"For long ago I broke your yoke, I tore off your bonds, and you said, I will not transgress. Yet upon every high hill and under every leafy tree you sprawl as a harlot." "For long ago I broke your yoke." The Malbim explains: service is difficult from two angles. If you speak from the side of the positive commandments, there are difficult mitzvot that limit me and demand of me weighty actions. And if from the side of the negative commandments, then you tell me this is forbidden to you and that is forbidden to you, refrain from this, do not touch that, do not do this. This is like an ox: upon the ox there is a heavy yoke for the sake of the work, and they tie it with bonds so that the ox does not cross the boundary to which we want it to go. Therefore He says "I broke your yoke, I tore off your bonds." "Your bonds" is from the language of prohibitions. I bind the ox so it does not go where it is forbidden. This speaks of the negative commandments. And "your yoke" means that I placed upon you the yoke of positive commandments. "Your yoke," says the Holy One, blessed be He: I did not place upon you the yoke of positive commandments, and I tore you free from the prohibitions. What does this mean? Says the Holy One, blessed be He: My mitzvot, from both these aspects, both in the positive and in the negative, are light. From the side of the deeds, "I broke your yoke." On the contrary, as we said, what the nations and the idols demanded was a far heavier yoke, a far harder yoke. Even their sons and their daughters they would burn to their gods. And I broke your yoke off you. "It never entered My heart," as the prophet says, I never asked you to offer Me a human sacrifice. What will you say from the side of the warnings and prohibitions? "I tore off your bonds." The warnings that the idol worshipers were warned about were harsher. Says the Holy One, blessed be He: those bonds I tore off. I was satisfied with "you said, I will not transgress." I was satisfied that you should say, I will not cross the boundary that God set for me. If so, it turns out that "it is evil and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord your God." The fact that you forsook God, because you thought that by forsaking God it would be easier for you, that by forsaking God it would be more comfortable for you, come and see that instead you exchanged Him for idolatry, and idolatry in its time at least had harsh demands and heavy service.
One should note that since then, the idols have upgraded themselves. Since they understood that people seek comfort. So today the demands are minimal. Christianity only demands that you believe in that man. And apart from that it is a very, very liberal religion. There are, admittedly, the Catholics who forbid marriage, forbid divorce, and so on. But in general, the life of a Christian is quite easy. Believe in that man and you are set. The life of a Muslim has a few restrictions too: he has to pray five prayers, he is forbidden to drink alcohol, but beyond that his life in general is not a restricted life. Because they essentially understood: if you want to acquire many believers, do not impose upon them a difficult religion. Let your religion be user friendly. And every now and then we have all sorts of worn out rabbis who want to make Judaism accessible. In the way of Beit Hillel, to make Judaism accessible. Why do you forbid him to marry her? A gentile woman. Come on now, do not be extreme. We can perform some little trick and chik chak she becomes Jewish, and then peace shall come upon Israel and a redeemer to Zion. How wonderful. And you do not understand that he has children with her, you have no feeling, you do not consider them. You need a far friendlier religion in the two thousands if you want to have access to broader audiences. Your religion must be more sympathetic, more inviting. In short, we have become Christians. We have become Christians. Because that essentially is Christianity. What is Christianity? Christianity seeks to annex anyone who comes. Come to the religion of love, just come, just come. Does Judaism seek only "just come"? Look at what Naomi did to Ruth, she nearly took her soul out until she agreed to accept her. And why? "Turn back, my daughters, go, return," until "she saw that she was determined to go." There we explained, whoever wishes may listen to the Shavuot disc, what "determined" means, what she saw there, there is a wonderful explanation of the Vilna Gaon. Be that as it may, to be a Jew requires investing effort. One must lower oneself. "The forefathers ran before Me like horses," says the Holy One, blessed be He, and thus they merited to reach where they reached. But to come and think that one is immediately annexed and they will fax you a conversion certificate and that is it, you have become a Jew - why, to enter a car club, you have to prove a little more qualifications. To enter a club, any club, to enter and receive a visa to the United States, you have to prove more than what is needed today to become a Jew. So is this really the way? So let us understand: in their time, idolatry had many demands. It had many restrictions. And today, since they understood that people seek something just to quiet the conscience, so what, he is not looking to bring more suffering upon himself to restrict himself. So they made it something light, something not heavy, so that you can manage with it and feel good about yourself.
Says the Malbim, and here he explains how "it is evil and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord your God." Come see that you have gone out to such abandon that you sprawl as a harlot. What does "sprawl as a harlot" mean? "Sprawl" is spelled with an ayin. Its meaning, explains the Malbim, is from the language of storm. Yes? Storming toward harlotries upon every high hill. Like a woman who has forsaken her husband and she is abandoned to all, upon every mountain and hill, which itself is a very evil thing. This is, as it were, the reality of the Jewish people who forsook the Holy One, blessed be He, who is the beloved, He is the husband, as it were, and then consequently she is abandoned to every nation, and every nameless person threatens the destruction of Israel, and every nameless person speaks against the Jewish people and has an accusation against us, until even Assad has criticism of us. That we are not sympathetic enough. That we do not know how to handle conflicts. He could give us a little course on how to handle conflicts. That we are a state with boundless insolence, and that we are violent. One can acquire from him a chapter in the laws of gentleness. Yes? Every foreign nation and every degenerate becomes a moralist for us. The United States mistakenly bombed a village, by mistake. How many thousands went there in Tora Bora, I do not know. A mistake in identification. True, we thought he was hiding there. Oops, sorry, we erred, it passed. That is it, over. What about the thousands who died? Ah, listen, it is Tora Bora, come on now, what, Afghanistan, what do I care, how much are their lives worth. But when the IDF struck a boy named Muhammad al-Dura, perhaps, perhaps, there is no proof that it struck him, but on the basis of that "perhaps" already the whole world seethes and rages and there are trials abroad, that to this day all sorts of trials are being examined there about whether it happened, whether he was struck, whether he was struck by our forces - what are you talking about? Assad, since those trials, has managed to slaughter half of his own people. Not that there is any objection, the butcher is not fast enough, admittedly, but in any case you should understand: over there it is nobody, it does no harm. Nobody is not a bother. Obama does not interrupt his vacation for another few hundred thousand Syrians who died. It truly does not concern him. It does not concern him. What bothers Hussein is that here we are not advancing the peace process enough. We have a partner, only we put sticks in the wheels. Those on the other side, and it is well known, well known from always, the Palestinians are peace lovers, all their aspirations are peace, they are against war altogether. It is only that we are not advancing the peace. The problem lies with us. He says: how did you reach this situation? This situation where you sprawl as a harlot upon every high hill and under every leafy tree, because you forsook the husband. If you had been with the husband, you would not now need to be in such a situation where every nameless person now rules over you, now governs you. The Radak explains that "sprawl as a harlot" is from the language of travel. "Sprawl" from the language of travel, like "and the oil, flowing to be opened." Flowing in its great strength. "Sprawl as a harlot" means that you pass from god to god, traveling and passing from god to god. You had one God, you had a God who guarded and protected you, and you pass from hill to hill and from leafy tree to leafy tree to serve the idols. The Malbim - Rashi explains that "upon every hill you sprawl," he says "sprawl" is not from the language of journey nor from the language of storm as the Malbim explained, but rather it is from the language of a bed. "Sprawl as a harlot" means like a harlot upon every bed. That is the meaning, that is how the word "sprawl" is expressed.
"Yet I had planted you as a choice vine, wholly a seed of truth. How then have you turned into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?" "Yet I had planted you as a choice vine." Says the Malbim, their way was that when they had an inferior vine, they would graft into the vine a shoot, a branch of the choice variety, in order to improve the vine. The choice variety is the superior one, and to the inferior vine they would attach it, grafting into it a choice shoot so that through this the inferior vine would become superior. So in this situation, although in practice he improved the fruit of the vine, nevertheless he degrades it, because it is no longer a seed of truth. What does it mean that it is not a seed of truth? It means it is not of the same species, it is of a foreign species. When it is of a foreign species, says the Malbim, it is known that crossbreeds do not reproduce. It will not continue and produce more fruit. What you have now done, what you have now given, will remain. But onward it will not continue and produce. So if so, although you have now created some artificial improvement, this improvement is temporary. It is not an improvement that will continue for future generations. Says the Holy One, blessed be He: but it was not so with Me. "Yet I had planted you as a choice vine." First, the choicest vine. But do not now think, as we said, that this is a defective vine grafted onto a choice vine and then, as we said, it is not truth since it is, as it were, not the same thing. He says: no, I planted you a choice vine wholly a seed of truth. It is not a graft from a foreign species but a seed of truth. And how, with all this, did you become so inferior, that you are not a choice vine but "the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine"? The meaning: first, "the degenerate shoots of a vine." "The degenerate shoots of a vine" means an inferior vine. Second, it is not a seed of truth, it is a foreign seed. The meaning is: when they graft the choice shoot into the vine, then a branch emerges from what you grafted here, which is the degenerate shoots of the vine, this is spoiled. Because then, as we said, the moment we are dealing with the degenerate shoots of the vine, it is an inferior thing, and through this it is not a seed of truth.
What in fact is the parable that he wishes to make and what is the lesson he wishes to say in these words? Says the Malbim, the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, planted us separated from the nations. If we are separated from the nations, this creates a minus for us. It creates a disadvantage for us, as it were. Since we cannot connect with the gentiles. When we can connect with the gentiles, then perhaps the Jewish people could be improved even more. He says: but know that precisely the opposite is true. Although I created you separated from the gentiles, with all this I planted you a choice vine. You are the most successful of the nations. And we have already spoken about this in the past, that by all the measures and parameters, the Jewish people, in terms of its abilities, is the most successful of the nations. Both in terms of the richest of the world, both in terms of the inventors of the world, both in terms of the bankers, in every respect, the Jewish people are among the best of the nations. So says the Holy One, blessed be He: even though I separated you from the nations, I nonetheless gave you great success so that you would be above all the nations. So the fact that you are separated from the gentiles is not a minus for you, but on the contrary, it is another plus for you. And instead, what did you go and do? You went to mix with other nations. What did you go and do? "The degenerate shoots of a foreign vine." You went and lost the form of holiness, you went to connect with nations who, not only do not benefit you, but even harm you. Says the Holy One, blessed be He: how is it possible that I planted it a seed of truth that does not accept mixture, that does not connect with others, so it turns out that not only did you not gain any further benefit, but you even deteriorated the situation. They tell that someone came to tell Ben Gurion, they told him that his daughter or his son was about to marry a gentile woman. So he said that it is good for improving the race. Do you hear? May his merit protect him and his children and all who walk in his ways. It is good for improving the race. Says the Holy One, blessed be He: I planted you a choice vine, you are the choicest in the world, why did you go and plant the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine to connect with the foreigners? For you have ruined, says the Holy One, blessed be He, your great virtue. "The degenerate shoots of a vine" - the Malbim explains that this means defective. It comes from the language of "turned aside," like "turned aside in taste." Yes? Meaning that its taste turned aside, that its taste is inferior. So says the Holy One, blessed be He: I planted you a seed of truth, and how did you become the degenerate shoots of the vine, having turned aside from the choice vine to be like a foreign one, like one grafted with a foreign species.
"For though you wash with natron and use much soap, your iniquity remains stained before Me, says the Lord God." "Though you wash with natron." Natron, says Rashi, is a kind of earth with which they scour and scrub the garments. When they wanted to scrub the garment, they would take a kind of earth and with it they would scrub. This is similar to what one sometimes sees with people who work in a garage and need to clean their hands afterward, they have a kind of soap that is like sand. It is also soap but it also has a mixture of granules that serve as cleaning. That is how they used to do it. Whoever wanted to clean the garment, there was a certain kind of sand with which he would scrub and through this it would clean the garment. This is called "though you wash with natron." Natron is a kind, as we said, of sand with which they used to wash. "Soap" is either from the language of cleanliness, like "pure of heart," which means from the language of "pure," meaning clean. Or Rashi says the foreign vernacular has "borit," soap in the foreign tongue. "Borit" is soap. This is the second explanation that Rashi brings and it is from Old French, one sees that it is already a very ancient word. Says the Holy One, blessed be He: though you wash with natron and use much soap, even if you scrub hard with soap, your iniquity remains stained before Me, says the Lord God. "Remains stained," says Rashi, like the mark of a stain that has not been cleansed, that did not come out. About which iniquity are we speaking here? Which iniquity did not come out? Says Rashi: the iniquity of the Golden Calf. The iniquity of the Golden Calf indeed remains stained. It is a permanent stain. A stain that did not turn aside. "And on the day of My reckoning I will reckon it upon them." The meaning is that this stain accompanies them forever. Every reckoning that there is among the Jewish people has in it a bit of something from the iniquity of the Calf. The Radak says that ostensibly this thing is astonishing. For what are you in fact saying here? Wash with natron, use much soap, we have repented. Let us leave aside now the matter of the Calf as Rashi explains. In its plain sense, the prophet is now rebuking them for their iniquities. That is the plain sense. He does not come to discuss with them the iniquity of the Calf that was then. So how does he say to them such a thing? Wash with natron, use much soap, no use, your iniquity remains stained. That is it, it is a stain that will not come out. And on the contrary, there is another verse that says "Wash your heart of evil, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved." So on the contrary, he even says wash and you will be saved. So how does he say here, even if you wash, even if you use much soap, your iniquity remains stained before Me, that is it, it is a stain that will not come out? The answer is, the Sages say: if that generation had truly repented, God would have sent them salvation, they would have been saved from the enemy and He would not have exiled them. But what would still happen? They would receive punishment for their deeds in the land. That is to say, without punishment it is impossible, but at least it would spare us the exile. So the Holy One, blessed be He, would punish us, but here. He leaves us here and afflicts us here. And the reason, says the Radak, is that there is an iniquity that cannot be atoned for by repentance alone. As we know from the four divisions of atonement. There are iniquities that also require suffering. So about this he says: though you wash with natron and use much soap, your iniquity remains stained before Me, and there is no choice but to suffer over it. But repentance will benefit you. In what will repentance benefit you? "Wash your heart of evil, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved," that you will not need to be exiled but will receive your suffering here in the land. In contrast, when the Jewish people did not repent, they were forced to be exiled and to receive the suffering in the land of their enemies. So that in effect they truly were smitten doubly. But if they had repented, then they would have received suffering, but here. They would not have needed to go out into exile among the nations. This is what the Radak explains. But as we already said, the Sages ask this question, and the Sages answer: this is before the decree, this is after the decree. Rather here it is a decree accompanied by an oath, here it is a decree not accompanied by an oath. That is to say, when it is written that Jerusalem will be saved by washing her heart of evil, that is a decree when there was not yet an oath accompanying it. So Jerusalem can still repent. In contrast, when we speak of a situation where there is an oath in the decree, even if you wash with natron, even if you use much soap, your iniquity remains stained before Me, says the Lord God. After there is an oath, nothing more will help. This is like what is written: "Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of the house of Eli shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever." What was there? An oath. The moment there is an oath, then there is no longer a possibility to change. But when the decree is without an oath, even though it is a decree, there is still a possibility to repair and change.
The Malbim explains: "For though you wash with natron and use much soap, your iniquity remains stained before Me." He has here a very original explanation that from the outset settles the question of why repentance will not help, why washing will not help. Says the Malbim: "Though you wash with natron" is not to go and purify ourselves from the iniquities. Rather, we said above that you claim and say, "I have not sinned." "I have not done anything wrong." And "Behold, I will bring you to judgment for your saying, I have not sinned." That is to say, the greatest sin is the "I have not sinned." This is "though you wash with natron and use much soap." "Though you wash with natron," meaning what, no, I am clean, there is soap, do you not see how clean I am, there is no iniquity in me, "use much soap" means in your own eyes, you live with the feeling that you are clean and there is no iniquity in you, in the aspect of pure and clean, as if you never sinned. Says the Holy One, blessed be He: your iniquity remains stained before Me. Through this itself, this caused the stain to adhere, that your iniquity remains stained before Me without the possibility of repair. Since there is a difference between whether a person sins and whether a person commits an iniquity. As is known, the Malbim - the difference he always takes is what distinguishes the term "sin" from "iniquity." "Sin," says the Malbim, is something that comes from desire. Or from a mistake, or an inadvertence. In contrast, "iniquity" is a distortion of the mind. And we have already explained this several times in the past, that at first a person sins. He sins, errs inadvertently, makes a mistake, follows his inclination. Afterward, when he feels not good about himself, for he necessarily feels not good about himself because God made man upright and when he does something not good then he feels not good about himself, there are two possibilities. There is one possibility, which is to repent. And through this he will feel good about himself. For a happy person is one who has approval for every deed of his. When he walks in the way of God, that is the truly happy one. But there is an easier possibility. Why should I change my ways? Let us build an ideology around the sin, and through this it is already a first choice, it is not a mere concession. No, I simply, I paved a bypass road around the conscience. The conscience tells me it is not good, what do you mean? On the contrary, I will tell you that it is indeed good, and person, know that naturally one should live free. God created man in such a way that he should live free and do what he wants, and on the contrary, this is how a person lives correctly, and this is the right way. In short, what did he do? He took the iniquity, and instead - he took the sin, and instead of repenting for it, he turned it into an iniquity. What is an iniquity? An iniquity is a distortion of the mind. That is always the term "iniquity" as the Malbim explains. An iniquity is a distortion of the mind. So if until now it was a sin of desires, I turned it into an iniquity. That is to say, I created a distortion of the mind, that the distortion of the mind creates a justification for that very thing, and consequently that is it, this is how one should act, that is it, this is the law, this is the halacha and this is how it is fitting to behave, and through this he fixed his sin and turned it into an iniquity. About this he says: for though you wash with natron and use much soap, for you convince yourself I have not sinned, your iniquity remains stained before Me. Says the Holy One, blessed be He: there is here an immense corruption because it became in the category of iniquity. From the light sin it became an iniquity, since when there is an iniquity you are essentially denying the commandment. You deny the commandment, you deny everything. For you know that you sinned and you go and justify it. What is that if not iniquity, a distortion of the mind? Says the Holy One, blessed be He: if you knew that you sinned and you repented, it would be possible to repair it easily, for sins can be repaired easily. But here your iniquity remains stained before Me, it became in the category of iniquity and distortion of the mind, for it already has the seal of approval of the mind: I have not sinned, this is how one should act, this is how one should behave, we paved for ourselves a way of sin as something that is a first choice, and consequently we no longer have pangs of conscience.
"How can you say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim? See your way in the valley, know what you have done, a swift young she-camel entangling her ways." "How can you say, I have not sinned," how do you deny it? Says the Malbim: both regarding the defilement itself, you say I am not defiled. And regarding the way you went, you say not only that I was not defiled by idolatry, but I did not even go there. I did not go, from the outset, it is not only that I was not there and did not serve, but I did not even go at all. Says the Holy One, blessed be He: how do you say...
For against what you say, "I have not gone after the Baalim," says the Holy One, blessed be He: "See your way in the valley." What is the meaning of "see your way in the valley"? The mark of the footsteps of the way you walked toward the Baalim, the way in the valley is still recognizable. Your steps, your footprints are recognizable in the valley. And against what you say, "I am not defiled," the Holy One, blessed be He, says to her: "Know what you have done," for you yourself know that you were defiled there through idolatry, so how can you deny this thing?
You who are a swift young she-camel entangling her ways. What is a "swift young she-camel" (bichrah kalah)? "Bichrah" the Malbim always says means the choicest of its kind is called "bichrah" or "bechor." Like "the firstborn of his ox," "I too will make him a firstborn." It is always "bichrah." "Bichrah" means the choice thing, like first fruits, which are the choice first fruit. That is always the concept of "firstborn." "Bichrah kalah" - though before this Rashi and the Radak explain that it means a young female camel, which is young in days and runs faster than the male. What is called a she-camel. Yes? This is what she is called, the bichrah. And she is a "bichrah kalah," meaning when she runs, she runs lightly. This bichrah runs lightly, so as it were her steps are not recognizable, her footsteps are not recognizable.
With all this, he says here, she entangles her ways. What is the meaning of "entangling her ways"? "Entangling" is like from the language of a lace. A lace means to tie. "Entangled after him," "drawn after him," meaning tied after him. So you entangle your ways. What is the meaning of "you entangle your ways"? It means your foot is connected to the way, even while you run, and then it is recognizable, the footsteps in the way are recognizable. That is to say, you cannot say I was not there. Your footsteps are recognizable. This is what He says to her: "Know what you have done, a swift young she-camel entangling her ways." Although you are a swift young she-camel, He says, nonetheless you would entangle your ways, your steps were tied, your paces, your footsteps, to the way, and there are signs and proofs that you were in this place, you transgressed there and you went after the Baalim, so how can you say to Me I am not defiled?
"A wild ass accustomed to the wilderness, in her soul's desire she sniffs the wind, her occasion who can turn back? All who seek her will not weary themselves, in her month they will find her." This verse is linguistically very difficult. And we will explain it according to the Malbim. Says the Malbim: a person who worships idolatry for benefit, for pleasure, can easily be brought back in repentance, by my showing him, you did not receive the benefit you hoped for. I do not go to serve it ideologically, I serve it because they promised me. The moment I see that I am not receiving, then consequently it is very easy for me to leave this idolatry.
As it was with the Levite who went and served the idol of Micah. And the Sages say his name was called Shevuel. The Sages say that David brought him back in repentance. How? For he understood that this Levite was greedy. As he said to him there, when someone came to feed the idol, he said to him: leave it, this gives nothing, this idolatry does not, does not, you will not profit anything from it. He said to him: arrange food for me like this, arrange this for me here, this, no, I, I will take care of you. So he asked him: so what are you doing here? So he said to him: what, you are not really, you are a priest here for idolatry, how suddenly are you... He said to him: a living, my friend. A living. One must earn a living, so for this I am here, but no, I do not really believe in it. King David grasped the matter, that this person truly loves to deal with money, and appointed him over his treasuries. And as a result he left all matters of idolatry, because truly idolatry was not the main thing, for him it was only a tool to receive a salary. I arranged an excellent salary for you. Until Solomon came and dismissed him for his own reasons, and this thing caused him to return to his idolatry.
Says the Malbim, you - he does not bring this example, but the principle is clearer through this example. Says the Malbim: a person who worships idolatry for benefit, for pleasure, it is easy to distance him from there, I will give him pleasure and benefit from other places, I will prove to him that from there is no benefit, through this he easily leaves the idolatry. In contrast, one who sins from love of the sin, it turns out then that the sin is not incidental, it is essential. This is how he defines it. That is to say, one who worships idolatry in order to receive a living, then I say the idolatry is incidental. What is his true love? Money. It is essential to him. And the idolatry is incidental. Ah, can I obtain money from something else? I will obtain it in another instance, I will obtain it in another way. I call idolatry something incidental and money essential. This is the essential thing, the main thing that I seek. But in contrast, one for whom idolatry is the essential thing, he worships idolatry because he believes in idolatry, not out of hope, but he truly trusts in the idolatry and the idolatry is precious to his heart, such a person is difficult to bring back in repentance. For even if I prove to him a thousand proofs that the idolatry does not satisfy his needs, he does not worship it because it satisfies his needs, he worships it for the sake of Heaven. Not because it satisfies, what, he is not an egoist. Such a person, He says, is the hardest to bring back in repentance. And indeed, people who are ideological about a matter of transgression are difficult to bring back in repentance.
But if a person commits a transgression, well, he has desires. So if the desires can be shown to him that there are greater pleasures in life, then, then, then he will leave those foolish desires and connect to more spiritual pleasures, more true pleasures. But those who have already built an ideology around their idolatry, around their heresy, it is hard to draw him from there, for even if you prove to him that it harms him, what do I do it for benefit? I do it because I think it is the truth. Such people, says the Malbim, are very difficult to bring back in repentance. It is impossible to bring them back in repentance.
And he brings in the name of the philosopher. "The philosopher," meaning the philosophers, would say: the adulterer for the sake of money is called a scoundrel in essence and an adulterer incidentally. The meaning of this: one who commits adultery for the sake of money, why does he commit adultery? Because he receives money for it. So we call him in his essence a scoundrel. But the adultery is only incidental with him. For truly if they were to bring him money through other things, then he would take other things. He does not commit adultery for the sake of the adultery, the adultery is only a tool to receive money. So he is called an adulterer incidentally, but in essence, in his very essence he is a scoundrel, since the main matter for him is the money. Says the Malbim: if so, the harlot who commits adultery for a harlot's fee can be brought back easily if we provide for her needs in her husband's house. Why does she do so? For money. So if she sees that there is no point in it, since you receive more money and everything you need in your husband's house, through this we bring her back in repentance easily. Not so, says the Malbim, the harlot who does not receive a harlot's fee, who is a harlot in essence, whom it is very difficult to bring back in repentance. For one who commits the sin because of the sin, not because of all sorts of side matters that he profits, but because of the sin, then he has an ideology in the sin, he has an interest in the sin. How do you bring him back in repentance? If the sin is not the main thing but only what he receives, then come receive from me, why should you receive through transgression? Come receive it permissibly. He will come. But no, it is not the matter of receiving, but the sin is the matter. If the sin is the matter, how do you bring such a one back in repentance?
Says the Malbim: after this principle, come and understand now what Scripture says here. The Jewish people, as it were, were compared to "a wild ass accustomed to the wilderness." The meaning of this: all animals walk, run, leap, why? For a purpose. For example, it knows that there is food there, so it runs there. A lion knows there is a deer here, it pursues it in order to catch it so that it can eat. There is a fire, a blaze in the forest, it runs because it is fleeing from the blaze. So the running with them is either to obtain benefit or to flee from harm. The running is not a goal in itself. In contrast, the species called "wild ass," this wild ass is "accustomed to the wilderness." What is "accustomed to the wilderness"? The wilderness instilled in it this nature and taught it, that this animal runs without a reason. "A wild ass accustomed to the wilderness," it is built, it is a wild ass. It leaps all the time, it runs all the time. Not in order to run to obtain something or to flee from something. This is its nature. It has a leaping nature, it has a nature of always running. So he says: if so, it is not like the other animals. For the other animals, it runs in order to obtain food. If you tell it wait, wait, hold on, where are you running? You have food here. It will eat, it will stop running. But the wild ass accustomed to the wilderness, it runs, the running is essential to it, it is not incidental. It is not a running for the sake of something. It is a running that is a goal in itself. It is - wait, you have food here. What, do I run for food? I run out of ideology. We run and they run. It runs for - it is a principle, it is, it is its nature. "A wild ass accustomed to the wilderness." Its nature is a wild ass, that it is always running, it is always leaping, it has no, it has no tranquility and rest.
"In her soul's desire she sniffs the wind." The meaning of this: when she sniffs the wind, it is not for the sake of another thing, but because this is her nature, to sniff the wind. What is the meaning of "to sniff the wind"? Sniffing the wind, we know that when a person runs, then [sounds of breathing] he inhales air in great quantities, his, his breathing is very, very heavy breathing. So about this he says here regarding her, the running and the sniffing of the wind is not only a tool to obtain prey or to flee from harmful things. "In her soul's desire she sniffs the wind," it is her pleasure. To run, to pant, to sniff the wind. This is the wild ass accustomed to the wilderness. This is the essential goal, even without need.
So then, "her occasion who can turn back?" Who can turn her back from the occurrences that happen to her, after all that happens to her is not incidental, it is only essential. "Her occasion," the Malbim explains, is from the language of "it came to his hand." Meaning it happened to him. Yes? For "he seeks an occasion against me," he seeks some pretext to do to me. So "her occasion" means what happens to her, all her events, who can turn her back. If all the events were incidental, as we said, she seeks food and therefore she runs, provide her food here, she will stop running. But if she runs as a goal in itself, then who can turn her back from what occasions her, from all that happens to her? For this matter of running with her is a goal, it is not, it is not a tool for obtaining another goal. Therefore he says: even if they give her her food, in any case she will continue to run in the wilderness, this wild ass, until all who seek her will not weary themselves. The meaning is all who seek her, as it were without reason, without point, without purpose, will weary themselves. However much you pursue, however much... they will weary themselves, you will grow weary. You will not be able to catch her. In vain you pursue her, it is impossible to change her nature. So one who now wishes to take this wild ass and say, let us put it now in a pen. Let us provide for its food with us. Ah, will it calm down? He says no. All you can - yes. You can take a horse, put it in a pen, you can take a wild donkey, put it in a pen. A wild ass accustomed to the wilderness you cannot put it in a pen. Why? Since the goal of its running is not the food, but it is a goal in itself. So its, this leaping nature, this rebellious nature, is a nature that it will have even if you subdue it, as it were, and bring it in to yourself and conquer it, this will not help you.
Well, so how can one overcome her? Only "in her month they will find her." What is the meaning of "in her month they will find her"? About what, about what are we speaking here? "They will find her." What is "in her month they will find her"? Says the Malbim: when the wild ass accustomed to the wilderness is born, it has the first month during which it is still trainable. Do you hear? It has not yet, it has not yet acquired this trait as nature. This is "in her month." "In her month" means in her first month, this is the time that they can still find her. You can still find it, what is called subdue it and succeed in overcoming it. This is the only time. But after they are already habituated in their nature, then they tell you, you have no chance at all, and anyone who pursues it will only grow weary and toil, and in the end will not succeed in properly catching it.
"Withhold your foot from being unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, It is hopeless, no, for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go." Rashi explains: "withhold your foot from being unshod," you are like a wild ass that always loves to be in motion. The prophets say to you: withhold yourself from being unshod. Do not go after the gentiles and idolatry, for through this you will be forced to go barefoot. Where did we go barefoot? To exile. He says to her: withhold your foot from being unshod. Let us say, let us define it, withhold troubles from yourself. Do not do evil things for which afterward you will be forced to go barefoot. "And your throat from thirst." When did we go thirsty? When they took us out to exile, the children of Ishmael came with the swollen wineskins, with the salted fish. What, what was the cause there? We were thirsty. And as a result what happened happened. Says the Holy One, blessed be He: I already recommend to you now, withhold yourself from this thirst. Repent now, you will not need to go to exile barefoot and you will not need to go there thirsty. Withhold all this from yourself.
But Knesset Yisrael, "you said, It is hopeless." You, when you hear these words, it is hopeless. There is no concern. I have despaired of your words. As it were, your words have nothing that would convince me. I have despaired of you. As it were, I have no further benefit in your matters. "For I have loved strangers, and after them I will go." I loved strangers, as we explained earlier, that this is already the category of love. It is not only benefit. Says the Malbim, who now explains the lesson: for as we said, that if the harlot commits adultery for the sake of the fee, then it would be possible to provide for her needs in a permissible way, and then she would not need to entangle her ways. But here he says, the husband says to this harlot wife: withhold your foot from being unshod. If you go to commit harlotry, you will be forced to go barefoot. Not so if you sit at home. Why? For what in fact is she lacking? Perhaps she lacks shoes, perhaps she wants wine to drink, therefore she goes to do evil things so that she will have money, in order that she can buy herself shoes and buy herself wine. He says to her: I tell you, withhold yourself from being unshod. On the contrary, stay here, do not go to commit harlotry, and I will provide you with shoes. And withhold your throat from thirst. Sit here and I will provide you with wine. And then through this you will not need to go and commit transgressions in order to receive profit.
"You said, It is hopeless." You, as it were, say I despair of all these things. And why? Since we explained that when the harlot is a harlot in essence, then it is not only to attain a purpose. So what do you think, that I lack the wine? Do you think I lack the shoes? So you say to me, come attain it in a permissible way? She says no, you are mistaken. "I have loved strangers, and after them I will go." I loved strangers, and if so I did not go after them for the sake of a goal, but the love of the strangers is the goal. I did not go after them in order to obtain another purpose, but the love of the strangers is the essential purpose. And if so, this is like a wild ass accustomed to the wilderness, that the running of the wild ass accustomed to the wilderness is not in order to obtain a purpose, but it is the purpose itself. The purpose is the running. So too here, the purpose is to go after the strangers. The purpose is to go and worship idolatry, to connect with the gentiles. This is the purpose. So you try to give me profit in another way? I do not seek the profit. With me the idolatry and the strangers are the purpose in themselves.