Chapter 43 of Yeshayahu continues the great debate the prophet conducts with the idolaters: the contrast between faith in Hashem and all the vanity the nations spun regarding their deities. In the portion before us, the Holy One, Blessed be He, calls upon Israel to be His witnesses, proves His absolute oneness, and brings proof of the future redemption from three redemptions that have already occurred: the redemption from Babylon, the redemption from Egypt, and the downfall of Sancheiriv.
אַתֶּם עֵדַי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה וְעַבְדִּי אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרְתִּי לְמַעַן תֵּדְעוּ וְתַאֲמִינוּ לִי וְתָבִינוּ כִּי־אֲנִי הוּא לְפָנַי לֹא־נוֹצַר אֵל וְאַחֲרַי לֹא יִהְיֶה׃ - "You are My witnesses," says Hashem, "and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe in Me, and understand that I am He; before Me no god was formed, nor shall there be after Me."
The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: Come and see the difference between the nonsensical tales told about other gods and what is told about the Creator of the universe. All the accounts regarding Hashem are faithful and enduring, and there are eyewitnesses to the signs and wonders He performed: "You are My witnesses, says Hashem" - six hundred thousand men who witnessed Hashem's deeds with their own eyes.
Here lies the great difference between Jewish faith and other religions. People ask: Why believe in Judaism? How many of you are there, fifteen million? Assimilation is taking a heavy toll. By contrast, Christianity counts around a billion adherents, and Islam is close behind. If so, why believe specifically in the minority? Some ask this out of malice, while others ask out of a sincere search for truth.
The answer, as explained in the study of Sefer HaKuzari, rests on a simple and logical principle: the strength of a chain is measured by its weakest link. If a chain has links capable of holding a ton, but at its very beginning there is a single thread that can only support a kilogram, how much can the entire chain hold? One kilogram. The Jewish people are a chain of six hundred thousand from beginning to end - an unbreakable chain. The nations are indeed a chain of a billion, but how many stand at its origin? One. Those three or four individuals who recounted miracles and wonders - walking on water, feeding the multitudes at a feast, and all such nonsense - from them it all began, and his primary fame was acquired only after his death, just as all the gospels were composed after his death. And regarding Muhammad, a single individual arose and claimed that during his epileptic seizures an angel appeared to him and provided "upgrades" to the Torah: Moshe is a true prophet, but changes have occurred and the people must be updated. Whether that is true or not - and we know it is not - how many did it start with? One. What is the strength of such a chain? Zero. If someone comes and tells you a story, will you start believing him tomorrow? In contrast, Judaism begins with six hundred thousand men of "You have seen" - six hundred thousand people who experienced divine revelation.
Moreover, such a story cannot be fabricated and planted in history. One cannot simply come along today and claim that a revelation to six hundred thousand people took place three thousand years ago, for the immediate response would be: Interesting, how is it that you know this and I do not? Such an event could never be forgotten - how could it be that all of us forgot and only you remember? Especially when that very Torah itself states that it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants, meaning the claim contradicts itself. Judaism possesses something no other religion in the world has, for no other religion even pretends to offer verifiable knowledge; every other religion says, "You must believe." Judaism alone says: You can investigate and see for yourself that Hashem is God and that He gave the Torah. It is the only faith where the truth of the Torah can be demonstrated, which is precisely what is done in outreach seminars and programs such as Arachim.
One might wonder: if the truth of the Torah can be proven, why is faith (emunah) necessary at all? After all, it says, "And you shall know" - knowing is attainable! The answer is: where intellect ends, faith begins. One can know that there is a Creator of the universe, but knowing that everything Hashem does is for one's ultimate good - that already belongs to the realm of faith. Furthermore, there are things concealed from us: we cannot grasp His essence, nor do we know what the future holds, and all of these fall within the domain of emunah. The Holy One, Blessed be He, revealed truth to us up to a certain point, leaving the remainder to the realm of faith, through which a person earns reward. For if everything were completely obvious and laid out on the table, mankind would not be divided into believers and non-believers, but rather into the wise and the foolish - since anyone acting contrary to what is plainly visible before his eyes would simply be a fool. The Holy One, Blessed be He, does not desire robots; He desires people who choose to believe. Therefore, He reveals a handbreadth while concealing two. Yet for anyone who wishes to investigate, the evidence is beyond doubt. This is the meaning of "and believe in Me."
And the third element: "and understand" - through rational demonstration. This was the approach taken by Rabbeinu Bachya in Chovot HaLevavot, in Shaar HaYichud, where he proves the existence of Hashem through philosophical logic: there must necessarily be a single Prime Creator, for if there were two, which one created the other? These are proofs grounded in intellect and discernment. "And understand" - that through deep contemplation one can reflect and arrive at the conclusion that there is one Creator of the world, and that very Creator proclaims: "I am He; before Me no god was formed."
The pagans believed that one deity fathered another, who then arose and slew his father, reigned in his stead, took his wife, and fathered a son who rebelled against him and became a deity over some specific force - all the absurdities of mythology. In contrast to this, the Holy One, Blessed be He, proclaims: "Before Me no god was formed" - I am not a power derived from another power; no god brought Me into being. "Nor shall there be after Me" - neither have I begotten any son, not that individual, nor through any "holy spirit," nor any of those senseless fabrications; nor will authority and dominion ever pass from Me to any other power, as the nations believed.
However, the wording of the verse presents a difficulty that the Malbim sets out to resolve, one already noted by the Radak, who wrote that it poses a challenge for the commentators. What is meant by "before Me"? Can there be a "before" with respect to Hashem? The Holy One, Blessed be He, was, is, and will be; He transcends the framework of time entirely, and for One Who is above time, concepts like "before" and "after" are utterly inapplicable. Furthermore, "before Me no god was formed" might imply, Heaven forbid, that God Himself is an entity that was formed, and that merely prior to Him no other was formed. This verse appears deeply problematic from the standpoint of fundamental belief.
Therefore, the commentators explain - and the Malbim cites this in the name of his father as well - that "before Me no god was formed" means: nothing was created by any god other than Me. That is, the meaning is not merely that no other god was ever formed, but that nothing was ever formed through the power of any god. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: Do you believe in other powers? Set aside the question of who such a power is, where it came from, and who created it - do you believe these powers actually accomplished anything in the world? Show Me what they did! "Before Me", that is, before My eyes and in My presence, nothing was ever formed by the power of any god. What thing in the world can you point to that was created by any power beside Him, blessed be He? You cannot say, "Such-and-such god created the moon." The word el means a power, and "no god was formed" means that no god ever formed any creation. It emerges that there is none beside Him; and not only that, but no other power has ever created any existing reality in this world.
אָנֹכִי אָנֹכִי יְהֹוָה וְאֵין מִבַּלְעָדַי מוֹשִׁיעַ׃ - I, even I, am Hashem, and beside Me there is no savior.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I alone exist in true reality, and therefore there is no savior beside Me, for He alone rules over all. For if there were another power, one might say: If Hashem does not save you, perhaps that other power will save you. But since "I, even I" exist and there is none other, it follows that there is no savior beside Me, and salvation comes solely from Him, blessed be He.
אָנֹכִי הִגַּדְתִּי וְהוֹשַׁעְתִּי וְהִשְׁמַעְתִּי וְאֵין בָּכֶם זָר וְאַתֶּם עֵדַי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה וַאֲנִי־אֵל׃ - I have declared, and I have saved, and I have proclaimed, and there was no strange god among you; and you are My witnesses, says Hashem, and I am God.
This verse is structured to parallel the two preceding verses. Corresponding to "that I am He; before Me no god was formed, nor shall there be after Me", the verse states: "I have declared, and I have saved." Already in the past I promised to save in the future, and indeed I saved in actual reality. When? At the Exodus from Egypt. I promised your forefather Avraham, "And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge," and I promised that they would go out with great wealth. I declared it, and ultimately I indeed saved. By contrast, among the nations and their idols, where can you find such a thing? First, have you ever heard of an idol that declared the end from the beginning? We have never heard of such a thing. And second, even if it had declared something, did you ever see it fulfill the objectives it set for itself? Such a concept is utterly unimaginable among idolaters.
And corresponding to "I, even I, and beside Me there is no savior", the verse states: "and I have proclaimed, and there was no strange god among you." When I proclaimed My words, you saw that there was no strange god among you; there is no other power, only Me alone. It is written that at the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, the Holy One, blessed be He, opened for them seven heavens above and seven depths below on the earth, so that they would see that Hashem is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath - there is none else. He showed them His absolute sovereignty, as it is said: "You have been shown to know that Hashem is God; there is none else beside Him."
"And you are My witnesses, says Hashem" - here there are living witnesses, not tales passed down from grandfather to grandson; you saw this with your own eyes at Mount Sinai. "And I am God" - Divinity Itself testifies to this. For the word El denotes that He is unique, eternal, and unchanging; whereas anything that changes, or exists for a period and then passes away, is not a god. A true God must be an eternal, immutable power, and there is no other power beside Hashem.
גַּם־מִיּוֹם אֲנִי הוּא וְאֵין מִיָּדִי מַצִּיל אֶפְעַל וּמִי יְשִׁיבֶנָּה׃ - Even from the very beginning I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act, and who can reverse it?
The comprehension of Divinity did not begin only when I revealed Myself to you at Mount Sinai, as though God only existed from that moment onward - certainly not! Rather, "even from the beginning", from before time was, I am He and there is none beside Me. "And there is none who can deliver out of My hand" refers to the past; "I act, and who can reverse it?" refers to the future. And since there is no power outside of Him, blessed be He, it follows that whatever Hashem wills to perform, no power can halt it.
To us, this emphasis might seem somewhat puzzling: why is it necessary to state all of this, when these are clear and simple axioms? However, one must realize that this was addressed to a generation of idolaters, a generation that believed in disparate powers, deities, and idols, for whom these concepts were almost revolutionary. Therefore, it was necessary to repeatedly instill and clarify these fundamental truths. This was especially true in an era that believed in dualism - two separate domains: a power of good and a power of evil battling each other, where whichever triumphs dictates the reality of the world; if the force of evil prevails, evil occurs, and if the force of good prevails, goodness follows. Countering this, the Holy One, blessed be He, declares, "I, even I," and likewise, "know that I, I am He" - both the good and the bad. Look at the two opposing forces seen in creation: how can both death and life stem from the same Source? Evil and good from One? Darkness and light from One? Night and day? To their minds, this seemed like a total contradiction: how could two opposite phenomena emerge from the very same power? It seemed like fire that both cools and heats. Today we are no longer bewildered by this, since the very same air conditioner can both cool and heat - evidently we grasped the concept, and so such machines were invented for us; but back then, they could not fathom this. Therefore Scripture declares: "I, even I, am Hashem," "I, I am He" - all powers originate solely from Him, blessed be He.
כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה גֹּאַלְכֶם קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמַעַנְכֶם שִׁלַּחְתִּי בָבֶלָה וְהוֹרַדְתִּי בָרִיחִים כֻּלָּם וְכַשְׂדִּים בָּאֳנִיּוֹת רִנָּתָם׃ - Thus said Hashem, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and brought down all of them as fugitives, and the Chaldeans in the ships of their joyous song.
Before delving into the explanation, there is a textual variant to address here: shillachti Bavelah ("I sent to Babylon") or shullachti Bavelah ("I was sent to Babylon")? The Minchat Shai, an Acharonic grammatical work that we do not often study, examines grammatical variations and textual readings: whether there is a meteg or not, how a letter is vocalized, and how a word is read. He cites sources where the textual reading is "for your sake I was sent to Babylon" (shullachti). If so, who is being spoken of? The Holy One, blessed be He, in His very glory, Who, as it were, descended with Israel to Babylon. So it is in Midrash Shocher Tov on the psalm "By the rivers of Babylon", that the Holy One, blessed be He, journeyed Himself, as it were, as it says, "for your sake I was sent to Babylon." And similarly in Midrash Rabbah at the end of Parashat Emor, that the Shechinah was exiled with them, as it were, and said, "for your sake I was sent to Babylon." He likewise cites this from the Mechilta, Shir HaShirim Rabbah, the Pesikta, Yalkut Zechariah, and Midrash Eichah on "young men took up the millstone," where the Aruch states in the name of Megillat Eichah: "it is written shullachti Bavelah." Ibn Ezra explained it this way as well, whereas the Radak questioned him: from where does he get shullachti, when the text reads shillachti? And the Abarbanel cites both textual variants and explains them both.
The difference between them is fundamental: shullachti means that the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "I was sent to Babylon - the Shechinah was exiled with you"; whereas shillachti means "I sent you to Babylon." The conclusion is that shillachti is indeed the authoritative textual reading, and this was in fact the text the Midrashim possessed as well. How, then, did they derive shullachti? One must understand that there is keri and ketiv, and there is the principle of "eim la-masoret" (the written tradition is primary) and "eim la-mikra" (the vocalized reading is primary). Midrashim often take a verse written in a certain way and expound upon it through a vocalic variation or shift. After all, in a Sefer Torah or parchment scroll there are no vowel points, nor are there distinguishing letters: when writing shillachti there is no yud, and when writing shullachti there is no vav - so it simply spells shin, lamed, chet, tav, yud. In terms of eim la-masoret, our received reading tradition is shillachti, but according to the bare consonantal text before us, it could also be vocalized as shullachti. The Midrash expounds this in the manner of "al tikrei": do not read shillachti, but rather shullachti. Consequently, there is no real dispute: in the literal reading of the verse, the text is unquestionably shillachti, and the Midrash expounds it purely as a homiletical teaching (derash), without altering the written text of the verse.
Now to the explanation. The Targum renders: "On account of your sins I exiled you to Babylon" - this corresponds to "for your sake I have sent to Babylon." "And brought down all of them as barichim" - the Targum translates: "and I brought them all down with oars." These oars are the wooden beams used to steer and direct a ship (not necessarily oars in the modern sense; it may refer to the rudder or steering oars that guide the ship right and left). And why are oars called barichim? The Radak offers a novel explanation: rechim refers to ships, called this because ships sailed by the wind (ruach), since they had sails - they sailed with the winds (be-ruchim). Ruchot is the feminine plural and rechim the masculine plural. Thus, "and I brought down all of them *be-richim*" means: I brought them all down in ships to Babylon, just as it is written in the Torah that the king of Babylon would come and exile you in ships to Babylon.
"And the Chaldeans in the ships of their joyous song" - regarding the Chaldeans, their rinah, meaning their cry, came through the ships. Whose cry? According to the first interpretation, it refers to Israel who were exiled to Babylon. But Rashi cites another explanation, that the entire verse can be understood as tidings of redemption: "For your sake I have sent to Babylon" - I will send the kings of Media to Babylon, to bring down the Chaldeans in ships and with oars and exile them to the land of Media; and I will bring down the Chaldeans in those very ships in which they took pride and in which they rejoiced, and through them I will exile them. Thus, the verse speaks either of our exile, that Hashem sent us to Babylon, or of our redemption, in which the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will send the kings of Media to Babylon to punish them.
The Malbim explains that the prophet brings proof for the future redemption from the redemptions that have already occurred: the redemption from Babylon and the redemption from Egypt. The Babylonian redemption took place through natural means - we did not witness signs and wonders, hailstones falling from the heavens, or the splitting of the Red Sea; Cyrus simply granted permission to build the Temple, and everything appeared natural. The Exodus from Egypt, by contrast, was entirely supernatural: the Ten Plagues, the departure from Egypt from which not a single slave had ever escaped, the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud, and the splitting of the Red Sea. The prophet proceeds gradually, opening with the natural and advancing to the supernatural, for it is the way of poetic rhetoric to begin with the smaller and proceed to the greater - "not only this, but even that" - for if one begins immediately with the greatest wonder, what remains to surprise you at the end?
Accordingly: "Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel" - I have already redeemed you in the past. "For your sake I have sent to Babylon" - for your sake I cast down and toppled Babylon. "And brought down all of them as bars" - in the Malbim's view, barichim are the fortresses secured with bars and bolts; I tore down their bars and fortresses, and brought down the Chaldeans to be exiled in ships. And why all of this? For your sake, in order to redeem you from Babylon.
אֲנִי יְהֹוָה קְדוֹשְׁכֶם בּוֹרֵא יִשְׂרָאֵל מַלְכְּכֶם׃ - I am Hashem, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.
And why did I do this? "I am Hashem, your Holy One" - on account of your deeds and merits. And if you lack merits - "the Creator of Israel, your King." When a person comes to redeem his servant, even if the servant is troublesome he redeems him, for after all, he is his servant; and all the more so his son, whom he redeems even if he is unworthy or improper. Thus Hashem says: either by virtue of "I am Hashem, your Holy One," in the merit of your good deeds, or by virtue of "the Creator of Israel, your King" - I am your King and I created you, even if you are not entirely worthy.
כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה הַנּוֹתֵן בַּיָּם דָּרֶךְ וּבְמַיִם עַזִּים נְתִיבָה׃ - Thus said Hashem, Who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters.
And not only this, but I also redeemed you from Egypt - and from this you should deduce that there will be a redemption in the future as well. From Egypt, I redeemed you in a supernatural manner: "Who makes a way in the sea" - I made a path for you through the midst of the sea. Where have we ever heard of such a thing, that an entire nation, six hundred thousand men, roughly five million people, cross through the sea?
And what is the difference between a "derech" (way) and a "netivah" (path)? The Malbim explains in many places: a *derech* is the main thoroughfare, whereas a *netiv* is a path for individuals. What is this comparable to? Between Bnei Brak and Netanya there is a main road, the Coastal Highway; but once you arrive at the entrance to the city, there is a lane leading into the city itself. "And a path in mighty waters" - even more than that, even where there were turbulent waters, I provided a path. For at the Splitting of the Red Sea, there was not just one path, but twelve distinct paths, an individual path for each tribe, which was an even greater wonder. If so, why do you doubt the redemption? He Who performed such a miraculous redemption can surely redeem you in the future redemption as well.
There is a story told: an emperor once asked a Jewish sage, saying, "I do not understand. You here in France pray for the welfare of the government and its success in war; yet we are at war with Germany, and Jews live in Germany as well, praying for the success and welfare of their country. And so it is with any two warring nations - Jews pray here, and Jews pray there. What happens Up Above? What is done?" The rabbi replied, "Do you know the wording we say when we pray for the welfare of the kingdom?" The emperor said, "No." The rabbi told him, "We say: 'He Who makes a way in the sea and a path in mighty waters.'" The emperor asked, "And what is the connection between that and praying for the kingdom?" He answered, "Let me explain. When we look at the sea, winds blow in a specific direction, and seemingly all ships should only be able to sail in the direction of the wind. Yet you see ships traveling from this direction and ships coming from the opposite direction, and both reach their destination even though their courses are directly opposed. How? The Holy One, blessed be He, makes a way in the sea and a path in mighty waters, allowing this one to succeed and that one to succeed, even though the wind blows only one way. Do not worry; leave it to the Master of the World. He Who can grant each ship its own path can also grant each kingdom its path and its success in a particular respect. And how exactly? Leave that to the Creator of the world; the Holy One, blessed be He, knows all secrets."
הַמּוֹצִיא רֶכֶב־וָסוּס חַיִל וְעִזּוּז יַחְדָּו יִשְׁכְּבוּ בַּל־יָקוּמוּ דָּעֲכוּ כַּפִּשְׁתָּה כָבוּ׃ - Who brings forth chariot and horse, army and power; they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinguished, quenched like a wick.
Not only did I take Israel out of Egypt, but at that very same time, "Who brings forth chariot and horse, army and power" - who went out after them with chariot and horse? Pharaoh, pursuing them. And what was their end? "They lie down together, they shall not rise" - for when Israel emerged from the sea, they saw them all as dead corpses. "They are extinguished, quenched like a wick" - like flax that is set aflame, consumed in a single moment and extinguished in a second, reduced to nothingness; so did the Holy One, blessed be He, do to the Egyptians, destroying them completely in a single instant.
The Radak explains this verse as referring to another miracle. Until now, we had the redemption from Babylon and the redemption from Egypt, and here it comes to remind them of another deliverance: in the days of Chizkiyahu, when Sancheiriv came to lay siege to Jerusalem. Look at the One Who performed these miracles for you: when the king of Assyria came with chariot and horse - and Hashem Himself brought him, as it is written, "Hashem will whistle for the fly at the edge of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee in the land of Assyria," and as it is written, "Assyria is the rod of My anger" - He brought them to Jerusalem, and in a single moment the angel of Hashem Tzva'ot struck them down. And how did they die? Their souls were burned while their bodies remained intact. This is "Who brings forth chariot and horse, army and power": Hashem whistled for the bee from Assyria, telling him to come and besiege the Land of Israel, and then "they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinguished, quenched like a wick" - in the morning, they all lay as dead corpses, and like burning flax, they were extinguished in an instant.
אַל־תִּזְכְּרוּ רִאשֹׁנוֹת וְקַדְמֹנִיּוֹת אַל־תִּתְבֹּנָנוּ׃ - Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
"Former things" refers to the Exodus from Egypt, which involved open miracles - the Splitting of the Red Sea and the Ten Plagues, events that were entirely supernatural. And since they occurred so long ago, you do not wish to remember them; you have already managed to forget. "Nor consider the things of old" - the redemption that occurred closer to your time, the redemption from Babylon, that too you do not wish to contemplate. Why? Because that redemption outwardly appeared natural: there was no Splitting of the Red Sea and no hailstones, everything seemed natural. To discern the miracle within it requires deep contemplation - and you are unwilling even to contemplate, to perceive the miracle and recognize that this too was a supernatural redemption.
הִנְנִי עֹשֶׂה חֲדָשָׁה עַתָּה תִצְמָח הֲלוֹא תֵּדָעוּהָ אַף אָשִׂים בַּמִּדְבָּר דֶּרֶךְ בִּישִׁמוֹן נְהָרוֹת׃ - Behold, I do a new thing, now it shall sprout forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: You will be compelled to know, remember, and contemplate the future redemption, for it will possess two distinct advantages. The first: "Now it shall sprout forth." The drawback of the Egyptian redemption was that it happened long ago and you managed to forget it; but this one will sprout forth now, in your own time, and you will certainly be bound to remember it. The second: "Shall you not know it?" It will not be like the Babylonian redemption, which required contemplation - and contemplation implies that the matter is not immediately evident or palpable, requiring deeper reflection to recognize the miracle. Here, the redemption will be perceived through the senses; everyone will see that this is the finger of God. "Knowledge" (*yedi'ah*) denotes something clear and evident, as opposed to contemplation (*hitbonenut*), which requires probing. The future redemption will be so evident that all will be able to point and say, "This is God, we have waited for Him," and the miracles and wonders that Hashem will perform will be clearly visible to all.
Then He promises them: "I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert" - I will pave a road in the wilderness, and in the wasteland, in the parched and desolate place, there will be flowing rivers, just as we saw in the prophecy above. Thus, this will be a redemption that is clear, open, and known to all.
In our chapter, the Holy One, Blessed be He, calls upon Israel to be His witnesses: not tales told by a grandfather, but six hundred thousand who saw with their own eyes, a chain whose first link is rock-solid - and this is the foundation of the uniqueness of Jewish faith, which alone invites you to know and examine. And beyond knowledge, faith and understanding remain, in which the Creator leaves room for man's free choice and reward. From here, the prophet demonstrates the absolute oneness of the Creator - "Before Me no god was formed," meaning that nothing in the world was created by the power of any god besides Him - and that He alone saves, foretells, and fulfills. Finally, he brings proof for the future redemption from three salvations that have already occurred: the natural redemption from Babylon, the redemption from Egypt which was entirely supernatural, and the downfall of Sancheriv which was snuffed out like a wick in a single moment. And regarding the future redemption, Hashem promises that it will possess two virtues not found in its predecessors: "now it shall sprout" - in your time, and "will you not know it?" - open and clear to the eyes of all, to the point where He makes a way in the wilderness and rivers in the wasteland.