The prophecy of Ovadya is entirely devoted to Edom - its future downfall and the great reckoning that the Holy One, blessed be He, will settle with it for all the distress it caused Israel. In the section before us, we follow the Malbim, who teaches us to distinguish between two layers in the prophecy: that which has already occurred to Edom in history (its devastation at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the era of Herod, and the like), and that which is destined to take place at the End of Days - absolute and total destruction. Through this, we will also study the detailed indictment that the prophet presents against Edom for its actions during the destruction of the First Temple, during the destruction of the Second Temple, and throughout all the generations that followed.
אִם תַּגְבִּיהַּ כַּנֶּשֶׁר וְאִם בֵּין כּוֹכָבִים שִׂים קִנֶּךָ מִשָּׁם אוֹרִידְךָ נְאֻם יְהֹוָה׃ - "Though you soar high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says Hashem."
Radak explains the straightforward meaning: "Though you soar high as the eagle" - that you elevate your dwelling like an eagle that flies high above all other birds; "and though you set your nest among the stars" - that you place your nest in the highest of heights, in order to boast and declare that you sit at the pinnacle of the world. To this, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: From there I will bring you down.
One might also see an allusion here: the eagle was the symbol of Germany, and "though you set your nest among the stars" - the flag of the European Union is filled with stars. And from this very pride, "From there I will bring you down, says Hashem." By Hashem's grace, we already see this entire shell beginning to crumble: nation after nation departs, and the euro, which once reached six shekels, has dropped to four and change. That entire bloc, which was so hostile to Israel and united on only one thing - condemning us, whether guilty or not guilty, the Goldstone Report, and what not - is already in the process of disintegration.
The Malbim, however, offers a wonderful insight here. There is a difficulty in the verse: it should have said, "and though you placed [samta] your nest among the stars" - in the past tense. Why does it say sim, which is an imperative form? The Malbim explains: It is indeed a command. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to Edom: If you have soared like an eagle, and if you have reached all the way between the stars - by all means, establish your nest right there! And why? Because whenever the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to bring someone down, He first elevates him, so that the fall will be seven times greater. Just like one who wishes to throw down his enemy leads him up to a high place so he may cast him down from there into the abyss and break his neck. This prophecy, says the Malbim, will be fulfilled at the End of Days: the kingdom of Edom will grow great and hold its head high, and from there Hashem will bring it down to the Valley of Yehoshaphat, and there He will judge it and bring it to account for all the distress it caused the Jewish people.
אִם גַּנָּבִים בָּאוּ לְךָ אִם שׁוֹדְדֵי לַיְלָה אֵיךְ נִדְמֵיתָה הֲלוֹא יִגְנְבוּ דַּיָּם אִם בֹּצְרִים בָּאוּ לָךְ הֲלוֹא יַשְׁאִירוּ עֹלֵלוֹת׃ - "If thieves came to you, if robbers by night - how are you cut off! - would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?"
Radak explains that the verse is phrased as an expression of astonishment: those who witness the downfall of Edom will stand amazed. If thieves robbed you at night while you slept, how did you not sense it so as to rise up against them and drive them away? Furthermore, thieves typically "steal only until they have enough" - they take what they need and leave the rest. And if daylight pillagers came, like grape-gatherers in a vineyard who return again and again to take more and more, even then it is impossible that they would not leave gleanings. And "gleanings" (olelot) are the small grapes not worth the trouble of picking, or those hidden beneath the vine. But with you, it was not so: they did not steal merely "until they had enough," but without limit, and they did not leave gleanings, but took everything. This is the meaning of the subsequent verse, "How Esav is searched out, his hidden treasures laid bare!" - how they took everything and left you with nothing.
There are two interpretations for the phrase "how are you cut off" (eich nidmeita): The first is from the root of destruction or cutting off, as in "My people are destroyed [nidmu] for lack of knowledge" - that is, how were you completely cut off? The second, which is also the rendering of the Targum, is from the Aramaic word damich - you slept: how were you so fast asleep that thieves came upon you at night and you sensed nothing at all?
The Malbim explains: After opening with the prophecy concerning the End of Days, Ovadya informs Edom of what will befall it even before that - that nations will invade its land, plunder it, and loot it. As the Malbim explains in Yeshayahu 21 and Yirmeyahu 49, there was a ruse here: Edom's own confederates, the very ones who were supposed to stand by its side in a time of distress, were the ones who advised it to go out to war against its neighbors, promising success, conquest, and spoil. Edom heeded their advice and went forth, and at that very moment the enemies entered its country and destroyed everything.
According to this, the prophet depicts the enemies as thieves, for they indeed arrived like thieves in the night - in secret, without the homeowner's knowledge. And he says to him: If thieves came upon you, how could you have slept? And if night robbers came, the difficulty is even greater, since robbers make noise and racket - how could you not have heard? "Would they not steal only until they had enough?" - they had all the time in the world to steal precisely what they needed, so how did you not rise to stop them?
He continues: "If grape gatherers came to you" - if they came to a place where you are not constantly present, such as in the field, we would ask you: would they not leave gleanings? After all, one who harvests grapes in a field is always fearful lest the owner arrive unexpectedly, and therefore he does not linger to gather the last crumbs, but rather takes the main crop and flees swiftly. Yet here, they harvested everything.
אֵיךְ נֶחְפְּשׂוּ עֵשָׂו נִבְעוּ מַצְפֻּנָיו׃ - How Esav has been searched out, his hidden treasures laid bare!
As it were, he says to him: Esav, how could your hidden treasures be thoroughly searched and exposed? After all, those who break in to steal have no leisure for a meticulous search; they have no time to open cabinet after cabinet and dig through them. They rush in, grab, and fling everything aside to find whatever they can as quickly as possible. Yet here, it appears they had all the time in the world to rummage, inspect, and delve deeply. The enemies show no fear at all - were you not supposed to rise up against them? How did you not wake up while they were in your midst?
"Nechpesu" is from the root of searching (chipus). "Niv'u" denotes disclosure and revelation, as the Targum renders: "etgalyan" (they were revealed). This is also the apparent source of the expression for a spring - a "flowing spring" (ma'ayan nove'a), which reveals what lies beneath the earth. In Arabic, the root of niv'u carries the sense of seeking or requesting, as in the Aramaic "I bayon bayu" - if you ask a request. Likewise, an egg is called "be'a" in Aramaic, and on Pesach night we eat an egg because "Ba'a Rachmana lemifrakna" - the Merciful One desired to redeem us, for ba'yu signifies desire and request. Thus, "niv'u matzpunav" means: his hidden treasures were sought out and exposed.
עַד הַגְּבוּל שִׁלְּחוּךָ כֹּל אַנְשֵׁי בְרִיתֶךָ הִשִּׁיאוּךָ יָכְלוּ לְךָ אַנְשֵׁי שְׁלֹמֶךָ לַחְמְךָ יָשִׂימוּ מָזוֹר תַּחְתֶּיךָ אֵין תְּבוּנָה בּוֹ׃ - All your allies have escorted you to the border; your trusted friends have enticed you and prevailed over you; those who eat your bread have placed a wound under you; there is no discernment in him.
Now the prophet explains how this came to pass: how the enemies were so calm, searching unhurriedly, without any fear that the homeowner would rise up against them. The answer is a scheme they plotted against you. "The men of your covenant" are those with whom you forged an alliance to aid you in time of war. They sent him out to fight beyond the border, to leave the territory of his own land, pretending to accompany him and assist him. But look: not only did they fail to help, they accompanied him only "to the border" and no further, abandoning him to fight alone.
Furthermore: "The men of your peace" - according to the Malbim, these are the counselors he consults with, those who are supposed to seek his well-being. And they "enticed you" (hishi'ucha) - they gave you bad counsel to march out and wage war abroad, so that you would be occupied with battle while they would swoop in and conquer your land. The very people you expected to look out for your welfare were the ones who gave you such ruinous advice.
"Your bread" - meaning the men of your bread, those who eat at your table. They "place a bandage under you," pretending to rally to treat the wound and stand in your place, saying: We will fight on your behalf. However, "there is no discernment in him" - in this remedy there is no wisdom, no salvation, and no help will come of it. The word mazor denotes healing and remedy, as in "they have not been pressed out (zoru) nor bound up," for it was their custom to sprinkle medicinal herbs onto a dressing, and therefore a cure is called mazor - that which is sprinkled to heal the wounded.
הֲלוֹא בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם יְהֹוָה וְהַאֲבַדְתִּי חֲכָמִים מֵאֱדוֹם וּתְבוּנָה מֵהַר עֵשָׂו׃ - Behold, on that day, says Hashem, I will eliminate the wise men from Edom, and understanding from Mount Esau.
The Malbim explains: Everything described up to this point belongs to history - a prophecy regarding what has already occurred, such as the downfall of Edom at the hands of Nevuchadnezzar and during the era of Herod. This was not yet the ultimate end. All of that pales in comparison to what will occur at the End of Days, to what was stated at the beginning of the prophecy: "We have heard a report from Hashem, and an envoy has been sent among the nations." Then, the destruction will be absolute.
For throughout all the destructions that befell Edom in the intermediate eras, sages still remained among them, and on Mount Esau - the seat of royalty - there were still men of understanding who could deduce one matter from another, as well as valiant warriors. But when "an envoy has been sent among the nations," the ruin will be total: "I will eliminate the wise men from Edom" - there will be no wise men left at all; "and understanding from Mount Esau" - from Edom's chief capital, as the Targum renders it, "Romi Ze'irta," Little Rome.
וְחַתּוּ גִבּוֹרֶיךָ תֵּימָן לְמַעַן יִכָּרֶת אִישׁ מֵהַר עֵשָׂו מִקָּטֶל׃ - And your warriors, O Teman, shall be shattered, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.
Rashi explains: They will be terrified and flee toward Teman - out of sheer terror, they will flee to the land of Yishmael. Others interpret Teman as the name of one of the sons of Eliphaz, son of Esau, referring to the mighty warriors among his descendants. Still others interpret "Teman" as the inhabitants of the south, since "teimana" means southward. The Holy One, blessed be He, will instill a terrible fear in them so that they are cut off, as the Targum translates: "so that every man of the house of Esau shall be destroyed" - meaning anyone who possesses strength will be wiped out. The root meaning of "tzurva" relates to strength, as Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch writes on Vayikra chapter 13, that "tzorev" connotes strength, just as in the Talmudic phrase "beitzei d'tzarivan" - eggs produced through fertilization, which the Aruch explains as hard, strong eggs. Similarly, a "tzurba me-rabbanan" is a formidable Torah scholar whose learning is firmly held in hand and who remembers what he has studied. In simple terms: your mighty men will be destroyed.
The Malbim explains: "And your warriors, O Teman, shall be shattered" - faintness of heart will grip the warriors, and through this, every man from Mount Esau will be cut off, for they will have neither counsel nor courage for battle. The point is that warfare is not merely raw power. The Malbim explains in several places that there are two aspects to a warrior: there is one whose physical strength and might are immense, and there is a warrior who masters battle tactics and strategy. To draw an analogy from basketball: not everyone who is seven feet tall is a basketball player. Granted, height is a great advantage, bringing you close to the rim - but if your aim is off, your shots will miss by several feet; you are close to the basket, but clumsy, barely able to move. There is physical strength, and there is the intelligence within strength, strategy and martial skill. Here, the prophet declares that a crisis will strike both dimensions: "Your warriors shall be shattered" - the strong men will break, and "I will eliminate the wise men from Edom, and understanding from Mount Esau" - tactics, counsel, and battle plans will also be gone. The collapse will be total across the board.
מֵחֲמַס אָחִיךָ יַעֲקֹב תְּכַסְּךָ בוּשָׁה וְנִכְרַתָּ לְעוֹלָם׃ - For the violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.
The straightforward meaning of the verse is: Because of the violence you committed against your brother Jacob, shame will cover you. Radak writes that during the destruction of the Second Temple, the Edomites acted wickedly toward Israel; the prophet - living in the First Temple era - foretells that they are destined to do so, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact retribution from them in the End of Days and say to them: Were you not ashamed to mistreat your brother Jacob this way? Therefore, "you shall be cut off forever." Ibn Ezra explains that the verse refers to the destruction of the First Temple, when the children of Edom mistreated Israel during their exile by Nevuchadnezzar. The Malbim explains that all of this is due them because of what they did to Jacob; through this, "shame shall cover you" in the destructions that have already passed, while "you shall be cut off" refers to future, eternal excision.
There is another famous interpretation here, by way of a parable. A parable of two brothers: one was innocent and upright, while the other was wild and corrupt, constantly tormenting, hounding, and making life bitter for his gentle brother. One day, the wild brother ran to his father, bruised and bleeding, and cried: "Father, my brother hit me!" The father asked, "Who?" He answered, "My gentle brother." When the father saw this, he struck him severely. The son screamed: "What is this? Isn't it enough that I took a beating from him, now you are hitting me too?" The father replied: "If things have reached a point where your gentle brother had no choice but to strike you, one can only imagine what you must have done to him - that is why I am beating you."
The lesson of the parable: "For the violence of your brother Jacob" - not according to Rashi's interpretation, from the violence you perpetrated against Jacob, but from the violence your brother Jacob was forced to inflict upon you. From the very fact that Jacob, whose nature is anything but violent, was compelled to depart from his way and act aggressively - from that itself, "shame shall cover you." For this demonstrates how terrible you were and how utterly bitter you made his life. Therefore, "you shall be cut off forever" - your excision will be everlasting.
בְּיוֹם עָמׇדְךָ מִנֶּגֶד בְּיוֹם שְׁבוֹת זָרִים חֵילוֹ וְנׇכְרִים בָּאוּ שְׁעָרָו וְעַל יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם יַדּוּ גוֹרָל גַּם אַתָּה כְּאַחַד מֵהֶם׃ - On the day you stood aloof, on the day strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots over Jerusalem, you too were like one of them.
The Malbim explains: during the destruction of the First Temple, the Edomites were not the destroyers themselves; rather, they stood aloof "on the day strangers carried off his wealth" - when strangers, namely Nebuchadnezzar, carried off the wealth of the Jewish people. Is Jacob not your brother? Yet you stood by on the sidelines. But "and foreigners entered his gates" refers to the destruction of the Second Temple, which was carried out by the Romans themselves. There, he was no longer merely a smiling onlooker, but an active partner. The Romans were the ones who destroyed it, and then "and cast lots over Jerusalem" - deciding who would destroy the Beis HaMikdash. And then, "you too were like one of them" - not merely an observer, but one of the marauders and destroyers. If the first time you merely stood aside, now you became like them, an active destroyer.
There is also an additional explanation. Rashi explains: "You too were like one of them" - it is true that you merely stood aside, and you might say, "What did I do?" But you smiled! It is like children who say to their teacher in school, "What, is it forbidden to smile?" To this, the verse says: "You too were like one of them" - I will reckon that smile against you as though you were an active accomplice. According to this, it emerges that he is punished even for the destruction wrought by Nebuchadnezzar: I will judge and sentence you as though you were one of the destroyers.
וְאַל תֵּרֶא בְיוֹם אָחִיךָ בְּיוֹם נׇכְרוֹ וְאַל תִּשְׂמַח לִבְנֵי יְהוּדָה בְּיוֹם אׇבְדָם וְאַל תַּגְדֵּל פִּיךָ בְּיוֹם צָרָה׃ - You should not have looked on the day of your brother on the day of his alienation, nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah on the day of their destruction, nor should you have spoken proudly on the day of distress.
The Malbim describes here one degree after another. First: "You should not have looked on the day of your brother" - when you saw how your brother was being tortured, it was improper for you to stand by and watch. We have already explained that a person who stands and watches while another is being afflicted commits a terrible act, and how much more so when it is your brother, and you stand as a bystander on the sidelines. The Malbim notes: "You corrupted the brotherly covenant" - you should have remembered that this is your brother, and at the very least refrained from watching.
Furthermore, you should have refrained from rejoicing, for joy is an even graver expression of your baseness - you see your brother, the Jewish people, suffering, and you rejoice over them? And at the very least, you should not have "opened wide your mouth on the day of distress." There is one who rejoices merely in his heart, and there is one who opens wide his mouth - speaking and uttering words of ridicule and contempt: "How wonderful that the Jewish people are suffering like this!" All of this, the Malbim explains, is a description of what they did during the destruction of the First Temple: they rejoiced and mocked, "Strangers saw her downfall and rejoiced" when an enemy entered the gates of Jerusalem. And the prophet holds them accountable for exacerbating Israel's distress by standing aside, rejoicing, and even cheering on the enemy - "Who say, 'Raze it, raze it, to its very foundation!'" meaning destroy, destroy down to the foundations so that nothing remains.
And what is the meaning of "on the day of his nochro"? The commentators offer two explanations: First, on the day he became like a stranger (nochri) to you - that is, you treated him as an alien and a stranger rather than as a brother. Second, nochro is related to the verse "God has delivered him (nikkar oto) into my hand," meaning the day of his delivery, the day he was handed over to the enemy. And on that day, it was improper for you to stand aside, rejoice, laugh, and speak out against the Jewish people.
אַל תָּבוֹא בְשַׁעַר עַמִּי בְּיוֹם אֵידָם אַל תֵּרֶא גַם אַתָּה בְּרָעָתוֹ בְּיוֹם אֵידוֹ וְאַל תִּשְׁלַחְנָה בְחֵילוֹ בְּיוֹם אֵידוֹ׃ - You should not have entered the gate of My people on the day of their calamity; you too should not have looked upon his affliction on the day of his calamity, nor should you have laid hands on his wealth on the day of his calamity.
Here, the Malbim explains, the prophet describes their actions during the Second Temple era, which were even worse. For if during the First Temple you were a passive accomplice - in looking, in rejoicing, and in speaking - during the Second Temple you were active. The foreigners who came into his gates were the Romans, and they were the ones who came to destroy the Beis HaMikdash. You should have refrained and said, "I will not intervene; I will not take part in this matter." Instead, you came and were a partner, and you even prosecuted them and brought up their wrongdoing - this is the meaning of "you too should not have looked upon his affliction on the day of his calamity." Finally, you should not have laid a hand on his wealth, on the property of the Jewish people, to loot it - "the entire nation looted his wealth." Yet you did the exact opposite of what was right: you entered the gate of My people on the day of their calamity, looked upon their suffering, rejoiced, prosecuted them, and afterward even laid your hands on their wealth to loot it.
The Ibn Ezra explains why the deeds of Edom were so difficult for us to bear: because Edom was always under the hand of Yehudah, as we saw in the days of David - "and he measured them with a line" and struck them down. Those who until now were lowly and subservient to us suddenly raised their heads and became the masters. Therefore, this was so painful for Yehudah, and therefore the prophecy against them is so severe.
וְאַל תַּעֲמֹד עַל הַפֶּרֶק לְהַכְרִית אֶת פְּלִיטָיו וְאַל תַּסְגֵּר שְׂרִידָיו בְּיוֹם צָרָה׃ - And do not stand at the crossroads to cut off its refugees, and do not deliver up its survivors in the day of distress.
What is "haparek"? Rashi explains that it is the route through which fugitives escape, rendering it in Old French; it seems to refer to an escape route or a narrow mountain pass. Do not stand there, for those stationed there would immediately deliver fleeing Jews into the hands of the enemies. Radak explains that perek is a place where roads divide, branching one way and another - an intersection. When the people of Israel fled and reached such an intersection, Edom stood there to deliver the fugitives into enemy hands.
This strongly recalls the actions of the Poles, Austrians, Ukrainians, and all those nations. Wherever the Germans went, those local populations were themselves threatened and oppressed, yet this did not deter them from handing over the Jews to the Germans. They knew the Germans were hunting Jews, and they went out of their way to betray them. They felt no solidarity with fellow victims; a person would call over a German and tell him: there is a Jew here trying to escape, there is a Jew hiding here. Truly horrific. This is "Do not stand at the crossroads."
Metzudat David interprets perek from the language of fracture or breaking, as when one says a table has broken down (hitparek). According to this, "Do not stand at the fracture" means: do not assert your power over them at the time of their breaking. Once you saw that we were persecuted and suffering, already brought low and humiliated, you should not have risen against us to bring about total destruction, wiping out and cutting off the remaining survivors as you did. How much more so: "and do not deliver up its survivors in the day of distress" - not to hand over those who survived in their hour of misery.
The Malbim explains perek in yet another way: anyone who has seen depictions or descriptions of ancient warfare knows that an army moved as a single mass, a unified formation. They did not allow anyone to flee, for anyone trying to escape would be struck down by the advancing lines of soldiers. However, there comes a stage when an army begins to scatter and the fighters disperse in all directions, no longer engaging in combat. This is "Do not stand at the scattering" - at the moment when the formations break apart, you should not have stood waiting to cut off the refugees. And certainly you should not have delivered up its survivors, those who escaped and came into your land, for it is said: "You shall not hand over a slave to his master who seeks refuge with you from his master."
This brings to mind what the nations of Europe did when Jewish survivors arrived after the horrific Holocaust on refugee ships - they handed them over and turned them back, refusing to grant them refuge. This is "and do not deliver up its survivors in the day of distress" - it was unconscionable to deliver up those who reached you, who had survived and sought your shelter in a time of calamity.
The verse further hints, says the Malbim, at what they did to us after the Destruction: initially they gazed upon our misfortunes and accused us; and after the Edomites grew powerful and their faith, Christianity, spread, they plundered us time and again - these are the endless pogroms across Europe, Chmielnicki and his cohorts, the massacres of 1648 and 1649 (Tach ve-Tat), and so much more, rivers of blood shed in Europe. "For violence against your brother Yaakov, shame shall cover you." Afterward, they began cutting down those who fled to them, through decrees, expulsions, and forced conversions, forcing them to wander from place to place: the expulsion from England, from Spain, from Portugal, and the expulsions that followed. Even then, they handed them over and refused to accept them into their lands. And those who survived among them, the Anusim (Crypto-Jews), were subjected to agonizing torture, inquisitions, autos-da-fe, and more. For all of this, the Holy One, blessed be He, will ultimately exact retribution from them.
Rashi cites a homiletic interpretation here: "Do not stand at the break (perek)" - from here we derive that one may not pause during the recitation of Shema between one section (perek) and the next. (It appears this is an editorial gloss rather than Rashi himself, but it is a homiletical teaching nonetheless.) When you reach "u-vish'arecha," do not pause and stop; rather, proceed immediately to "Ve-haya im shamo'a." Do not pause even between the sections.
There is another well-known homiletic lesson: when making a siyum on a tractate, one does not simply stop there and break into singing "Mah ahavti Toratecha"; rather, one immediately takes the next chapter, the next Mishnah, or the next book, and reads at least the first Mishnah or opening passage. And what is the reason? "Do not stand at the break." For if you pause without starting immediately, there is room for the Satan to enter and accuse: Master of the Universe, did You see? They finished learning, concluded, and stopped. But we give no foothold to the Yetzer Hara and the Satan - we finish and immediately begin anew. Exactly so on Simchat Torah: we finish "in the sight of all Israel," and we do not say, "Next Shabbat we will start Bereishit"; rather, immediately the next person is called up, without even reciting Kaddish in between - "In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth." Do not stand at the break: do not create a barrier or an interruption, for everything must remain a continuous whole.
In this section of the prophecy of Ovadiah, we have learned of two dimensions. On the first plane - the punishment of Edom: the Holy One, blessed be He, elevates it high among the stars precisely so that its downfall will be all the greater, and in the meantime He has already exacted retribution from it throughout history through the betrayal of its confederates and allies, who enticed it into war and plundered its land like thieves in the night who had ample time to search through all its hidden treasures. And in the End of Days, its wise men, understanding, and might will all perish - a total downfall across the board. On the second plane - the indictment: during the First Temple, Edom stood aloof, looked on, rejoiced, and spoke boastfully; during the Second Temple, it entered the gate of My people, incriminated them, and laid hands on their wealth; and throughout the generations, it stood at the crossroad to cut off refugees and hand over survivors - from the pogroms and expulsions, to standing by and handing over Jews during the Holocaust, and locking the gates before the refugee ships. "For the violence against your brother Yaakov, shame shall cover you" - how low did you sink, that Yaakov, the wholesome man of peace, was compelled to act out of character! And its ultimate fate: "and you shall be cut off forever." From the expression "Neither should you have stood at the crossroad (perek)," we also derive a lesson for our own service of Hashem: one should never pause or interrupt between one chapter (perek) and the next, or between one tractate (masechet) and the next, but rather study in one continuous sequence, so as not to give the prosecuting accuser any opening to speak.