Introduction: From the Memory of Miracles to the Cry of Exile
The passage before us in Chapter 63 continues the recounting of Hashem's kindnesses to Israel. After mentioning "Who brought them up from the sea," the prophet begins describing the miracles of the Splitting of the Red Sea and detailing their unique virtues, and from there he transitions into a painful cry: all those wonders took place in ancient times, but where are they now? From here to the end of the chapter lies a series of arguments and pleas: Look down and see, where are Your zeal and Your compassion, why do You make us wander, return for the sake of Your servants - until the prophet falls silent from overwhelming emotion.
Leading at Moshe's Right Hand: How the Sea Split
מוֹלִיךְ לִימִין מֹשֶׁה זְרוֹעַ תִּפְאַרְתּוֹ, בּוֹקֵעַ מַיִם מִפְּנֵיהֶם, לַעֲשׂוֹת לוֹ שֵׁם עוֹלָם. - Who caused His glorious arm to march at Moshe's right hand, who split the waters before them to make Himself an everlasting name.
The Holy One, blessed be He, led the arm of His might at Moshe's right hand. Whenever Moshe needed divine assistance, the arm of the Holy One, blessed be He, was, as it were, at his right side. The Radak explains that this begins the description of the wonders at the sea: come and see what a marvelous miracle this was. When Moshe was commanded, "Lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea," no one would imagine that a staff possesses the power to split an ocean; rather, it was the direct action of the Holy One, blessed be He, who marched at Moshe's right hand and assisted him in raising the staff and splitting the sea, and Hashem split the sea before Bnei Yisrael so that the Egyptians would perish within it.
Why Did the Sea Need to Split at All? "To Make Himself an Everlasting Name"
Notice the Radak's comment on the conclusion of the verse. One might simply assume that the Jewish people needed to cross the sea and had nowhere else to pass, which is why the Holy One, blessed be He, split the sea for them. The Radak explains that this is not so. Anyone familiar with the route of the Splitting of the Red Sea knows that it was not a crossing from one shore to the opposite shore. It was unlike the story of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair, who needed to reach the opposite bank and said, "Ginnai, split your waters for me" - where splitting the river was the only way to reach the other side. The Jewish people did not need to reach the opposite shore; they entered from one side and exited along that very same bank further down, in the shape of an arc - in fact, twelve arcs corresponding to the twelve tribes of God. Therefore, splitting the sea was not strictly necessary for transit. What, then, was its purpose? "To make Himself an everlasting name" - so that all the nations would remember Him, as it says, "Nations heard and trembled," and revere Him.
If so, why did the Holy One, blessed be He, choose to save them specifically in this manner? Several purposes were accomplished here. First, the Egyptians were pursuing us, and how could we shake them off our backs? By entering the sea, they pursued us inside, and the waters closed over them. Yet this alone is not a sufficient explanation, for the pillar of fire that stood between the camps shot arrows at them - and according to the Targum, naphtha and fire as well - and it possessed the power to destroy them entirely without any need for the sea.
Second, so that they would receive retribution measure for measure. The Talmud relates Hashem's rebuke: "The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you wish to sing shirah?" Commentators ask: Israel sang shirah, so why was it problematic for the ministering angels to sing over the downfall of Egypt? Furthermore, why are the Egyptians called "the work of My hands" when they were wicked, and the Holy One, blessed be He, rejoices over the downfall of the wicked? The Rebbe Reb Heshel explains: regarding the camp of Assyria when it besieged Jerusalem in the days of Chizkiyahu, it is taught that the Holy One, blessed be He, uncovered their ears to hear the song of the angels, and through this their souls departed from them - because the soul's yearning and delight for angelic song is so intense that it separates from the body. The ministering angels wished to sing shirah, and through that the Egyptians would have perished. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: Is this what they deserve? They drowned the Jewish people in the Nile - "the work of My hands," Israel, is drowning in water, and you wish to slay the Egyptians through sublime song? That is far too gentle a death. Rather, it must be measure for measure: they drowned us in water, so they too must drown in water.
Furthermore, when they died in the sea there were varying degrees in their demise - some like straw, some like stone, some like lead, all according to the measure of their wickedness. Moreover, there was the plunder of the sea, as the sea cast all the Egyptian treasures onto the shore, which was also part of what the Holy One, blessed be He, willed to accomplish through the water. Nevertheless, in the grand picture, as the Radak states: splitting the Red Sea was not an absolute necessity for travel - it was done "to make Himself an everlasting name."
The Malbim: Four Virtues in Hashem's Miracles
The Malbim explains that the verse comes to indicate that the miracles performed for us by the Holy One, blessed be He, were superior in four respects. The first virtue is that the miracles were continuous. "Caused to march" - in an enduring manner, the Holy One, blessed be He, walked closely alongside us. It was not a one-time wonder that breached the laws of nature only for everything to revert to normal immediately afterward, but rather "caused to march" - constantly, as if to say: I am with you at all times; whatever you need, I am here.
The second distinction: Who was with us? Not an angel. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Behold, I send an angel," but Moshe said, "If Your presence does not go, do not bring us up from here" - we do not want angels; the Holy One, blessed be He, accompanies us Himself. And this is the meaning of "at Moshe's right hand," that the miraculous arm stood at his right side without any intermediary.
The third distinction: "His glorious arm." There are miracles performed within the natural order, that is, according to a person's merits - if you have merits, you are worthy of a miracle being performed for you; if you have no merits, how can Hashem perform a miracle for you? Here, the verse states that the Holy One, blessed be He, performed miracles for us even though we were not worthy in our own right, and this itself magnifies the miracle. When something is deserved, there is no great astonishment: if we are told that the Baba Sali performed a miracle, we are not astonished - he has more than enough merits for miracles. But if we are told that our neighbor performed a miracle, we are astonished: I had no idea, now I see. When a miracle is performed for someone who seemingly does not deserve it, that is what causes true astonishment.
Where is this alluded to? In the word "arm" (zeroa). We have already discussed that there is a providence of the "hand" (yad) and a providence of the "arm" (zeroa). A "hand" refers to the palm and fingers, named yad for its fourteen (yod-dalet = 14) joints - anyone who has seen an X-ray can count fourteen joints. The arm, by contrast, extends from the shoulder. When providence operates on the level of the "hand of Hashem," it is guided through the assistance of those below: as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "I operated the hand, but who moved it? The arm - and that is you, your merits, your deeds, your righteousness. You formed the arm, and through that, I was able to perform the miracle with the hand." But when the Holy One, blessed be He, bares His holy arm, we have no share in it at all: the arm too is His. "Who moved it? I did," says the Holy One, blessed be He. And as for us - nothing, and nothing came from our own power. Therefore, the verse says "His glorious arm" - a supreme spiritual power that does not depend on us, where we did nothing at all.
The fourth distinction: "His glory" (tifarto). These were not miracles concealed within nature, like the miracles of Megillat Esther, where the convergence of coincidences is genuinely a miracle obvious to all, but rather overt miracles: the splitting of the Yam Suf, the manna falling from heaven (one could still argue that the quail came by natural means), "Sun, stand still at Giv'on, and moon in the valley of Ayalon," and the like - supernatural miracles. When someone performs a supernatural feat, it brings glory before all eyes; therefore, this brought glory to Hashem before the eyes of the entire world.
And this is the meaning of "cleaving the waters before them": the splitting of the sea was not solely to rescue them, for Hashem could have saved them through other miracles - as the Radak writes, and the Malbim follows this approach as well - rather, the ultimate purpose was "to make for Himself an everlasting name," "Nations heard and trembled."
Leading Them Through the Depths: A Smooth Seabed
מוֹלִיכָם בַּתְּהֹמוֹת, כַּסּוּס בַּמִּדְבָּר לֹא יִכָּשֵׁלוּ. - Leading them through the depths, like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble.
At the splitting of the Yam Suf there were additional miracles - Chazal enumerate ten miracles at the sea - and one of them is alluded to here. If we were to dry up the sea, its seabed would naturally be full of reefs and rocks; it is hardly a paved highway. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not merely lead them through the depths by splitting the sea for them; He also ensured that the terrain would be smooth and easy to traverse. "Like a horse in the desert" - like a horse galloping through the desert, which is flat plains, where there is no fear of it stumbling, for the ground is clear and smooth. In this way, the Holy One, blessed be He, made the journey effortless: not only was there no mud below to cause a person to stumble, but the ground was as flat as a paved road.
Like Cattle in the Valley: Descending Gently, or Not Descending at All
כַּבְּהֵמָה בַּבִּקְעָה תֵרֵד, רוּחַ ה' תְּנִיחֶנּוּ, כֵּן נִהַגְתָּ עַמְּךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת לְךָ שֵׁם תִּפְאָרֶת. - As cattle descend into the valley, the spirit of Hashem brings them to rest; so did You lead Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name.
The Radak explains: They descended into the sea like cattle descending into a valley without effort, for descending is always easy and gentle, and a valley is a comfortable place to walk. "The spirit of Hashem brings them to rest" - it brought rest to the people of Israel. Although "brings them to rest" (tenihennu) is phrased in the third-person singular and then directly addresses "Your people," we find a similar phrasing in "she saw him, the child" - first the third-person suffix, and then explicitly specifying "the child." That is, the spirit of Hashem gave Israel rest from the Egyptians pursuing them, "so did You lead Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name." The Radak further cites Targum Yonatan that tenihennu means "guided them" (as in tanhennu, related to "go, guide [necheh] the people"). All of this was so that the Holy One, blessed be He, would have an everlasting name, glory, and honor. From this arises the question of the people of Israel: You did all this in days of old, so why do You abandon us now?
The Radak understood this verse as a continuation of the previous one, and according to his approach this presents no difficulty, as it is a case of repeating the same idea in different words: "like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble" and "as cattle descend into the valley." But the Malbim, as is well known, does not accept that the verses merely repeat an idea in different words; therefore, he explains that this refers to an additional miracle: the Jewish people did not even have to descend into the sea. Consider: if a sea dries up for several kilometers, what usually happens when one enters the seabed? One goes down into a deep basin, because the seabed is like a bowl that slopes deeper and deeper. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not do this; rather, He made a kind of raised causeway - He elevated the ground so that in walking, they did not have to descend as one descends into the sea today, but rather walked across elevated ground and emerged at the exact level of the shore. A "valley" (bik'ah) means a plain, flat and level: as they stepped toward the sea, the depths immediately surged upward and became a plain, a level surface. "So did You lead Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name" - through manifold wonders that only You can perform, guiding Your people throughout the generations.
Look Down and See: Where Is Your Zeal and Where Is Your Mercy?
הַבֵּט מִשָּׁמַיִם וּרְאֵה מִזְּבֻל קָדְשְׁךָ וְתִפְאַרְתֶּךָ, אַיֵּה קִנְאָתְךָ וּגְבוּרֹתֶךָ, הֲמוֹן מֵעֶיךָ וְרַחֲמֶיךָ אֵלַי הִתְאַפָּקוּ. - Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious abode; where are Your zeal and Your mighty deeds? The stirring of Your inner heart and Your mercies are restrained toward me.
"Look down from heaven and see" - they beseech the Holy One, blessed be He, to gaze upon the downtrodden state of Israel. "Where are Your zeal and Your mighty deeds?" Rashi and Radak explain: You used to show zealous indignation when You saw the affliction of Your people, and in the wake of that zeal You would demonstrate might and strike the nations that tormented us; so where are they now? "The stirring of Your inner heart and Your mercies" - evokes the verse, "My innards churn for him," followed immediately by "I will surely have mercy on him." When a person yearns and longs for someone, his innards churn - what people today call "butterflies in the stomach" - and in the wake of that deep yearning comes compassion. Hence the plea: Where is the stirring of Your heart, and where is the compassion that follows it? "Are restrained toward me" - from the language of restraint; You hold back and do not release Your mercy and compassion toward me.
The Malbim explains that here the prophet turns to God and says: Master of the Universe, after all the miracles and wonders You performed for us in days of old, which were detailed earlier - "leading them through the depths," "like a beast going down into the valley," the splitting of the Red Sea and the Exodus from Egypt - come and see how the wheel has turned and the situation has completely reversed. Now, there appears to be a redundancy in the verse: "Look down from heaven" and "and see from Your holy abode." Why "heaven" and why "Your holy abode," and why "look" (habeit) and why "see" (re'eh)? The Malbim explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, has two modes of providence. There is the natural, constant providence through which He governs all creatures in the course of nature, and this is called "heaven." And there is a miraculous, supernatural providence in which He overturns the order of nature, and this is "Your holy abode" - the place of His majestic Presence, the special Divine providence through which He leads Israel above the natural order.
And what is the difference between "looking" (habatah) and "seeing" (re'iyah)? Seeing is sensory sight: a person has eyes and sees. Looking implies contemplation, scrutinizing something and paying close attention to it. Therefore, the prophet says, "Look down from heaven": in the realm of natural providence, there is seemingly no noticeable difference between then and now, for there are no open miracles here, only providence operating within nature, and an observer would say that nature behaves the same as always. Yet whoever gazes and reflects deeply will see that even in natural providence, there is a stark difference between then and now - contemplate and see, Master of the Universe, that even the natural providence over us is not what it once was. On the other hand, "and see from Your holy abode": the miraculous providence requires no deep scrutiny. Anyone with eyes can see that we no longer enjoy the miraculous providence of old. We have no splitting of the Red Sea, no hailstones raining from the heavens, and no open miracles like those our forefathers witnessed - merely seeing is enough; deep contemplation is not even necessary.
And regarding this, the verse cries: "Where are Your zeal and Your mighty deeds?" The Malbim explains: The miracles that the Holy One, blessed be He, performed for us in ancient times served two purposes. First, the Holy One, blessed be He, is zealous for His Name that is desecrated among the nations. When the Jewish people suffer, Heaven's Name is desecrated - "These are the people of Hashem, these are the children of the Master of the Universe; look how forsaken they are and how they suffer," as if, Heaven forbid, He is unable to protect them or defend them. Concerning this, the prophet pleads: Master of the Universe, be zealous for Your desecrated Name, just as You were once zealous for Your Name among the nations and punished them, so that they would know that this people has a Master, that this nation has a Father. And second, at other times salvation came for the sake of Israel themselves, when His mercy was stirred by our dire plight - not merely on account of His great Name, but because He sees that we are in pain. Concerning this, the verse says: "The stirring of Your inner heart and Your mercies toward me" - they were present of old, yet now they are restrained. Thus the plea is: Master of the Universe, in the past there was zeal for Your Name and mercy upon us, but today there is neither, and so the people of Israel are left plundered among the nations.
For You Are Our Father: We Have No One Else to Rely On
כִּי אַתָּה אָבִינוּ, כִּי אַבְרָהָם לֹא יְדָעָנוּ וְיִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא יַכִּירָנוּ, אַתָּה ה' אָבִינוּ גֹּאֲלֵנוּ מֵעוֹלָם שְׁמֶךָ. - For You are our Father, though Abraham did not know us and Israel does not recognize us; You, Hashem, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Your Name.
"For You are our Father" - and therefore You must look upon and see our troubles, says Rashi. "Though Abraham did not know us and Israel does not recognize us" - according to Rashi, Abraham did not know us in the affliction of Egypt, and Israel (Jacob) did not recognize us in the wilderness, for they had already departed from this world, while You, Master of the Universe, were a Father to us. Rashi also notes that our Sages expounded this verse as they did in Tractate Shabbat.
Radak elaborates further that this follows the principle of "Though my father and mother have forsaken me, Hashem will gather me in." When there is no one else to help us, the Holy One, blessed be He, so to speak, sees an obligation to step in and save Israel. This aligns with what the author of Chovot HaLevavot explains: as long as a person relies on someone else to help him, the Holy One, blessed be He, leaves him in the hands of the one he trusts. Whom do you want to help you, so-and-so? Go to him. "Let them rise up and help you, let them be your shelter," "Where are their gods, the rock in whom they sought refuge?" Who is your god, in whom do you place your trust? Go to him so that he may help you.
From here we can understand what the Gemara says regarding the footsteps of the Messiah: "And upon whom do we have to rely? Upon our Father in Heaven." Everyone asks: Did we ever have anyone else to rely on before then? Has it not always been true that we have no one to rely on but our Father in Heaven, bumper stickers or no bumper stickers? The answer is: indeed, that has always been true; the question is when one reaches that realization. When will the redemption arrive? When we reach the realization that we truly have no one to lean on other than our Father in Heaven. As long as we think that America will help us, that we have a mighty army, that we are fully capable, and so forth, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Go right ahead, turn to them. But the moment a person realizes, "Master of the Universe, we have relied only upon You, our trust is in You alone," He, as it were, has no choice but to help us - for one steps forward to help when he knows someone is leaning on him one hundred percent, that if not for him, who else will help? And when the Jewish people rely solely on Him, they compel the Master of the Universe, as it were, to fulfill their desire. This is what we come and say: Master of the Universe, Abraham did not know us; "my father and mother have forsaken me," and when my father and mother forsake me - "Hashem will gather me in."
Why Specifically Abraham and Israel?
The Radak raises a difficulty: After all, Avraham Avinu passed away several generations ago, and even flesh-and-blood parents do not know what happens with their sons and daughters after they depart from this world, so what is this really saying here? Rather, the prophet chose the example of Avraham because he is the foremost of the Patriarchs, and the Holy One, blessed be He, told him, "For through Yitzchak shall your seed be called," and it is written, "And I gave to him Yitzchak," and not Yishmael - for Yishmael is not considered Avraham's seed but rather severed from it, and similarly the sons of the concubines are not considered the continuation of Avraham. If one wants to speak of an exclusive father, it is Avraham, who had no other son considered his true seed. And if you seek another, it is Yaakov, from whom came the twelve tribes of God, and he is an exclusive father to them, and his seed is a seed of truth. But with Yitzchak there is a difficulty, for from him emerged Eisav, and it is written, "And Yitzchak loved Eisav"; one cannot bring him as an example of a father who is exclusively my father, for he felt like a father to Eisav as well. Therefore, the examples are Avraham and Yaakov.
The Metzudat David explains: "For You are our Father," and it is fitting for a father to have mercy on his children. And what is the meaning of "for Avraham did not know us"? He acted as if he did not know us - and this is the homiletical teaching of Chazal: When the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to him at the Covenant Between the Parts and told him, "Know with certainty that your seed shall be strangers in a land not theirs," Avraham did not plead for mercy; he acted as though he did not know us. There is a reason for this, and whoever wishes may study this in Mishnat HaGilgulim, in the final essay of the first section, which deals with the mystical secret of the Egyptian exile and the sin of Adam HaRishon. There the question is presented in all its force: How is it that regarding the wicked people of Sedom Avraham felt compassion and sat praying at length, "Perhaps there will be found...", yet when the Holy One, blessed be He, tells him of such a terrible affliction destined to befall his seed, Avraham remains silent and does not even ask, "Master of the Universe, perhaps You will have mercy, perhaps You will spare them"? There is a compelling explanation for this, but in any case, the prophet uses this as an example.
And when did Yaakov act as if he did not recognize us? When he saw a ladder set on the ground with angels of God ascending and descending on it - and Chazal say that he saw the ministering angel of this nation ascending and the ministering angel of that nation descending, these being the empires that rule over Israel - yet he did not plead for mercy on our behalf, nor did he ask that the Holy One, blessed be He, remove from us the affliction of the yoke of the subjugation of the kingdoms. Therefore, "You, Hashem, are our Father" - throughout all days, always and at every time, You have set Your heart upon us; "our Redeemer from of old is Your name" - from time immemorial You have redeemed us, and we have no one to lean on and no one to turn to but You.
The Malbim: Intellectual Knowledge and Sensory Recognition
The Malbim explains that here the prophet begins to plead against the two things he mentioned earlier. First, against "the yearning of Your inner being and Your mercies toward me are restrained," from the standpoint of compassion: after all, You are our Father, and we have no other father, and how could a father not have mercy on his son? This comes to arouse the attribute of mercy. In explaining "Avraham did not know us and Yisrael did not recognize us," the Malbim says that knowledge (yedi'ah) is intellectual, whereas recognition (hakarah) is sensory. "Recognizing him" means I saw him with the sense of sight - as in "one who can distinguish [recognize] between blue and leek-green," an external recognition. But knowledge is intellectual, as in "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him" - I have understood his nature and character traits.
According to this: Avraham "did not know us," for from his loins emerged both Yishmael and Eisav, and he did not know that we uniquely would be the people of Hashem, since from his perspective many other nations would come from him. But regarding Yisrael [Yaakov], one cannot say "did not know us," for he already knew that we uniquely would be the people of Hashem, knowing that his sons would be the tribes of God; rather, it is as though he does not look at us - "did not recognize us," like someone who does not recognize us and does not plead for mercy on our behalf. This is one theme: Master of the Universe, we look to Your mercy because You are our Father.
And countering what he lamented, "Where are Your jealousy and Your mighty acts?", he argues: "You, Hashem, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Your name" - Your great and holy name, the name by which You have been known from of old, is that You are the Father of Israel. If so, where is Your zeal for Your name that is desecrated among the nations? In the past You displayed zeal for Your desecrated name, so that the nations would not say, "Because Hashem was not able... He slaughtered them in the wilderness" - why then today do You not display zeal for Your name, when the Jewish people are suffering, afflicted and driven into exile, and Your name is desecrated among the nations?
"Why Do You Cause Us to Stray": The Troubling Plea
לָמָּה תַתְעֵנוּ ה' מִדְּרָכֶיךָ, תַּקְשִׁיחַ לִבֵּנוּ מִיִּרְאָתֶךָ, שׁוּב לְמַעַן עֲבָדֶיךָ שִׁבְטֵי נַחֲלָתֶךָ. - Why, Hashem, do You cause us to stray from Your ways, and harden our heart from fearing You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
This is an extremely difficult verse, and the commentators grapple with it intensely: Does the Holy One, blessed be He, really lead us astray? Regarding the nations, we find that He "made them slip," giving them room to stumble, but to say of Israel that the Holy One, blessed be He, actively misleads them? Rashi explains: "Why, Hashem, do You cause us to stray from Your ways" - after all, it is in Your power to remove the yetzer hara, for we are like clay in the potter's hand, and it is written, "And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh." The meaning is not, Heaven forbid, that the Holy One, blessed be He, prevents us from repenting or hardens our heart against Him; rather, since You have the power to soften our heart and yet You do not do so, it is regarded as though You harden our heart; and since You have the power to remove the yetzer hara from us and yet You do not remove it, it is regarded as though You cause us to stray from Your ways.
The Radak explains differently: When we see the nations living in serenity and the only nation suffering is Israel; when we see the wicked, "all who deal very treacherously are at ease," quiet and complacent, while the only ones suffering are the Jewish people - does this not lead one astray from the way of Hashem? Does this not seduce us away from true faith, seeing that precisely those who deviate from the path prosper? This is "You cause us to stray from Your ways": when the way of the wicked prospers, and You show us a reality where the wicked fare well and the righteous suffer, there is nothing that misleads people further from the path of serving Hashem than this. Furthermore, You prolong our exile, which creates a feeling that there is no hope and no chance of escaping this plight; this leads to despair and causes us to stray from Your ways and our hearts to harden from fearing You. And indeed, we see that many among the Jewish people have already despaired of the redemption - once the heart was tender, yearning for redemption and salvation, but because troubles grow ever more frequent and salvation seems distant, it is as though You cause us to stray from Your ways and harden our heart from fearing You.
And if you should ask: It may be that many have despaired, but the majority of the Jewish people have not, so why is this stated in a collective phrasing - "You cause us to stray," "harden our heart" - did everyone really stray and did everyone's heart really harden? The Radak answers: Do not wonder at this, for frequently when referring to sinners, Scripture addresses the nation collectively. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe, "How long do you refuse to humble yourselves before Me?" even though only a small fraction of the people went out to gather [manna on Shabbat] - merely Datan and Aviram - yet it was phrased collectively. Likewise in the incident of the Golden Calf, "Let Me alone, that I may destroy them," even though in total there were only three thousand men. And similarly in the incident of Achan who transgressed the ban, where although only an individual committed the sacrilege, it says, "Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant... and they have also stolen, and they have also lied" - collective phrasing, as if all of Israel had sinned. And so too Daniel prayed, "We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and we have rebelled." Thus, when corruption occurs, the corruption is attributed to the collective.
And then we plead: "Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage" - turn back from Your fierce anger, and if not for our sake because we have sinned, return for the sake of Your servants, the holy Patriarchs, and for the sake of the tribes of Your heritage, the twelve tribes who became Your heritage, as it is written: "Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." Even if we have no merits of our own, let the merit of our forefathers be the reason and the catalyst for You to return.
The Malbim: Hashem's Conduct Teaches Us
The Malbim explains that the prophet argues before the Holy One, blessed be He, that there are additional reasons to have mercy on us. The first: by showing us the stirring of Your innermost feelings and Your compassion, we learn from Your attributes - just as He is merciful, so you should be merciful; just as He is gracious, so you should be gracious. But when we see that You are not merciful and gracious toward us, this causes us to stray from these ways of Yours and not conduct ourselves with compassion. It turns out that Hashem's harsh hand with us, as it were, awakens cruelty within us, Heaven forbid.
And the second: by showing Your zeal and mighty deeds to punish sinners, we learn the fear of Hashem. Nothing brings about the fear of Heaven more than seeing the sinner punished and the wicked pay a price; when a person witnesses reward and punishment and measure-for-measure justice, it awakens yirat Shamayim (fear of Heaven). And so we say: "Why do You harden our hearts from fearing You?" Because You do not display Your zeal and mighty deeds, people say, why fulfill mitzvot and why be righteous, when it seems that the ones who prosper here are precisely the wicked? Therefore we ask, "Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage" - those who serve You, the people You chose as Your heritage, return for their sake. Then the stirring of Your innermost feelings and compassion will be upon us, and we will learn from Your attributes and be compassionate; and You will execute judgment upon the nations and be zealous for Your Name through Your mighty acts. Through this, we will see reward and punishment, recoil from sin, and not follow a corrupt path.
For a Little While Your Holy People Possessed It
לַמִּצְעָר יָרְשׁוּ עַם קָדְשֶׁךָ, צָרֵינוּ בּוֹסְסוּ מִקְדָּשֶׁךָ. - For a little while Your holy people possessed it; our adversaries have trampled Your Sanctuary.
"La-mitzar" means for a brief time or in a small measure, related to the word Tzo'ar - a city that had only recently been settled and had few inhabitants. The Radak explains: for a brief time Your holy people possessed the Land, meaning we did not merit to enjoy the Land for very long; You gave them the Land for a short period, and then they were exiled. How long did we have the First Temple? Four hundred and ten years, and most of Israel never returned afterward. For a brief and fleeting period Your holy people possessed the Holy Land, and then our adversaries came and drove us out: "trampled Your Sanctuary" - trod upon and crushed Your Sanctuary.
And the Malbim explains this verse as a direct continuation of the previous one: "Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage" - and where should You return them? To the "small part that Your holy people possessed," to that tiny, precious parcel inherited by Your holy nation. In other words, what are we asking for? We are asking only that You return to the Beit HaMikdash, so that Jerusalem will not lie desolate. We could have pleaded for the land, for the fields, for the estates we once possessed - but we ask for none of that. We have no requests for material pleasures, nor do we ask for wealth and property; that is not why we seek to return to the Land. We plead that the Shechinah return and rest upon the Beit HaMikdash, for "our adversaries have trampled Your Sanctuary." It is not an inheritance of field and vineyard that we demand, says the Malbim, but the holy place, the Sanctuary, and the desecration of Your great Name.
We Have Become Like Those Over Whom You Never Ruled
הָיִינוּ מֵעוֹלָם לֹא מָשַׁלְתָּ בָּם, לֹא נִקְרָא שִׁמְךָ עֲלֵיהֶם, לוּא קָרַעְתָּ שָׁמַיִם יָרַדְתָּ מִפָּנֶיךָ הָרִים נָזֹלּוּ. - We have become like those over whom You never ruled, upon whom Your Name was never called. If only You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might melt at Your presence!
This verse requires explanation, and several interpretations are given. Rashi explains: we have now become like a nation over whom You never ruled, as if Your Name was never called upon them. When a person wants to express disappointment to a friend who is not helping, he says: "You act toward me as if you don't even know me." And this, as it were, is their plea: our current situation is like that of a nation You never governed, a people You do not know and over whom Your Name was never proclaimed. "If only You would rend the heavens" - if only You would tear open the heavens and descend to save us now, just as You saved us back then from Egypt, so that "the mountains might melt at Your presence," trembling and dissolving in dread as occurred in Egypt. "Lu" expresses a wish, longing for the present to be like the past - but today, we have become like a people over whom You never ruled.
The Radak explains differently: "We were" the ones under Your dominion, not our adversaries, over whom You never ruled and upon whom Your Name was never called. How has the order of things been overturned, so that they now seem to enjoy Your favor while with us it is as though You never ruled over us nor was Your Name ever called upon us? How did they take our place and seemingly supplant us? "Did You rend the heavens and descend?" - according to the Radak, this is a rhetorical question, not an expression of longing: Did You perhaps rend the heavens and descend to speak with them as You did with us? Did the mountains melt before You for their sake as they did for ours? Did You give them the Torah as You gave it to us? Why, then, have the tables turned? And when was that? At the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, where when the glory of Hashem descended upon the mountain there was fire and cloud, "and there was thunder," and the people trembled and stood from afar; and even "the heavens dripped, the clouds also dripped water... before Hashem, the God of Israel" - showing that rain fell at that revelation. It was an awesome spectacle. And this is the argument: Master of the Universe, did You ever create such a revelation for them as You did for us? Is Your closeness with them anything like it was with us? Why, then, have You forgotten us while elevating them?
The Malbim: If Only Your Name Were Not Proclaimed Upon Us
The Malbim offers an innovative explanation: "We have become like those over whom You never ruled" - would that we were like another nation over whom You never ruled. There are parents, may Hashem protect us, who treat their children very cruelly, and the son says to his father: With a father like you, it would have been better for me to have been born an orphan. Of course, this is merely an analogy, and Heaven forbid that one should speak this way toward the Master of the World; nor does the Malbim intend it in that sense, but rather from a completely positive perspective. The reason is: when another nation over whom You do not rule strays from the path, there is no desecration of Hashem's Name (chillul Hashem), and when there is no chillul Hashem, there is no retribution. But over us You ruled, and Your Name is proclaimed upon us; consequently, when we sin, the Name of Heaven is desecrated. Therefore we say: Master of the World, it would have been preferable that Your Name not be proclaimed upon us, for when Your Name is proclaimed upon us, we cause You anguish by desecrating Your Name among the nations. It would have been better had we been like another nation over whom Your Name was not proclaimed, so that at least we would not cause Your Name to be desecrated.
The Malbim states: "The seer, as he spoke this, was overcome with tremendous emotion." In several places, the Malbim mentions this phenomenon: while speaking poetic words coming straight from the heart, the prophet was seized by great emotion - and he turned his face toward Hashem and said: Alas, Hashem Elokim, You have distanced Yourself so far from us; the heavens have become like iron between us and You; "If only You would tear open the heavens and descend," so that the mountains would melt and dissolve before You. If only You would perform for us now miracles, signs, and wonders as You did back then; if only You would return to rule over us as in days of old; if only that iron barrier separating us were removed, and You would once again draw close to us. With this, the Malbim resolves the difficulty of how the end of the verse connects to its beginning: after saying, "Would that Your Name were not proclaimed upon us," he adds, out of his overwhelming emotion, the plea that the miraculous providence of ancient times return to us. And then, says the Malbim, "the poet fell completely silent from the intensity of his emotions" - from the sheer emotion he fainted and fell silent, until his spirit returned to him, which unfolds in the next chapter.
To summarize:
The prophet opens with praise of the miracles at the Sea: The Holy One, blessed be He, marched at the right hand of Moshe, and the splitting of the Sea was not out of necessity (as the Radak notes, they did not cross from one bank to the other) but "to make for Himself an everlasting name," and alongside this, measure for measure against the Egyptians who drowned the Israelites in the Nile. The Malbim enumerates four qualities of the miracles in this verse: constant ("marched"), direct without an intermediary ("at the right hand of Moshe"), not based on our merits ("arm" rather than "hand"), and overtly supernatural miracles ("His glorious [arm]"). There were further miracles: a seabed as smooth as a horse running in the wilderness, and according to the Malbim, they did not even need to descend at all, for the Holy One, blessed be He, made it a level plain for them. From here, the prophet turns to a cry: "Look down from heaven" - in the realm of natural providence, which requires scrutiny; "and see from Your holy habitation" - in the realm of miraculous providence, which is readily visible: Where is Your zeal for Your desecrated Name, and where is Your compassion upon us? "For You are our Father," as Avraham and Yaakov are as if they do not know or recognize us, and we have no one to rely upon except our Father in Heaven. "Why do You make us stray" - a leadership of concealment leads to a loss of compassion and a loss of reverence, and therefore "Return for the sake of Your servants," and our plea is not for fields and vineyards, but for the devastated sanctuary, for the Beis HaMikdash and for the honor of Your Name. And finally, "We have become like those over whom You never ruled" - would that Your Name had not been proclaimed upon us so that we would not desecrate it; and out of this intense emotion: would that You had torn open the heavens and descended, until the prophet fell into utter silence.