"And the sons of the stranger shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I had mercy on you." "And the sons of the stranger shall build up your walls." Beyond serving you with tribute, the Radak says, they will also labor in your land to build your walls. In other words, the sons of the stranger, the nations, will be the ones who serve and attend here. And they shall minister to you. "For in My wrath I struck you." Then you will recognize and understand that everything that happened until today came from Me. What was good and what was not good, all of it was through personal Divine providence, not by chance. "In My wrath I struck you": when I had wrath against Israel, then I struck them, and you were a servant to the nations. "But in My favor I had mercy on you": then the nations will be servants to you, they will minister to you. In simple terms, Israel was never abandoned to fate. Israel is directed by the Holy One, blessed be He, and when...
It is explained that after describing earlier that the nations would come and build the wall, that the nations would gather here, he describes that they will come and build the wall. "And the sons of the stranger shall build up your walls," the walls of Yerushalayim. "And their kings shall minister to you." The distinction is not when the ordinary person serves us, but when the king serves us. "And kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers." The distinction is when the important ones serve Israel. They will help us and give silver and gold. "For in My wrath I struck you." The Malbim says that here the Holy One, blessed be He, comes and says regarding the future: in My wrath I struck you, in My wrath (ketzef) and not in My fury (chemah). What is the idea here? The Malbim says: fury means, as it were, out of anger and revulsion. Wrath (ketzef), by contrast, is a lesser anger. So he says it was not out of fury and revulsion, but rather in My wrath. The proof is "in My favor I had mercy on you." For now, when that wrath has ceased, now I have mercy. I reconcile with you even about the past. As King David said, "I thank You, Hashem, for You were angry with me." This means: I now thank the Holy One, blessed be He, when I understand that the anger, the wrath, the fury that was until now, was actually for my benefit. And this is now "in My favor I had mercy on you": through that wrath, through it we will merit mercy now.
"And your gates shall be open continually, day and night they shall not be shut, that they may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led along." It is written here "and your gates shall be open (pitchu) continually." It does not say "and they opened" (patchu) or "open" (petuchim), but "pitchu." In the language of the grammarians this is called the heavy form. That is, one can write in the light form, which is patach. One can write in the heavy form, which is pitach. Pitach means with force. What is the difference? Let us always remember a rule in the holy tongue: when it is written in the heavy form, it means the thing was done with force, or with full strength, or that it is abundant, continual, much more than patach. So both Rashi and the Radak explain here that "and your gates shall be open" comes to say that the opening will be a permanent opening. Their opening will be a continual opening. Just as shibar is not shavar; shavar is a single breaking, while shibar means with full force. So too pitach is not patach. Patach could mean it opens and tomorrow it will close. But pitach means in a continual manner, the strongest opening. So he says "and your gates shall be open continually, day and night." These gates will be open continually, because we will see that the wealth of the nations will come. And when that wealth of the nations comes, the gates will be open. And these gates "shall not be shut, that they may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led along." Since everyone will come to bring tribute, everyone will come to glorify and exalt Israel, the gates will be open continually. And we know that generally when the gates are shut, this expresses fear, this expresses dread of the nations, and therefore we close the gates. But here, "and your gates shall be open continually, day and night," since then no one will come to threaten us; rather they will come to us only with tribute and to offer sacrifices and to glorify and exalt the name of Israel. And then he says they will come continually, day and night. Why at night? The Radak explains: because at night they will come to avoid the heat of the day. Since in the heat of the day it is hard to travel, they will come at night. "With their kings led along." What does "led along" mean? They will come before the Messianic king, led. "Led along," says the Radak, means: when kings travel along the road, they are led. What does it mean that they are led? There is someone who goes before them. As we might say today, there is some Rolls Royce of the president, and before it there are motorcycles. They lead him, as it were, going ahead of him and escorting him, as it were. So the kings will be led. "Led" means those who are escorted because of their great importance, and they will all come here to bring tribute to Hashem the God of Israel and to the kings of Israel. The Targum, by contrast, says the Radak, translates "led" as bound in chains. The kings will come here, let us define it, submissively. They will not come as they came before, coming to force us to accept some shaky peace agreement and I do not know what, to release prisoners, like the managers of the world. Rather they will come according to their true stature: submissively and, as I said, bound in chains.
The Malbim explains "and your gates shall be open continually." The Malbim says: in the previous verse he says "and the sons of the stranger shall build up your walls." And we already said that "your walls" symbolizes protection. If so, this would seemingly show the weakness of Israel, that we need walls. As we saw with Moshe Rabbeinu, who sent the spies and told them to see whether they dwell in camps or in fortresses. If they sit in fortresses, that means they are weak. If they build themselves a separation fence, that means they are weak. If they need a protective wall and, I do not know what, an Iron Dome, that means they are weak. Because if we are strong and there is deterrence, then no one dares to send a missile here, since he knows that afterward they will erase half of Gaza. But since he knows we are weak, and we are still shackled, and we cannot do anything anyway, so what do we keep doing? We dig in. We build bunkers, we build shelters, we build, all we ever do is dig in. Why? Because we are weak. And if so, if "the sons of the stranger build up your walls," this points to weakness. The Malbim says: no. Do not think the wall points to weakness, because then we will truly be powerful. Then we will be full of might and distinction that everyone will fear us. If so, this wall does not come to symbolize weakness. The proof is our verse: "and your gates shall be open continually, day and night." If a wall comes to express weakness and protection, how are the gates open? Open gates express power and strength. It shows that we do not fear anyone. The gates are open day and night. "They shall not be shut." That is, one never needs to close them, since through them, through the gates, the nations will bring us the wealth of nations, with their kings led along. The meaning, the Malbim explains, of "their kings led along" is that the governance of the kings will be conducted here. A king they wish to anoint will be anointed here in Yerushalayim. That is "their kings led along." In Tzion, in Yerushalayim, they will anoint the kings of the nations. "For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish, and the nations shall be utterly wasted." Why will the kings be anointed here in Yerushalayim? Because a nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish. So a nation and kingdom that wants to have existence knows this passes through Yerushalayim. If they are anointed here in Yerushalayim, there will be existence. If the Messianic king accepts them as kings, they will have existence. But if not, they will perish. Putin will not be able to conquer Crimea or any place if he did not receive approval here from the governance of the Messianic king. His kingdom will be lost. So consequently, when they want to anoint someone as king, they will tell him: go see, is this accepted in Yerushalayim? Does the Messianic king sign off for you there? If you are acceptable to him, fine. If not, then you are not acceptable to us either. "That will not serve you shall perish, and the nations shall be utterly wasted." What is "utterly wasted"? Its plain meaning is from the word for destruction (churban). But the Radak brings another explanation, that it is from the word for sword (cherev): they will be killed by the sword. So that only those who serve Israel and accept our authority, the authority of the Messianic king, they are the ones who will ultimately remain.
"The glory of the Levanon shall come to you, the cypress, the fir, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary, and I will honor the place of My feet." "The glory of the Levanon shall come to you." What is the glory of the Levanon? We always know that when they wanted to build the Beit HaMikdash, they always used the trees of the Levanon. So the glory of the Levanon, the fine trees found in the Levanon; by the way, what is the symbol of Lebanon? The cedar, right. That is their symbol. This is actually the glory of the Levanon, this is what they take pride in, in their trees. So the fine trees found in the Levanon will come to you, they will send them to us here. "The cypress, the fir, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary." So that with them they will build the Beit HaMikdash. This is somewhat puzzling, since we know the Beit HaMikdash will descend already built in fire. But in fact there is a dispute in this matter. There is a dispute whether the Beit HaMikdash will descend already built in fire, or whether we will build it. And some say it actually descends already built in fire, and what we will do is only complete it. Meaning, we will do the finishing touches so that it will be called by our name. This is what they explain: "we rejoiced in its building, we were glad in its repair." "We rejoiced in its building," for here we are only in the category of observers. We are not partners, because it descends built from heaven, the Gra. "We were glad in its repair," since here we also take part. We actually complete and repair the Beit HaMikdash. Either way, the Radak here explains that they will build the Beit HaMikdash with them, meaning with these trees. "And I will honor the place of My feet." What is "the place of My feet"? How do feet enter here and what is the connection to "the place of My feet"? The Radak says: the Beit HaMikdash corresponds to the Throne of Glory. And if the Throne of Glory is, as it were, the place of His dwelling, blessed be He, then "the heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool." So where is His footstool? If the Throne is above Yerushalayim, then His footstool is the Beit HaMikdash. So this is what he says, "and I will honor the place of My feet": meaning the place of the Mikdash. How? Through this, that I will put it in their hearts to bring trees here to build the Beit HaMikdash. The Malbim explains that after describing to us the building of the wall, he now describes the inside. How, within the wall, meaning inside the city, they build the Beit HaMikdash. "The glory of the Levanon," these are the tall cedars in which the forest of the Levanon is honored. Therefore it is called the glory of the Levanon. That is, there are many cedars, and there are the honored ones, the giants, the tall ones. Therefore it is called the glory of the Levanon. The forest, as it were, is honored by those tall cedars. Also "the cypress, the fir, and the box tree together," as it were, he describes them as if they come on their own. Right? A kind of personification of these trees, as if to give them a human dimension. And they will all come "to beautify the place of My sanctuary." That the place of the Mikdash will be beautified in building and beauty through the building of human beings. So the Malbim explains. And this actually fits better with what we explained earlier, that the building itself is not done by us, but rather "to beautify the place of My sanctuary" means its splendor and glory, this will be through the building of human beings. But "the place of My feet," which means the Holy of Holies, "I will honor." This the Holy One, blessed be He, says: this I will do. This I will build, as it were, Myself; it will not be from the strength of human beings.
"And the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at the soles of your feet, and they shall call you the City of Hashem, Tzion of the Holy One of Israel." "And the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing." Bowing (shachoach) means bent over. Their stature was bent. "The sons of those who afflicted you," those who afflicted you in exile. And already at the time of the redemption they will no longer exist, because they will have died. But their sons, the sons of those who afflicted you, the afflicters will no longer be here, but the sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing. They will throw themselves at our feet. Right? And here he speaks, as it were, about Yerushalayim. They will bow down at the soles of your feet, Yerushalayim, all who despised you. All those who cursed until today, all those who spoke ill of Israel. "And they shall call you the City of Hashem, Tzion of the Holy One of Israel." The City of Hashem, why? The Radak says: because the glory of Hashem will be seen here in the city. "Tzion of the Holy One of Israel," right? The meaning is Tzion, the place where the Holy One of Israel is. The holy people of Israel. The Malbim explains: "and they shall come to you," the nations who afflicted us with harsh sufferings will now come to appease us. "Those who despised you," these are those who did not afflict us but disgraced us. They degraded us. Every time they would issue against us in the UN a resolution of condemnation. These are called "those who despised you." In practice he did not throw stones at us, but he encouraged those who threw. He was constantly despising, constantly speaking ill of Israel. Those in whose eyes we were not considered anything. However, the Malbim says, they will not need to appease us, since they did not truly afflict us. But they despised us. And now they will bow down at the soles of your feet, because of the great importance of Israel. And they will now call you the City of Hashem, this is Yerushalayim. And Tzion; what is Tzion? They will call Tzion the Holy One of Israel. This means: since the place where the Divine revelation will be at the highest level will be in Yerushalayim, will be in Tzion, will be in the Beit HaMikdash, then it will be the Holy One of Israel. As the Malbim always explains, and we have already said this several times, that whenever the holiness of Hashem is attributed in relation to Israel, it means according to their deeds, according to their greatness. If you say "the Holy One," that is according to His holiness. And if you say "the Holy One of Israel," that means according to the deeds of Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals His holiness upon them. The meaning is always in relation to Israel, according to their deeds, according to their spiritual state. So he says: they will call you the City of Hashem, Tzion of the Holy One of Israel. That the Holy One, blessed be He, in Tzion will bestow an abundance of holiness according to the distinction of Israel, according to their level, according to the spirituality of Israel. The Malbim explains further, that "one who despises" is one who degrades. The one who despises degrades a thing. The Malbim says: they will come themselves. But those who afflicted us, as we explained in the Radak, will already have died. And therefore only their sons who remain will come bowing. And this is what we see today as well, a process is beginning. Every so often we see that in Germany the sons come to ask forgiveness for what their parents did. Not that it helps us, not that it brings back to life those burned in the crematoria. But at any rate, you see how the sons come and say our parents erred. They come and ask forgiveness in the name of their parents for what they did. Now we recently saw that even Spain came to ask forgiveness for the expulsion from Spain. And they said that whoever wants can return. Thank you very much. Now, when? When Spain is about to be thrown out of the Euro, since they have become a failed state that cannot even sustain itself, today they come to ask us to return. The penny dropped for them after many years, that ever since the Jews left it, Spain began an endless decline and fall. Before that they were an empire. An empire they were. And the moment the Jews left them, an endless fall. Right? Nothing, nothing at all. So today they come to ask forgiveness. So here you see the expression, "and the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing." The afflicters are no longer, but who will come? Their sons; they are the ones who will come to ask forgiveness in the name of their parents.
"Instead of your being forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you an eternal pride, a joy of generation after generation." And this will be instead of, in place of, your being forsaken and hated with no one passing through. The Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, exiled His glory from us. During two thousand years of exile we are in the category of forsaken and hated. "With no one passing through" means that in our destruction, as it were, there was no one who would even pass through the land. And this will turn us into "a joy of generation after generation." Yerushalayim will be the place that is the joy of all the generations. As it is written, "a beautiful landscape, the joy of all the earth," that all will rejoice in her. The Malbim says: "instead of your being forsaken" means forsaken by your children. "Hated," hated by the nations. "With no one passing through," because of the desolation, that they would not even pass by here because the land was so desolate. Corresponding to these three deficiencies, now we will have three advantages. One, corresponding to "forsaken," "I will make you an eternal pride." You will be a great kingdom of pride and splendor. Corresponding to "hated," that the nations hated us, now you will be "a joy of generation after generation." Everyone will rejoice over our success and love us. Not like the reality today, where if something good happens to us, it arouses all our enemies from all over the world. No, rather corresponding to "hated," now you will be a joy of generation after generation. Everyone will delight and rejoice in our good state. And corresponding to "with no one passing through," that there was a situation where we were desolate and no one passed through because of the great difficulty and because the land was so hard even to pass through, let alone to dwell in, about this he says: "and you shall suck the milk of nations, and you shall suck the breast of kings, and you shall know that I, Hashem, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Yaakov." "And you shall suck the milk of nations." The abundance of all the nations will pass to us. In what way will we suck the milk of the nations? "And you shall suck the breast of kings." The sucking will be through the breast of kings. "The breast of kings" (shod melachim) is not from the word for robbers (shodedim), but rather "the breast of kings" from the word for breasts (shadayim). It means kings, as he describes earlier, "and you shall suck the milk of nations." And breasts always symbolize abundance. So he says: behold there will be abundance, that the milk of all the nations, from there we will suck. What does this mean? All the kings of the nations will supply us, will pay us taxes, and they will bring us tribute. And then all the breast of kings, all that is in their breasts, Israel will suck. "And you shall know that I, Hashem, am your Savior." This salvation is because I am Hashem. The Holy One, blessed be He, who creates all of reality, is your Savior. And the purpose and goal of the salvation, the Malbim says, is a universal salvation to repair the entire world. But "I, Hashem, am your Savior." This means there are two processes. There is a process of redemption of Israel, and there is a process of repairing the world under the kingship of the Almighty. And these matters depend on one another. Since repairing the world under the kingship of the Almighty cannot happen without us. There is no situation where there is no Israel and yet the world is repaired under the kingship of the Almighty. Rather it must come through us. And then he says: the goal of the salvation is indeed to repair the entire world. But at any rate, "I, Hashem, am your Savior. And your Redeemer," why? Because I am "the Mighty One of Yaakov." I am the might and power and strength, the force of the strength of Yaakov. So although the goal is the repair of the entire world, through what will it come? And who is the essence in the whole matter? It is "your Savior," it is "your Redeemer," it is the private redemption of Israel, it is the private salvation of Israel.
"Instead of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron I will bring silver, instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron; and I will make your officials peace, and your taskmasters righteousness." Rashi explains: instead of the bronze that was taken from you, what the nations robbed and stole from us until today, I will bring gold. And instead of the iron they robbed from us, I will bring silver. "And I will make your officials peace," that you will have a leader who will lead you in peace. "Your officials" means like your commander, your leader. This leader (pekudatech) will be peace. "And your taskmasters righteousness." This means that he will manage us and lead us with merit and righteousness, and not with kindness, as it were, that we do not deserve. "Instead of bronze I will bring gold." The Radak says: instead of the bronze, as Rashi explained, that the nations took, I will bring gold. I will put in their hearts to pay you double and more, more than what they and their fathers took. Do not think this is only the account of the last generation; rather the Holy One, blessed be He, will make an account with them of two thousand years of exile, of the entire period during which Israel suffered from them. "And I will make your officials peace." Until today our officials, those who manage us, are the nations. They are even within us, they are the mixed multitude. As the Tikkunei Zohar says, that toward the coming of the Messiah, those rulers of Israel will be from the people of Israel, from the mixed multitude. And we see them. We see how much they rule over us and dominate us. He says: instead of your officials being nations, or those who behave like nations, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, your officials will be peace. I will set for you peace and righteousness, so that you will not have officials and taskmasters. The Malbim says: "instead of bronze I will bring gold." Do not think that the tax we spoke of that the nations will bring us, do not think they will bring it under coercion, out of compulsion, like people pay taxes. Have you ever seen someone pay taxes with joy? Happily? Without a gun to the temple? There is no such thing. A person pays taxes because he has no choice. He tells you: no, here it will not be like that. Here they will bring it willingly. When you ask them for a tax of bronze, he will tell you: no, why bronze? I can bring you gold. Why take bronze? "Instead of bronze I will bring": those who are supposed to bring taxes will bring it with joy, they will even bring gold. When you ask for iron, they will bring silver. And if you say, well, silver, I need a bridge now, what will I do with silver? I told them to bring iron and they brought silver. Silver is good, it is even better, but I need to build a bridge. He says: do not worry, you will have both bronze and iron. Because when you ask for stones, they will bring you bronze and iron. So that in fact this too will not be lacking for you. The Malbim does not say what will happen with the stones I need, right? Apparently we ask for the stones only so that they will bring iron, not because we really need stones. Yes. Either way, at any rate he says, that whatever we want, they will bring double with joy. "And I will make your officials peace." Why will this be? Because the nations, when we are the officials over them, the overseers over them, when we are the government over them, this will not be through submission, through war, through coercion. Rather "I will make your officials peace." You will manage them and be officials over them in a way of peace. And therefore they will bring to you with joy, since it will be good for them. He will not feel that it is being taken from him, that it is bad for him. On the contrary, he will glorify and rejoice and take pride in your reign over him, to the point that whatever you ask he will bring you double and better. Because your reign and your governance will be a reign of peace, and not a reign of war, coercion, and compulsion. And since this is so, whatever he gives, he will give willingly, with a desirous soul. Because "your taskmasters I will make righteousness." "Your taskmasters righteousness" means: the demand by which they demand to give you a tax will be considered by them as an act of charity. A mitzvah. Oh, they asked of me, a mitzvah. He gives. It is like when you hold a fundraiser for some place and they say everyone must give a thousand shekels. A person comes and says: no, I want to give two thousand. Everyone understands: what, he is doing a mitzvah, so he feels joy and satisfaction and desire to give more. So too "your taskmasters righteousness." What you demand of them to bring you as a tax will be charity in their eyes. And then, therefore, you will tell him bring bronze, and he says: what is this, this is charity, bronze? I want to bring gold. Since the taskmastering will be charity in their eyes, and they understand that with this they are doing the will of Hashem, they will do it like a person going to fulfill a mitzvah. So a person going to fulfill a mitzvah, they tell him: take, you can buy this, it is cheap. No, no, bring me the expensive one, this is a mitzvah, I want to fulfill it properly. Take tefillin for 1,500 shekels. No, I want it for 3,000. Bring me something beautiful, I want to fulfill the mitzvah properly. So this is how they will feel that they come to fulfill a mitzvah and with it they do the will of Hashem, because it is charity in their eyes.
"Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, ruin and destruction within your borders, and you shall call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise." "Violence shall no longer be heard in your land." What the nations did to us until today, says the Radak, will no longer be heard in your land. "And you shall call your walls Salvation." And then you will call your walls Salvation. This means you will not need to go up on the wall and close the gates against the enemy, out of fear of the enemy. Therefore you will call them Salvation. That is, the gates are the opposite of war. The walls were once protection from war; today they are not protection from war, they are salvation. And in these gates the praises of Hashem will be told. The Malbim says: "violence shall no longer be heard in your land," which means within the land. This speaks of relations between a person and his fellow. This is "in your land." "Ruin and destruction shall not be heard within your borders," this speaks of the enemies who come from the borders, who come from outside. You will not have an external enemy either. Because a state can fall apart both from internal disputes and from external enemies. So he says: here there will not be within the state ruin and destruction, violence within your land. And no ruin and destruction within your borders. In short, the police will issue tickets only to cars, that is all. No, it will no longer have other tasks. It will have no other function. "Ruin and destruction within your borders," from outside too there will be none. Corresponding to "ruin and destruction within your borders" he says, "and you shall call your walls Salvation." You will not need a wall, fortresses for the border. You will not need any protective walls to guard against ruin and destruction coming from outside. Why? Because salvation itself is our wall. As it is written, "salvation He will set as walls and rampart." This means: what will be our wall? The salvation of Hashem. When you have the salvation of Hashem, you do not need walls. So the wall will be the salvation. "And you shall call your walls Salvation." Whoever asks about you, what is the wall? The salvation. The salvation of Hashem is what saves us and it is the wall for us. Corresponding to what he said, "there will be no violence in your land," he says "and your gates Praise." The praise itself, this will be our gate. As it were, the praise with which the people are praised, in their righteousness, in their distinction, this will already suffice so that there will be no violence between a person and his fellow. This means everyone will be praised as righteous. And when you are righteous, do you go to quarrel with your friend? Do you go and do violence with your fellow? So consequently there is no breach and no going forth and no outcry in our streets, because we are all righteous. Since in your land there will be no violence, being that all will be praised. "Your gates," within your gates Praise, everyone will be praised and lauded.
"The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but Hashem shall be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory." "The sun shall no longer be your light by day." The Radak says: the salvation is like light. The light will be so great, the light of Hashem, the good will be so immense, that the light of the sun will no longer be considered anything. The salvation of Hashem will shine upon us with such intensity that the light of the sun will already be pale beside it. He says: do not be confused, what we are speaking of here is a metaphor. Right? As it is written, "and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of the seven days." And all of this will be for your glory. Glory for us, in the honor and power that the Holy One, blessed be He, will give us, that all will see the distinction of Israel. The Malbim explains: the sun has its own light. The sun shines by itself. At night, the sun is on the other side of the globe, so it illuminates the moon. And what do we receive from the moon? Brightness (nogah). Brightness is never one's own light, but rather sparks of light when they strike another object and refract and return to us. The moon does not shine by its own light; it reflects the brightness of the sun. The sun shines upon it, and its brightness we receive here. So he tells us: at night when the sun gives the brightness of the moon, then we indeed have no sun, but there is brightness. And now, when Israel merits salvation, "the sun shall no longer be your light by day. Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you." In its plain sense one could understand that the moon will not give light to you. But the Malbim says: it is not appropriate to say this, because the moon does not give light. The moon only gives brightness. If so, how do we explain "nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you"? He says: it is not that the moon will not give light to you. Rather, "nor for the brightness of the moon shall the sun give light to you." The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor through the brightness of the moon. And how so at night, through the fact that it gives brightness through the moon, even then the sun will not give light to you. Because, as we said, the moon does not give light at all. And then the idea is essentially that, as it were, the sun hides completely. Neither by day when it illuminates us, nor at night through the brightness of the moon. And what until now was the sun as our light by day, now Hashem will be for us an everlasting light. And corresponding to what until now the sun illuminated us at night through the brightness of the moon, we received the light of the sun through the means of the reflected light coming from the moon, now Hashem your God will be your glory. That what the Holy One, blessed be He, singles out His Godliness upon us, this will be like the moon that receives light from the sun. What does this mean? Let us speak about the righteous. Upon the righteous shone the light of Hashem. Since the light of Hashem shines upon them, through this light the Holy One, blessed be He, bestows upon us. And these righteous ones draw the light of Hashem, when? At night. What is "night"? It means the period of exile, the period in which their greatness is not evident, their righteousness is not evident, since we are in a reality of hidden face. Now they will illuminate us like the moon that received the light of the sun and shines toward us. Who is it that will illuminate us? "Your God your glory." What your God gave His light to the righteous, this will be our glory. The righteous will be in the aspect of the moon that bestows upon us the light of Hashem, all that the Holy One, blessed be He, bestowed upon them throughout all the years of exile.
"Your sun shall no longer set, nor shall your moon be gathered in, for Hashem shall be to you an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended." "Your sun shall no longer set." This too is a metaphor, says the Radak: your kingdom will not cease. "Nor shall your moon be gathered in" means our preciousness and honor will not depart. The Malbim explains: the light of Hashem, we explained, corresponds to the light of the sun. And it tells you "it shall not come." The meaning of "it shall not come" (yavo) is it shall not set. Because "the sun comes," apart from what the Midrash says that "kibah" is from the word for extinguishing, that it extinguished the sun, but that is more by way of derash. But by way of plain meaning, "the sun comes" means the sun has set. Right? The sun leaves its place and comes. It means it returns to the place fitting for it. That is, the sun sets. So he says: the Holy One, blessed be He, will be for you in place of the light of the sun, but "your sun shall no longer set." The light of the Holy One, blessed be He, is a light that will not set. And also the moon, which are the righteous whom we said receive the light of Hashem and bestow it upon us like the moon, their light will not be gathered in, but will remain continually. Now he explains why "your sun shall no longer set." Because do not think the sun will set since the light is not continual, that the light does not exist forever. Like the sun, there is day, there is night, at night the sun sets. He says: no, Hashem will be to you an everlasting light. The light of the Holy One, blessed be He, is a continual sun. A sun that does not set. And do not think the sun will set and you will need, perhaps the sun will not set, but you will need to distance yourself from it. It could be that the sun does not set, it shines, but I cannot receive it. And then I need what? I need to distance myself. He says: what does "distance yourself" mean? In our words, in our concepts, the sun of Hashem shines here, but we are in exile. We will have sins and we will need to go into exile. So perhaps the sun will not cease, the light of Hashem will continue continually, but we will no longer be here to receive it. About this he comes and says: you have nothing to worry about, "and the days of your mourning shall be ended." That is it, the days of mourning are over, the days of exile are over, the days of sorrow are over. This situation will no longer continue.
Because the situation will be, "and your people are all righteous, forever they shall inherit the land, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands to be glorified." "And your people are all righteous." The Radak says: that God will refine them. As it is written, "and I will refine them as one refines silver, and test them as one tests gold." And those who remain will all be righteous and holy. As it is written, "and it shall be that whoever remains in Tzion and whoever is left in Yerushalayim shall be called holy." And we already spoke about this several times, that we are now, it is written that the coming of the Messiah will be a generation of refining, clarification, and purification. This is a generation with no middle. There is no middle. There is no straddling two positions. There is no "religious lite," there is not. This is a generation in which you decide: where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Are you with the servants of Hashem or with the servants of the Baal? Which way are you? If Hashem is the God, follow Him. If the Baal is the god, follow it. There is not, we see this reality today. Today you see that it is a reality of clarification. Where a person takes his place, that is who he is, his inner self, that is his essence. A person you see, those who go to connect with the wicked, those who go to connect against all those who come today to decree about conversion, decree about the draft, decree about starving the yeshivas, decree about the housing of Torah scholars, decree about everything. And there are those who go to connect with them. Now, is this reasonable? Because it is a generation of refining, clarification, and purification. It is a generation of no middle. And being so, those who take a side tell you: correct, we are there. We are there. And Ronitzki already said, the one who was in the army, what is his name? Ronitzki. He said: we have more in common with Lapid than with the Chareidim. Be appalled, O heavens, at this. This already explained to me where the person is. Do you understand? If people who are Shabbat desecrators, who transgress the laws of niddah, who are liable for karet, people who have no reality of existence at all, who is he, what, nothing. This person who accuses the greatest of the world, of whom it is unknown if there were generations like them, and he tells you we have more in common with them. True, I agree with you. Truly your portion is with them. Your commonality with them is more than with us. And it is good that you declared this, because if I had said it, perhaps they would say I am defaming. But the person comes and says I see myself more with them. Correct, truly a generation will come when a person will need to determine where he stands. And this is our generation. "And I will refine them as one refines silver and test them as one tests gold," this is refining, clarification, and purification. And wherever a person places himself, there he will be, that will be his portion, in this world and the next. There, where you set your seat, there you will be with them. Correct, may it be pleasant for you with them and may you be with them and may your portion be their portion, and in their lot may your lot be. I wish for you according to what you wish for yourself, no more than this and also no less than this.
"And your people are all righteous." The Malbim says: why will "your moon not be gathered in"? Why will the righteous not be gathered in, as we explained? The Malbim says: he tells us three things. Do not say that the moon will be gathered in, as it were, that there will be no righteous among you, because "your people are all righteous." For whoever remains here, as we said, will be the righteous. Do not say the moon will be gathered in because they are not here, that we were actually exiled, that a second time there will be exile. He says: no, "forever they shall inherit the land." Now the inheritance of the land is eternal, it is everlasting, it is not temporary. And do not say the moon will be gathered in because the righteous people are few, they are not many, they are weak, they are feeble. He says: no, they will be "the branch of My planting." A branch (netzer) is the shoot, the tender one, the sucker. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: it is My planting, I planted it. It is the work of My hands to be glorified. So I will see to it that this branch, this planting, will be a planting that has fruits and boughs and branches, and its fruits and boughs will multiply, to the point that all will see how much distinction and greatness there is here. And according to this, "to be glorified," the way the Malbim explains it, he says it is not from the word for glory (tiferet), but rather from the word for boughs (pu'arot). Pu'arot means branches. "The branch of My planting to be glorified" means its branches will multiply. And now he explains how. "The smallest shall become a thousand, and the least a mighty nation; I, Hashem, in its time will hasten it." "The smallest shall become a thousand." The Radak says: how do you connect "the smallest" with "the least"? What has "small" to do with "least"? Seemingly these are two definitions. Rather he explains that the smallest tribe and family will become a thousand thousands more than it is now. And "the least," those who are still young, will grow and become a mighty nation. "And I, Hashem, in its time will hasten it." Chazal expound: if they merit, "I will hasten it"; if they do not merit, "in its time." So there is a possibility to say "in its time," the redemption will come in its time. There is a possibility, if they did not merit, that they will receive it in its time. Right? May Hashem save us. At any rate, if they merit, "I will hasten it." We wait for the Messiah to hasten his steps. But he says: one can still explain that this does not contradict, the "in its time" and the "I will hasten it." One can explain that when the time comes, when its time arrives, "I will hasten it." That is, it could be that a thing comes in its time, but sluggishly. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: no, I, Hashem, in its time, when it comes, in one moment, I will hasten it. It will be in one moment, the salvation of Hashem in the blink of an eye. This is the meaning of "in its time I will hasten it." The Malbim says: "the smallest shall become a thousand," here he speaks of quantity. "And the least shall become a mighty nation," here he speaks of quality. And even though I delay, and the people now are weakened and few, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: in its time, when the thing comes, I will hasten it, I will do it quickly. And the Malbim explains that there is a difference in the holy tongue between "chash" (hastens) and "memaher" (hurries). "Chash" means one who rushes even if he did not hurry. This means "memaher" is hurrying to arrive on time. I hurry, I must be there at eight. That is called "memaher." The person we are now speaking of is not hurrying. He arrived at nine. But he arrived running. So I would call him "chash" and not "memaher." That is, there is a difference between "chash" and "memaher." The "memaher" is one who arrives faster in terms of time, arrives early, let us define it. By contrast, the "chash" could have arrived late, but he came running. This is the meaning, he does it quickly. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I, Hashem, in its time, being that I do not speak here of "memaher," I speak here of "its time." Its time could take a long time. I do not promise that I will hurry to bring the redemption. What I promise is that in its time, it will be "I will hasten it." As we explained earlier, it will be with alacrity and I will hasten the redemption when its time comes. But if Hashem had said "in its time I will hurry it," then that would already be a contradiction. "I will hurry it" means it will come early. So how can it be "in its time"? He says: no, there is no contradiction. It will come in its time, but whenever it comes, it will come quickly. It will come with "I will hasten it." May Hashem assist us to the complete redemption speedily in our days, amen and amen.