Sefer Yirmiyahu, chapter 2. "And the word of Hashem came to me, saying." The Malbim says that after we saw that he opened with the beginning of the prophecy, the type of prophecy he receives, and the missions he will carry out, now he offers a general introduction to the words of retribution about which he will actually prophesy throughout the entire sefer. And now, here, he informs us: know this, with all the punishments and suffering that the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring upon Yisrael, know that even so, Hashem tells him, I am with them. Even so, I will not abandon them. Even though I have brought them suffering and will bring more, and I inform you that I will bring them harsh suffering, know that My love is still given to them, I have not forgotten the covenant I have with them from of old. And not only that, but those who will yet trouble them, they are indeed a rod of chastisement in Hashem's hand, but they too will yet be held to account. They too will be punished for the deed they do. Like a father who is angry at his son and hands him over to cruel emissaries to strike him, the father's heart still aches over the son's condition, because in truth this is his son. So he knows the son deserves it, but it pains him that things came to such a state. And not only that, the one who struck his son out of cruelty, even though the father knows the son deserves it because the son acted foolishly and it is coming to him, nevertheless, first, his heart aches, and second, the one who struck the son out of his cruelty, the father will yet exact payment from him. This is also the reason the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts payment from the nations. This is also the explanation of why the Holy One, blessed be He, exacted payment from Mitzrayim, for they did Hashem's will. And why does the Holy One, blessed be He, exact payment from all the nations, since it is Hashem's will that they subjugate His children? There are several explanations for this. One explanation is that they were overly harsh in carrying out the decree. And a second explanation is what is written here, that they did it out of their own cruelty. You went to fulfill Hashem's command? You went to do this because you are cruel, and you heard that Yisrael here deserves blows, so you jumped first to strike. Ah, this was out of cruelty and hatred, so you deserve the punishment.
"Go and call out in the ears of Yerushalayim, saying, thus says Hashem, I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, your following after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown." "I remember for you the kindness of your youth." Rashi says: had you returned to Me, all My desire is only to have mercy on you. I remember the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, that I brought you into the chuppah. "Your betrothal" (kelulotayich) is from the root meaning to include, to bring in, Rashi explains. And what is "the kindness of your youth"? Your following after Me, after My messengers Moshe and Aharon, you went out from a settled land, an inhabited land, Mitzrayim, to go to the wilderness. No provisions, no water, nothing, serpent, fiery snake and scorpion, and nevertheless you believed in Me and went and set out into the wilderness.
The Malbim says that he compares here the bond between the Holy One, blessed be He, and Yisrael to the bond between a groom and a bride, a betrothed man and his betrothed. And we already know, as we learned in Shir HaShirim, that the bond of Knesset Yisrael with her beloved, meaning Yisrael with the Holy One, blessed be He, is like the bond of a groom and a bride. And he portrays and describes this as a man who came from afar, and there was a daughter of some wealthy man, a daughter beautiful among women, and this man came and married, this daughter married him, and she brought him into her father's house, her wealthy father, did kindness with him, took care of all his needs, this groom, and afterward she cleaved to him in full marriage, after the betrothal, and afterward believed in him and was willing to go out after her groom into the wilderness and to leave the wealth of her father's house, out of complete faith that she cleaves to him.
So too in the meaning it represents. At the beginning the holy Avot kept Hashem's way. They made the divinity of the Creator, blessed be He, known in the world, like a groom whom, as it were, the wealthy man's daughter brought into her house. Why? Why are we considered the wealthy man's daughter and He the groom? Because before this the Holy One, blessed be He, was not known in the world. So the one who created His renown, who made His name great in the world, was Avraham Avinu. And the one who made known His divinity, blessed be He, was Avraham Avinu. Avraham was set apart, the whole world on one side and Avraham on the other. So it turns out that this is like a groom whom the wealthy man's daughter brought into her house and gave him name, renown and honor. Before this everyone worshiped idols and sun images, and this is "the kindness of your youth." What was in the days of youth, from the time of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov who publicized His divinity in the world. Afterward, "the love of your betrothal," when Yisrael went out of Mitzrayim, received the Torah, entered into a covenant with the Holy One, blessed be He, the standing at Har Sinai was like a chuppah, this is "the love of your betrothal." Afterward they continue into the wilderness. As we said, a place of wilderness and desolation, serpent, fiery snake and scorpion, and out of their great yearning for divine cleaving, it turns out that they have here yet another merit. The Malbim says we have here three kinds of merits together. The first merit before the match, this is Avraham Avinu. The second merit in the match itself, this is the standing at Har Sinai. And the third merit after the match, we went to the wilderness and set out for forty years and wandered in a place where there is no water and no food.
About all this the Holy One, blessed be He, says: this kindness you did with Me is still remembered in My heart, I do not forget it. Let us note, the expression here "Go and call out in the ears of Yerushalayim." What is "go and call out"? Call out in the ears of Yerushalayim. What is the expression "go"? The Malbim says that wherever "going" is written together with an action, it means that this indicates the persistence of the action. If it is written "call out," then call out once. If it is "go and call out," then go and call out, go and call out, go and call out, this means persist in the action, call out again and again and again. So too "go and acquire," persist in the action until you reach the result. So too "go and say to Tzidkiyahu," even though they will not let you enter, you will have obstacles, no, persist in the action until you reach Tzidkiyahu. Whenever "go" is written, it means the persistence of the action.
And the Holy One, blessed be He, says to them, the Malbim explains in his explanation of the words, "your following after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown." Why the repetition? Both wilderness and a land not sown? Are they not the same thing? The Malbim says there are two kinds of wilderness. There is desolation and wasteland. Desolation and wasteland are places that nature has set apart so that people cannot live there, like the sand deserts. He brings all kinds of names that presumably today have other names, the Gobi or Zama desert in Asia, or the salt desert that divides the land of Persia in two, or the Ziria desert, I imagine he means Syria, in Arabia, meaning in the Arab lands, and the like. And the greatest of them, the Ziara desert, what is called the Sahara, which is in Africa. These are deserts in which there is no survival at all. There is nothing, it is impossible to survive there, there is no survival for man, no survival for plant, for anything. In contrast there is an ordinary wilderness. This is a wilderness that does not have many forests and lakes, but it is nevertheless a land that is sown. That is to say, some fruits grow there, but they are lean, they are thin, they are colorless, because of the scarcity of moisture, humidity, streams and rivers, so whatever grows there grows meager. There, at least, there may be pasture for the flock. And this is called an oasis of the wilderness. There Moshe Rabbeinu went and shepherded Yitro's flock beyond the wilderness. That is to say, this is not the kind of desert like the Sahara, where is there pasturing of flocks there? So we have two kinds of wilderness. There is a wilderness that is the complete desert, as we said, where no life at all is possible, and there is a wilderness that is drier than an ordinary place, it too is called wilderness, and there pasture for the flock is found. Therefore he says "your following after Me in the wilderness," but which wilderness do I mean? Not the kind of "shepherding his flock beyond the wilderness," but the kind of the Sahara desert as we said, "in a land not sown," a wilderness where there is not even seed. Ah, in such a place this shows a far greater devotion. This is the repetition, "in the wilderness, in a land not sown."
"Yisrael is holy to Hashem, the first of His produce. All who consume it will bear guilt, evil will come upon them, says Hashem." "Yisrael is holy" is like terumah, for terumah is called holy. "The first of His produce," Rashi explains, is like the first of the harvest before the omer. That is to say, we have a halachah that the omer permits the new produce. When the omer is offered on the sixteenth of Nisan, from then it is permitted to eat all the new produce that grew that year. Before this it is in the category of chadash, and chadash, as is known, is forbidden by the Torah. Whoever eats from the chadash bears guilt, incurs liability. So too Yisrael, they are like the first fruits that are before the offering of the omer, which are forbidden to eat. So Yonatan translated.
The Malbim, in contrast, explains: the Malbim says Yisrael is likened to holiness and to the first of the produce. The Malbim explains that "the first of the produce" means terumah. Terumah is forbidden to non-kohanim. "The first of His produce" is not the wheat before the offering of the omer as Rashi explains, but rather it is the terumah. Terumah is forbidden to non-kohanim, it is the first, "the first of your dough" or "the first of your terumah," it is the first, which is separated first. Whoever eats it bears guilt, both in body and in soul. "All who consume it will bear guilt" is the guilt of the soul. From where do I know this? As it is written, "and they will bring upon themselves the iniquity of guilt when they eat their holy things." So "all who consume it will bear guilt" is the guilt of the soul. "Evil will come upon them" is also the guilt of the body, meaning he will be punished in his body as well. That is, even though I prophesy about you now that you will become food, that Yisrael will become food for the teeth of lions, know that these lions will give an accounting. They will yet be punished as one who eats holy things, as one who eats Hashem's terumah.
Whoever pays attention, the expression "His produce" (tevuato) appears here in a somewhat strange form. The word appears with a hei at the end. Not "tevuato" with a vav, but rather it is as if written "tevuatah." Now if it were written with a mapik hei, it would be fine, "His produce." But it is not written that way, it is written "tevuatah," as if "her produce." What is this speaking about? The Malbim says, and therefore the Malbim explains that what is written here as "her produce" is actually a pronoun referring to the wilderness. You, Yisrael, are the first of the produce of the wilderness. That is to say, in this wilderness nothing ever grew. What was the first thing that grew there? Yisrael. Yisrael is, as it were, the first growth of the wilderness. You are the first of the produce of the wilderness. This is the first, this is what it refers back to.
"All who consume it will bear guilt." What is "will bear guilt" (yeshamu)? The Malbim in Ayelet HaShachar, which is a work the Malbim composed containing the rules of Lashon HaKodesh, explains that there is a difference between asham (guilt) and chet (sin). What is the difference between them? The verb of asham or chet, what is the difference between them? The Malbim says that chet can occur even without punishment. But wherever asham is written, it means punishment is coming to him. Either a person recognizes his punishment, or punishment is coming to him. And sometimes it comes with respect to the punishment of the soul, as in "and that soul shall bear guilt." Sometimes it comes with respect to the punishment of the body. And therefore, since many times it comes with respect to the punishment of the soul, here he sees a need to add "evil will come upon them," the actual punishment of the body. For the very fact that you say "they will bear guilt" means punishment is coming. Why is it necessary to say "evil will come upon them"? Because ordinarily "they will bear guilt" refers to the soul. Evil will come to his soul. From where will I reveal to you that there will also be evil to his body? "Evil will come upon them," this means that there will be evil to his body as well.
The Griz, in his novellae, brings here an insight in the name of his father the Gr"ch Soloveitchik. The Griz HaLevi. "Yisrael is holy to Hashem, the first of His produce, all who consume it will bear guilt, evil will come upon them." He asks what the matter of holiness and terumah has to do with the situation of Yisrael in exile. The Gr"ch explains that the navi here means to describe Yisrael as being considered like terumah. Terumah is permitted by way of two levels. The first level is "holy to Hashem," the second level is "the first of His produce," that they are of the aspect of Yisrael being like terumah. The world was created for the sake of reishit (the beginning), for the sake of Yisrael who are called reishit. Yisrael is of the aspect of the terumah of the world, they are of the aspect of terumah. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to the nations: know that whoever consumes this is punished twice. And now pay attention to why, he explains it wonderfully. "All who consume it will bear guilt, evil will come upon them." What in fact is the plain meaning? The Gr"ch HaLevi says, behold, see the Rambam in chapter 6 of the Laws of Terumot, halachah 6, who rules that a non-kohen who eats terumah intentionally receives lashes and does not pay. What is the law of one who eats terumah? He is liable to death. Correct? Fine. He receives lashes and does not pay. But we do not tell him to pay. Why? Because the law is "he is subject to the more severe penalty." We punish him for the greater and do not punish him for the lesser. And since this is so, he receives lashes and does not pay. Chapter 1 of the Laws of Meilah, halachah 3, the Rambam rules that one who eats holy things, whether holy things of the altar or holy things of Temple maintenance, receives lashes and pays. Here there is both, both lashes and payment. About this the navi comes and says: know that Yisrael is beloved before the Holy One, blessed be He, holy to Hashem. That is one thing. The second thing, the Holy One, blessed be He, also raised them above all the peoples, elevated them, they are terumah, they are the first of His produce. And since this is so, the law dictates that whoever plunders them, robs them, harms them, will be smitten both in his money and in his body. This is what he says, "all who consume it will bear guilt," this is in money. Like one who eats holy things, for one who eats holy things also pays. "Evil will come upon them," this is to be smitten also in their body. Like one who eats terumah, for one who eats terumah receives lashes and does not pay. So here there are both lashes and payment. And then they will receive punishment like a non-kohen who eats terumah that is also holy, in which case he both receives lashes and pays.
"Hear the word of Hashem, house of Yaakov and all the families of the house of Yisrael." After this introduction in which the Holy One, blessed be He, informs us that I remember for Yisrael the love of My betrothal with them, now the Holy One, blessed be He, comes and rebukes them about the fact that they, Yisrael, forgot Him. "House of Yaakov and all the families of the house of Yisrael." What is the difference between "house of Yaakov" and "all the families of the house of Yisrael"? The Malbim says, whenever they come joined together, "house of Yaakov" alludes to the masses, and "the families of the house of Yisrael" alludes to the great ones and men of renown. And we have already explained several times that the expression "Yaakov" always expresses the lower level. Yaakov is from the root meaning deceit. Yaakov is from the root meaning heel. And whenever they speak of Yisrael, this alludes to the higher level, since Yisrael is a term of dominion. "You have striven with men," and so on. A ruler. So here, when he wants to refer to the great ones and men of renown, he calls them "the families of the house of Yisrael." When he wants to speak of the masses of the people, he calls them "the house of Yaakov."
"Thus says Hashem, what wrong did your fathers find in Me that they distanced themselves from Me and went after the vain thing and became vain." What did your fathers find, the first generations who entered here into the Land and served idolatry, what wrong did they find in Me? The Malbim says that here he begins to argue with them that already at the beginning. What we explained was the Radak, that this is after entering the Land. But the Malbim explains that he argues with them that already at the beginning, already when they were in the wilderness, they distanced themselves from Me. And this thing, so to speak, was already their undoing from then. The Malbim says, one who leaves a certain thing because of some reason, we need to see what the reason is. Yisrael distanced themselves from Me, let us see what the reason is. What in fact is the cause that Yisrael distanced themselves from Me? The first possibility, it could be that they found wrong in Me. The first reason: I found wrong in being close to Him, I decided to distance myself from Him. About this he says, what wrong did your fathers find in Me because of which they distanced themselves from Me? Is there some wrong in the Holy One, blessed be He? Did He spoil His dish? What, what, what is wrong? It is very possible that I did not find wrong, but I found an advantage in the second thing to which I drew near. That is, as Rabbi Akiva says, he found another more pleasant than her. Is the first one bad? No, I did not say that, I have no complaints about her. But he found another more pleasant than her. For the first reason is that He spoiled His dish. "They found wrong in Me," the Holy One, blessed be He, says, you found wrong in Me? Is there some wrong in the Holy One, blessed be He? Did He spoil His dish? What, what, what is wrong? The second possibility: no, God forbid, there is no wrong in the Holy One, blessed be He. But what shall I tell you, I found a more profitable business. He says this is the second possibility. You found an advantage in the thing you now chose. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, is it truly so? "And they went after the vain thing and became vain." For what you now believe in is vanity. And this is as the navi says to them, you left Me, the source of living waters, to hew out what? Broken cisterns that hold no water. It would be one thing if you said I found a new quarry, more profitable. But you left the source of living waters in order to go after vanity? Does such a thing have any logic? Does it have any reasoning? The Malbim says, it is very possible that a person leaves, why? Because the service of the new god, whichever new gods he chooses, is easier. That is to say, I have no complaint at all, there is no wrong in the Holy One, blessed be He. And even if you ask whether the new god is better? Not better. The Holy One, blessed be He, is better. So why, why did you leave? Because the new god makes it easy for me. Makes it easy for me, his demands are less difficult. He is such an easygoing rabbi. He goes along with everything with you, he does not, he does not burden you, he does not make things too difficult for you. A Reform kind of god. Like a Reform kind of religion, something much more light, flexible, elastic, not something restrictive, difficult, Orthodox. No, something much more, well, so this is the reason. Because the service of the new god is easier and more pleasant. About this he says, it is not enough that you went after the vain thing, but "and became vain." Meaning, the very act you do is an act of vanity. That is to say, when you go and serve the Holy One, blessed be He, you say this is hard work. Agreed. But hard work that in the end yields diamonds. In contrast, when you go and serve the god, you say listen, thank God this is easy work. So tell me, instead of going to hew diamonds, which is hard work, you go to sweep the street, for which no one will pay you. You say this is much easier. It is easier, true, but what is the payment? So if that is the case, then it turns out "and became vain." It turns out that you went after the easy thing that has no benefit at all, so this is truly vanity and emptiness. And if so, he says, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, another thing, that very act is vanity, meaning, the Malbim says, a person leaves something with which he did not have such great love, or the love he had toward it was dependent on a reason. When the reason ceases, the love ceases. I had a connection with him, I gained something from him, and now I no longer gain. He had a connection with me because he gained something from me, now he no longer gains, the connection is severed. He says, but here the connection between us, says the Holy One, blessed be He, was not because of a reason. I, who loved you with the love of your betrothal, remembered for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, says the Holy One, blessed be He, this was not because of a certain reason. It was not because I owed you something, or some benefit. So if that is the case, there is no reason at all to sever the connection. And if so, "and became vain." For the existence of the Holy One, blessed be He, is an eternal existence. Whoever cleaves to the Holy One, blessed be He, exists forever. And you go to connect to what? To something that is vanity. Do you know what vanity (hevel) is? Hah, it is breath. Where is it? Even when I brought it out of my mouth you could not see it. All the more so a moment later, that it has no existence at all. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, had you cleaved to Me, you would be cleaving to eternity. It exists forever. In contrast, to what do you cleave? To vanity. You made yourself into "and became vain," into the aspect of nothingness and void. Because you cleave to nothingness and void. "And you who cleave to Hashem your God are all alive today." This is true existence, this is eternal existence. But in contrast, one who cleaves and goes after vanity, what does he himself become? "And became vain." You yourself become vanity. For one who cleaves to eternity becomes eternal, and one who cleaves to vanity becomes vanity. And if so, by this you have, as it were, decreed upon yourself that you will have no existence at all. So is there any logic in what your fathers did, distancing themselves from Me, distancing themselves from Me?
"And they did not say, where is Hashem who brought us up from the land of Mitzrayim, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of desert and pits, in a land of drought and the shadow of death, in a land through which no man passed and where no person dwelt." "And they did not say," the Malbim says, not only did they not distinguish between good and bad, but pay attention to the deficiency and the harm that will now follow for them from having left Hashem. And note, he is speaking here about the period when they were still in the wilderness, that your fathers, while still in the wilderness, distanced themselves from Me. And this was done in lack of understanding, because Hashem brought us up from the land of Mitzrayim. Hashem took you out of subjugation and slavery. About this he says, "they did not say, where is Hashem." Where is Hashem who brought us up from the land of Mitzrayim? Consider, you could have remained enslaved in Mitzrayim, someone took you out, so why did you leave Hashem? Second, you were still in the wilderness. Is it possible to survive in the wilderness without Hashem's providence? This is what he says, "who led us in the wilderness." For in the wilderness it is impossible for a person to survive without having means of sustenance in a natural way. And this is because of three things that the verse enumerates here. The first thing, the wilderness is a place unfit for habitation on account of the ground. "A land of desert and pits," full of holes. This is what he says, "in a land of desert and pits." "Aravah" means a place where thorns and briars grow there. So this is a land of desert. The second thing on account of the air, that this is a place where there is drought, there is burning heat, fifty degrees, and the air is also stale. The third thing, the place is unfit for habitation, full of sand, snakes. This is what he says, "in a land through which no man passed." So how did you not consider that now I need the Master of the Universe? Because now I am in a place in which it is impossible to survive without Hashem's providence. And now you make yourselves a calf, now you leave Hashem. He is in fact settling accounts with them from the time they left Mitzrayim, what did your fathers find. Those who left Mitzrayim, what wrong did your fathers find in Me, how did they then find, as it were, wrong in Hashem and leave Hashem?
The Malbim says, let us be precise from the standpoint of Lashon HaKodesh, it is written "no man (ish) passed through it and no person (adam) dwelt there." What is the difference between "a man passed" and "a person dwelt"? The Malbim says there is a difference between ish and adam, for ish includes all that exists. Ish is from the root meaning "there is" (yesh). It includes all existence. That is to say, it includes also animals, includes also birds. Ish includes everything. There, adam is specific only to man. This is what he says here, "no man passed there," meaning no animal, nothing that exists, ish from the root yesh. Meaning also beasts, also birds did not pass there. And a further point, this place is also unfit for habitation on account of the human species. And Chazal also already dwell on this matter. Chazal say, since no one passed through, how would anyone dwell? You say no man passed there and no one dwelt. If it was not even passed through, then how could it be inhabited? Chazal say, what does this mean? Every land that Adam HaRishon decreed for settlement was settled. And every land upon which he did not decree settlement was not settled. That is to say, the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Adam HaRishon everything in advance, the entire plan of the world. Each generation and its interpreters, each generation and its sages, all the lands, the places of settlement. A place upon which Adam HaRishon did not decree to dwell was not settled. So therefore he says, both no man passed there, and no person dwelt there, since Adam did not from the outset decree settlement there. And what does this mean? About this the Malbim says, for it is very possible that in a place, in itself, animals will not pass through. But human beings could very well settle the wilderness. Human beings could very well go to a place that is dry, and artificially bring rivers there, artificially level the terrain. Go see what happens in Saudi Arabia, and in other places, where people build a city in the middle of the desert. This is what is written, "no man dwelt there," that is, "no man passed there" means every existing thing in the world did not even pass through. And what is written, "no person dwelt there," means that even though it is the way of man to settle dry places, he performs actions in order to settle them anyway, here they did not do such a thing. And this shows you that this place is a place where it is impossible to survive, and nevertheless the Holy One, blessed be He, brought you to this place and gave you your sustenance there. So how did you leave Hashem and go and serve idolatry?
The Malbim, in contrast, distinguishes, compared to what appears later in chapter 51, verse 43, "no man shall dwell in them and no son of man shall pass through them." Note, there it is written "son of man," not "man." And the Malbim says there is a difference, that when we speak of adam we speak of the collective species. When we speak of "son of man" we speak of an individual. And therefore he says, there he speaks of an individual, not of the human species. And therefore it is written that he says that every man, even temporarily, did not dwell there permanently. Even though temporarily one would indeed pass through, but permanently he did not dwell. And a son of man would not pass through even temporarily. This is how he brings it from several other places.
"And I brought you into the land of Karmel to eat its fruit and its goodness, and you came and defiled My land, and made My inheritance an abomination." "And I brought you into the land of Karmel," a place that was planted like a forest, like a Karmel. The Malbim says, and here this is already a further stage. After he reckons the sins of their fathers, what wrong did your fathers find in Me, now he moves to speak with the sons. He says to them, you I brought into the land of Karmel. And the purpose was to eat of its fruit, which here speaks of the physical goodness of the Land, and to eat goodness, which here speaks of spiritual happiness. For Eretz Yisrael is in fact a holy place that has spiritual abundance there. And behold, see, that instead of receiving these two things, now it became the opposite. Corresponding to eating its fruit, you defiled My land. You performed deeds that prevent the physical success, since that abundance you were supposed to receive cannot come upon you because you defiled the Land. And corresponding to eating goodness, which speaks of the spiritual abundance of the Land, the abundance of holiness in the Land, he says, about this he calls it "My inheritance." "And made My inheritance an abomination." Meaning, a place that is Hashem's inheritance, which possesses holiness and elevation, there, instead of serving Hashem in it, you made them an abomination. The Malbim says that the land of Karmel is always an expression of the opposite of the wilderness. As in "and He made the wilderness into a Karmel." This means to say a place that is inhabited, growing, with trees, as opposed to the wilderness which is a place that is uninhabited.
There was an incident, they tell, in his day when Rav Kook came to the Land, several of the great ones of Yisrael went out to greet him. And it is known that even though they disputed with Rav Kook very sharply, and Rav Kook was in the minority regarding his attitude toward those distant from Torah and mitzvot, and regarding his attitude toward the first settlers and toward Eretz Yisrael and the beginning of the redemption of Yisrael, all the great ones of the generation opposed him. Nevertheless, everyone appreciated his greatness. No one belittled his greatness in Torah. And also when there was a need to go and strengthen the settlements, in the famous tour of the settlements that the great ones of Yisrael undertook, Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and Rav Kook and several other great ones traveled and made a circuit of all the settlements in Eretz Yisrael in order to strengthen them in Torah and mitzvot. In any case, when he arrived here in the Land, they went out to greet him, he arrived at the port of Yafo, several of the great ones of Yisrael went out to greet him. And then he delivered remarks. And then he said, "and you came and defiled My land," on this verse. He said, "and you came and defiled My land," from here we see "and you came," even though you will defile My land. For indeed there were those who said, what, people who transgress and defile the palace of the King have come here, terrible things. So he said, "and you came and defiled My land," even though you will defile My land, still come. First of all, certainly now we see that this is not the plain meaning of the verse, since the verse comes as a complaint, the verse does not come as a command. It does not say come even though you will defile. But they tell of one of the great ones of Yisrael who rose immediately afterward and said, I must protest against the things stated here, since the things stated here, he said, are impossible. For a simple reason, for the Torah promises that when Yisrael angers the Holy One, blessed be He, in Eretz Yisrael, "and the Land will vomit you out." So what room is there to come and say "and you came even though you will defile My land," if the Torah promises you I will vomit you out? So is there logic that the Torah would call us to come when afterward it says if you defile My land I will vomit you out? So certainly this is not the plain meaning and certainly this is not how the verse should be understood.
"The kohanim did not say, where is Hashem, and those who grasp the Torah did not know Me, and the shepherds rebelled against Me, and the prophets prophesied by the Baal and went after those that do not avail." "The kohanim did not say, where is Hashem." The Malbim says, there are here four types of leadership. Four who wear the crown of leadership: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, the crown of kingship, and the crown of a good name, which is in fact prophecy. The Radak explains that the prophets here where it is written "prophesied by the Baal" are speaking indeed about the prophets of Baal, not about the prophets of Hashem. But in any case the Malbim explains, the kohanim, says the Malbim, their matter is to bring the Shechinah, to cause it to rest in the House of Hashem. The kohanim did not say, where is Hashem. Those who grasp the Torah, they need to know Hashem through the endeavor of Torah. When a person learns Torah, he must know Hashem, to see Hashem within the learning. And those who grasp the Torah did not know Me. Rashi explains that "those who grasp the Torah" means the Sanhedrin. And the shepherds, who are the kings, who are the officials, rebelled against Me. And the prophets prophesied by the Baal, and went after those that do not avail.
The expression here "those who grasp the Torah" is very interesting. And the Malbim explains that it is an expression of disparagement. Not "those who engage in the Torah" but "those who grasp the Torah." Why is it called "those who grasp the Torah"? Even though today it may be that this is used as a positive expression, in the Malbim's opinion it is a negative expression. The Malbim says, what is "those who grasp the Torah"? Like one who grasps a sword, grasps a bow, grasps a sickle, grasps a harp and organ. All these he grasps as a tool for his need, for his benefit. So too he says here, "those who grasp the Torah," meaning, they were engaging in Torah for personal gain, for self-benefit. Like an axe that you grasp in order to cut with it, so he would grasp the Torah in order to, as it were, use it. And therefore "those who grasp the Torah did not know Me," he did it only for his own need, not in order to know Hashem.
The Griz, Rav Soloveitchik, has here a wonderful explanation. He says, what is "the kohanim did not say, where is Hashem"? What is the meaning of "where is Hashem"? Why would they need to say "where is Hashem"? The Shechinah is in the Mikdash, so why do the kohanim need to say "where is Hashem"? So he brings, it is written that the Shechinah journeyed ten journeys. From the cover to the cherub, and from there to the threshold, and from there to this place, until it went up to the roof and the Shechinah said in supplications, "let me go and return to My first place," and so on. Yes, toward the destruction. So he says, the kohanim should have seen that the Shechinah had left and was wandering from place to place. The kohanim did not consider, to inquire, where is Hashem, what happened that the Shechinah went into exile? Perhaps our deeds are corrupt? Perhaps our ways are not fitting? This is what "they did not consider, where is Hashem" means. You should have seen the Shechinah left, where is Hashem? Why did the Shechinah leave? What must we correct?
"Therefore I will yet contend with you, says Hashem, and with your children's children I will contend." Even before I bring evil upon you, says Rashi, I will yet argue with you through the prophets who are the prophets of truth, with them I still have a matter to discuss with you. And the Malbim explains that this refers back to all that we spoke of before. Since we saw earlier that your fathers sinned, and afterward we saw that I brought you into the land of Karmel and you too continue in sin, therefore Hashem says I will contend with you. A further point, since your fathers and also you sinned without reason, without benefit, without profit, as it is written, what wrong did your fathers find in Me, what reason did you find to dispute with Hashem, to leave Hashem? You went after something that will not avail. Therefore I will yet contend with you, you have no answer to give as to why you left Hashem, why you distanced yourselves from Me, so I have yet another reason to contend with you. And a further point, since the kohanim also did not say, where is Hashem, it turns out then that the hand of the officials and the deputies was in the treachery, meaning, the rebellion began from the leadership. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, I will yet contend with you and with your children's children I will contend. For there is hope. If the rebellion came from you, then, as it were, what do I have to discuss with the rebels? But if the rebellion is from the upbringing...
They received it from the corrupt leadership they had, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, then with the children I have something to discuss, since the children are like captured infants, they are not guilty. The treachery was in the shepherds, the treachery was in the kohanim, in those who grasp the Torah, and if so they misled them. If they misled them, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, I can speak with them and bring them back in repentance. Indeed we see that this is very interesting, but this is the difference between the Sephardic communities and those who came from Europe, those who came from Ashkenaz. In the lands of Ashkenaz, heresy was institutionalized. There has already been Haskalah there for two hundred years, people who are already the third and fourth generation to those who denied the Torah. With them it is hard to speak. With whom is it easier to speak? With those whom the leadership here secularized. With those whom the leadership here caused to abandon their religion. For then indeed, this person in himself grew up in a home of Torah, he grew up in a leadership of fear of Heaven, in the way of Hashem, but what can be done, they took the children and stripped them of every spark of Torah and Judaism, and in worse cases also cut off their peyot and forced them to work on Shabbat. Whoever knows, there was an entire commission of inquiry that dealt with this matter and the things were terrible and they are written on the pages of history. So that in practice, with the children there is already something to discuss. Why? Because with them heresy is not built in, the heresy stemmed from the leadership. The leadership was heretical and they caused them to abandon their religion by force.
The Malbim says, since the hand of the officials and the deputies and the leaders of the people was in this treachery first, therefore I will yet contend with you and with your children's children I will contend, for there is still hope that the people will return to Me. Since it was from the heads of this people that they were misled from the way. Listen, this is like a prophecy. Truly like a prophecy. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, since the leadership is the one that misleads, and do not tell me that this was written for its time, for every prophecy that was written is a prophecy that pertains to its time and to the generations. In fact the statement here is a statement not only about that period, but also about the future the Holy One, blessed be He, says, I have something to discuss with the children, since the leaders misled them. The heads of the leadership and Zionism misled them, removed from them the Judaism they had received, the fear of Heaven they had. And as is known, when they brought the immigrants here, at first they did not want to bring up the elderly at all, only out of no choice did they bring them up. At first they wanted to bring up only the young. Why? Because they said, the elderly we have no ability to influence, but the young, Aliyat HaNoar for whoever remembers, the young, we will create here a Jew of a new kind. We will invent here a Jew who does not need Torah, a Jew who does not need fear of Heaven. And unfortunately in a considerable part of this they succeeded. Only that by Hashem's kindness we see, as the navi says, that their error can easily be made known to them. This generation is much easier to bring back in repentance, for I can easily prove to them their error since they were misled and it did not stem from heresy that was in them in themselves. And now the Holy One, blessed be He, will rebuke them for their deeds.