Sefer Yeshayahu chapter 45. "So says Hashem to His anointed, to Koresh, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him, and I will loosen the loins of kings, to open before him double doors, and gates that will not be shut." This chapter is in truth a continuation of the previous chapter, for in the previous chapter we saw, "Who says of Koresh, My shepherd, and he shall fulfill all My desire, saying of Yerushalayim, it shall be built, and of the Heichal, its foundation shall be laid." Koresh is My shepherd, and we explained two meanings in this. The simple meaning of "My shepherd" is from the language of "my shepherd," that he shepherds My flock. And we explained an additional explanation, that "rei" means I reveal to him My thoughts ("rayonotai"). That is the meaning of "My shepherd" from the language of "rayon," thoughts. "Who says of Koresh, My shepherd," who reveals His thoughts to Koresh, "and he shall fulfill all My desire." Koresh king of Persia shall fulfill My desire, and what is My desire? "Saying of Yerushalayim, it shall be built, and of the Heichal, its foundation shall be laid." This refers to the building of the second Beit HaMikdash which was done through Koresh, which at least was begun through Koresh.
So, "So says Hashem to His anointed, to Koresh." What is "to His anointed, to Koresh"? Rashi, and so most of the commentators explain, since when did Koresh become an anointed one (mashiach)? Rather, every greatness is called anointing. "Which I have given to you, I have given it to you as an anointment." Anointment or mashicha means appointment, to appoint a person to greatness. Like "and you shall anoint Chazael," "you shall anoint as prophet in your place," "because Hashem has anointed me." So too "to His anointed, to Koresh" refers to the appointment of the greatness and importance that Koresh will receive from Me. And what is the appointment? We will see: to redeem Am Yisrael, as we will see further on, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu appointed him for this, that is, gave him the task that the nations would be delivered into his hand and Am Yisrael would be able to return to their land to build the second Beit HaMikdash.
The Gemara in Masechet Megillah on daf 12: Rav Nachman bar Rav Chisda expounded, what is the meaning of what is written, "So says Hashem to His anointed, to Koresh, whose right hand I have grasped"? And was Koresh a mashiach? Since when did Koresh become an anointed one? Rather, pay attention to what an innovative explanation of the pasuk this is. Rather, HaKadosh Baruch Hu said to the Mashiach, I complain to you about Koresh. I said he would build My house and gather My exiles, and he said, "Whoever among you of all His people, let him go up." Do you hear? "So says Hashem to His anointed." HaKadosh Baruch Hu spoke with His Mashiach. "To Koresh" means about Koresh. HaKadosh Baruch Hu speaks with His Mashiach, with the Mashiach, and complains about Koresh. He has a claim and a complaint against Koresh. Why does He need to say this to the Mashiach? Because the Mashiach is the one appointed over the redemption, right? Who will redeem us? The Mashiach. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu, as it were, comes to the Mashiach and says to him, behold, look, Koresh, I had hopes from him, I had an expectation from him, and behold he did not live up to the expectations. What was the hope? The hope that Koresh would subdue, that nations would come down before him, that the loins of kings I would loosen, that double doors and gates would not be shut, that he would fight and return Am Yisrael to their land and build the Beit HaMikdash. In contrast, Koresh, instead of being active, was passive. "Whoever among you of all His people, let him go up." What does he do? He opens the gates. Ah, by all means, whoever wants can go. What is this? This is not the task. Your task was for the nations to be delivered beneath you, your task was to gather the exiles. Indeed, how many went up at the end of the process in the time of Ezra and Nechemiah? 50,000 people went up. Is 50,000 people Am Yisrael? 50,000 people is not even a neighborhood. What is 50,000 people? That is what went up in his time. Koresh was supposed to gather the exiles, to fight against the nations. Koresh had a task, and Koresh did not fulfill that task. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu said, "So says Hashem to His anointed, to Koresh," I have claims about Koresh "whose right hand I have grasped," and behold he did not complete what I expected of him.
Rashi brings that this matter is in truth also precise in the cantillation marks of the pasuk. For "to His anointed," what is the mark above it? A zarka. What always comes after a zarka? A segolta, right? Here is there a segolta after the zarka? No. That is to say, there is here "So says Hashem to His anointed," a pause, and "to Koresh" is, as it were, separate. It is not "So says Hashem to His anointed to Koresh." Rashi says the cantillation marks also prove that this is the explanation, for "to His anointed" stands as a separate unit, and there is no segolta after it to connect it. The segolta would have connected them, but there is no segolta. It is as though to tell you that "to His anointed" does not link, does not connect with Koresh. Koresh is not the Mashiach. Since he did not exert himself in the matter, there is, as it were, a claim and complaint against him.
And the goal was "whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him." "Rad" is from the language of subduing, flattening, leveling. The goal was that all the nations would be flattened before him. "And I will loosen the loins of kings." What is "and I will loosen the loins of kings"? The Radak and Rashi explain that when one wants to strengthen someone, he girds his loins. "Gird now your loins like a man." One girds his loins. Eliyahu girded his loins and ran before Achav. That is to say, when one wants to strengthen, one girds the loins. In contrast, when one wants to weaken, one loosens the loins. This is "and I will loosen the loins of kings." The kings will be weak before you, Koresh, you will prevail over them. This is what HaKadosh Baruch Hu promises. And not only that, "to open before him double doors, and gates that will not be shut." What is "double doors and gates that will not be shut"? The Radak and Rashi explain, the double doors are what we call doors. The gates are the place upon which the doors are mounted. The doors are mounted on the gates. So I will open the doors, and afterwards the gates will not be shut.
The Radak also explains along the same line as Rashi, that what is written "to His anointed, to Koresh" means the appointment with which I appointed him, Koresh. The Malbim explains, "So says Hashem to His anointed," Koresh, Koresh I appointed so that he would fulfill My words. And not only that, but "whose right hand I have grasped" to lead him to the war and the conquest, so that "nations shall be subdued before him." In the Malbim's view, "rad" is not language of flattening but language of dominion (redi'ah). Like "and they shall have dominion over the fish of the sea and over every beast of the earth." The meaning is to rule over them. I gave him the possibilities, the powers, to rule over the nations. And also, that he should not fear that the kings would fight against him, for "I will loosen the loins of kings." In the Malbim's view, what is "I will loosen their loins"? On the loins, what does one gird? The sword. I will loosen their loins, as it were, they will not have the sword on their loins to come and fight. So then, go and conquer! Why are you waiting, Koresh? This is the complaint against Koresh. Indeed, I paved the way for you, so why did you wait? And HaKadosh Baruch Hu also took care that he should not fear the fortified cities. You will say, they have no swords, but how will I conquer them? They have fortified cities. You have nothing to worry about, I will open before you the double doors of the fortified cities. And not only that, but also the outer gates will not be shut. Pay attention, usually when we speak, the language always goes on adding, adding more. Here He says, "I will open before him double doors," the Malbim takes a different approach. That "double doors" is not a door and "gates" is not the gate as Rashi explained, rather the Malbim holds that "double doors" are the doors of the entrance and the doors of the gates, it does not matter, they are called double doors. And in contrast, the gates are the outer part of the city. So He says, I will open the double doors before you, not only the gates, but also the inner doors I will open before you, not only the gates which are outer. And even today we express ourselves in this language, when we want to say "door" (delet), it usually expresses something more inner, and "gate" (sha'ar) expresses something more outer. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, I will open before you the double doors and also the gates of the city, which are the outer gates, will not be shut at all, so that all the fortified cities are open before you, so behold, enter and rule over them. Why are you waiting, Koresh?
"I will go before you and level the crooked places, doors of bronze I will shatter and bars of iron I will cut down." "I will go before you," HaKadosh Baruch Hu promises him that He will go before him and He will guide him. So even, says the Malbim, that in truth your strength is too weak to perform such might, but I will go before you. So when Hashem goes before you, at what point are you limited? You have no limitation at all, Hashem is before you. And another thing, "and I will level the crooked places (hadurim)." From here comes the expression familiar to us all, "to level the crooked places" (leyasher et hahadurim). What is the meaning of "to level the hadurim"? Rashi explains that "hadurim" is a wall. As the Targum Yonatan brings, "hadurim" - "shuraya" (walls). "I will subdue the hadurim" means the wall I will level before you, there will be no walls. You bring down the wall. This is "and I will level the hadurim." There is another explanation, that "hadurim" is from the language of crooked roads. This is called hadurim. Why is it called this? Because the road turns and turns (hadra hadra). "Hadra" means it returns, it circles. So the road is not straight, it turns, it is a road that goes and turns. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, I will not let you have such roads, you will have straight roads, you walk and everything is on a straight path. You will not have crooked roads, this is "and I will level the hadurim." The road that goes and twists will be straightened. And the Malbim explains that they had a deliberate purpose at the start, when they built a fortress they would deliberately build twisting roads so that it would not be possible to approach the fortress. In order to ensure that it would not be easy to conquer it. They had another method, which surely everyone knows, they would make a kind of river that passed around the fortress, so that to cross it one had to cross a moat. And then there was a bridge that would come down and then they would exit the fortress. All this was intended to ensure that enemies would not enter, would not conquer the place. So too here as well, they had the method of making crooked roads so that the enemy would not be able to approach the gate. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, I will level these hadurim, you will be able to arrive directly. Not only that, but also "doors of bronze I will shatter." HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, indeed when you arrive at the place, the road has already been straightened, you have reached the door. What is needed now? You need to open the doors. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, no, first of all I will shatter the doors of bronze and after that "bars of iron I will cut down." In the natural way, a door has a bar. When one wants to enter, first one breaks the bar and then enters through the door. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, here you will have a conquest not in the natural way, that first I will shatter the door and after that "bars of iron I will cut down." Why? Because this is in a miraculous way. So then, Koresh, just go out to battle, says HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and see how much I will help you.
And not only that, there is also a reward at its side. "And I will give you treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, so that you will know that I am Hashem, who calls you by your name, the God of Yisrael." I will give you treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places. What are treasures of darkness? All that a person stores up of silver and gold, precious stones and pearls, and places it in a dark place, meaning in a hidden place. Bavel was full of treasures, as Bavel is called "madheiva." Chazal say that it "measures out gold" (median dahava). Bavel was, there is there much taxation, and it was a land full of gold, it was the possessor of gold. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to him, I will give you those treasures of Bavel which have hidden riches of secret places, all that they hid in secret places, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, I will give you. And why does HaKadosh Baruch Hu promise him this? Because Koresh truly believed in and recognized Hashem. Koresh said, "All the kingdoms of the earth Hashem has given me." Do you hear? Hashem has given me. And this is the opposite of the great kings who were before him. The king of Ashur said, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am understanding." Nevuchadnetzar said, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." They all took pride, what do you have? HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave you everything. The only one who truly recognized the greatness of Hashem was Koresh. "All the kingdoms of the earth Hashem has given me." Nevuchadnetzar recognized it only after he received a great blow and until seven years passed as a beast of the field, whoever wants can listen to Sefer Daniel, where the story is at length. Only after that did he recognize it, but at the start he had pride. Behold here, come and see that Koresh truly recognized Hashem already from the outset. And Koresh contemplated, says the Radak, and saw that the first ones who took pride fell, so he was already careful not to take pride, but knew that everything is from Hashem who lowers and raises up.
The Malbim explains, after I give you to conquer the fortresses as we saw, that the doors will be shattered before him and the roads leveled before him, also the treasures that are there and also the hidden riches I will give you. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, and this for what? For two reasons. First, so that you will recognize My great Name. Second, because I have someone to save here, and that is Am Yisrael. You are indeed only a vessel to redeem Am Yisrael. So I have here a salvation for Am Yisrael. And this is what He says here, "so that you will know that I am Hashem, who calls you by your name." A name expresses greatness, "may Your name be in all the earth." "I am Hashem, who calls you by your name," who publicizes your name. For what purpose do I publicize your name? HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, first, because I want your name to be magnified so that you can conquer all those kingdoms. The second reason, "for I am Hashem, the God of Yisrael." I am the God of Am Yisrael, I have singled out My Name upon them. And therefore I will do this thing so that My Name will be magnified in the world, for when the name of Yisrael among the nations is lowly, then His blessed Name is lowly. And when the name of Yisrael is exalted among the nations, then His blessed Name is also thereby exalted. And this is what He says, "for I am Hashem, the God of Yisrael." So in effect two things are written here. "For I am Hashem, who calls you by your name," for it is My will that your name be magnified. And the second reason, "for I am Hashem, who calls," that is, who is called the God of Yisrael, and desires that the name of Yisrael be publicized and revealed. For this reason I will exalt and magnify your standing and give you all these promises.
Rashi explains "who calls you by your name," meaning you were not yet born and already then I called you by name, Koresh, even before he was born. Where have we seen that a person is called by name long before he is born, informing that he will be a king? A king who is named even before he is born, and it is announced who he will be and what his name will be, and also what actions he will perform? No. No. There is an explicit pasuk, I will give you a hint. He will destroy the avodah zarah of Yeravam and he... Very good. HaKadosh Baruch Hu announces that behold, here a king will come, Yoshiyahu is his name, Yoshiyahu. And he will nullify the avodah zarah and slaughter, "human sacrifices they offer," these are the priests who served there upon the altar, them he will slaughter in this place. This was indeed the prophecy. From whom was this prophecy delivered? Iddo. To whom was it delivered? To Yeravam, right? When he was offering upon the altar and his hand was, he raised his hand, he said, seize him. Whoever wants to refresh their memory should listen to the discs. This is on the disc on Sefer Melachim. And then his hand withered, as is brought there. Now pay attention, we have here in our pasuk "treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places." The Malbim asks, what is the difference between hiding a thing and concealing a thing? Seemingly it is one and the same. So listen to a wonderful distinction, and the Malbim explains this very idea also when he speaks about the spies whom Yehoshua sent, where she hid them in the flax of the wood, and before that it is written that she concealed them. There too the Malbim already dwells on this difference, and it is a real difference in Lashon HaKodesh that we can all take notice of. The hidden is not necessarily concealed and the concealed is not necessarily hidden. What actually is the difference? Concealed can be, for example, if I am looking for you and you conceal yourself. Where do you conceal yourself? There behind the wall. Are you hidden (buried)? No. You are not buried, but you are concealed. In contrast, if for example I take a certain thing here and cover it with a blanket. Is it concealed? Not necessarily, because everyone saw how I covered it with the blanket, it is not concealed. Everyone knows it is here. But what is it for certain? Hidden. I hid it. That is to say, hidden is not necessarily concealed and concealed is not necessarily hidden. Now if I take it and put it in a place that no one knows and also cover it, then it is both hidden and concealed. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, which treasures will I give you? Treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places. Not only something that was hidden, but also what was hidden in secret places that no one knows where it is, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to him, these two things I will give you. It is both buried in the ground and in a hidden place, this HaKadosh Baruch Hu promises to Koresh.
"For the sake of My servant Yaakov and Yisrael My chosen one, I have called you by your name, I have given you a title of honor, though you did not know Me." What is the goal of all this? "For the sake of My servant Yaakov and Yisrael My chosen one." What is "My servant Yaakov"? "My servant Yaakov," indeed we know that Yaakov always expresses Am Yisrael at their lower level, the language of "akeivah," the language of "heel." In contrast, Yisrael always expresses the essence of Yisrael at the higher level, which is the language of nobility. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, I do this for the sake of My servant Yaakov. Even though from the side of their service they are called "My servant Yaakov," from the side of how he serves Me, he is not worthy of this level, he is still in the category of Yaakov, they were not complete tzaddikim at that time. So all that I do is for the sake of My servant who is in the category of Yaakov. But since I chose them to be My portion, therefore they are called Yisrael. That is to say, if I come to look from the perspective of what you do, you are only Yaakov. But if I come to look from the perspective that HaKadosh Baruch Hu took you to Himself, then you are Yisrael, you have a great standing, a standing and greatness by virtue of the fact that Hashem chose you. So this gives you the standing of Yisrael. But from the side of "My servant," as "My servant" we are altogether at the level of Yaakov. And this is precise in the pasuk. "For the sake of My servant," from the side of My servant he is only Yaakov. But "Yisrael My chosen one," since I chose him, he already has nobility, he has a standing, Hashem wanted you, Hashem chose you. The Malbim says that the miracles that HaKadosh Baruch Hu performs when they are for His own need, He does not prophesy about them before He brings them. And if they are for the need of Am Yisrael, then there is prophecy about them before He brings them. HaKadosh Baruch Hu announces that this is how it will be. And this is what He says here, "and since I did this for the sake of My servant Yaakov," therefore "I will call you by your name" and also "I will give you a title." "I will give you a title" means I will call you by a name of honor and standing. Why did you merit all this standing? Because there is here a miracle for the need of Am Yisrael, I need to announce it in advance. And moreover, "though you did not know Me," when you were not yet born, already from then My prophets speak about you. And this is what is written before, "who calls you by your name." What is "who calls you by your name"? You were not yet born, as Rashi explained there, and I already called you by name. Rashi explains "you did not know Me," not in the sense that you did not yet know Me, but Rashi says this is a complaint against him. "For the sake of My servant Yaakov and Yisrael My chosen one, I have called you by your name," I gave you a great name, "I have given you a title," but behold, what in the end? "Though you did not know Me." You did not do My will. You did not complete the expectations that I expected of you. I said he would build My city, as we said, when he arose and became king, he said, "whoever among you of all His people." And he cast off all the burden from his neck. That's it, I do not need to do anything, whoever wants is free to go out. You were supposed to go before them at the head, you to fight for them. Indeed, all that I titled you with this name and all the promises were so that you would act.
What is "I will give you a title" and "I have called you by your name"? The Radak explains "I will give you a title, though you did not know Me," that several years before the exile of Yisrael the prophet prophesies about the destruction of Bavel and says "and He calls you by your name" and says "I will give you a title." Once you were mentioned by the name Koresh and once you were mentioned as a king who would arise without mentioning his name. This is called a title. I title, as it were, saying there will be a king. Who is this? I did not reveal. So once I indeed called you by your name and once I also titled you, that is, there were two situations, and in all of them "you did not know Me." And in all of them you still did not know Me, when I called this out and announced it in advance, you still did not know Me, meaning you did not go to fulfill what I commanded.
"I am Hashem and there is no other, besides Me there is no God, I gird you though you did not know Me." Here seemingly this pasuk enters out of place. What now enters here, "I am Hashem and there is no other"? There are here instructions to Koresh about the conquest and what he needs to do and what the expectations from him were. How does "I am Hashem and there is no other" suddenly enter here? The Radak explains, now He said to him "I gird you." It means, gird your loins, for "you did not know Me," I already spoke through the prophets that I would give you power over all the kingdoms of the earth. It means, since I promised you the power, I am the possessor of power, there is no other power besides Me. So "I gird you," I am the one who will give you the power. What will you ask, from where? "I am Hashem and there is no other," so then who can stand against you? But the Malbim has here a very wonderful explanation, and for the explanation he first offers an introduction. The Malbim says, among the Persian people there had spread at that time the belief of dualism. I will first explain what the belief of dualism is. The belief of dualism was a belief very widely accepted among many of the nations. The belief of dualism says that in fact it is not possible that from one power both good and evil come forth. For one who is good cannot do evil, and one who is evil cannot do good. And if so, it is not possible that there is one power in the world. So what must be understood? That the world has two beginnings. The world was created with two powers. Two powers, a power of good and a power of evil. The power of good is the power that always strives to do good to creatures, that wants to gladden people, that bestows good, that bestows profits, the birth of children, the one who bestows matches, the one who bestows livelihood, all from the good god. On the other hand, there is also death, there is also sorrow, there is also suffering, there are torments, all this, wars, all this from the evil god. There are two powers and they are constantly fighting between themselves. When the evil god prevails, then evil consequently increases in the world. When the good god prevails, then good increases in the world. And the world will be rectified when the good god will be the one who prevails and his hand will be upon the upper side. This is what will be in the future. Now they believed that light, for example, is the handiwork of the good god. Darkness is the handiwork of the evil god. And therefore they are constantly in a war until in the end light will defeat darkness. Now according to this, so in fact darkness is not, according to this, darkness is not an absence, but rather it is an existing reality. I will add here another introduction, I do not want to go into it but I will say it just in two words. There is a great dispute also among the commentators of Yisrael, between the Gaon of Vilna and others, whether darkness is a creation in its own right or whether darkness is the absence of light. This is a dispute and we will not go into it, but our pasuk seemingly comes to decide it. Seemingly "who forms light" implies that it is a creation in its own right, for it is written "and creates darkness." This implies that darkness is a creation in its own right. But there is one who says that darkness is not a creation in its own right but rather it is only the absence of light. Even though a creation of darkness is applicable, as we saw for example in the plague of darkness, but ordinary darkness that we have is not a creation of darkness but rather when there is no light there is consequently darkness. We will follow this line. The Malbim says, it is with complete certainty that what those heretics believed is that darkness is a creation in its own right. For darkness is the creation of whom? Of the evil god, who is the one responsible for death, for darkness, for evil in the world. So darkness is not an absence, only a possession, it is a reality. And so they are possessions that oppose one another, like cold and heat oppose one another. And it was difficult for them to accept that everything comes from one power. It was difficult for them to understand that there is one power that bestows all the bestowals to the world. We said that today it is much easier for us to understand this, for behold you see that we turn on an air conditioner and the air conditioner cools, and on the other hand you turn on a heater and the heater warms. And now a person will come and say, how does this work? We will tell him, everything is from the same electric company. Ah, how can it be? Don't you see, this one cools, that one warms. How can it be? Rather what, today we understand that it can be that one power bestows two opposing bestowals. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu is one God, and with all this, from Him comes forth the sefirah of chesed and from Him comes forth the sefirah of gevurah. And there is no contradiction between the two, since both chesed and gevurah, everything is in fact from Him, blessed be He, everything from the root of Hashem, blessed be He. So we who believe, says the Malbim, will say to these fools, evil and good, light and darkness, life and death, are not opposing possessions. For darkness and death and evil are only the negation of light, life and good. And they are not additional things in the body itself. What is the negation of that vain belief? It is a mistake to think that death is a possession, a reality. It is a mistake to think that evil is a reality. Rather, know, just as, for example, if there is a wealthy person, I ask, how did he become wealthy? What did he acquire? What is his possession? Silver, gold, right? He is a possessor of possessions, he is wealthy. And if a person is poor, what did he acquire? He acquired nothing, he has no possession, poverty. He has no possession of money. That is to say, we understand that poverty is not a possession but rather poverty is an absence. Absence means that the moment you have no money, consequently there is poverty, but I cannot say he was created poor. You do not need to create poor, just do not give him money and consequently he is poor. So money is a possession. The one who has money, the wealthy one, I say he has a possession of wealth. And the one who has no money, he has no possession of poverty, only he does not have money, and consequently he is already poor. Consequently, says the Malbim, so too HaKadosh Baruch Hu created all of reality, He created it with the possessions of good. All that Hashem formed is bestowals of good. Only there was a necessity that this good would be limited. It is not possible that the good would be without limit. For if the good were without limit, then where would you already be? In Gan Eden. If you are in Gan Eden, what room is there for service? What room is there to make effort? Indeed, the whole matter of a person here in this world is so that he will merit the life of the World to Come and will not have "bread of shame." How does one merit? Through effort, that you invest effort. Now it must be that the good is limited. Only in the world of truth is the good not limited, but if here there were unlimited good, then if so, that means there would be no death, there would be no evil, there would be no harm, there would be no chastisement of torments, there would be nothing. If this were the reality, then you would already be in Gan Eden. So you would already be here in Gan Eden. It must be that the good is limited. Consequently, when HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave life, life is within a limit. So after the limit ends, what happens? Death, right? The 120 years are over, death. So tell me, did HaKadosh Baruch Hu create death? He created life within a limit. So consequently what happens after? Consequently there is death. It is not a creation called death, but rather I created life for a certain span of time. The moment I created life for a certain span of time, when that span of time ends, then consequently what there is, is absence. But the absence is not a new possession, it is not a new reality. It is that when there is no existence then consequently there is absence. There is a reality of absence. And so He says regarding all matters. In fact there is no reality to evil, there is no existence to evil, but rather evil is always the cessation of the good. That is to say, let us give an example, a sick person. A sick person, naturally the body functioning at one hundred percent, every part of the body transmitting to the other part, this oiled machine ticking as it should. Does this happen by itself? No. That is to say, someone activated it. Someone created here a reality that this thing would function. Now if he now removes his hands from it and the machine begins to creak, did he create here a reality of the machine creaking? No, he simply stopped maintaining it. So again, illness too is an absence. I did not create illness in the world, I created good in the world. I merely stop bestowing good, and consequently a state of evil is created, but I did not create evil. Evil is in fact only the absence of the reality of good. And so in every single matter. Every harm, every reality in which you see that there is evil in the world, it is not a creation that HaKadosh Baruch Hu created evil, but rather it is in fact the bitterness of death and the absence bound to the heels of the good. The good ends, what is bound to its heels? The evil. But it is not a creation of evil, it is that consequently the moment there is no good then consequently there is already evil. Hashem created light. When Hashem removes the light, then consequently there is darkness. But again, it is not that He created a reality of darkness, He created a reality of light, and the moment the reality ceased then there is darkness. Now pay attention to how wonderful this is. The Malbim says, we attribute to Hashem two primary Names, Hashem, Elokim. He has seven Names, and in fact there is no end to His Names, and the entire Torah in its entirety is His Names, blessed be He, but there are seven Names that are not to be erased, and their essence is two, Hashem and Elokim. And these are the most common Names in all of Tanach and in all the midrashim and the words of Chazal, Hashem and Elokim. What is the difference between the Name Hashem and the Name Elokim? The Name Hashem, how is it called in the books? The Name of the Essence. The Name Havayah is the Name of the Essence. What does this mean? Who is Hashem, blessed be He? Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei. We once explained that this is not truly His Name, the Name of the Essence, for HaKadosh Baruch Hu from the perspective of His essence, blessed be He, which is above the sefirot, above the thin line through which HaKadosh Baruch Hu bestowed His light, we said He has no name and there is no thought that grasps it at all, for a name is a contraction. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not tolerate any contraction, no contraction is applicable to Him. Therefore Hashem is not limited by names. Hashem is above all grasping, He even has no name. All that we speak about names is only after HaKadosh Baruch Hu lowered sefirot to the world. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu lowered sefirot through Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei. So now Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei is from what language? From "mehaveh" (brings into being). HaKadosh Baruch Hu brings into being all of reality. HaKadosh Baruch Hu brings into being all of existence. This is the Name Havayah, blessed be He. This Name is from which sefirah? From which side? Gevurot or chasadim? Chasadim. We all know the Name Havayah is a Name of chasadim. "Hashem, Hashem, God merciful and gracious," the thirteen attributes of mercy. The Name Havayah is a Name of mercy. In contrast, pay attention, what is the Name that expresses judgments? Elokim. Elokim. Pay attention, judgment, gevurah, whoever knows what the definition of judgment is, how is it called? Indeed, judgment is a holy sefirah. It is from the holy sefirot. Gevurah is from the holy sefirot. So how is it from the holy sefirot if it in fact expresses judgments? Rather, judgment is a contraction. Judgment is always a contraction. To contract the thing, to give only according to a ration, only as much as is deserved. This is always judgment. Chesed is bestowal without limit. This is the Name Havayah. The Name Havayah, blessed be He, is to bestow chesed, mercy, abundance without any limit. In contrast, judgment comes and contracts. Who says it is deserved? By judgment is it deserved? And if not, then not. This is always judgment, this is always gevurah, gevurah is the contraction. Now pay attention to how wonderful this is. The Name Havayah, blessed be He, is the Ein Sof, blessed be He, and this is the chesed, and this is everything that is in the world, from Him it is brought into being. So everything that is brought into being, tell me, is it a contraction or abundance? Only abundance. So this is the light and this is life and this is livelihood and this is blessing, and all of it is brought into being from where? From Havayah, blessed be He. From where then are the judgments in the world? From the Name Elokim. The Name Elokim is gevurah as we explained, it is contraction. What then do we understand? It is not a creation of evil, but rather what is it altogether? A contraction of the good. That is to say, life reached a state where it ends, that's it, this is Elokim, this is judgment, this is the cessation. So now the good has ended, so consequently what is there? Evil. But is the evil a creation? It is not a creation. The Name Elokim too does not express, God forbid, evil, but rather it expresses contraction and cessation of the good abundance. So consequently the moment there is a contraction and cessation of the good abundance, what happens is that the reality of absence comes. The reality of absence is death, the reality of absence is illness, is poverty, is all those terrible curses that can come, God forbid, upon a person, all stemming from that reality of absence. Now pay attention to how the Name Elokim is called in the plural. Why? Because in fact one who looks it seems to him that there are powers in creation. There is a power of death and there is a power of this, they tell you, all the powers (kol ha'Elokim). What is "ha'Elokim"? All the powers in their entirety. The Powerful One and the Possessor of Capability and the Possessor of all the powers. For this is exactly what the Name Elokim comes to express. Do not think that there is a separate power, that there is a power of evil, a power of death, a power of harm, no. Rather, He is the Powerful One and He is the Possessor of Capability and the Possessor of all the powers. Therefore this is expressed with the Name Elokim, which comes to express power, which comes to give gevurah, judgment, contraction, cessation of abundance, and it also comes to express that all the powers in their entirety, which seem to you like many powers, everything is from Him, blessed be He, everything is from the Ein Sof, blessed be He. Only when HaKadosh Baruch Hu bestows a reality in which He ceases the abundance, then consequently absence is created. It is not a power in its own right. As we said, this conception was the accepted conception in the kingdom of Persia. The Malbim says, since the prophet now prophesies about Bavel and about the exile and about the redemption that was supposed to be through Koresh king of Persia, the Malbim says, so too the prophet does not refrain from prophesying about the king of Persia and arguing against the vain beliefs that were accepted among them. So that you should not think that if I come and give you, Koresh, a task and designate you to conquer kingdoms and so on, so you should not think that I will not point out to you what needs to be pointed out to you, that I will not correct you regarding the corrupted beliefs that you have. And this is the opportunity, says HaKadosh Baruch Hu, when I already give you the task from the appointment, that I will point out to you the vain belief that exists among you and needs to be nullified. This is the place where this pasuk enters. This pasuk comes and says, in the course of My designating you for the task, but I also have remarks concerning your beliefs, which are beliefs not according to the truth. And therefore HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "I am Hashem and there is no other." Know, I am Hashem who forms and brings into being all the existents. Havayah, as we explained, is language of bringing into being. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, and not only that but "there is no other." There is no other power, not as you thought that there is a power of evil. Ah, if there is no power of evil then from where does the evil in the world come? "Besides Me there is no God." HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, the power of evil in the world, the contraction, the gevurah, this indeed comes from the power of the Name Elokim, which is judgment. So He says, if so, know, there is no other power except Hashem. So what in fact is the power of evil, of death in the world? A contraction of the chesed. The moment the chesed is contracted, then consequently there is no longer good, then consequently there is already a reality of evil. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "and there is none besides Me," meaning I am one in the ultimate of oneness. And even though you see that good comes forth and evil comes forth, know, everything is from one root and one beginning for them. And what you see, that I gird you and I give you strength even though you did not know Me and do not recognize My belief until now, all of this is with the aim that His Name be publicized in the world, that all will know from this that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is a unified reality and not like that vain belief that the Persians believed.
"So that they will know, from the rising of the sun and from its setting, that there is nothing besides Me, I am Hashem and there is no other." "So that they will know, from the rising of the sun and from its setting," from the place of the rising of the light and the place of its setting, the whole world. He means to say, throughout the length of the inhabited world, from the place where the sun rises to the place of its setting, the whole world will know that "there is nothing besides Me." It means, there is no other except Hashem. And Hashem is the root of all that is in reality, and evil does not come forth from Him as we explained. "I am Hashem and there is no other." What is the meaning of "there is no other"? There is only the power of good, the bringing into being, the Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei. There is no other, there is no power of evil in its own right, but rather the power of evil, as we explained, is only a reality of the absence of good, but it is not a self-existing power.