And on this comes my question: "Let the wicked be shown favor, yet he will not learn righteousness; in a land of uprightness he acts perversely, and he does not see the majesty of Hashem." My question is: why is the wicked shown favor? Why does the wicked man receive mercy? Why does the wicked man succeed? Why does he find favor, why is the wicked one favored? For from two reasons it would be fitting that the wicked one be punished. First, because if the wicked man does not receive according to his wickedness, he goes on and adds to his wickedness. So if he had immediately received a slap, he would have stopped. But the moment he sees that things are going well for him, he adds more and more wickedness. And on this he says: for indeed the wicked one is shown favor, for if not, why does he merit the situation of being favored? For he does not learn righteousness. By giving him favor and mercy, he does not learn righteousness. He does not learn to act with righteousness, he continues in his corrupt way. So why is the wicked one shown favor? This only corrupts him.
Another matter: by his succeeding, as we said, others see the success of the wicked man and want to imitate him. Others learn from him. Others become wicked like him. And on this he says: "he will not learn righteousness; in a land of uprightness he acts perversely." In a land of uprightness, a land where they walked straight before Hashem, a land where they conducted themselves in the fear of Hashem, a land of uprightness. What does he do? He acts perversely. He causes them to do wrong. He corrupts others. He causes others to do wrong. That others should say, behold the wicked man does wickedness and succeeds, I will do likewise. He causes the many to sin. "And he does not see the majesty of Hashem." Why, Master of the Universe, do You not show him the majesty of Hashem? Show him the power of Hashem, exact retribution from him, show him that there is a Judge in the land who repays the wicked with evil according to his wickedness. Why, Master of the Universe, do You leave the wicked man able to continue and do wickedness as he pleases, and by this: first, he does not learn righteousness, second, he also corrupts others and causes others to be drawn after him.
"Hashem, Your hand is raised, they do not see; let them see and be ashamed of the zeal for the people; indeed, fire will consume Your adversaries." The prophet says: I know, Master of the Universe, that there is an answer to this. What is the answer? The clear and well-known answer is this: if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to exact retribution from the wicked immediately and give him his punishment as fitting, and the righteous man were to receive reward as fitting, then the world would not be divided into wicked and righteous but into wise and foolish. For only a fool would go and commit an act of wickedness when he knows he will immediately receive the punishment. Only a fool would see so much reward given immediately for what you do and would not go and do the will of Hashem. And in effect the Holy One, blessed be He, would turn His world into a world of robots. All people would do the will of Hashem, for the moment you fulfilled a mitzvah, immediately the bank manager would contact you and inform you that ten thousand dollars had just been deposited in your account. Would people not chase after the mitzvot? Like, like drunkards. Right? And if a person knew that the moment he committed a transgression, the moment he turned on the light on Shabbat, immediately his hand withered and he could not move it for a week, who is the fool who would turn on a light on Shabbat? And so with each and every thing, with each and every mitzvah, with each and every transgression. So I know that You, Master of the Universe, do not give immediate reward and punishment, in the language of the early sages this is so that there will be room for free will. If not, there is no free will, we would be compelled and forced to fulfill mitzvot and compelled and forced to distance ourselves from transgressions.
The Holy One, blessed be He, created a state of concealment, in which, in the state of concealment, one who does good does not receive his reward immediately. And one who does evil does not receive his punishment immediately. And then a person walks about here in the world and feels that he can deny Hashem, blessed be He, and anger Him, and behold, nothing happened. One law and one judgment for the righteous and the wicked. Ah, here there is a test. Let us see you: even though you see that the wicked man succeeds, even though he rebels against the word of Hashem, you nevertheless cling to the will of Hashem, even though you see that the righteous suffer and are afflicted more than the wicked. Here there is truly a test. So it turns out, then, that if the Holy One, blessed be He, gave immediate reward, there would be no room for free will. And we would all be compelled to do His will. The Holy One, blessed be He, wants you to serve Him out of faith. Out of faith in Hashem, blessed be He, and not because you see that it is worthwhile, for if you do it out of self-interest, then you are simply seeking to receive reward now, immediately, and that is why you serve Hashem, blessed be He.
But, he says, with all this: "Hashem, Your hand is raised, they do not see." Master of the Universe, You raised Your hand so that they should not see, meaning so that there should be such a state of concealment of the Face, that the conduct of Hashem cannot be clearly seen, and then a person has free will to do good or to do evil. But I say, that is, this is the true answer, for indeed I know: "Your hand is raised, they do not see." But I say: "let them see and be ashamed." On the contrary I say, Master of the Universe, on the contrary, it is better that they see and be ashamed. They have reached such a state that their measure is already full. They have reached such a state that they are already fit to receive their punishment for two reasons. "The zeal for the people": first, it is fitting that You be zealous over what they did to Your people. They oppressed Your people, distressed Your people, slaughtered, murdered, butchered, what did they not do to Your people Israel? So the time has already come, their measure is full, the zeal for the people. "Indeed, fire will consume Your adversaries." Another matter: the fire that they kindled against themselves, it is fitting that this fire consume them. The meaning is that they increased their sins so greatly, until there are in them such sins and iniquities that this fire they made is what is already fit to consume them. The Malbim explains: "indeed, fire, Your adversaries," this is like another argument. "Af" (indeed) is like "also." And he brings an additional explanation, that "af" is also a term of anger. That is, they angered so much that it reached the state that "fire will consume Your adversaries." The fire of the distress they caused, of the transgressions they committed, it is fitting that this anger, this wrath, consume them, smoke rose in His nostrils from the abundance of the sins of the wicked.
"Hashem, You will establish peace for us, for also all our deeds You have wrought for us." After he argues, Master of the Universe, the measure of the wicked man is full, it is fitting that You punish him. He says, therefore, correspondingly it is also fitting that from now on You establish peace for us. "Tishpot" is with a "tav," not with a "tet." Like "shefot ha-sir shefot" (set the pot on). The meaning is to place a thing, to join a thing to another thing, to attach a thing to another thing, that is called "shefot." Usually one says the setting of the pot, to set the pot upon the stove, that is called "shefot." So he says: "Hashem, You will establish peace for us." The meaning is, Master of the Universe, it is fitting that from now on You do for us only peace. That is, give us, according to justice and fairness, what we deserve now, which is only good. What, did you not do evil deeds? Did you not commit iniquities? "For also all our deeds You have wrought for us." For all the evil deeds we did, You have already wrought for us, Master of the Universe, behold we have already received the punishment. And this in fact strengthens the argument he made earlier. Master of the Universe, indeed their measure is full, and since their measure is full it is fitting that You exact retribution from them, for indeed also all our deeds You wrought for us. When our measure was full, what did You do? You wrought for us, You exacted from us. So, Master of the Universe, indeed their measure is more than full, so it is fitting that You also exact from them. And since our measure was full and we were punished, it is fitting that now too we should receive reward.
"Hashem our God, masters other than You have ruled over us; by You alone will we mention Your name." After he asks, Master of the Universe, establish peace for us, make peace for Your people Israel, he says, for indeed, Master of the Universe, masters other than You have ruled over us. What is the meaning of "masters other than You have ruled over us"? The Malbim explains that there is a difference between ownership (be'alut) and lordship (adnut). The Malbim says: ownership indicates possession, he has possession of the substance of the thing. He is its owner. Like "the owner of the ox is clear," the owner of the ox. In contrast, "master" (adon) usually symbolizes lordship, greatness. Ownership can be even over a physical, material, minor thing. "Adon" indicates elevation, yes? And therefore also the Holy One, blessed be He, is called in the language "the Adon, Hashem." So he says: "Hashem our God, masters other than You have ruled over us." They treated us as if we were their monetary possession, as if we were their ox. "Masters other than You have ruled over us," apart from You, Master of the Universe. The meaning is: without You. They wanted to force us to be "other than You." What is "other than You"? To deny the faith, to deny Your uniqueness. But we did not listen to them. "By You alone will we mention Your name." Master of the Universe, only You did we hold as God, only Your name did we mention, we did not mention the name of a foreign god, we did not cling to those masters and lords. And if so, it is fitting then that now the Holy One, blessed be He, give us reward, so establish peace for us. If so, it is fitting that You give us good in return for the good that we remained clinging to You.
And it is fitting then, Master of the Universe: "The dead will not live, the shades will not rise; therefore You visited and destroyed them, and made all memory of them perish." "The dead will not live." Master of the Universe, is it fitting that, since we sanctified Your name, by You we mention Your name, that whoever died should not live? This is with astonishment. "The dead will not live"? Is this the reward that we deserve as a result of having remained clinging to You despite all the trials and all the hardships? "The shades will not rise"? "Refa'im" means people who are already in the grave. The Malbim explains: "met" (dead) refers to the time of death. "Refa'im" means, after he is already in the grave he is called "refa'im." He explains this in several places. So he says: "the dead will not live, the shades will not rise"? Is this what we deserve after we remained clinging to You despite all the trials and all the hardships? "Therefore You visited and destroyed them, and made all memory of them perish"? Is it because they clung to Your faith that You visited and destroyed them, made all memory of them perish, they perished, they and all that was theirs? For indeed they died for the sanctity of Your name, they gave their souls for Your uniqueness. Surely it is fitting, Master of the Universe, that You revive them.
What did You do instead? "You have added to the nation, Hashem, You have added to the nation, You are honored; You have removed far all the ends of the earth." The Master of the Universe says: see the difference between Israel and the nations. For indeed "You have added to the nation, Hashem." You added to the idolater more good upon his good. And not only that, but again, "You have added to the nation." Yet another good upon the good You added to him. You gave him more greatness. And is it, Master of the Universe, that You are honored? Did this give You honor thereby? Did he express gratitude to You? Did he appreciate what You did and gave him? On the contrary, "You have removed far all the ends of the earth." For as a result there came a great desecration of Hashem's name. For as a result all the ends of the earth learned: behold you see, whoever rebels against the word of Hashem, whoever afflicts the people of Israel, succeeds. The Holy One, blessed be He, gives him greatness. So by adding to the nation, Hashem, adding to the nation, You were not honored, but rather You only removed far all the ends of the earth. They continue thereby, with even greater force, to deny You, to serve idolatry, the foreign gods.
"Hashem, in distress they sought You, they poured out a whisper when Your chastening was upon them." But it was not so, Master of the Universe, with the people of Israel. The people of Israel, not only when You showered good upon them did they remember You, but also "in distress they sought You." When they had distress, then too they sought You. They sought You, Master of the Universe. That is, they did not look for other addresses. They knew that the address is You, Master of the Universe. They did not attribute the distress to chance, they knew it was from You. "In distress they sought You." And not only was this a great distress, that when it is a great distress, well, then the hand of Hashem is revealed, then it is clear that it is from Him, blessed be He. It says: no, even in a small distress, "they poured out a whisper when Your chastening was upon them." Even when they had some inner anguish, "a whisper, Your chastening upon them." When they had "tzakun," inner anguish, which is a smaller distress, something internal, in any case it was for them in the sense of "a whisper of Your chastening," as if You whispered in their ear words of rebuke. The Malbim explains here: "tzakun" is from the language of distress. And the Malbim has a principle in which he explains the difference between "tzarah" (trouble) and "tzukah" (anguish). "Tzarah" is external trouble, from the language of something that presses upon him from outside. In contrast, "tzukah" is something internal, inner distress. Something that occurs more within a person's inner being, depression, inner sadness that a person has, that is called something that distresses him inside, yes. Distress of the soul. And the Malbim says there is also a difference between "lachash" (whisper) and "sod" (secret). "Lachash" always indicates a whisper from mouth to ear. A "sod" - I can reveal a secret to you but not necessarily in a whisper. But when I say in a whisper, it means something in confidence, only from my mouth to your ear. So he says: this anguish is like a revelation in a whisper, as if the Holy One, blessed be He, whispers to you, you need to mend your ways. From this, as it were, comes the source of that anguish. And they felt this. Even when there was "tzakun," then they knew that it was "a whisper of Your chastening upon them." Not like the nations, to whom You only added good, and not only did they not recognize You but they even kicked against You all the more. In contrast we, not only did we recognize the good You did us, but also when You brought us distress we knew it was from You, and even when the distress was small, of inner anguish, then too we understood that there is here a whisper of rebuke, that You want to correct and straighten us onto the right path.
"As a pregnant woman draws near to give birth, she writhes, she cries out in her pangs, so were we before You, Hashem." Like a pregnant woman, like a pregnant woman who, at the time she draws near to give birth, cries out, "tachil," from the language of shuddering, cries out in her pangs, so too were we before You, Hashem. You brought upon us great pangs, meaning distresses, great afflictions. And what do the great afflictions hint at? That the time of salvation is near. For behold, when the woman's pangs grow ever more frequent, this only says that the birth is near. And it says: behold, we waited and saw that great distresses were already coming, we said, behold salvation has already come. But we received all those distresses and salvation still did not come. The Radak explains here an interpretation in the name of his father. Whenever you see in the Radak an interpretation in the name of "my master, my father," know that the Radak is preparing sweets. He has sweet things. Whenever he brings an interpretation in the name of his father. So the Radak here brings an interpretation in the name of his father, that what is written here, "as a pregnant woman draws near to give birth, she writhes, she cries out in her pangs," is connected to what was written before, "they poured out a whisper when Your chastening was upon them." He says: all that You strike and afflict them, they not only do not distance themselves from You but even add to their love for You. What is the example of this? What is the parable for this? "As a pregnant woman draws near to give birth, she writhes and cries out in her pangs." He says, for behold, when the pregnant woman gives birth, who caused her this pregnancy? Her husband. So what should she do now? Curse him. What should she do now? Denounce him. Because of you I suffer this suffering. But nevertheless, "she writhes, she cries out in her pangs," in any case she adds love upon her love for him. The fact that she is now giving birth does not cause her to hate her husband who, as it were, brought her to this state, but on the contrary she adds even more love for him. He says: "so were we before You, Hashem." So too You, Master of the Universe, in distress they sought You, You brought upon us distresses and we sought You, a whisper of Your chastening upon them, and nevertheless like a woman giving birth, we did not, as it were, say this is from You, Master of the Universe, and come, God forbid, to distance and hatred, but on the contrary, like a woman giving birth we said, Master of the Universe, this is from You, and we add love upon our love.
"We were pregnant, we writhed, as though we gave birth to wind; we have not wrought salvation in the earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen." "We were pregnant, we writhed," "chalnu" from the language of writhing and trembling, "as though we gave birth to wind." The Malbim explains that the meaning is: what came out of the birth, that from those enormous pangs, from those afflictions, what came out of that birth? Wind (ruach). What ruach? The Malbim says, a spirit of prophecy, a spirit of wisdom and knowledge, a spirit of hope. This was, as it were, the son born from those pangs, from that pregnancy that was then. What is the ruach? What does this ruach prophesy to us? That ruach which was, as it were, born from that birth, from that expectation that we hoped for redemption, from this was born a ruach, a spirit of prophecy, that says to us: "we have not wrought salvation in the earth." The meaning is: here in the material, physical world, here there will be no salvation. In this material world we have not yet been saved. "Nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen": in the physical world, that is, here, there is no place for a true salvation here. "The inhabitants of the world," there is no place here upon which salvation would settle. But nevertheless one should not despair, since salvation is still destined to be, as we will see in the next verse.
The Radak explains, and here too this is an interpretation in the name of "my master, my father the Rosh," excuse me, "my master, my father," without "the Rosh." The father of the Radak. The Radak says: when a woman in labor gives birth, then we know, it is finished, the afflictions are over, she has given birth. But when a woman comes and begins to feel contractions before the proper time, then what happens with this woman? She suffered and suffers in hard afflictions like birth, but what, what in the end comes out of it? "We were pregnant, we writhed, as though we gave birth to wind." In the end she gives birth to nothing. Still, it is not yet the time of birth. So she suffered and is afflicted, but wind, that is it, nothing was born. Now, does she rest? No. The woman in labor, after she has given birth, has rest, the child came out, he is outside, it is over. But we were pregnant, we writhed, as though we gave birth to wind, and since it is as though we gave birth to wind, then I know that in this state there is still no salvation. "We have not wrought salvation in the earth." We still do not have salvation here, since I know that the birth still awaits me. The first visit I made to the hospital they sent me home. Those contractions were only pains, but wind, nothing. "We have not wrought salvation in the earth," we still do not have salvation here, "nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen," the inhabitants of the world have not yet fallen from their standing, the nations have not yet fallen, so all the promises You promised us, Master of the Universe, are still at the stage where they gave birth to wind. We have not yet merited the birth after which comes rest, when we know the distresses are over, that is it, salvation has come.
"Your dead will live, my corpses will rise; awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust, for Your dew is a dew of lights, and the earth will cast out the shades." "Your dead will live." We now await that Your dead will live. That is, pay attention, we will now continue according to the interpretation of the Malbim. According to the interpretation of the Malbim, then "we were pregnant, we writhed," and as a result what was born? A spirit of prophecy was born. That spirit of prophecy says: here in the physical world there is no place for salvation. Here in the physical world salvation is not a real thing, not an existing thing. Do not despair. "Your dead will live, my corpses will rise; awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust." In the world of the resurrection, in the eternal world, there the salvations will come. But if they were given to you here, then what would they pay you? Pennies, they would pay you in small coins. This is not the true salvation. Here in the earth, in the physical world, we have not wrought salvation in the earth, this is not the place of salvation. When will the salvations be received? "Upon the inhabitants of the world." But when? When "Your dead will live, my corpses will rise." Then the destined salvations will arrive. And not only will the souls live, he tells you: know, in the future "my corpses will rise" too, the body too will rise in the resurrection. And the reason for this is that, since in this world the soul and the body were afflicted together, therefore the future reward too will be for the soul and the body together. So do not think that only "Your dead will live," the soul will receive, but also "my corpses will rise," the body too, in the aspect of a corpse, it too will rise. And if there were no salvation for the living, here it says at any rate: "awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust." Even though you are already dwellers in the dust, and then it seems, it is finished, his story is over, a dweller in the dust, he already has no salvation. He says: no, know, your hope is not lost, "for Your dew is a dew of lights." What is "Your dew is a dew of lights"? The dew that rose to the heavens, the vapors, from where does the dew actually descend? From the vapors rising from here to the earth, this is the moisture, it evaporates, rises to the heavens, and afterwards it descends as dew. The parable here is to our deeds. The good deeds that we do are like the moisture rising from the earth, and afterwards it descends as dew, "for Your dew is a dew of lights." What is "orot" (lights)? Vegetables. "Orot" means vegetables. Now, who will give me an example from the prophet? We learned this. Who went out to gather "orot"? The students of the prophet Elisha. There it is written that they went out to gather "orot" and then what happened? There was "death in the pot." Remember? If not, take the recordings, do a review. Right? They found "orot" there. "Orot" means vegetables. So he says: "for Your dew is a dew of lights." Like the vegetables that grow from the dew. There are vegetables for which dew alone suffices. Which vegetables? For example truffles and mushrooms. A bit of moisture, suddenly you see growing such a large mushroom, in a single day. So he says: so too the dead, they are destined to live like those vegetables that come by the power of the dew, that come upon the vegetables, "for Your dew is a dew of lights." Now the Malbim explains, he also expounds "the dew of lights," that part of the moisture that rises from here, from the world to the heavens, which causes rains to fall, the Malbim says part of the moisture is from the vegetables in the earth. Everything in the earth that has moisture, moisture rises from it. Also from a person, when a person sweats moisture rises from it. From water moisture rises. From vegetables moisture rises. So this moisture that rises from the vegetables, when the sun beats upon it, this moisture ultimately descends back as dew in order to water the vegetables again. So he says: "for Your dew is a dew of lights." This dew is what will revive. What? The good deeds, which are in the aspect of what we explained several times, in the aspect of "mayin nukvin" (feminine waters). The good deeds that we do here in this world arouse love on high and this creates a union in the upper worlds and brings down "mayin dukhrin" (masculine waters), this brings down abundance to here, to the world. But from where must it always begin? It must begin from here. From the dew rising from the "orot." The dew rising from the "orot," this is "Your dew." With this dew the Holy One, blessed be He, revives. With this dew they will rise. This is what he says: "Your dead will live, my corpses will rise; awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust, for Your dew is a dew of lights," by the power of that dew of lights of the mitzvot and good deeds. And through this "and the earth will cast out the shades." Those who are dead, who are already buried in the earth for a long time, those in the graves, the earth of the shades, through this it will cast upon them that dew of lights, and from this they will rise, and from this the redemption will begin. All this the Malbim says are the words of the spirit that was born in verse 18, "we were pregnant, we writhed, as though we gave birth to wind," we said this spirit that came because of all the distresses and was born from us, that spirit is a spirit of prophecy, a spirit of wisdom and knowledge and hope, that spirit says: know, this hard situation will not last forever, but rather upon those dry bones will come a dew of resurrection and revive them. And even though this is not now, since "we have not wrought salvation in the earth," this is a physical, material reality, salvation here is not real, not enduring, not eternal salvation, but know, there is destined to be an eternal salvation. Do not despair of that salvation, as it is written in Yechezkel, "behold I open your graves." So then one must look forward to this and wait, so says that spirit.
"Go, My people, enter into your chambers and shut your doors behind you; hide for a brief moment until the wrath passes." Rashi says: "go, My people, enter into your chambers," the Holy One, blessed be He, gives him an answer to the prophet. "Go, My people, enter into your chambers," into the synagogues and the study halls. This is "enter into your chambers." What is required of a person? Come to the House of God. Come to the synagogue, come to the study hall. Another matter: "enter into your chambers," this fits so well with the Ten Days of Repentance in which we find ourselves, examine your deeds in the chambers of your heart. This is the meaning of "enter into your chambers." For many times, on the surface, a person says to himself, what is wrong, what, what is not fine? Thank God everything with me is fine and everything is wonderful and I try and do and... But they say to him, no, examine in the chambers of your heart and then you will see how much you need to correct. "Enter into your chambers." One can also say that one completes the other. For in essence, why is a person sure that he is fine? Because he did not learn. If he had learned, as the Rambam says to that one who did not want to confess, he said: I know, I do not have all these iniquities, how can I say it? The Rambam said to him: if you had learned, you would know that every single day you transgress everything written in the confession. And if not in a clear manner, then in a more precise manner. That is to say, if a person had learned, he understands the magnitude of the demand upon him, and then he would also understand how much he is lacking. Why do we feel complete? Because we are sure that we are doing beyond what is required of us. If we knew how much is truly required of us, then we would truly feel how much we are lacking. So one completes the other. "Go, My people, enter into your chambers," into the synagogues and study halls, and then examine your deeds in the chambers of your heart, then you will be able to examine in the chambers of your heart to see how much you are lacking, to see how much you need to complete yourself. On this we once said, they explain what is written that a person who sees afflictions that came upon him, it is written, let him examine his deeds. Let him inspect his deeds. If he examined and did not find, let him attribute it to neglect of Torah. So everyone asks: what does this mean? You said, let him examine his deeds. Part of the deeds is the mitzvah of Torah study. If he examined and did not find, that is to say, he also searched in Torah study and checked and felt that everything with him is fine, he has no problem. So how do you afterwards say, let him attribute it to neglect of Torah? He already examined his deeds. What, is neglect of Torah another mitzvah? Is it something separate? So they explain, there is the simple explanation that says: let him attribute it to neglect of Torah, for regarding neglect of Torah the demand is exceedingly precise, down to the finest detail, as Iyov says. So therefore let him attribute it to neglect of Torah. But they explain, according to what we explained now they explain this very beautifully. He examined and did not find, let him attribute, not the afflictions, let him attribute the afflictions to neglect of Torah, no. He already checked, he has no neglect of Torah. Rather, let him attribute the fact that he did not find to neglect of Torah. If you had learned a bit more, oh, how many iniquities you would have found in yourself. Why do you not find iniquities in yourself? Because of neglect of Torah, because you do not learn. So you do not know the obligation, you do not know how much is required of a person, how much work and how much labor and toil is upon a person's shoulders here in this world. He examined and did not find, let him attribute the fact that he did not find to neglect of Torah. If he had learned more, he would surely have found how many shortcomings and how many iniquities. It is told of the Rav of Brisk that once he was walking through the streets of Jerusalem, he was walking with another great Torah scholar, and they were speaking in learning. Then some person met them and said to him: Rabbi, what, what does one need to do now? So the Rav of Brisk said to him: what, it is the Ten Days of Repentance, one needs to repent. So he said to him: the Rav of Brisk needs to repent? Thus he said to the Rav of Brisk. They say that the Rav of Brisk, half an hour after this, could not calm down. He said: what? Did you hear what people say? The Rav of Brisk needs to repent? He says: is that a question? Is such a question asked? Do I not need to repent? How much I need to repent! He was exceedingly precise to the utmost, in each and every thing. And he said: see what a decline we have declined into. In Brisk they would not ask such a question. In Brisk outside, who would say such a thing, the Rav of Brisk needs to repent? What is the question? Is there anyone who does not need to repent? And every single day, for it is written of Rav Saadia Gaon that every single day he would repent. Why? Because today I recognized the Creator on a higher level. And then, if so, what I yesterday did not serve Him on that level, that is already a shortcoming. On this itself one needs to repent. So we understand how great the demand is upon a person. So therefore he says: "go, My people, enter into your chambers." First, enter the synagogues and study halls, and then examine your deeds in the chambers of your heart. "And shut your doors behind you." The meaning, Onkelos says: do good deeds that will protect you. This is "shut your doors." What can shut the door? Not the shelter, not the mask, no, but "shut your doors," there are things that are the closure, they are the door. What are they? Good deeds that protect you. Rabbi Tanchuma expounded: shut the doors of your mouth, that you should not question the attribute of justice. Since here he now speaks of a state of distress, the Radak explains that this speaks of Gog and Magog. "Go, My people, enter into your chambers," a state of distress, shut the doors of your mouth, do not question the attribute of justice. "Hide for a brief moment," hide for a brief moment until the wrath passes. And after the wrath passes, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, then I will exact retribution from the enemies as fitting. Wait, hide for a brief moment until the wrath of Hashem passes from over you, and then the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact retribution as fitting for those who oppressed the people of Israel.
"For behold, Hashem goes forth from His place to visit upon the inhabitant of the earth his iniquity; and the earth will reveal her blood and will no longer cover her slain." Behold, Hashem goes forth from His place, then the Holy One, blessed be He, went forth and will visit upon the nations the iniquities of all that they did evil to us. "And the earth will reveal her blood." The Radak says: this is like what is written concerning the war of Gog and Magog, "and Hashem will go forth and fight against those nations." And for what? For all the blood they spilled from the people of Israel and that they spilled in Jerusalem, and innocent blood, all of it Hashem will visit upon them. And the Radak says: when the Holy One, blessed be He, does not avenge the blood, then the blood is, as it were, covered. And when He avenges the blood, then, as it were, through this it is revealed. As it is written, "earth, do not cover my blood," thus said Iyov. When there is not, when the iniquity is not punished, then, as it were, the matter is covered. But he says, no, the earth will no longer cover her slain. Now there will be a reckoning. The Holy One, blessed be He, will avenge the enemies as fitting for them, and the earth will reveal her blood, now they will be punished. As it is written in the prophecy of Yoel, "and I will hold their blood innocent, but I will not hold it innocent." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: the blood of those who gave their souls for My sanctity, this I did not hold innocent. Everything I held innocent, but their blood I did not hold innocent. And it is written that... how is it written, "stained with blood," yes? For what? "And their lifeblood spattered upon My garments." The Sages say that the Holy One, blessed be He, has a garment, and this garment is stained with the blood of all those who gave their souls for the sanctity of Hashem's name. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says: it is finished, there will not be a state where the earth covers their blood, but rather the earth will reveal her blood, then the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact retribution from the nations and pour out His wrath upon them in order to avenge all that they did to the people of Israel. And then he says: "will no longer cover her slain," this too is in the future tense, the Malbim says, that whoever will kill from here onward, then he will immediately receive his punishment. In the language of the Malbim: the earth will rise up against him for his punishment immediately. Not as it was until now, when the earth, as it were, covers his blood, but rather no, the earth will avenge him immediately, the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact retribution from him immediately. So may Hashem exact retribution from all the nations speedily, amen and amen.