance of Oneness to manifest. Then, whether worthy or unworthy, whether deserving or not, the Holy One, blessed be He, redeems us simply because Hashem is God and there is none else besides Him. This is what is destined to occur: when there is no man and no intercessor, then "His righteousness" - the supreme righteousness, total and infinite chessed - will redeem us out of His blessed will alone, completely independent of human deeds and their righteousness.
וַיִּלְבַּשׁ צְדָקָה כַּשִּׁרְיָן וְכוֹבַע יְשׁוּעָה בְּרֹאשׁוֹ, וַיִּלְבַּשׁ בִּגְדֵי נָקָם תִּלְבֹּשֶׁת וַיַּעַט כַּמְעִיל קִנְאָה. (יז) - "He donned righteousness as armor, with a helmet of salvation on His head; and He donned garments of vengeance as attire, and wrapped Himself in zeal like a cloak." (17)
The Malbim explains that properly understanding this verse requires a foundational grasp of Lashon HaKodesh, for there are several nuances here that demand explanation. What is armor, and what is a helmet of salvation? What is righteousness (tzedakah), and what is salvation (yeshu'ah)? What is vengeance, and what is zeal? What is the difference between vayilbash ("and He donned") and tilboshet ("attire")? And why does the verse speak of "garments" in one place and a "cloak" in another? All these apparent redundancies require us to discern what the prophet is conveying, and understanding them correctly will illuminate the nature of the future salvation and redemption.
The first foundation: wherever the word tzedakah appears, it refers to deeds that the Holy One, blessed be He, performs out of pure lovingkindness (chesed). We do not inherently deserve it, yet Hashem acts with tzedakah toward us. This is always the hallmark of tzedakah: not based on merit, beyond the letter of the law, born of kindness rather than entitlement. Similarly, among human beings we find the phrase "to do righteousness and justice" (la'asot tzedakah u'mishpat). What is the difference between them? Mishpat (justice) applies to interpersonal matters - taking someone to court, executing justice between one person and another. Tzedakah, by contrast, applies between man and God, where a person acts charitably, as it were, toward the Master of the World. When applied to the Holy One, blessed be He, the roles are reversed: when Hashem executes mishpat, it is judgment upon the nations; and when He performs tzedakah, it is charity and kindness toward Israel. It follows that tzedakah represents the salvation of Israel, while mishpat represents retribution against the nations.
The chapter teaches us two interwoven truths. On the one hand, "truth is missing, and one who departs from evil is considered mad" - a definitive sign of Ikveta deMeshicha (the footsteps of the Messiah), where the truth splinters into factions (adarim adarim), each faction convinced it alone possesses the truth, and whoever departs from evil is deemed a fool in the eyes of society. Yet according to the approach of the Ben Ish Chai, these very words can be read as praise: the wisdom of truth will spread in abundant study groups (adarim adarim) throughout the Beit Midrash, and the standard of righteousness will rise so high that one who merely departs from evil without reaching "do good" will not be considered noteworthy. On the other hand, "He saw that there was no man" - when there is no one helping through deeds and no one supporting through prayer, the Holy One, blessed be He, redeems solely through the power of His own arm, through supreme tzedakah and the providential order of absolute oneness, where there is none beside Him. According to the Radak, both paths are true: Hashem will initiate the redemption, and the majority of Israel will repent when they witness its signs. It remains in our hands to choose which path we walk - achishena ("I will hasten it") through the sweet path of merit, or, Heaven forbid, be'itah ("in its time") through the harsh path of hardship. "He donned righteousness as armor" - tzedakah for Israel and judgment for the nations. May we merit to witness His merciful return to Zion, swiftly in our days.