"Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed; do not feel humiliated, for you shall not be disgraced; for you shall forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more." There are two approaches to explaining these pesukim. According to the Radak this refers to the future. According to the Malbim it refers to the past. We will begin with the Radak. Fear not, do not worry that your departure from exile will be like the departures of previous times. For we left the Egyptian exile and returned to exile. And afterward we came out, meaning we were redeemed, we came to the Land and again went out into exile, the First Temple was destroyed. And we were redeemed again through Ezra and Nechemiah, and again we went out into exile, the exile in which we find ourselves until now. If so, perhaps you will worry that the coming departure from exile is also only temporary? Perhaps it too will ultimately be followed by yet another exile? To this He says, fear not, for you shall not be ashamed. Do not worry, you will never be ashamed after you leave this exile. You will have no more trouble. Why is this called "you shall be ashamed"? The Radak explains, because a person who rose to greatness and then fell, that is shame. He feels shame, he feels disgrace. So do not worry, fear not, for you shall not be ashamed, you will attain a greatness that will not be followed by shame. For the shame of your youth, meaning the troubles you had in the Land in those days, that is why it is called "your youth," from the word "hidden," from many years ago. For the shame of your youth, that shame you shall forget. And the reproach of your widowhood, the troubles you had in exile, for during the period of exile you were like a widow, since as it were you were without your husband, all those troubles you shall forget because of the abundance of good that is destined to come to you. So in simple terms, according to the Radak, there is here a promise that this will be a redemption without a subsequent exile. Without subsequent troubles. And do not worry, and you shall not be humiliated, yes, do not feel humiliated out of fear, since you are now already in your own Land and you are promised that afterward there will no longer be exile.
The Malbim explains that there is here a certain promise concerning the past. Let us explain. The Malbim says, there is a difference between shame (boshah) and humiliation (kelimah). Let us note: "Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed; do not feel humiliated, for you shall not be disgraced." The Malbim says, what first of all is the difference between shame and humiliation? Shame is a person who is ashamed of himself. He is filled with shame. Indeed we are like a vessel full of shame. It means, how did I do such a thing? Or how did I make such a mistake? A person who is ashamed of himself is called shame. In contrast, humiliation is what others cause to his face. Humiliation, says the Malbim, is what a person receives from others. He says that accordingly you will understand that the two halves of the verse are parallel. Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed, for the shame of your youth you shall forget. Do not feel humiliated, for you shall not be disgraced, for the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more. Now let us explain. Who is this woman here? It is Knesset Yisrael. She is the one who here symbolizes the woman to whom the prophet is now speaking. And he says to her: You, when you were in your youth, meaning in the time of your youth, when you still had a husband, when you still dwelt on your land, this means the Holy One blessed be He was with us, when we were still here in Eretz Yisrael with the Beit HaMikdash, Hashem Tzevakot was with us. We did things that were not good and we were ashamed of ourselves. This is called the shame of your youth. In contrast, perhaps earlier, we did not have shame from others. Why? Because the other nations were also idol worshipers. So we had no shame from them. Therefore we had no humiliation here. Humiliation, as we explained, is from others. Rather we had only the shame of your youth, shame of ourselves, at how we were worshiping idols. To this He comes and promises her: Know that your children will return, your husband will return in the future, and do not worry lest you be ashamed of those wicked deeds. As we said, this refers to the past. Perhaps today we will feel shame over what happened then? For the shame of your youth you shall forget. How does one forget the shame of one's youth? After all, it is a stain in our past. Hashem will pardon us. Through Hashem pardoning us for the sins we committed, the cause of shame will go away. For why am I ashamed? Because of how I stumbled, how I did such a thing. The Holy One blessed be He says, do not worry, the shame of your youth you shall forget, Hashem will pardon and forgive you for the sins of your youth, and consequently through this you shall forget them. At a later period, we were exiled from our land. As a result the people of Yisrael were in the status of a widow, for the Holy One blessed be He as it were drove us out. And then we did not have shame over our deeds, why? Because we no longer worshiped idols, we did not continue to worship idolatry. But what disgrace, we were ashamed before others. A woman whose husband cast her out of his house. We were in Eretz Yisrael and the Holy One blessed be He cast us out. The Holy One blessed be He drove us out. Indeed we no longer had shame, because shame is of oneself, but there was humiliation. All the nations look at us as a nation banished from its land, as a nation, as a woman whose husband drove her out. So we had humiliation from others. And this is what He promises: you shall not be humiliated, this is the continuation, do not feel humiliated, for you shall not be disgraced. You shall not be humiliated by the nations because you are in exile, you will not need to hide yourself in disgrace. What is "to be disgraced"? The Malbim explains, to be disgraced means a person who has something disgraceful about him, he as it were digs and buries his face out of great shame. There is an expression that people say, he wanted to bury himself on the spot. Why? Out of great disgrace he could not withstand the shame, he wanted to dig and bury his face. So He says, you shall not be disgraced, you will no longer have such a situation where you would wish that people not see you out of great disgrace and shame. For the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more. The reproach with which they reproached you for being a widow and for the Holy One blessed be He as it were casting you out of your land, you shall remember no more. Notice, He says the shame of your youth you shall forget, that we worshiped idols in the Land you shall forget. And regarding the disgraces the nations inflicted on us afterward when we were exiled, that is the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more. Why here "you shall forget" and here "you shall remember no more"? What is a greater erasure of the past? Forgetting or not remembering? Forgetting. Forgetting means it is erased entirely. So He says, that was your youth, when we speak of history, when we were here in the Land, that was years ago, thousands of years ago. So consequently it is easier to forget. Therefore the shame of your youth you shall forget, it is completely forgotten, because it refers to a time when we were still in the Land. The reproach of your widowhood is already about the exile, that the nations reproached us for being a widow, this you cannot say "you shall forget" entirely because it was not so long ago. So therefore it is only in the category of "you shall remember no more." You shall not remember, this thing will not be recalled, they will not mention the matter with their mouths. Not to remember, it may be that the matter still exists in one's mind but it is not mentioned. It is not mentioned, they no longer bring it out of their mouths. In contrast, forgetting is the end of the matter, we are done, it is already erased from memory as well. So regarding the good period of the people of Yisrael when we were in the Land and caused problems and worshiped idols, that was long ago, those sins are completely forgotten. In contrast, the disgraces that the nations inflicted on us, that is not entirely forgotten, but in any case it is in the category of "you shall remember no more."
And the Malbim explains that reproach (charpah) and "you shall be disgraced" (tachpiri) are...
The same idea. That is, both are from the same expression, right? From the language of reproaching and being disgraced, that one wishes to bury his face out of the great reproaches. "For your Husband is your Maker, Hashem Tzevakot is His name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Yisrael, the God of all the earth He is called." For your Husband is your Maker, says the Radak, the one who was your Master is your Maker. What does this mean? The one who made us is our Master. As we say in the Selichot, "presumptuous ones have ruled over us, masters other than You have ruled over us." These presumptuous ones have become masters over us, other than You, instead of Hashem being our Master, they became masters over us. He says: no, the One who made us will be your Husband, He will be your Master, for your Husband is your Maker. Who is this? Hashem Tzevakot is His name. The One who made you will be your Master.
Hashem Tzevakot is His name, what is the emphasis on "Tzevakot" (Hosts)? Because in order to redeem the people of Yisrael one needs power, and the One to whom all the hosts of above and below belong, He is the one who is able, Hashem Tzevakot is His name. The God of all the earth He is called, for then after we are redeemed, says the Radak, the reality will be that all the nations will turn to worship Him with one accord. So consequently He is not only the God of Yisrael, but the God of all the earth He is called. Through this the nations too will acknowledge Him. The nations too will recognize that Hashem is God.
The Malbim continues along the approach of the previous verse. The Malbim says, this verse parallels the two things we mentioned in the previous verse. Corresponding to what we said, that the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more, we will not remember what the nations reproached us with in exile, he says the reason is that your Husband will be the One who is your Maker, Hashem Tzevakot is His name. Hashem has the power and the ability to settle us, to restore you to your place. Why? Because all the hosts are under His rule. So we are done, the shame and disgrace of our being exiles is over, rather the Holy One blessed be He will be our Master. For we explained "your widowhood," because we are like a widow, for Hashem cast us out of the Land, like a woman whose husband divorced her. He says this is over, now your Husband will be your Maker. The Holy One blessed be He who is your Maker will be the Master, so He will bring us back, to return to take us as a wife. So there is no longer the reproach of the disgrace that we are like a widow, we have already returned to being the mistress of the house.
And corresponding to what we said, the shame of your youth you shall forget, the transgressions we committed in the time of the First Temple over which we felt shame of ourselves, he says the reason is that your Redeemer is the Holy One of Yisrael. The Holy One of Yisrael we have already explained several times in the past, when we mention the Holy One blessed be He in connection with the people of Yisrael in particular, that is, from the aspect that the Holy One blessed be He is our God and we sanctify Him through His deeds. And this, says the Malbim, shows that then we will be a holy people to God, the Holy One of Yisrael. The Holy One blessed be He will be called holy through us, because of our deeds, that our deeds are holy. And then the God of all the earth He is called, everyone will worship Him, will recognize His divinity. And then how could it be that we would sin again? It emerges here that our sins will be wiped away because we will no longer sin, and through this we will return to a state where the entire past is erased and all the sins that occurred during the time the Beit HaMikdash existed are forgotten.
"For like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit Hashem has called you, and like a wife of one's youth who is rejected, says your God." The Malbim again follows the same approach he spoke of earlier. The people of Yisrael, when they were on their land, we said that they actually strayed after Hashem, worshiped idols. They were like a wife of one's youth who is with her husband and commits adultery against him. And her husband rejects her as a result of her defying him and doing things against his will. This is how we were within the Beit HaMikdash, within Eretz Yisrael, in Yerushalayim, and provoking the Holy One blessed be He. Such a situation causes her husband to reject her, he has not yet left her, behold we see we were not yet driven out, He had not yet sent us away from His presence, but we became rejected in His eyes. In contrast, in the days of exile, that is already when the husband lost patience and drove us out, as a result of all the negative deeds we did. Accordingly the verse can now be understood. For like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, when we were in exile we were like what? Like a forsaken woman, whose husband forsook her. And then as a result she is grieved in spirit, grieved in her spirit because her husband abandoned her. But even before that, even before her husband forsook her, when we still dwelt on our land, we were in the status of a wife of one's youth who is rejected. Her husband is still with her, but he rejects her over the negative deeds she did.
And behold, says the Malbim, the difference between them will be when they want to repair their deficiency. The woman forsaken by her husband, she needs her husband to know of her troubles, for he is no longer with her. If the husband is with the wife and she is in trouble, then he is aware of her problems. But after he sent her away from his presence, as it were the husband is no longer aware of her problems. The Holy One blessed be He certainly fills the whole earth with His glory, but as it were the Holy One blessed be He no longer takes interest in her. And then she needs her husband to know of her situation and have mercy on her. In contrast, the rejected one has no problem that her husband does not know, for we explained she is still with him, she merely provokes him with her deeds. She is rejected because she commits adultery against him. And for that she needs her husband to do kindness with her and pardon her sins.
And the Malbim says, notice now how the verse fits in its continuation with what we explained. "For a small moment I forsook you, but with great mercy I will gather you in." The Malbim says, that forsaking will be considered like a small moment. That the Holy One blessed be He forsook us, compared to the greatness of the redemption, the forsaking will be considered like a small moment, it will as it were not be counted compared to the greatness of the salvation. Why? Because with great mercy I will gather you in. This corresponds to the forsaking. As we said, the forsaken woman needs her husband to have mercy on her and to take interest at all in her situation. To this He says, with great mercy I will gather you in, this requires mercy. But we also had the situation of a wife of one's youth who is rejected, when we were still in the Land and Hashem merely rejected us, here mercy that He take interest in our situation does not help, because He is angry with us. We are in His house worshiping idols. Through this, at the beginning Hashem must remove His wrath from us, for here before Him we are provoking Him. And regarding this He says, through this, for this one needs the pardon of sin. And with great mercy I will gather you in, this requires the pardon of sin to remove the wrath.
Here is the next verse. "In a flash of wrath I hid My face for a moment from you, but with everlasting kindness I have shown you mercy, says your Redeemer Hashem." In a flash of wrath I hid My face from you, for a moment from you. The Malbim says, what I hid My face for a moment from you, through the wrath and through the rejection with which Hashem rejected the people of Yisrael, over the fact that they provoked Him in His house, the Holy One blessed be He says, this will be a small flash. There are several explanations of this, let us explain now according to the Malbim, and soon we will see several other explanations. "Shetzef" means a little. It will be considered a little wrath compared to the great mercy that I will bestow upon you. In a flash of wrath I hid My face for a moment from you. The wrath with which I was angry at you will be in the category of a flash, a flash is a little, it is a bit of wrath, a bit of anger compared to the redemption, for the redemption will be an immense kindness of the pardon of sin. For with everlasting kindness I have shown you mercy. The mercy with which I showed you mercy was from everlasting kindness, for I pardoned your sins forever. This is a kindness that pardons and erases all the sins that ever were. And if so, in this situation the Holy One blessed be He says, all that was before, when the people of Yisrael were in the status of a wife of one's youth who is rejected, the Holy One blessed be He says I promise you that then it will be in the category of a little wrath compared to the great mercy that I will show you then, with everlasting kindness I have shown you mercy, to erase all with which you provoked Me from then.
Rashi explains, brings another explanation, what is "shetzef ketzef"? Rashi brings in the name of Menachem, Menachem interpreted it as burning anger. "Shetzef ketzef" according to this is as if abundant wrath. Great wrath, a flash of wrath. Dunash said it means a little wrath. And this is as we explained according to the approach of the Malbim, like "for a small moment I forsook you," "in a flash of wrath I hid My face." Notice, these are as it were parallel statements. For a small moment I forsook you, in a flash of wrath I hid My face. So just as there "for a small moment" means a little, so too here "in a flash of wrath" means with a little wrath I hid My face for a moment from you. The Radak explains in the name of his father as well that the meaning is a little wrath, and he says that this explanation is supported by the Targum. For the Targum Yonatan says "for a small hour I removed the face of My Shechinah from you, for a small time from you." "In a flash of wrath" is "for a small hour," meaning for a short time. That is the meaning of "in a flash of wrath."
"For this is like the waters of Noach to Me, when I swore that the waters of Noach would no longer pass over the earth, so I have sworn not to be angry with you nor to rebuke you." For this is like the waters of Noach to Me. Like the oath I swore in the days of Noach. How is it read? "Ki yemei Noach" (the days of Noach) or "ki mei Noach" (the waters of Noach)? Do you hear? There are two versions here. There is the possibility to read "ki yemei," like "the days of the heavens over the earth," "for the days of Noach this is to Me," if I read it as one word. And there is another possibility to read "ki" (for), comma, "mei" (from the language of water), "Noach," Noach, this is to Me. In fact, the Minchat Shai explains that there is a dispute in the texts about this. In most texts it is two words, "ki mei," as the custom, as the Sephardim read. In contrast he brings that there are texts in which it is one word, like "for the days of her impurity she shall be unclean." "For the days of Noach." Incidentally, the version of the Yemenite Jews is "ki yemei," as one word, that is how the Yemenites read it. As one word. What is the meaning of "for the waters of Noach this is to Me"? The Radak explains, the waters of the Flood, for the waters of Noach this is to Me, since the waters of the Flood that were in the days of Noach and Noach was saved from them. So what is really the idea of the promise? Just as I swore that the waters of the Flood would no longer pass over the earth, and this is a decree that will not be annulled, so the Holy One blessed be He says I have sworn not to be angry with you nor to rebuke you. I have further sworn that I will not be angry with you nor rebuke you anymore. And this accords with what the Radak explained above, that there is here a promise that the people of Yisrael need not worry that when they return from exile, perhaps it is for a limited time, perhaps like the Second Temple, perhaps we will return and be exiled again. No, just as I swore that the waters of Noach would not pass over the earth, and behold there was no longer a flood in the world, so the Holy One blessed be He says I have sworn not to be angry with you nor to rebuke you, an oath that will not be annulled.
Where was there an oath to Noach? Has anyone ever seen an oath to Noach in the Torah? In fact, search the Scriptures and you will not find an oath. And there are two explanations of this. There is one explanation of Chazal. Chazal say that just as a "no" is an oath, so too "yes yes" is an oath. One who says a certain thing twice "no, no," that is an oath. One who says "yes, yes, I promise you," says "yes" twice, that is an oath. So too say Chazal, this is how they expound the verses. From what is written, "and never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the Flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy all flesh." There is here twice "never again," that is an oath that it will not be so. For indeed the verse does not literally write an oath here, but the repetition of the matter indicates an oath. That is one explanation. A second explanation the Radak gives, as you mentioned earlier, that the covenant itself is the oath. What is written, "and I will establish My covenant with you," a covenant is the affirmation of the matter, just as an oath is the affirmation of the matter. How is an oath translated in Aramaic? "May the Merciful One remember for us the covenant/oath of Avraham the beloved." What is "kayemei"? His oath. "Kayemei" is his oath, his covenant. A covenant and an oath are called "kayam." Why? Because the covenant too, there it means His covenant, right? But it is the same idea. A covenant and an oath are called "kayam." "Kayam" means the affirmation of the matter, a promise that this thing will be in any case. So a covenant is a complete promise that it will be, I made a covenant regarding this matter, I swore regarding this matter, it is exactly the same thing. The Holy One blessed be He swore that it will be so, and if the Holy One blessed be He swore that it will be so, that means this thing is guaranteed, for the mere statement is still not guaranteed.
It is told that once they made an engagement agreement (tenaim), as is done among the Ashkenazim, and today everyone does it, right? Tenaim, what each side commits to. So there was one, one of the parties who did not want to sign, insisted and would not sign. Why? What happened? What, you do not believe me? If I say, my word is my word, why do you need to make me sign? Am I a stranger? What am I... And under no circumstances was he willing to sign. Under no circumstances, he objected, would not sign. It is told that there was there one of the great sages of Yisrael, they asked him: what does the Rav say? What does one do? The Rav said to him, you must sign. He says, behold you see that when we ask of the Holy One blessed be He, we ask of the Holy One blessed be He that the Holy One blessed be He promise us life, that He give us and give us and give us, we are not satisfied with that, we ask "inscribe us in the book of life." Master of the Universe, until it is written we are not at ease. What is this, Master of the Universe, what are you talking about? What, do you not trust me? No no no, I want it written. Not promises. He says if from the Master of the Universe we ask that He write, then you too can write. Well, he saw he had no choice, no tricks, he could not evade it, he was forced to sign. These are the methods of all kinds of schemers and swindlers, you can believe me, what, you do not trust me, what, my word is my word and... yes, these are the methods of contractors. Do not... he tells you yes yes, I believe you one hundred percent, just let us write it down. Right? I believe you, just let us write. Come, come, let it be, everything we agreed on will be here, a faucet here, over here... write it down, write all of it, because afterward we will save many problems. One of the great sages of Yisrael who was a dayan in the beit din of Rav Nissim Karelitz, said that he could resolve eighty to ninety percent of the problems that come to the batei din if people would write everything down. He says and this is the problem of people, no, what, I will obligate him to write and it is uncomfortable and... it is as if we do not trust him and I... this is where all the problems begin. Write everything down from the start, save ninety percent of the problems. And this is what he says here, Master of the Universe, the Holy One blessed be He gave us a covenant regarding this and wrote it down, it is written that the Holy One blessed be He will not change this matter.
The Malbim explains, for the waters of Noach this is to Me, just as I swore in the days of Noach that I would not bring a flood to the world, I had compassion on the world that it not be destroyed and as a result I swore, so too the Holy One blessed be He says, Knesset Yisrael, the people of Yisrael, are as important in My eyes as the entire world. And much more than the entire world. To be angry with the people of Yisrael, says the Holy One blessed be He, is as difficult in My eyes as if I were bringing a flood. So I swear not to be angry with you nor to rebuke you, for that is equivalent in My eyes to bringing a flood upon the entire world. And after I swore not to let the waters of Noach pass, so the Holy One blessed be He says I also swore two oaths concerning you. First, not to be angry with you, this is over your sins, as we explained a wife of one's youth who is rejected, over how we provoked the Holy One blessed be He in our land, the Holy One blessed be He says I will not be angry over those sins, not to be angry with you over the sins, over how we provoked Him, the Holy One blessed be He will pardon this and will not be angry. And not to rebuke you, rebuke is what the Holy One blessed be He would rebuke us in the future over deeds we would do. The Holy One blessed be He says I also swore concerning the future, this corresponds to the woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Hashem exiled us, the Holy One blessed be He says there will no longer be exile. There will no longer be such a situation where you will be a forsaken woman, I will not rebuke you in the future. Not to be angry with you over the past, what was during the time of the Temple when we provoked Him with our sins, and corresponding to the forsaken woman who is the widow, I promise that I will no longer rebuke you, I will no longer rebuke you, this is a promise for the future.
In the book Mishnat HaGilgulim, we have an entire discourse on what is written here, for the waters of Noach this is to Me. The holy Arizal brings that Noach, as brought from the Tikkunei Zohar, that Noach was reincarnated in Moshe. The holy Zohar says that the Holy One blessed be He planted for Moshe in the generation of the Flood and it did not succeed. Who is this? This is Noach. And Noach, as is known, did not pray for his generation. He should have prayed for his generation and did not pray for his generation. He went and built an ark, saved himself and did not save his generation. Therefore the Flood is called by his name, this is astonishing. But the Flood is called "the waters of Noach," this is awful and dreadful, it is as if imagine that people would say the Holocaust that befell the Jews of Europe would be called the Holocaust of David. Why? Because some David is at fault... awful and dreadful, you call the Holocaust by his name? So too it is a mark of shame, for the waters of Noach this is to Me, when I swore that the waters of Noach would not come. What is "the waters of Noach"? The Flood of Noach. You call the Flood by Noach's name? He is the only righteous one. Yes, but if Noach had prayed he could have saved his generation. Therefore the Flood is called by his name. And this is also the reason that Moshe repeatedly, all his days, prayed for his generation. And therefore, how long did Moshe, did Noach build the ark? One hundred and twenty years. Moshe Rabbeinu lived one hundred and twenty years to complete those very years. Therefore the Holy One blessed be He says to Moshe, "for you have found favor in My eyes." Where do we find that Moshe found favor in His eyes? "And Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem." Therefore we see that both Noach was in an ark (teivah) and Moshe Rabbeinu in his infancy was in an ark (teivah). We see that Moshe Rabbeinu said "blot me out (mecheni na) from Your book that You have written." Why "blot me out"? Because if I do not succeed in repairing what I damaged then, that I did not pray for my generation, then I have returned to that same sin, and "mecheni" is the same letters as "mei Noach" (the waters of Noach). I have repeated the same sin of the waters of Noach, so blot me out, erase me. How is it written about the generation of the Flood? "And He blotted out (vayimach) all existence." So therefore Moshe specifically says blot out, for that is what befits me, for I was fit to die already then in the Flood. And therefore blot me out. There is an entire discourse, whoever wishes may see it there, it is the first discourse in the book, the parallels between Noach and Moshe Rabbeinu, how Moshe Rabbeinu repairs all that Noach underwent.
"For the mountains may depart and the hills may be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, and My covenant of peace shall not be removed, says He who has mercy on you, Hashem." For the mountains may depart, says Rashi, even if the merit of the fathers, who are compared to mountains, should be exhausted, and the merit of the mothers, who are compared to hills, and the hills may be removed, the Holy One blessed be He says even so My kindness shall not depart from you. What is the meaning that the fathers are compared to mountains, the mothers to hills? There is a very wonderful thing that the Torah Temimah says on Bereshit chapter one. He says, know that the concepts of male and female do not come to designate only humans and animals as we all know, but all kinds of creatures in the world. Also the plant kingdom has male and female, and also the inanimate has male and female. The Gemara says in Bava Batra 74, everything that the Holy One blessed be He created in His world, He created male and female. The Gemara in Tractate Shabbat 57 says "arza" and "shocha." "Arez" is a male cedar, "shocha" is a female cedar. A male palm, a female palm, this everyone knows today. That if you want the palm to bear fruit, you need to pollinate it with pollen of a female palm. Without this the palm does not produce dates, you get dates like those on the palm trees at the traffic islands on the roads. Those kinds of round dates like olives, that are not at all fit to eat. Why? Because it is a palm that was not pollinated. A palm, in order to bear fruit, needs to be pollinated, a female palm with a male palm. That is, in everything male and female applies.
What is the matter of male and female? The Torah Temimah says, every creature in the world has an aspect of an influencing force and a receiving force. The influencing force is called a male force, the receiving force is called female. Why is the Holy One blessed be He called male? I once told you, I heard some woman from feminist women's organizations, who said that men invented the Creator of the world and therefore they made Him male. For who decided that Hashem is a man and not, male and not female? How much foolishness can there be in one person. For indeed, the concept of male and female does not apply to the Master of the Universe. What sense is there in saying the Holy One blessed be He is in the aspect of male or in the aspect of female? Rather what, when we speak of the Holy One blessed be He, we speak of an aspect of influencing without receiving. To what does it apply to say influencing without receiving? That is the aspect of male. Therefore the Holy One blessed be He is the aspect of male, we say Hashem is God ("Hashem hu haElokim"). Chassidim say "hi" (feminine), but the Sephardim say "hu" (masculine). Right? This is the aspect of male. Why? Because the Holy One blessed be He only influences without receiving. And if we are already speaking of the aspect of female, then we are speaking of a Sefirah among the Sefirot. When one says Shechinah, which is the aspect of female, one speaks of the Sefirah of Malchut as is known. For the Sefirah of Malchut is the aspect of the Nukva and it only receives from all the other Sefirot and brings down, in a chain of descent it brings it down further to the lower worlds. But regarding the Holy One blessed be He, only male applies. So the entire world is built from receiver and influencer. The influencer is male, the receiver is female.
Accordingly he says, you will understand what the Gemara says, everything that the Holy One blessed be He created in His world, Chagigah 15, everything that the Holy One blessed be He created in His world, He created its counterpart. He created mountains, He created hills. He created seas, He created rivers. Of this the verse says, of this it is said, "also this corresponding to that God made." The Torah Temimah says, the commentators were hard pressed in explaining the matter. He says and according to what we explain, it is wonderful. For everything that the Holy One blessed be He created in His world, He created its counterpart. What kind of helper for it? He says, very wonderful. "Its counterpart" means, everything you see in the aspect of male and influencer, there is against it, there is that which is influenced, like a helper corresponding to it, there is a receiver, which is the aspect of the female. He says accordingly you will understand what is written in the Gemara Rosh Hashanah 11. "Leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills." Leaping over the mountains, this is the merit of the fathers. Skipping over the hills, this is the merit of the mothers. How wonderful. Since the mountains are the aspect of the male, the influencer, the receivers are the aspect of the hills which are lower. And this too is what is written by us. For the mountains may depart. What do Chazal explain? Sanhedrin, Yerushalmi chapter 10 halachah 1, "the mountains may depart" this is the fathers, and "the hills may be removed" this is the merit of the mothers. Behold you see that the mountains are the aspect of male compared to the hills which are the aspect of female, and this fits very well because the Malbim explains that the hills lean upon the mountains. A hill leans upon the mountain, so consequently it is the same thing, the aspect of a receiver from the male, that the mountain is the male and the hill is the aspect of the female.
The Radak explains, the mountains may depart and the hills may be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you. As it were the verse comes to say, even if the mountains should depart and even if the hills should be removed, meaning it is possible in nature for such a thing to happen. It happens sometimes that a mountain departs, half a mountain. It happens sometimes that the mountain moves. It happens sometimes that there is an earthquake and a mountain collapses. For the mountains may depart, such a thing could still happen, and know that such a thing will not happen, that My kindness and My covenant should depart from you. This will never depart. Even before then the mountains will depart and the hills will depart, which is a very very rare thing, but My kindness shall not depart from you. This is the most certain and clear promise, that the kindness from us, of the Holy One blessed be He upon us, will not depart.
An additional explanation the Radak gives, that the meaning is about the heavenly ministers of the nations. There are the heavenly ministers of the nations who prevent our return to our land, who fight against us, who oppress us. The Holy One blessed be He says, the mountains may depart and the hills may be removed, all the heavenly ministers of the nations who wish to prevent the people of Yisrael from returning to their land, who wish to prevent the abundant good that comes to us, the Holy One blessed be He says, they will all depart. All the hills, all these ministers and all the accusers in heaven will be removed. But My kindness shall not depart from you. The Holy One blessed be He says, what is certain is that My kindness toward the people of Yisrael will never depart and will never die.
The Malbim explains, for the mountains may depart. The Holy One blessed be He says, not only is it difficult in My eyes to destroy the people of Yisrael as it is difficult in My eyes to destroy the entire world, as the Holy One blessed be He said earlier, for just as I swore not to let the waters of Noach pass, so too I swore not to be angry with you nor to rebuke you. The Holy One blessed be He promises that just as I will not be angry with the entire world and I will not destroy the entire world, so too the Holy One blessed be He promises that the people of Yisrael will never be destroyed. He says, even if it were imagined that the mountains would depart and I would blot out all existence from the face of the earth, and the oath of the Flood would be annulled, still My kindness shall not depart from you. My kindness from you shall not depart. Even if the mountains depart, that is, as it were He wishes to say, also, I say behold important in My eyes is the promise I promised you like the promise not to destroy the world. To this He adds and says, and even if the world were destroyed, you would not be destroyed. As it were He wishes to say that you are more important than all of this. The mountains may depart, but My kindness shall not depart from you. The Malbim explains the depth of the matter. The Malbim says, the mountains are always the great ones, while the hills are the small ones. And we have already explained that there is actually a difference, the mountains are the fathers, the hills are the mothers. The mountains are the greater ones. The Malbim says, notice also that in Lashon HaKodesh there is a difference between "to depart" (lamush) and "to totter/be removed" (lamut). Between "mash" and "mat." What is the difference? "Mash" is when you move it deliberately. "Mat" is when it totters of itself due to the weakness of its strength. The Malbim brings several proofs of this. Like the Malbim says, "the cloud did not depart (yamish) by day," "he did not depart (yamish) from within the tent." "Yamish" is always deliberate. "Hamot" (tottering), in contrast, is through slackening and lack of reinforcement. "And your brother's means fail (matah) with you." What will happen? He will totter. "His hand fails." "When my feet tottered (bemot)." Or "from its place it shall not depart (yamish)," "to set up an idol that shall not totter (yimot)," meaning it will not totter of itself. "And half the mountain shall depart (umash) to the north," Hashem will move half the mountain to the north. "Like Mount Zion which shall not totter (yimot)," it will not totter of itself. Always "yamish" is by an activating force, and to totter is because of the weakness of its own strength it totters.
He explains that the supernal kindness cannot totter. The supernal kindness is from Him, blessed be He. It cannot be that His kindness, blessed be He, as it were tottered of itself. Rather what? Only that Hashem would remove it from us. Hashem would remove it deliberately from us. But in contrast, the covenant of peace that we have with the Holy One blessed be He, that cannot depart. We cannot annul this covenant, and as it were as it were even the Holy One blessed be He cannot annul this covenant, for we are bound to one another. So the covenant cannot be made to depart. What can happen? That it tottler, that we would not strengthen this covenant. So the covenant can totter, but the supernal kindness cannot totter, only that Hashem would make the kindness depart. Accordingly he explains, the mountains, as we said, will depart deliberately. Why? Because the mountains are large. The hills lean upon the mountains. If Hashem makes the great mountains depart, the hills of themselves will totter, since the hills only lean upon the great mountains. And this is what he says, for the mountains may depart and the hills may be removed. If Hashem in His great power decides to make the mountains depart, to move them, consequently the hills that lean upon them will totter of themselves. What is the analogy? The kindnesses of Hashem are compared to the great mountains. The covenant that we have with the Holy One blessed be He is compared to the hills that lean upon the kindnesses of Hashem. Our covenant with the Holy One blessed be He leans upon the infinite kindnesses of the Holy One blessed be He. So this covenant of peace is not based on our merits, but upon what does it lean? Upon the kindnesses of Hashem. For if this covenant of peace of ours with the Holy One blessed be He were based on our merits, woe to us. Our merits have long since been exhausted. So upon what does it lean? Upon the kindnesses of Hashem. For the kindnesses of Hashem, as we said, will never depart. And this is what he says, if the kindnesses of Hashem as it were depart from us, then the covenant of peace will of itself totter. Why? Because on what does the covenant of peace actually rely? Only on the kindnesses of Hashem. We have no strength of our own. So if the mountains depart, that is, the infinite kindnesses of Hashem depart, Hashem makes them depart from us, then our covenant with the Holy One blessed be He will of itself totter. For we all rely only on the infinite kindnesses of Hashem. But since the mountains will not depart, the kindness of Hashem will never depart, the kindness is a constant thing, since the kindness does not depend on the deeds of the lower beings, the kindness depends on His will, blessed be He, then the kindness will never depart, the mountains will never depart, so consequently My covenant of peace also shall not be removed. So consequently our covenant with the Holy One blessed be He also will not totter, since this covenant, as we said, does not lean upon merits, it leans upon kindnesses. And if the infinite kindness of Hashem continues, then the hills that lean upon the kindness will also remain in existence forever.