And therefore Hashem says: even when they fast, I will not listen to their cry; even when they offer a burnt offering and a meal offering, I will not accept them; for with sword, with famine, and with plague I will consume them. Hashem says to him: even when they fast, I will not listen to their cry. The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him that fasting will be of no use here, that a sacrifice will be of no use here. And the reason is that with sword and famine I am consuming them. This is not a hiding of the face as you imagine, in which case you would need to pray for good. No, here one must pray that there will be no evil, because the evil comes with full providence.
The Radak dwells on the wording: even when they fast, I will not listen to their cry. It should have said: even when they cry out, I will not listen to their cry. Even when they fast, I will not listen to their cry? They are fasting, they are not crying out. So what is the meaning of the answer here, I will not listen to their cry? So he explains that "their cry" refers to their outcry. The meaning is that there is no fast without prayer and outcry. A fast, if you do not, if it is without prayer and outcry, it is merely a diet. But if you truly fast, then it is outcry and prayer. Hashem says: even when they fast, I will not listen to their cry, to the outcry that accompanies the fast I will not listen.
And the Malbim explains that the outcry precedes the prayer. That is, before one prays and requests, one cries out. We say the Zemirot and then "Hashem, open my lips." First one cries out, this is songs and praises, praising Hashem, and afterward one stands in prayer to make requests. As it is written, "Do not restrain, on behalf of your people, outcry and prayer." First outcry, to praise and laud, and afterward requests. If so, what is written here, I will not listen to their cry, means: not only will I not listen to their prayer, but even to their outcry, which is the part preceding the prayer, Hashem says even to this I will not listen. Even to this I will not hearken. And even when they offer a burnt offering and a meal offering, I will not accept them. I do not want them, meaning the burnt offering and the meal offering, they will not be pleasing before Me. Rather, with sword and famine and plague I am consuming them, as the Malbim explained, with full providence.
And he says: Alas, Hashem Elokim. Behold, the prophets tell them, you will not see the sword and famine will not come upon you. You will not see the sword and famine will not come upon you, for true peace I will give you in this place. And then Yirmiyahu answers Him: Master of the Universe, You with providence give them punishment to harm them? This would be correct if they were rebelling against You. This would be correct if they were acting to provoke. But Master of the Universe, the false prophets tell them, you will not see the sword and famine will not come upon you. So they are not intentional sinners but misled. If so, Master of the Universe, it would be fitting to spare and have mercy on them; to give them a punishment through providence for the deeds they do, this would be just if it were rebellion done deliberately. But they are not doing this deliberately, for the false prophets mislead them and tell them, you will not see the sword and famine will not come upon you.
We have already spoken several times that the false prophets were very, very popular. For who loves to hear apocalyptic prophecies? Who loves to hear about disasters that are approaching and coming? People much prefer to hear about good things that are going to happen, that Hashem will return the vessels of the Temple, that the enemies will depart and do nothing to us. So you understand that the media would promote these prophecies. Just like today. Whenever there are matters of awakening and spirituality, the media will not broadcast that to you. But whenever there are matters opposite to that, then that is what the media will broadcast. So too here he says, what is the people guilty of? For this is what they hear all the time, the false prophets, and the false prophets always calm them and tell them, true peace I will give you in this place. "True peace" meaning lasting peace I will give you in this place.
And Hashem said to me: the prophets prophesy falsehood in My name; I did not send them, nor did I command them, nor did I speak to them. A false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their own heart they prophesy to you. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: the prophets prophesy falsehood in My name. They did not see such a thing, a vision, that is, in prophecy, and even though they say they saw it and that Hashem revealed Himself to them in this way, the Holy One, blessed be He, tells him this is falsehood. Divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. Divination: the Rambam explains that there are people upon whom the intellectual faculty is drawn into the imaginative faculty until they speak. They have influences from the intellectual faculty to the imaginative faculty, the faculty of imagination, and then he begins to speak out of his imagination. And many times he says things that contain truth. But his words are sometimes truth and sometimes not. The Ramban writes that there are people who know future events and are called "kahin." So says the Ramban, this is also known among the nations. Whoever wishes, I bring this in Mishnat HaChalomot, where we have a chapter dealing with the "babas" and all sorts of dream interpreters of various kinds and charlatans of various kinds. There we bring these words of the Ramban, that one should not be impressed by all sorts of people, he told her it would be so and it was, so what? The Ramban says there are people who sometimes have the power to know the future, and this is not from the power of holiness. It is from the kelipot and from impurity. Incidentally, "kahin" in Aramaic means "kohen." That is, these people are like what are called men of religion. But in truth they have no connection to religion. Not to the Jewish religion and usually not to any religion. Perhaps to the religion of money, that they usually do have a connection to. And in that religion they believe very much, with complete faith. And one should not relate to their words, even if they said correct things from time to time, this has no validity. Today they are all charlatans. Today there is not even a "kahin." Today they know what you think or what you expect or what you want to hear, and that is what they tell you. They hear all sorts of things from you while you are speaking and pick up on the matter, and based on that they decisively tell you all sorts of things, and you are sure that he came with knowledge about you and told you, and he did not... he heard everything from the things you spoke and from what you told, and he examines you and hears between the lines, and sometimes he shoots and hits, sometimes he does not hit. Incidentally, he always hits; everyone who goes in to him gets hit. But no matter, in his guesses he is sometimes right, sometimes not. And it is enough that he was right once with some guess, for one to go and tell all the uncles and aunts that the baba knew, and that he said it exactly, and that just as he said, so it was, and all sorts of other things of this kind. So these things existed of old. Men of a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart they prophesy to you. So these people of the imagination, this is the imaginative faculty, says the Rambam, and by its power he speaks. And the prophets of the Baal caused people to believe in them, and this is the matter of divination, they are called masters of divination. Another explanation the Radak gives: that one who gazes at the stars was called a diviner. "Elil," a worthless thing, from what root is "elil"? "Elil" means a thing that does not exist. Like "al." A thing that has no substance, from the word "lo," "no," it has no substance. And so they tell you it will not be, and Hashem says there is no substance in their words, for in truth there will be famine and there will be the sword. And deceit they devise in their heart. Do not think that he at least believes in what he says. No. This false prophet knows in advance that he is deceiving you. This is what he means by "the deceit of their heart." What he deceives you with is a deceit found within their heart; he knows he is lying, and for this purpose he comes and tells those very stories. If so, the Holy One, blessed be He, says to Yirmiyahu: why do they need to believe those false prophets when they have prophets of truth? When they have a man who has been tested in his words, like Yirmiyahu, and it is known that they would not accept any prophet unless they first tested him, asking him questions, telling of future matters, and then they would see if his words were true and accept him, until he was established as a prophet throughout all Israel. And these prophets were not established as prophets. So how could they possibly believe the things transmitted by these false prophets, whom I did not send, nor command, nor speak to a vision?
The Malbim explains the doubled wording: I did not send them, nor did I command them, nor did I speak to them. Hashem says: I did not send them on a mission to the people. Nor did I command them to do anything. Nor did I speak to them, not even an incidental word. That is, not even by chance did I speak to them, not even once. Rather, everything they speak is a false vision, a false prophecy, divination through the appearance of the stars or through lots, a worthless thing that has no substance, and the deceit of their heart they prophesy, as we explained, meaning they know they are deceiving and fabricating from their heart words of deceit. The Malbim says that usually the order is speech, command, mission. That is usually the order. Like "all that You have commanded us we will do, and to all where You send us we will go." That is, there are stages: Hashem speaks, then commands, and afterward there is a mission. The Malbim explains that speech is less than command. And here He actually reversed the order. Notice what He says: I did not send them, I did not command them, and I did not speak to them. And He says this is self-understood. Because here you are speaking in the negative. So in the negative He tells you: I did not send him. And I did not even command him. And I did not even speak with him at all. Therefore it begins from the opposite end. But when I go in the affirmative, then I speak with you, afterward I command you, and afterward I send you. But when I want to say I did not do this, then I say certainly I did not send, and I did not even command, and I did not even speak. And therefore here it appears in reverse order.
Therefore, thus said Hashem concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, though I did not send them, and they say the sword and famine will not be in this land: by the sword and famine those prophets will perish. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: therefore, a double punishment comes upon them. First, they prophesy in My name, and I did not send them. Even if they had some prophecy to fulfill the words of the Torah, one who prophesies falsely is liable to death. Even if he comes to tell us that Hashem said that tomorrow we must study four hours straight without stopping. This is what Hashem told me. And it becomes clear to us that he is a false prophet, he is put to death. Why? But he said something positive, what is the problem? If only everyone would study tomorrow for four hours without stopping, what is the problem? You said Hashem told me, and He did not tell you. Period. The very fact that you are a false prophet, a false prophet is liable to death. Here it is seven times worse. For you do not come to tell them to perform a mitzvah, but rather you come to encourage them to commit a sin. So you prophesy in the name of Hashem, and falsely at that, telling them the sword and famine will not be in this land, misleading the people not to heed the words of the true prophets and to continue in their crooked ways. So it turns out that your punishment should be double. First, in the name of Hashem what He did not say, and even if it were a mitzvah it would be a sin. And second, you also tell them to commit sins. So in effect the Holy One, blessed be He, says: they prophesy in My name, and I did not send them, this is one iniquity. And they say the sword and famine will not be in this land, this is a second iniquity. Therefore, by the sword and famine those prophets will perish.
And the people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets because of the famine and the sword, and there will be none to bury them, them, their wives, and their sons... I will repeat again. And the people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and there will be none to bury them, them, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, and I will pour out their evil upon them. The Radak explains that even though the false prophets misled them, they should have examined and checked between truth and falsehood. And the matters were, as I said, testable. The true prophets tell them to do the word of Hashem. The false prophets mislead you contrary to the word of Hashem. And even if we were to imagine that the prophet was truly a prophet, if a prophet is established as a prophet for us over long years, and one day came and gave an instruction to stop performing some mitzvah, and all the more so to transgress some sin, you shall not heed the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; the Torah forbids listening to him. So now there are prophets here who come and tell you in the name of Hashem to serve Hashem. There are other prophets here who come and tell you the complete opposite. Of this man it is said, "he shall surely die, for he spoke perversion." If so, this matter is only a test; even if it is in the name of Hashem, Hashem your God is testing you. So how are you going to heed the words of the false prophets, who go to advise you counsel against Hashem, for even if it were a prophet established as a true prophet, if he comes to give us an instruction as a permanent ruling to nullify one of the mitzvot or to serve idolatry, you shall not heed the words of that prophet. So in simple words, the claim that the false prophets mislead them is not, it is not a sufficient claim. This claim is a claim where you hide behind some excuse. For truly the falsehood and the truth here are revealed to all. They are clear to all. How did you go and turn away from the truth to the falsehood? And since this is so, says the Holy One, blessed be He, the people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and there will be none to bury them. This will be for them a punishment in addition to the suffering and death, also no burial. And their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, who heeded the false words, the Radak says, more than the men. Women are generally easily seduced. To a woman you tell her yes, that rabbi said and that baba said, and... women generally buy more easily all these various charlatans. So these women who heeded them more, and their small sons and daughters, they too will be punished. So the women because they heeded more, and the small sons are punished for the iniquity of their fathers. And since this is so, says the Holy One, blessed be He, they will pay the full price; as for the excuse that they prophesied to us, that is not a sufficient excuse, you should have distinguished between the genuine techelet and the imitation kala ilan.
The Malbim explains that the people who believed the false prophets will be cast out because of the famine and the sword. Notice, says the Malbim, that when it says "will perish" it emphasizes, it puts the sword before the famine. And regarding the fact that they will be cast out without burial, it puts the famine before the sword. In verse 15, by the sword and famine those prophets will perish. And afterward, the people to whom they prophesy, this is in verse 16, will be cast out in the streets because of the famine and the sword. Why here is it the famine and the sword, and above it wrote by the sword and famine those prophets will perish? The Malbim explains: death by famine is harder than death by the sword. This is a well-known and famous matter, there is an explicit verse: "better were those slain by the sword than those slain by famine, who pine away pierced" and so forth. A person slain by the sword is stabbed on the spot, dies on the spot. One slain by famine, on the other hand, is harsh suffering, dying through harsh and terrible suffering. Once I saw one of the great masters of mussar explain, why indeed are those slain by famine worse off than those slain by the sword? He said, beyond the physical matter, also for the conceptual reason. He says, just think, this person who is slain by famine, what is actually happening? He goes on wasting away in his hunger. What floats in his head in his final moments? Couscous, cola, cold. Do you understand? He says how terrible it is that a person in his final moments, before he cleaves to spirituality, in what is his mind immersed? In food and drink. At the peak of physicality. He said, therefore those slain by famine is the hardest death, because in a person's final time, before he connects to the spiritual, in the place where he should then engage in repentance, in confession, in reciting the Shema and unifying Hashem's name, in what is he now engaged? If only I had something to drink now, if only I had something to eat now. This itself turns death by famine into a most difficult death. But even without this, the very death by famine is a difficult death. Therefore, when He wants to say they will perish, He says they will perish by the sword and famine. That is, He puts the sword before the famine, because He says not only will there be the sword here, but there will also be famine here. On the other hand, regarding their being cast out without burial, He puts the famine before the sword. The meaning is that along with the famine there will also be the sword of the enemy. And then what will happen is that the enemy will not let you bury them. For usually the prevention of burial resulted from the enemies not agreeing to allow the burial of their dead. Many times the very burial, come and see what happens today. What happens today when a body is released to the Palestinians? Every burial becomes a demonstration. And so the nations, when they killed, there was a concern that the moment people gather to bury, there would be a demonstration and a gathering to rebel against the nation. Therefore it is written of them, those executed by the government are not buried. They would not agree to bury them. So it turns out that there was famine here, this is the first stage. And the second stage, since there was the sword of the enemy, therefore there was also no burial. And through this what happened is that they were cast out; their wives, and their sons, and their daughters will be, and I will pour out their evil upon them, and there will be none to bury them, they will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, why? Because of the famine, and afterward because in addition to the famine, the sword of the enemy also joins here, which prevented the burial.
And you shall say to them this thing: let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for a great breach has broken the virgin daughter of my people, a very grievous blow. Hashem says: and you shall say to them this thing. Tell them the following, that you are actually weeping and grieving over their breach. Let my eyes run down with tears night and day. That is, what I see is going to come upon you is a most severe blow. And this matter gives me no rest, and I do not stop weeping over the trouble that is going to be upon you. And He tells them, that you should also tell them that you see those slain by the sword, this is from outside, and those sickened by famine, this is from inside. For a great breach has broken the virgin daughter of my people. Perhaps this matter will bring them to repent. And then you will tell them that your eyes run down with tears night and day and do not cease. "Do not cease," the meaning is from the word for silence, your eyes do not rest from weeping. For a great breach has broken the virgin daughter of my people. What is "the virgin daughter of my people"? The Radak explains: until she goes into exile she is like a virgin who has not known a man and over whom none has ruled. That is, until she goes into exile she is today like a virgin who has not known a man. But when she goes into exile then the nations will rule over her and she will be subjugated to them like a virgin who has been violated. Therefore this is what He says, a great breach has broken the virgin daughter of my people. Until today no hands have touched her, but a great breach has broken and then the enemies will rule over her with absolute rule. And then there will be a very grievous blow, a blow of the greatest sickness. And the Malbim explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, here actually commands Yirmiyahu to share in their sorrow. That is, that he should not tell them these things as an onlooker from the side, but should share in their sorrow. Tell them: let my eyes run down with tears night and day. For a great breach has broken, they speak here of the external breach. And accompanying this is a very grievous blow, which is the internal blow. And now he elaborates...
If I go out to the field, behold, those slain by the sword; and if I enter the city, behold, those sickened by famine; for both prophet and priest have wandered about to a land they did not know. If I go out to the field, behold, those slain by the sword. If I go out to the field, this is as we said, that outside the sword bereaves. I went out to the field, so outside are those slain by the sword. The Malbim explains: the famine was in the city. "In a famine in the city, spread your legs," says the Gemara. That is, one should go outside. Therefore I went out to the field, but then I saw that there outside the situation was no better, because there outside are those slain by the sword. And if I entered the city in order to be saved from the sword, behold, those sickened by famine. That is, the war is upon us front and back. The famine and the sword surround us on every side.
And in addition to this, there is a blow that is very grievous, as we said, which is an internal blow. And what is it? Behold, come and see, both prophet and priest have wandered about to a land they did not know. What is "both prophet and priest have wandered about to a land they did not know"? Rashi explains that "sacharu" means they circled about to seek deliverance. And this is also understood in the Holy Tongue, for it is from the word "sachor sachor," round about. "Sacharu" is from the expression of going round about, circling. And this, incidentally, is also the source of the term "socher," merchant, since the merchant goes and circles from city to city. This is also the source of the expression we say, "one who goes about as a rachil," a peddler, for the peddler too circles about the towns. He goes, "rachil" is from the word for one accustomed to walking, from the word for legs, he walks on his legs and circles about the towns. So too the merchant goes round about. And if both prophet and priest have wandered about to a land they did not know and did not know, they too will wander about to another land which they did not know until now, and they will not find salvation, they will not find comfort.
The Radak explains that the prophet we speak of here refers to false prophets. And the priest refers to the true priests. The meaning is the Kohanim of the Levites, for there were among the Kohanim also dishonest people, for if we remember, Yirmiyahu was from Anatot, which was the city of the Kohanim. And nevertheless they pursued him there, and nevertheless they wanted to kill him. So there were also among them wicked Kohanim, as Hashem told him, "even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have betrayed you," even though they were in fact Kohanim. And "they wandered about to a land they did not know," the Radak explains, does not mean they circled to seek deliverance, but rather they circled to go into exile. That is, they went to a land they did not know. And here where it says both prophet and priest, there is a possibility that in fact he speaks here also of the distinguished ones, the Radak explains, since we know that the craftsmen and the smiths went into exile with Yehoyachin. These were the distinguished ones, these were the great ones, the masters of Torah. So they too wandered, they too circled and went into exile. Why is this called "they wandered about"? Perhaps they went straight? The Radak says, there is no straight way. In any case, one who travels a distant road makes turns. There are mountains, there are hills, there are cities, there are... he makes turns. So therefore it is fitting to say "they wandered about," since the one who travels necessarily goes round about.
The Malbim has here an original explanation. The Malbim says: they wandered about to a land they did not know. The Malbim says: they made merchandise to the land. Like a merchant who sells his merchandise for filthy lucre. They sold Torah and prophecy for money. Do you hear? And they did not know, the meaning is they did not know what their end would be. Terrible of terribles. What they actually did was engage in prophecy or Torah for the sake of commerce. Not for the sake of Torah study, not for the sake of bringing merit to the public, not for the sake of serving Hashem, but they made commerce out of it. Like a merchant who sells his merchandise for filthy lucre. You want me to prophesy to you? Pay properly. No, not enough, pay more, now I will prophesy to you. And so on in this manner. So it turns out that even those who were holders of the Torah, it is implied from this that they too made the Torah into a spade to dig with and conducted themselves in it in the manner of merchants, selling their merchandise for filthy lucre and not knowing what their end would be.
I recall that there was once one of the great ones of Israel, who was a hidden tzaddik, and a certain man who was a cattle merchant would come to him. And he would always ask him about the cattle, he would tell him which animal was treif, which animal was glatt, smooth, without any adhesion. All by his divine spirit. I do not remember now the names and places, but this appears in the books. And he always, their arrangement was that he would take him one day to market day. Each time he takes him once a week to market day, he would tell him which cattle to choose, he would choose these cattle, 10 minutes, half an hour, he goes with him. Afterward he would take care of supplying his provisions, meat, and so on. And the other merchants began to grumble about that butcher. They said, how can it be? This person has been slaughtering here for two months already, he hasn't produced a single treif animal from his hand. Not one of them has an adhesion, not one of them has a defect. How can it be? He must be selling nevelot and treifot. The rabbi summoned him and began to investigate with him. So he told him, I will tell the rabbi in secret, I have the... what is called the scanner. Do you understand? The tzaddik, who scans the animal, MRI, and tells me immediately which is treif, which is... Well, the rabbi heard this, he summoned that man. He told him, I heard about what you are doing. I greatly appreciate your greatness and righteousness, but with all that, "it is the glory of God to conceal a matter." And one must not use those spiritual powers for earthly matters, to tell so-and-so buy this animal, do not buy that animal. And from then on that one stopped, and the person returned to the statistics regarding treifot and defects and other matters. That is, we understand that it is not respectable to take something that is holy and use it for commerce. In order to receive a pound of meat, you now reveal to him what is nevelah and what is treif and through this what, he provides your livelihood. So certainly that tzaddik had intention for the sake of Heaven, all so that he could contemplate the Torah and so on. But we see that there is a flaw in this. So they went and made commerce out of the Torah and prophecy, like a man who sells his merchandise for filthy lucre. They sold Torah and prophecy for money, and they did not know what their end would be.
Yes. I recall that once I saw someone who has lessons, and he sells his lessons for such and such. Whoever wants to listen, pay such and such, listen to the lesson. And whoever... I approached him, I told him, listen, I don't understand. I don't understand. You have, you have a privilege that you can bring merit to the public. You should be spreading your lessons everywhere. Everyone who... after all, everyone who listens, you should be paying him. This person brought you merit that another one heard your lessons. So what do you cause by this? That people do not listen to the lessons, because they say, what, where, who pays for Torah today? Today it is all free. So why on earth pay? I told him, so what do you cause by this? That instead of 10,000 people listening to you, only 200 people who were willing to pay listen to you. What does he say to me? He tells me, in the place where I grew up, earning a livelihood was not considered a dirty word. Livelihood. How much livelihood do you make from people who came in to listen to your lessons? Do you marry off children from this? I did not want to argue with him. Yes, no, it was not respectable to argue with him. I did not want to argue with him. But this is what the prophet says here. The prophet says, after all, the people need to be taught the Torah, one must teach the people Torah and prophecy, one must give it to them for free. Teach them for free. And what do you do? You go to sell your Torah. Every Jew who studies your Torah, you should rejoice. Once someone asked me, he told me, honored Rabbi, how much do they pay at Hidabroot? How much do they pay at Hidabroot? I told him, no, I do not pay them anything, I told him. I there don't pay anything. No, I meant how much do they pay you. What are you talking about? I told him. They pay me? I should be paying them. When do I have an opportunity to speak before 200,000 people? I told him, when they give someone the stage to speak, you have a privilege beyond price. You have the privilege now to speak before thousands and tens of thousands; who would have given you this opportunity? Who would have given you the opportunity to bring merit to so many people? In the past there was no such reality. Today with all the media means, today a person can bring merit to many people with a small thing. So to go and also make commerce out of it? So what are you left with? So say they paid you. So you would go out with a program for 1,000 shekels. Well, and what? And you compare this to what? To ten people who heard what you had to say? You compare this to the privilege they gave you? So in effect whoever makes the calculation, terrible of terribles. The Malbim says, like a merchant who sells his merchandise for filthy lucre. The prophets and teachers of Torah sought the commerce, how to sell the Torah, instead of giving the Torah importance, so that they would sell it rather than give it for free.
We will conclude with one more explanation, that of the Targum Yonatan, and he says, he explains what is written here, both priest have wandered about to a land they did not know, according to its plain meaning. Each man went to engage in his commerce. They wandered about to a land they did not know. Instead of engaging in the welfare of the people, in advancing them spiritually, you left the people, you went and opened your business. This is "they wandered about to a land they did not know." They went to engage in their commercial affairs and did not know, they did not look at what their end would be. And regarding this the verse says that this is a grievous blow, as the Malbim says, a very grievous blow; through this they will not heal the breach, for there is no one to teach them Torah, there is no one to bring them back in repentance.
Have You utterly rejected Yehuda? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You smitten us so that there is no healing for us? We hoped for peace, but there is no good; and for a time of healing, but behold, terror. Have You utterly rejected Yehuda? Has Your soul loathed Zion? That is, has Your soul loathed Zion, says Rashi, to the extent that You have, as it were, resolved not to return to it? That is, as it were, it has been decreed upon Zion that there is no longer any healing. And the Radak explains that here, after the Holy One, blessed be He, told the prophet not to pray anymore, the prophet says, the Radak says here, that here the prophet returns and prays again. Even though Hashem told him not to pray on behalf of this people, here it is on behalf of a portion of the people. That is, all the speech was not to pray on behalf of the collective, but on behalf of a portion of the people the prophet understands that one may indeed pray. Therefore he says, have You utterly rejected Yehuda, has Your soul loathed Zion, "Zion" meaning the inhabitants of Zion. That is, until now he did not speak of the destruction, but of the trouble of the people dwelling in Zion, that behold You have smitten us, this is the blow of famine, and there is no healing, there is no rain. We hoped for peace, but there is no good. If we hope, "koveh" means the infinitive form. Yes, this is not, I can say "koveh" as a command, hope for peace, hope. I can say it from the expression of hoping for peace, and then it is called the infinitive in the language of the grammarians. We hoped for peace, if we hope, we have hope for peace, and then what? When I have peace with the nations, I can approach them and from them break bread, buy grain. So even though I am in a state of famine, from the nations I can obtain livelihood. But there is no good. We see that no good comes to us in any direction we go. And behold, terror. "Terror" means we are terrified. Every direction we go, we have terror, we are in fear. In fact this verse is already written above in the passage "I will surely consume them," in the haftarah of Tisha B'Av: we hoped for peace, but there is no good, and for a time of healing, but behold, terror. These expressions already appeared there.
The Malbim explains that here there is a third prayer. After he hears that the Holy One, blessed be He, shares in the sorrow of Israel, that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not reject them, he says to Him: have You rejected Yehuda? After all, You, Master of the Universe, still love them. Has Your soul loathed Zion? After all, Master of the Universe, Your Shechinah is still in Zion. So if You do not reject us, and if Your soul has not loathed Zion, then why have You smitten us so that there is no healing? So why then, Master of the Universe, do we have a blow that has no cure? What does it mean that it has no cure? The Malbim explains, there is an expression that the Holy One, blessed be He, smites and prepares the remedy before the blow. And indeed many ask, what difference does it make whether He prepared the remedy before the blow or did not prepare the remedy before the blow? What does it really matter? If the remedy comes immediately when there is the need, then does it matter whether it was prepared before the blow or was not prepared before the blow? The fact that the remedy stands aside on standby, waiting for the blow, and after the blow comes the remedy, what did that help? What did that give us? For in any case the remedy did not delay. You say no, there is here a preparing of the remedy before the blow. Why is this so important? The Malbim says a wonderful thing. What is the difference between one who comes to heal and one who comes to harm? One who comes to heal prepares the remedy before the blow. One who comes to harm does not. And this is very simple. When a surgeon comes to perform an operation, he does not finish the operation and then say, wait, come now, let us quickly search for thread and needle to stitch, and let us search for medications and bandages to... He does not begin to search for this now. Before beginning the operation, we already have all these materials ready. That is, preparing the remedy before the blow proves that the entire intention of the blow is for the sake of healing. And the proof is that as soon as the blow ends, immediately the medications for healing are ready. On the other hand, when one does not prepare the remedy before the blow, then this in fact indicates: I intended to give a blow. After there is a blow, well, a problem has arisen, there is illness, so it needs to be healed, so bring medications, we will heal it. The preparing of the remedy before the blow proves that the blow is for benefit. This is the preparation, this is the matter. And so he says, the Malbim brings an example of bloodletting, that a doctor who lets blood prepares for him immediately the instruments intended to heal the bloodletting wound even before the bloodletting. So he says, the blow that came upon Israel, if it is a blow through providence, meaning from Hashem so that they will repent, then why have You smitten us so that there is no healing? Why did You not prepare the remedy first? If this is truly for good, then the remedy should have already been prepared beforehand. And behold we see that You have smitten us and there is no healing, we do not see a remedy.
What can you tell him? This is not through providence. We have already spoken that it may very well be that the Holy One, blessed be He, gives a blow in the manner of abandoning us to the hand of nature. To the hand of the system. This is not through providence, but rather the moment Hashem leaves us, we are consequently exposed to blows, we are exposed to damages from nature. So what shall we say? Perhaps this is not through providence, this is through nature, this is through the hiding of the face. But we said that when there is such a blow, its great advantage is that it depends on nature. What does this mean? It could be a situation where according to nature, according to the decree of the system, no trouble is coming. That is, no trouble will come to us. On the other hand, if it is through providence, in any case trouble will come, for through providence the Holy One, blessed be He, now needs to punish us. But if Hashem abandons us to the hand of nature, then it could be a situation where now, naturally, it is not a time of famine. Naturally, it is not a time of disaster. And then sometimes it is good to be in the hand of nature. Ordinarily it is worse. Why? Because if, God forbid, it is a time of disaster, if now it is indeed a time of trouble, then the Holy One, blessed be He, leaves us in the hand of nature and does not intervene at all. He does not extract us from it at all. For there is no providence. And based on this we explained the matter that occurred with Eliyahu and Achav, that this was the reason the rains were withheld from them, even though the Torah says "and the anger of Hashem will burn against you and there will be no rain," because we are in such a bad state that Hashem abandoned us to the hand of nature. So according to this aspect he now comes and says, Master of the Universe, if this blow is in the hand of nature, it is in the hiding of the face, all this can only happen in a situation where nature so indicates. According to nature there should be famine, according to nature... this is what happens in the world, this is according to nature. He says if so, according to nature it would be fitting that there be peace, so why is there no good? According to nature we would hope and expect a time of healing. That is, according to nature there is a time of the blow and there is another time of healing. And behold, terror. So it turns out that this blow is not understood by us. Not as a providential blow, for if it were a providential blow there should have been a remedy beforehand. And if it is a blow according to nature, then a blow according to nature also, nature in the end has a stage where it comes to an end. And behold here we are terrified on every side.
The Malbim dwells on the distinction between "rejected" and "loathed by Your soul." And let us notice the expressions written here. Have You utterly rejected Yehuda? Has Your soul loathed Zion? What is the difference between "rejected" and "loathed by Your soul"? The Malbim says: rejection is the opposite of choosing. And loathing of the soul is the opposite of attachment and love. And we will explain. When I want to tell someone I reject you, I reject you, and the other, what? And the other I choose. The opposite of rejecting is choosing. The Holy One, blessed be He, rejected Shaul and chose David. "I have chosen you and not rejected you." The opposite of rejecting is choosing. On the other hand, the opposite of loathing of the soul is attachment and love. Him, him I love, to him I am attached, and the other my soul loathes. "And I will set My dwelling among you," this shows that Hashem is attached to us, "and My soul will not loathe you," this shows that, God forbid, loathing is an expression of the opposite of attachment and love. And it is written in the verse, "I have not rejected them to destroy them, nor loathed them to break My covenant with them." We said, "I have not rejected them to destroy them." That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, I still choose you. For I did not reject you to destroy you, for rejection is the opposite of choosing. "And I have not loathed them," says the Holy One, blessed be He, to break My covenant with them, but rather I still have a covenant with you, which is an expression of love. Which is an expression of attachment, I am still attached to you. The Malbim says, there is one who loathes but does not reject. What does this mean? I am not... we said loathing is the opposite of love. So I am not attached to you in love, I loathe. But I do not reject. It is not to the extent that I really do not want you, do not choose you, am not interested in you, I reject, not to that extent. I do loathe, but I do not reject. Therefore he says, understand, in the verse it is written "I have not rejected them," not only did I not reject them, which is the opposite of choosing, but I also did not loathe them to destroy them, but on the contrary, I still loved them. Therefore he says, understand for us, since Zion is the name of... the name of the place of the Shechinah, if... therefore he says, has Your soul loathed Zion? Since Zion is the place of the attachment of the Shechinah, and we said that loathing is the opposite of attachment and love, so he says Zion, with which You should have been attached, has Your soul loathed it? Yehuda, whom He chose, Hashem chose Yehuda, and therefore corresponding to this he says, have You rejected Yehuda? For rejection is the opposite of choosing. And to Zion His soul was attached, so he asks, has Your soul loathed it? Which is the opposite of attachment of the soul. So in effect the expressions here are most precise.
We know, Hashem, our wickedness, the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You. Master of the Universe, we know our wickedness, that which we have done wickedly before You. We also know the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You. The Radak says, we and them. Both us and our fathers. And we know that justice requires that You visit upon us their iniquity and our iniquity. What is the connection to their iniquity? As long as they hold on to the deeds of their fathers in their hands, they should be visited also with their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers. And there is here also rebellion, since he mentioned "we were wicked," he mentioned deliberate sins, he said "our iniquities," so he also mentioned inadvertent sins, he said "we have sinned against You." So there is here in fact everything. Wickedness, iniquity, and sin. The Malbim explains that here in fact the prophet asked a question and here he answers it. The Malbim says, we know what the answer is. Have You utterly rejected, have You loathed Zion? The answer is, it is because of our wickedness. Our wickedness meaning the measure was filled. And not only that, there is also the iniquity of our fathers. We hold the deeds of our fathers in our hands, that we sinned against You. And You visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons. The Malbim says, wickedness usually refers to the deliberate sin. Someone acts wickedly, meaning does something deliberately. Iniquity, on the other hand, the Malbim explains in several places, comes to express a distortion of the intellect. This is heresy with ideology. It is not out of desire, but with ideology, this is iniquity. Sin comes to express the inadvertent sinner, and many times it also expresses iniquity out of desire. So we define it as sin, since it is considered as inadvertent relative to one who does something out of a distortion of the intellect and out of ideology in order to provoke.
Do not spurn us, for the sake of Your name; do not disgrace the throne of Your glory; remember, do not break Your covenant with us. Do not spurn us, for the sake of Your name, Rashi says, that You are called compassionate. Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory, this is the Temple, which is His footstool. There is an aggadic midrash Rashi brings, that this is Israel, who are engraved upon the throne of Your glory. This is "do not reject," do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. The Radak explains that "do not disgrace the throne of Your glory" means to cast it to the ground. And to what does this refer? The Radak says, this is Jerusalem. Do not cast down Jerusalem, do not disgrace Jerusalem; when You abandon them You in fact, as it were, cast them down and disgraced them, meaning You caused disgrace to them. We ask, remember, do not break Your covenant with us. Remember the covenant of the fathers, this covenant do not break with us, but continue and remember it for us. The Malbim explains, here in fact the prophet turns to the Holy One, blessed be He, and says, why, Master of the Universe, do we deserve to be treated favorably? For now, at this very moment, You said our wickedness, our wickedness, the iniquity of our fathers, we have sinned against You. So why is there nevertheless still an opening for us to speak? The Malbim says, to this the prophet argues to Him: indeed, on our part we have done much wickedness, but for the sake of Your name. For our name is called by Your name. And when Israel is in a low state, Your name is desecrated. And always, always, always, when the appeal to the Master of the Universe is regarding the matter of Your name, this appeal always comes to express that we, on our own part, no longer have any other merits. That is, let us define it, this is a kind of chair of refuge, where we have no other way, and this is the only way through which we can be saved. For if we had merits, we would speak of the praise of the merits. What is left for us but to say? Master of the Universe, Your name will be desecrated in the world. We have no merits, but what of Your name? Why do this to Your name, that it be desecrated in the world? This is what we say, for the sake of Your name. Another matter, do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. "The throne of glory, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary." This is what we speak of, the throne of Your glory. That is, Master of the Universe, that the Temple not be destroyed. And this corresponds to what he said, has Your soul loathed Zion, have You, Hashem, loathed Zion, that place which You love, to which You are attached, which is the Temple? Do not break Your covenant with us. For Master of the Universe, You made a covenant with us, and the meaning of making a covenant is that the people of Israel can never be destroyed. This is what You chose us over all the nations. And this corresponds to "have You utterly rejected Yehuda," is it conceivable that Hashem rejected us and did not choose us? So if You chose us, do not break Your covenant with us. The Malbim explains that the expression "spurn," "spurn" means to treat something with light regard, this is called spurning. And this is simply also the source of the expression "blasphemies." Blasphemy. Blasphemy is an expression of a curse. The meaning, what is a curse? From what root is "kelalah," curse? From the word "to make light." You make light of his honor. Therefore this is called "kelalah," curse, and "those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." The meaning is it will be for them from the word for disgrace and from the word for light. As if you do this thing, it is a light thing, this thing has no importance, this thing is a disgrace.
Are there among the vanities of the nations those who bring rain? And can the heavens give showers? Are You not the One, Hashem our God? And we hope in You, for You have made all these. He says, are there among the vanities of the nations those who bring rain, "are there" is the interrogative "heh." The interrogative "heh" meaning the "heh" of questioning. Are there among the vanities of the nations those who bring down rain? And can the heavens give showers? And notice, says Rashi, that the "heh" here is a double question. And always when it is a double question, the first appears with "heh" and the second appears with "im." And in fact both are questions. Like "are they in open camps or in fortresses." As if it were in effect written "are they in open camps, are they in fortresses." In effect this is a double question, but the second appears with "im." Are there among the vanities of the nations those who bring rain, and can the heavens give showers, like "and the heavens give showers," it is as if the "heh" draws the other along with it. "Whether it be good or evil" is not written, but rather "the good, whether it be evil." As if again the interrogative "heh." Have You utterly rejected, has Your soul loathed Zion, this is the expression also here. Are there among the vanities of the nations, and can the heavens give showers, yes, have You utterly rejected, these are verses we saw earlier. And the verse also with us. The Radak explains that in fact here the prophet turns to the Holy One, blessed be He, and says, Master of the Universe, regarding the rain, to whom shall we cry out? To whom do we have to turn? Only to You, Master of the Universe. Are there among the vanities of the nations those who bring rain? And this is a wonder, for this verse is truly relevant to this day. One of the greatest troubles and difficulties throughout the years was the matter of rain. And in their time I am speaking of a situation where all livelihood depended on rain. When there is a situation of lack of rain, drought, the cattle die, the people die, absolute famine, a terrible and dreadful situation. The prophet says here, are there among the vanities of the nations those who bring rain? This is a trouble from time immemorial, they tried all the ways of idolatry and the prophets of Baal and every way to perform actions to bring down rain. And to this day, thousands of years have passed, and they have still not found a method to bring down rain. The rain will forever remain in the hands of the Holy One, blessed be He. The key of rains is in the hand of the Master of the Universe. And this is what he writes here, are there among the vanities of the nations those who bring rain? All these vanities that the nations perform, can any of them bring down rain? Does anyone have the power to bring down rain? And it was well known in many places that when the ruler wanted rain, he knew he had to issue a decree against the Jews, the Jews would go to pray, and rain would fall. There are countless such stories, also about Jerusalem in the time of the Pri Chadash and many other stories. In Yemen it was especially well known and famous, that when he wanted rain, he would threaten the Jews that by a certain date rain must fall. And the Jews would go out to the cemetery in Yemen, they would go out, they would return, and the rain would catch them. And there are many more stories in many more places. It is known that rain is only the Jews. The Baba Sali of Ima Mekomeh, it was well known and famous that he brought down rain time after time in order to fill the mikveh. The only nation that is capable, that has the connections to the central control board up there, is only the people of Israel. No nation and no gentile and no Native American with a rain dance will bring down rain for you. Are there among the vanities of the nations those who bring rain? This is something that has not changed since then, and with all the technologies of today, they have not succeeded in creating rain. At most, if there are clouds, then they will tell you that they scatter, I don't know what, iodine and all sorts of other things of this kind in order to create a situation of greater condensation, in order to hasten the falling of the rain or to increase the precipitation. But let us see you bring rain on a summer day, let us see you on a winter day bring the clouds here and bring down rain. This is something that still does not exist. So the Radak says, the prophet here turns to the Holy One, blessed be He, to whom do we have to cry out regarding the rain, Master of the Universe, if not to You? Since there are none among the vanities of the nations who bring rain, there is no one capable of giving rain. And can the heavens give showers? Even the heavens, which is the firmament that brings the rain, do the heavens give rain without Your will? You stop them so that rain will not fall. And since this is so, then Master of the Universe, You are Hashem our God, and we hope in You. In whom do we have to hope? Only in You, Master of the Universe. So give us the rain, for You have made all these. What is "You have made all these"? The Radak explains, that the prevention of the rains, You did this. That the land does not give its produce, You did this. From where do you see that this is the expression "You have made all these"? He says notice, in the prophecy of Zechariah it is written, "for the seed of peace, the vine shall give its fruit, and the land shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew, and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these." We see about what "all these" is said? About rain, about showers, about produce. So here when there is no rain, can the heavens give showers? Are You not Hashem our God, and we hope in You, for You have made all these. What is "all these"? Like in the prophecy of Zechariah, where the meaning is the produce of the land, the heavens shall give their dew, this You, Master of the Universe, made. So the prevention of the rain is from You, and consequently to request rain is only from You. The Malbim explains, are there among the vanities of the nations those who bring rain, that is, we know that the rains do not fall through external artificial actions, not through bringing down spiritual powers, not through idolatry, not through nature, but only from Hashem may He be blessed. For You are Hashem our God. The showers, the rain, this is through providence from You. Therefore only in You do we hope, for You have made all these. You stopped the rain, and since this is so, the reality of rain will return only through You. And when is the rain stopped? This is written in the Torah, that the people of Israel serve idolatry, "and you turn aside and serve other gods," "and He will stop up the heavens." But here he says, Master of the Universe, You are Hashem our God, and we hope in You. We do not believe in idolatry, we believe in You, we hope in You. So if so, Master of the Universe, it is fitting that You give showers, for the rain is stopped when they serve idolatry and believe in it. We do not believe in it and do not hope in it, but only in You, Master of the Universe, and if so it is fitting that You spare and have mercy on us and bring down rain for us.