"He led them by the right hand of Moshe, His glorious arm, splitting the water before them to make Himself an everlasting name." The Holy One led at the right hand of Moshe the arm of His might. Whenever help from Hashem was needed, the arm of the Holy One was, as it were, at his right. The Radak explains that now, at the moment the prophet speaks of raising up the water, he begins to describe the miracles of the sea. These are the following verses, in which we will see the miracles the Holy One performed for us when they came up from the sea. So he describes and says, come and see what a wondrous, marvelous miracle it was. He begins to describe and says, He led them at the right hand of Moshe. When the sea was split, in what manner was it split? The Holy One says to Moshe, raise your staff and stretch it out over the sea. How did that work? Hashem led at the right hand of Moshe. Hashem walked, as it were, at Moshe's right, and He was the one who assisted his hand in raising the staff and splitting the sea. For none of us thinks that a staff has the power to split a sea. Rather, there is an act of the Holy One here, who led at the right hand of Moshe. And the Holy One split the sea before Bnei Yisrael so that the Egyptians would perish in it. Now notice what the Radak says here, "to make Himself an everlasting name." Tell me, why did the Holy One split the sea for Yisrael? I would have said, since Yisrael needed to cross the sea, and they had nowhere to cross, the Holy One split the sea for them so they could cross. The Radak says, that is not correct. It is not correct, says the Radak. Because Yisrael, whoever knows what the splitting of the Red Sea looked like knows that they did not cross from one bank to the other. The splitting of the Red Sea was not a crossing, like what the Gemara relates about Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair, who needed to cross the river, "Ginnai River, split your waters for me," I need to reach the other bank, the way is by the river splitting. Yisrael did not need to reach any bank. They had nowhere to arrive at. So what was actually the point? They entered from one side and came out from the same side further along. They made a kind of arc, actually twelve arcs, for these were the twelve tribes of God, and they made a sort of half-circle and came out from the same side further along. So actually, says the Radak, if you consider it, there was no necessity for the splitting of the sea. So what was the point? To make Himself an everlasting name. Through this all the nations would remember Him, through this "peoples heard and trembled," they would fear Him. Says the Radak, since they truly did not need it, why did the Holy One truly do this? He accomplished several things through it. One thing, the Egyptians were pursuing us. How do we get rid of them, how do we get them off our backs? By entering the sea, they enter after us, and the sea closes over them. That is how we shake them off our tail. But that is not enough, because the Holy One could have used the pillar of fire that separated between us, for what did the pillar of fire hurl at them? Arrows, and what else? Naphtha and fire, says the Targum. He hurled naphtha and fire at them. So if so, He could have hurled naphtha and fire at them until He destroyed them. Why is the sea needed? There was another matter here, so that they would receive measure for measure. "The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you say a song?" There is a teaching in the name of the Rebbe Reb Heschel, that when they wanted to sing, the ministering angels wanted to say a song. What did the Holy One say: the work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you say a song? So everyone asks, but Yisrael did say a song. What is the problem with angels saying a song? Concerning this, concerning the downfall of the Egyptians. That is one point. A second point, what does "the work of My hands is drowning in the sea" mean? These were wicked people, and the Holy One rejoices in the downfall of the wicked. The Rebbe Reb Heschel explains that it is written concerning the army in the Assyrian camp, when the enemy came against Yerushalayim in the days of Chizkiyahu, that the Holy One opened their ears and they heard the song of the angels, and by this their souls were severed from them, because the sweetness and pleasantness of the soul drawn after the song of the angels is so lofty that it is severed from the body. So the ministering angels wanted to say a song, and by this the Egyptians would die. What did the Holy One say: is this what they deserve? They drowned Yisrael in the river. They drowned Yisrael in the Nile. So "the work of My hands is drowning in the sea," meaning Yisrael, the work of My hands, drowning in the sea, and you want to put the Egyptians to death with a song? Is that measure for measure? That is too easy a death. Rather, they must receive measure for measure, and therefore just as they drowned us in water, they too shall drown in water. So there was another reason here that it should be specifically through the sea. Another matter, when they die by the sea, there are also degrees. There are those who are like straw, like stone, like lead, depending on the degree of wickedness. Another matter, there is here also the plunder of the sea, for the plunder of the sea cast out all the treasures, and this too is part of what the Holy One wanted to happen through the water. So, you see, says the Radak, but broadly speaking, if we consider it, there was no necessity for the splitting of the Red Sea. There was no necessity for the splitting of the Red Sea, so what was the point? To make Himself an everlasting name.
The Malbim says, this verse comes to point out to us, come and see that the miracles the Holy One performed for us were superior miracles for four reasons. Because of four qualities within them. First, the miracles were continual. "Led." "Led" means that continually the Holy One goes with us, close at hand. Not a one-time miracle, not some extraordinary event departing from the way of nature and then everything reverts to its usual course. Rather, "led," the Holy One continually leads at the right hand of Moshe. The Holy One says, I am with you continually, whatever you need I am here. Another matter, who is with us? Not an angel. The Holy One said, "Behold, I send an angel." What does Moshe say to Him? "If Your Presence does not go, do not bring us up from here." We do not want angels. The Holy One Himself accompanies us. This is "led at the right hand of Moshe," the miraculous arm stood at his right without intermediary. This is "led at the right hand of Moshe." Third, there are miracles done through the way of nature. What I mean now is not whether it is a natural or supernatural miracle, but rather according to the merits we have. If you have merits, you are worthy of a miracle being done for you. If you have no merits, then it goes according to the way of nature; you have none, you have no merits, how would Hashem do a miracle for you? Here it tells you, the third matter is that the Holy One performed miracles for us even though we were not worthy in our own right. This magnifies the miracle. Because to perform a miracle for you when you deserve it, we are not amazed if we are told the Baba Sali performed a miracle. But if we are told our neighbor performed a miracle, we would be amazed. The Baba Sali has enough merits to perform miracles. My neighbor, I did not know, only now do I see. When an ordinary person performs a miracle, it is astounding. When the Holy One performs a miracle for someone who does not deserve it, as it were, that is what amazes people. But when it is for someone who deserves it, well, that is understood, he is worthy of such conduct. Says the Malbim, come and see, here the miracles were for those who were not worthy, through the power and will of Hashem. And where is this hinted at? In the "arm." And if you remember, we already discussed this, that there is a conduct of "arm" and a conduct of "hand." The "hand" is the part of the palm, that is called yad. And why is it called yad? Because it has fourteen (yod-dalet) joints. It has fourteen; count the joints, the bones, whoever has ever seen an X-ray can count them, 14 joints. Therefore it is called yad, yod-dalet. In contrast, the "arm" begins from the shoulder. All of this is called "arm." Says the Malbim, when the conduct is the "hand of Hashem," that is a conduct through the assistance of those below. What does this mean? The Holy One says, I activated the hand, but who moved it? The arm. Who is that? That is not I, that is you. Your merits, your deeds.
Your righteous acts. You made the arm, and through this I was able, with the hand, to perform a miracle. In contrast, if the Holy One, the arm of Hashem, bares His holy arm, then that means we have nothing to do with it here. Nothing, the arm too is Hashem. Who moved it? The Holy One says, I. So what are we? Nothing. From our power nothing comes. He says, come and see, the miracles here were not through our merit, but rather everything was in the category of "arm," the arm of Hashem. That means, a supreme spiritual power that does not depend on us. "His glorious arm" means that we did nothing.
And the fourth matter, that the miracles were not miracles within nature, as I explained earlier regarding the miracles of Megillat Esther, where the sequence of coincidences is truly a miracle and clear to all, but there are open miracles, as we mentioned the splitting of the Red Sea, the manna coming down from heaven, well, the quail one could still insist resembles the way of nature, but "the sun stood still at Givon, and the moon in the valley of Ayalon" and the like, these are supernatural miracles. And concerning this it says "His glory." "His glory," because when you do something supernatural, there is glory in it before all eyes, so there was glory for Hashem before the entire world.
And this is what it says, "splitting the water before them." What the splitting of the water before them was, it was not in order to save them, as the Radak explained to us; the Malbim follows the same line, it was not only to save them, for Hashem could have saved them with other miracles, but rather the purpose was to make Himself an everlasting name, as the Radak said, "peoples heard and trembled."
"Who led them through the depths, like a horse in the wilderness they did not stumble." At the splitting of the Red Sea there were further miracles. Chazal say there were ten miracles at the sea. And one of the miracles was "who led them through the depths, like a horse in the wilderness they did not stumble." That is to say, if we were to dry up the sea's waters now, then the sea's waters themselves, the seabed in its own right, has reefs, has rocks, has, it is not a highway. And the Holy One was not content with merely leading us through the depths, meaning He split the sea for us, but also saw to it that the place would be smooth and easy to walk on. And this is what it says, "who led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness." Like a horse that runs in the wilderness. The wilderness is level ground. We do not worry that it will stumble, that something will happen to it, it runs, the place is open, smooth. So too the Holy One eased our walking. Not only was there no mud below there, which mud causes us to stumble, but also the dust that was there was like paved ground, "like a horse in the wilderness."
"Like an animal that goes down into the valley, the spirit of Hashem gives it rest. So did You lead Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name." "Like an animal that goes down into the valley, the spirit of Hashem gives it rest." "Like an animal in the valley," he says, they went down into the sea, says the Radak, just as an animal goes down into a valley without effort. For the descent is always easy, you go down gently, and the valley is a comfortable place to walk. "The spirit of Hashem gives it rest." This means the spirit of Hashem gives rest to Yisrael. Like "and she saw him, the child." "So did You lead Your people," for it is written "gives it rest," once in the third person and then it turns and says "Your people," mentioning Hashem. He says, so too "and she saw him, the child." "And she saw him" in the third person, afterward it is written explicitly "the child." So too, the spirit of Hashem gave rest to Yisrael from the Egyptians who pursued them, and so did You lead Your people to make for Yourself a glorious name. He brings another explanation from the Yonatan, that "gives it rest" means like "guides it," from the expression "lead the people." And this was to make for Yourself a glorious name, that the Holy One should have a name and glory and eternal honor. All this You did in ancient years, so why now do You abandon us? This is essentially the question of Yisrael.
The Malbim explains, no, the Radak essentially took this verse like the previous verse. "Who led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness, like an animal in the valley." And the Radak has no problem with this, because his approach is that the matter is doubled in different words. So we were like a horse in the wilderness that does not stumble, like an animal that goes down into the valley, going down easily. But the Malbim, as is known, does not hold of the matter being doubled in different words, and since that is so, the Malbim explains that here another miracle is spoken of. The additional miracle was that Yisrael did not need to descend into the sea. For let us consider, let us say the sea is now dried up for us for a length of several kilometers. What happens when we descend into the sea when there is water? We go down, down, down, sinking further, right? Now what does this mean? It means the ground there is like a basin. It becomes, yes, deep. The Holy One did not do so. The Holy One made a ramp. He raised up the ground for us in such a way that when we walked we did not have to descend as you descend into the sea today. You walk on a high place and come out exactly at the height of the shore. And this was the additional miracle. "Like an animal that goes down into the valley, the spirit of Hashem gives it rest, so did You lead Your people to make for Yourself a glorious name." "Like an animal that goes down into the valley," the valley means like a plain. A straight, even valley. "So the spirit of Hashem gives it rest." As soon as we descended into the sea, the deep immediately floated up and became a valley. It became a straight place. "So did You lead Your people" to make for Yourself a glorious name with many miracles, only miracles that only You can perform, so did You lead Your people throughout all the generations.
"Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious abode. Where is Your zeal and Your might, the stirring of Your innards and Your mercies toward me are held back?" "Look down from heaven and see," they ask the Holy One to look upon the lowly state of Yisrael. "Where is Your zeal and Your might." Says Rashi, says the Radak, You would be zealous when You saw the affliction of Your people, and following Your zeal, Your might, You would display might and strike the peoples who afflict us. Where are they now? "The stirring of Your innards," where is the stirring of Your innards and Your mercies, of which it was said in the verse that You said to us, "My innards were stirred for him." After it is written "My innards were stirred for him," what did You say? "I will surely have mercy on him." Concerning this it says, where is the stirring of Your innards, that is, when a person longs for someone, yearns for someone, his innards are stirred. So he says, there is what today they call butterflies in the stomach. So where is the stirring of Your innards, and following the fact that "My innards were stirred for him," then Your mercies, following this, "I will surely have mercy on him." If there is no stirring of Your innards, then where is the stirring of Your innards and Your mercies? Where are the mercies that come after the stirring of the innards? Where is the stirring of the innards and where are the mercies? And I see that toward me they are held back. "Held back" means from the expression of restraint, restraining and not letting out His mercies toward me. Halting and not letting out His compassion toward me. This is "held back."
The Malbim explains that here the prophet actually turns and says: Master of the Universe, after all the wondrous miracles You performed with us in days of old, which he detailed above, "who led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness they did not stumble, like an animal that goes down into the valley," the splitting of the Red Sea, the exodus from Egypt, come and see, Master of the Universe, how now the wheel has turned. The situation has become reversed. "Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy abode." The Malbim here says, notice, there is a doubling in the verse, and we will explain that you will see it is really not a doubling. "Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy abode." "From heaven," regarding heaven it writes "look down." Afterward it says "see from Your holy abode." First of all, why heaven and why Your holy abode? Why "look down" and why "see"? What is the doubling and what does it actually come to say? Says the Malbim, there are two types of conduct of the Holy One. There is the natural conduct, which is a continual conduct in which the Holy One conducts Himself with all creatures through the way of nature. And there is the miraculous, supernatural conduct. A conduct in which the Holy One overturns the systems of nature. The conduct that is a natural conduct is called "heaven." It is attributed to heaven, the conduct of heaven. In contrast, "Your holy abode," this is the place where His mighty Presence dwells. This is the special, divine, heavenly conduct, in which the Holy One conducts Yisrael above the way of nature.
Says the Malbim, after we have understood the difference between heaven and abode, we will now explain the difference between "looking down" and "seeing." Seeing is the sensory sight of the eye. This means, a person has eyes, he sees. This is called seeing. Looking down, in contrast, is contemplation of the matter. To examine the matter, to contemplate it, to pay attention to it. Says the Malbim, now the prophet turns and says, "look down from heaven." What does this mean? Heaven, we said, is natural providence. In natural providence, seemingly no difference is discernible between then and now. Because natural providence is not miracles. It is providence within nature. Whoever looks says, listen, nature behaves the same way. But whoever looks down, contemplates carefully, will see that in this too there is a difference. Even in natural providence there is a difference between then and now. This is "look down from heaven." Contemplate and see, Master of the Universe, that the natural conduct with us is not like it once was. "And see from Your holy abode." Your holy abode, we said, is the miraculous conduct. The miraculous conduct does not require contemplation. Anyone with a pair of eyes sees that we do not have miraculous conduct as then. It is enough to see. It is enough to see, there is no need to contemplate. There is no need to look down. And therefore "see from Your holy abode." That we do not have Your holy abode, that we do not have a conduct of Your holy abode which is a miraculous conduct, meaning the splitting of the Red Sea, hailstones falling from heaven, miracles like our forefathers had, this is enough to see.
And then You will see, Master of the Universe, "where is Your zeal and Your might." For behold, they are not with us as they were in days of old. "Your zeal," says the Malbim, the miracles the Holy One performed for us in ancient years were essentially for two purposes. First, the Holy One is zealous for His name that is profaned among the nations. When Yisrael suffer, the name of Heaven is profaned. These are the people of Hashem. These are the children of the Master of the Universe, see how they are neglected. See how they suffer. And then what results? The name of Heaven is profaned. He cannot protect them, He is unable to defend them. God forbid there is here a profanation of the name of Heaven. Concerning this it says, "where is Your zeal and Your might." Master of the Universe, be zealous for Your profaned name. Where once You would be zealous for Your name among the nations and exact retribution from the nations so they would know that these have a Master. They have a Father, this people. And then essentially there is here "Your zeal," to be zealous with the zeal of Hashem of Hosts so that Your name not be profaned among the nations.
Another matter, sometimes the salvation is for the sake of Yisrael, because the Holy One has mercy on us. Because the Holy One's mercies are stirred over our difficult situation. It is not actually for the sake of His great name, but rather for us, because Hashem sees that we suffer. Concerning this it says, "where is the stirring of Your innards and Your mercies toward me." Formerly there was the stirring of Your innards and Your mercies, and now they are held back. And now the stirring of Your innards and Your mercies are restrained toward me. So essentially the claim here is, Master of the Universe, in the past, first there was zeal for Your name, second there was mercy upon us. And today there is neither this nor that. And consequently Yisrael is prey among the nations.
"For You are our Father, for Avraham did not know us and Yisrael did not recognize us. You, Hashem, are our Father, our Redeemer of old is Your name." "For You are our Father," therefore You must look and see our troubles, says Rashi. "For Avraham did not know us and Yisrael did not recognize us." There are indeed many expositions on "Avraham did not know us and Yisrael did not recognize us." Rashi says Avraham did not know us in the trouble of Egypt, and Yisrael did not recognize us in the wilderness. They had already departed from the world. You, Master of the Universe, were a Father to us. Rashi brings that our Rabbis expounded on it as they expounded in Tractate Shabbat. The Radak explains further, that what is written here follows the lines of "for my father and my mother have abandoned me, and Hashem will gather me in." That is to say, when there is no one who can help us, then as it were the Holy One sees an obligation to come and save Yisrael. As the Chovot HaLevavot explains, that as long as a person relies on someone else to help him, the Holy One leaves him in the hand of the one he relies on. Who do you want to help you? So-and-so? Go to him. "Let them arise and help you, let them be a shelter for you. Where is their god, the rock in whom they took refuge?" Who is your god? Whom do you rely on? You rely on him? Go to him to help you. It is written, when will the Mashiach come? At what stage will the Mashiach come? The Gemara says, and upon whom do we have to lean? Upon our Father in Heaven. Everyone asks, and before this did we have someone else to lean on? Only in the period of the footsteps of the Mashiach is there upon whom to lean? For we always have no one to lean on but our Father in Heaven. Both before the bumper stickers and after the bumper stickers, we have no one to lean on, it is always so. The answer is, correct, certainly it is always so. The question is when you reach this recognition. They say, do you know when the redemption will come? When you reach the recognition that we have no one to lean on but our Father in Heaven, then the redemption will come. But you are right, truly from time immemorial there was no one to lean on but our Father in Heaven. The question is whether we felt it. So as long as we think America will help us, and we have a strong army, and we are capable, and so on and so forth, the Holy One says please, go to them. But the moment you understand, Master of the Universe, we relied only on You, we trusted only in You, then the Holy One, as it were, has no choice but to help us. Because a person helps when he knows someone relies on him one hundred percent. If not me, who will help him. So too the Holy One, when Yisrael rely on Him, then as it were the Holy One is compelled, as it were, to do our will. And this is what we come and say here. Master of the Universe, Avraham did not know us, my father and my mother abandoned me, and when my father and my mother abandoned me, then Hashem gathers me in.
Says the Radak, Avraham Avinu died several generations ago, and even a flesh-and-blood father and mother do not know their sons and daughters after they have departed from the world. So what do they actually want to say here? Rather, he says, he took here the example of Avraham. Avraham is the head of the forefathers. And the Holy One said to him, "for through Yitzchak shall your seed be called." And it says, "and He gave him Yitzchak." It is not written "and He gave him Yishmael." Yishmael is not considered a seed of Avraham, he is cut off. Just as the children of the concubines are not considered a continuation of Avraham. And afterward with Yitzchak too, "and He gave to Yitzchak Yaakov and Esav," and afterward the Holy One chose Yaakov. Behold, come and see, he specifically mentioned here Yisrael, for Yisrael's seed is a seed of truth. Not like Yitzchak from whom came Esav, and it is written "and Yitzchak loved Esav." So it turns out that when they want to tell us of someone connected to us, they give the example of Avraham and of Yisrael, of Yaakov. Avraham, because he has no other son. What would you say about all the other sons? They are not seed. "For through Yitzchak shall your seed be called." So if we want to name an exclusive father, we say it is Avraham. If you want to name one more, it is Yaakov. Because Yaakov, the twelve tribes of God, he too is their exclusive father. Yitzchak here we already have a bit of a problem. Why? Because "Yitzchak loved Esav." So I cannot give Yitzchak as an example of a father who is only my father. Yitzchak felt himself a father also to Esav. So therefore our example is Avraham and Yaakov.
The Metzudat David explains, "for You are our Father," and a father is fit to have mercy on his children. And what is "for Avraham did not know us"? He made himself as though he did not know us. This is Chazal. That the Holy One revealed Himself to him at the Covenant Between the Pieces and said, "know with certainty that your seed will be a stranger in a land not theirs," and Avraham does not ask for mercy. He made himself as though he did not know us. There is, by the way, a reason for this; whoever wishes may see it in the Mishnat HaGilgulim, in the final essay of the first part, which deals with the secret of the exile of Egypt and the sin of Adam HaRishon. There we truly bring this question in its full force. How is it that Avraham Avinu had mercy on the wicked of Sedom, and sat and prayed at length, perhaps they will be found, perhaps they will be found, and when the Holy One tells him of such a terrible trouble that is to befall his people, Avraham Avinu is silent. He does not even ask, Master of the Universe, perhaps nonetheless, perhaps You will have mercy, perhaps You will have compassion, nothing. There is an explanation for this that is reasonable. But in any case, here the prophet takes it as an example, Avraham did not know us, Hashem reveals Himself to him at the Covenant Between the Pieces, "know with certainty that your seed will be a stranger," Avraham does not ask for mercy. "And Yisrael did not recognize us." When was it that Yisrael, Yaakov, made himself as though he did not recognize us? When he saw a ladder set upon the earth and the angels of God ascending and descending on it. What is "the angels of God ascending and descending"? Chazal say that he saw the ministering angel of this nation ascending and the ministering angel of that nation descending. And these are the nations that rule over Yisrael. And he did not ask for mercy upon us. He did not ask that the Holy One remove from us this trouble of the yoke of subjugation to kingdoms. Therefore, You, Hashem, are our Father. Always, at all times, You set Your heart upon us, so Master of the Universe, our Redeemer of old is Your name. From time immemorial You have redeemed us, so we have no one to lean on and no one to turn to but You, Master of the Universe.
The Malbim explains that now he begins to make claims against the two things he said earlier. Earlier we saw "the stirring of Your innards and Your mercies toward me are held back." Master of the Universe, You had mercy on us, either out of mercy upon us or because You were zealous for Your name profaned among the nations. And he begins from the side of having mercy upon us. He says, You are our Father. We have no other father. How does a father not have mercy on his son? Here he comes to arouse the matter of mercy. Avraham did not know us, so how does a father not have mercy on us? The Malbim explains, Avraham did not know us, Yisrael did not recognize us. Says the Malbim, knowing is in the intellect. Recognition is by sense. I recognize him, well, I see him, I recognize him. That is by sense, by the sense of sight. In contrast, knowing, "for I have known him, so that he will command his children and his household after him." "I have known him" means, knowledge in the intellect. I recognize the person, I recognize the type, I have grasped his nature and his traits, this is called "I have known him." In contrast, to recognize means I saw, I recognize him, yes. Whoever can recognize the difference between techelet and leek-green. External, sensory sight. I know how to recognize between techelet and white, between techelet and leek-green, and so on. External recognition is called "will recognize." So regarding Avraham he says, Avraham did not know us. Why? Because from Avraham's loins came also Yishmael and also Esav. So he did not know us, he did not know that we would become the people of Hashem in particular. Rather, from his perspective, many more nations came from him. In contrast, Yisrael, one cannot say he did not know. Yisrael already knew that we would become the people of Hashem in particular, for he knew his sons would be the tribes of God. But in any case, it is as though he does not look upon us. "Did not recognize us." As it were, like one who does not recognize us. He does not ask for mercy upon us. So that is one matter. Master of the Universe, we look forward to Your mercies because You are our Father. And against what he complained and said, "where is Your zeal and Your might," Master of the Universe, at least be zealous for Your great name profaned among the nations, there is disgrace to the name of Heaven. Against this he claims, is it not that You, Hashem, are our Father, our Redeemer of old is Your name. Your name, notice, Your great and holy name, the name by which You have been known from of old, is that You are the Father of Yisrael. And if so, where is Your zeal for Your name profaned among the nations? For the peoples say, "because Hashem was unable, He killed them in the wilderness," and so on. You were zealous with the zeal of Your profaned name. Why today are You not zealous with the zeal of Your profaned name when Yisrael suffer, grieving, pushed about in exile, and Your name is profaned among the nations.
"Why, Hashem, do You make us stray from Your ways, harden our heart from fearing You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your inheritance." "Why, Hashem, do You make us stray from Your ways?" This is a very difficult verse. The commentators indeed struggle greatly with it. "Do You make us stray from Your ways"? What, does the Holy One lead us astray? What sense does it make to say "why, Hashem, do You make us stray from Your ways"? As it were, as it is written concerning the nations that He made them slip. He made them slip, gave them a place to slip. Well, that is the nations. But to say of Yisrael that the Holy One leads us astray? So Rashi explains, "why, Hashem, do You make us stray from Your ways?" It is in Your power to remove the evil inclination. For we are like clay in the hand of the potter. And it is written, "and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh." So why, Hashem, do You make us stray from Your ways, harden our heart from fearing You? What does it mean that You harden our heart? How do You harden our heart? Not, God forbid, that the Holy One prevents us from repentance or hardens our hearts against Him. Rather You, since You can perform an action to soften our heart and You do not do so, this is called that You harden our heart. Since You can remove the evil inclination from us and You do not remove it, this is called that You make us stray from Your ways.
The Radak, in contrast, explains, when we see the nations at ease, and the only nation that suffers is Yisrael. When we see the wicked, "why does the way of the wicked prosper, all who deal treacherously are at ease," quiet and tranquil, and the only one who suffers is Yisrael. Does that not lead astray from the way of Hashem? Does that not divert us from the true faith? Come and see that specifically those who stray from the path succeed. This is called "You make us stray from Your ways." When the way of the wicked prospers, and You show us a situation in which the wicked has it good and the righteous has it bad, there is nothing that leads astray from the way of serving Hashem more than this thing. So why, Hashem, do You make us stray from Your ways? And You further prolong for us the exile, and this gives us a kind of feeling of no hope, of no chance of leaving the situation. This thing brings to despair. This thing causes us to stray from Your ways and hardens our heart from fearing You. For behold we see that many of Yisrael have already despaired of the redemption. This is "harden our heart from fearing You," the heart has already become hard. Once there was still a soft heart, awaiting the redemption, the salvation, but since the troubles keep coming closer together and the salvation is distant, then consequently You, Master of the Universe, as it were lead us astray from Your ways and harden our heart from fearing You. And do not be surprised that it is possible many have despaired of the redemption, but it may be that most of Yisrael have not. So why do you speak in a very general manner? "You make us stray, harden our heart," did everyone go astray? Did everyone's heart harden? So the Radak says, do not be surprised at this. You see that many times when speaking of the sinners, one addresses them collectively. How did Hashem say to Moshe, "how long do you refuse to keep My commandments"? Concerning what? When a few of the people went out to gather. In all it was just Datan and Aviram. They are the ones who went out, and Hashem says "how long do you refuse," in inclusive language. As we saw regarding the incident of the calf, where it is written "let Me be, and I will destroy them," even though it was in all 3,000 men. As we saw regarding the incident of Achan who misappropriated the devoted property, and there too we saw that although the one who misappropriated the devoted property was a single individual, "Yisrael has sinned, and they have also stolen, and also deceived, and also transgressed My covenant." In such inclusive language, as though all of Yisrael sinned. And so too Daniel said, "we have sinned, and acted wickedly, and committed iniquity, and rebelled." What do you see? That when it comes to corruption, the corruption is attributed to the whole.
And then we ask, "return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your inheritance." "Return for the sake of Your servants," meaning return from Your fierce anger. And if not for our sake, since we are sinners, then return for the sake of Your servants. Who are Your servants? These are the holy forefathers. And return for the sake of the tribes of Your inheritance. These are the 12 tribes, who are the ones You had as an inheritance, as it is written "Yaakov is the portion of His inheritance." His inheritance is the 12 tribes. So even if we have no merits, may the merit of our forefathers be the reason and cause that You return. Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your inheritance.
The Malbim explains, "why, Hashem, do You make us stray from Your ways?" The prophet comes and claims to the Holy One, Master of the Universe, You must have mercy on us for additional reasons. First, through Your showing us the stirring of Your innards and Your mercies, we learn from Your ways. Just as He is merciful, so too you shall be merciful. Just as He is gracious, so too you shall be gracious. And if we see that You are not merciful and gracious toward us, this thing causes You to make us stray from these ways of Yours, that we too will not conduct ourselves with mercy. So it turns out that Your conduct toward us with a heavy hand, as it were, arouses in us cruelty, God forbid. Another matter, through You, Master of the Universe, showing Your zeal and Your might to punish the sinners, we will learn the fear of Hashem. There is nothing that brings to the fear of Hashem more than when a person sees how the sinner is punished. How the wicked one pays a price. A person sees reward and punishment, measure for measure, that is the thing that arouses to fear of Heaven. And here we say, Master of the Universe, You harden our heart from fearing You. Since You do not show Your zeal and Your might, people say, why keep the mitzvot? Why be righteous? On the contrary, it seems that the ones who enjoy themselves here are specifically the wicked. And then through this You harden our heart from fearing You. Therefore we ask, return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your inheritance. Those who serve You, this is the people You chose for Yourself as an inheritance, at least return for their sake, and then through this the stirring of Your innards and Your mercies will be toward us, and then we will learn from Your ways and we too will be merciful. Through this You will execute judgment among the nations and be zealous for Your name and in Your might, and through this it will cause us to see reward and punishment, we will recoil from committing transgressions, we will not walk in a corrupt path.
"For a little while Your holy people possessed it, our adversaries trampled Your Sanctuary." "For a little while," "for a little while" means for a brief time. For a small thing. Tzoar, yes, where it is written that he asked to go to Tzoar, that Tzoar was a city that had just been settled, yes, its people few. So too here, "for a little while Your holy people possessed it." It means for a brief time Yisrael possessed the Land, the Radak explains. This means, we did not merit to enjoy the Land for a long time. For a short period You gave them the Land, and afterward they were exiled. How long did we have the First Temple? 410 years. And afterward most of Yisrael no longer returned to it. So "for a little while Your holy people possessed it." For a small and tiny period Your holy people possessed the Holy Land. And afterward our adversaries trampled Your Sanctuary. Our adversaries came and drove us out from Your Sanctuary and trampled and stomped and trod upon Your Sanctuary.
The Malbim explains, we ask, return for the sake of Your servants, to the little that Your holy people possessed. Do you understand how the Malbim learns the verse? This is a continuation of the previous verse. Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your inheritance, return Your servants to where? To the little that Your holy people possessed, to the minute and small portion that Your holy people possessed. Return to this tiny portion, return to this small portion. That is to say, what are we asking? We ask nothing but, Master of the Universe, only that You return to the Beit HaMikdash. That Yerushalayim not be desolate. That is to say, one could ask about the Land, one could ask about the fields, about the villas we had, but no, we do not ask about this. Master of the Universe, what do we ask? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your inheritance, for a little while Your holy people possessed it. To the small and tiny place that Your holy people possessed, which is the place of the Mikdash and the Shechinah. In simple words, Master of the Universe, we have no requests for physical pleasures. We have no requests for possessions. It is not for this that we ask to return to the Land. We ask that You, Master of the Universe, return to us, that the Shechinah return and dwell in the Beit HaMikdash. This is what we ask. For behold, our adversaries trampled Your Sanctuary. Not over an inheritance of field and vineyard, says the Malbim, do we demand, but over the holy place and the Sanctuary and the profanation of Your great name.
"We have become like those over whom You never ruled, who were not called by Your name. Were You to rend the heavens and come down, the mountains would flow before You." "Were You to rend the heavens and come down, the mountains would flow before You." This verse is one that requires understanding, and it has several explanations. Rashi says, "we have become like those over whom You never ruled." We are now like a people over whom You never ruled. As though Your name was never called upon them. That is to say, when I want to tell a person that he does not help me, I say, you treat me as though you do not know me. And this is, as it were, their claim. We have become, our reality now is, like those over whom You never ruled. Like a people You never ruled over. As though a people You do not know, that Your name was not called upon it. Were You to rend the heavens and come down to save us now as You saved us then in the past from the hand of Egypt, then before You the mountains would flow. Then before You the mountains would flow with trembling and sweat. That is how it was in Egypt. "Were," meaning like "if only," that it should be now also like in the past. But today, as it were, we have become like those over whom You never ruled. We today are like a people whom, as it were, You do not know.
The Radak explains, "we have become," we are under Your rule, not our adversaries, for our adversaries You did not rule over them, Your name was not called upon them. So how did things become reversed? We were under Your rule, and over them You never ruled. And how now suddenly has it become the opposite? That now they are under Your rule and we, Yisrael, are as though You never ruled over us? As though our name, Your name, was not called upon us? How did they come in our place? How do they, as it were, replace us? "Were You to rend the heavens and come down"? Did You perhaps rend the heavens and come down to speak with them as You did with us? The Radak explains that this is in the form of a question. Not "if only." Did You rend the heavens and come down as for us? Did the mountains flow before You as on our account? Did You give them the Torah as You gave us? So why then have things become reversed? Why then now do You have mercy on them and, as it were, treat us cruelly? When was this? This was at the standing at Har Sinai. It is written at the standing at Har Sinai that when the glory of Hashem descended on Har Sinai, there was fire and cloud, and the whole mountain, "and there was thunder," and they answered and trembled and answered and stood at a distance. And then the heavens dripped, also the clouds dripped water before Hashem the God of Israel. That is to say, we see that rain fell then at that standing at Har Sinai. And therefore we see that it was a mighty standing. So says the Radak, Master of the Universe, did You make for them a standing like ours? Is Your closeness with them like with us? So why did You forget us and now take them?
The Malbim explains, "we have become like those over whom You never ruled." Notice what a novel explanation. Says the Malbim, if only we were like another nation over which You never ruled. Yes? There is an expression that says, yes, if there is one, sometimes there are parents, Hashem save us, who are cruel to their children in a very harsh manner. So he says to him, I am your father. He says to him, if I had a father like you, I would have preferred to be born an orphan. Hashem save us. So he says, "we have become like those over whom You never ruled," as it were, this is only a paraphrase, not, God forbid, that we really say this to the Master of the Universe. Rather, as it were, if only we were like another nation over which You did not rule. And why? Because we see that another nation over which You do not rule, when it strays from the path, there is no profanation of Hashem's name. If there is no profanation of Hashem's name, there are no blows. But when we, Yisrael, You rule over us, Your name is called upon us, and then through this the name of Heaven is profaned. This means, according to how the Malbim explains, it is not in the sense that I said, of, as it were, God forbid, that because of the blows we prefer to be orphans. No. Rather it comes in a positive manner. Master of the Universe, it would have been preferable that Your name not be called upon us. For when Your name is called upon us, we cause You distress, because we profane Your name among the nations. We cause Your name to be profaned among the nations. So it would be preferable that we be like another nation upon which Your name is not called, and at least we would not create distress for You by profaning Your name among the nations. Says the Malbim, the seer, as he spoke this, became stirred with a very awesome emotion. And the Malbim in several places mentions this matter, that the prophet, in the midst of his speaking, we see that he says very poetic things that come from the heart, so sometimes the matter would cause him emotion, and then says the Malbim, he turned his face to Hashem and said, alas, Hashem God, You have distanced Yourself greatly from us. The heavens have become like iron between us and You. Were You to rend the heavens and come down, until the mountains would flow and melt before You. Master of the Universe, the conclusion here of the verse is, as it were, Master of the Universe, if only You would now perform for us miracles, signs, and wonders as You performed then. And then the poet, says the Malbim, fell silent in stillness from the abundance of his feelings. Meaning from the abundance of the great emotion he had, for essentially the Malbim comes here to resolve a difficulty. "We have become like those over whom You never ruled, who were not called by Your name," meaning if only Your name had never been called upon us and at least we would not profane Your name. How does this connect to "were You to rend the heavens and come down, the mountains would flow before You"? Seemingly there is no connection to the conclusion of the verse. Therefore the Malbim explains that the prophet, in the midst of his emotion, comes and says, Master of the Universe, if only You would return to rule over us as in days of old. If only that iron partition that was set between us, if only that partition would be removed and You would return and draw near to us. And then following this he fainted and fell silent, and until his spirit returned to him, that is already in the next chapter.