So the Malbim says, when it is written "forever" (netzach), the meaning is beyond time and place. "Pleasures at Your right hand forever" (netzach), "like his dung he shall perish forever" (lanetzach), "they perish without anyone paying heed forever" (lanetzach), speaking of eternal destruction. According to this, says the Malbim, we can explain what is written here. The punishment refers to the body, for the Holy One, blessed be He, administers punishment. The Holy One, blessed be He, chastises. What is this speaking about? About the body. If this speaks about the body, I must speak in terms of "forever" (le'olam), because you are speaking about a body that exists within the framework of time. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: not forever will I chastise the body here. What is the meaning of "le'olam" here? A person's world. For as we always said, "le'olam" is within the framework of time, either the world of the individual or the world at large. But here we are speaking of that which is within the framework of time, so not forever will I chastise the person. But the wrath, says the Malbim, the wrath speaks about the soul, about the spiritual part. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: "and I will not be wroth forever (lanetzach), for the souls I have made." This speaks about the spiritual part, and since this is so, says the Holy One, blessed be He, this will not be forever (lanetzach), for here I am already speaking with you about that which is beyond the framework of time. The soul, after all, is beyond time. We are here within a body, so we are within the framework of time, but after the 120 years the soul is a portion of God from above, so it is beyond the reality of time. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: therefore you will understand that even My wrath upon it and My hiding of My face from it will not be forever (lanetzach), for the soul exists forever, it is beyond the framework of time. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: even My wrath upon it will not be forever (lanetzach). If so, My contention with the body will not be forever (le'olam), and My wrath with the soul, which is spiritual, will not be forever (lanetzach).
"For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth and I smote him, I hid Myself and was wroth, and he went on rebelliously in the way of his heart." "For the iniquity of his covetousness (bitzo)" - normally when "betza" is written, the meaning is robbery. "For the iniquity of his covetousness," says the Holy One, blessed be He, I was wroth at first and I smote him. And afterward, when he was stricken, I hid My face from his trouble. And this wrath was because "he went on rebelliously in the way of his heart." "He went on rebelliously in the way of his heart" means he went and strayed from the straight path according to the desire of his heart. The Radak says, "for the iniquity of his covetousness" as well, on account of what he robbed, coveted, and oppressed. The Radak says that although the sin of robbery is great, even though it does not carry the death penalty, but see why it truly does not carry death: because in truth all human beings, and let us even include the kingdoms, are strict about the sin of robbery. That is to say, there is no country whose law says it is permitted to steal, not even in Romania. There is no country whose law says such a thing. At most there are countries where, say, theft is overlooked, but that the law should establish that it is permitted to steal, there is no such thing. Since this is so, the Holy One, blessed be He, did not see a need to impose death, since anyway this is a law that from the very fabric of human society is logical and people are strict about it. But, says the Radak, when this sin spreads throughout a country, here there is no choice but to apply the death penalty to it. Where is there an example? The generation of the Flood. "For the earth is filled with violence." There is no longer a government, no one to enforce the law, no one to see to it that such a thing does not happen. Here the Holy One, blessed be He, says: there is no choice but to be wroth and to contend and to bring a terrible punishment, even the punishment of death. And this is what it says, "for the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth and I smote him." Why was I forced to smite? Because the covetousness became a national plague, it is no longer the act of individuals, there is the covetousness of the entire people of Israel. "And he went on rebelliously," he rebelled against Me and turned to idolatry according to the desire of his heart.
The Malbim explains: we saw above that the Holy One, blessed be He, says "for not forever will I contend and not eternally will I be wroth." The Malbim says this verse is a continuation of the previous verse. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will not be wroth eternally, for that which I was wroth about was for the iniquity of his covetousness. And if he repents, then the cause of the wrath will automatically be removed. That is to say, the cause of the wrath is on account of the iniquity. And if there is no iniquity, then there is no cause, says the Holy One, blessed be He, so I will not be wroth forever. And accordingly, says the Malbim, you will understand how this fits the previous verse. "I was wroth and I smote him, I hid Myself and was wroth." We have wrath twice here. "I was wroth and I smote him, I hid Myself and was wroth." What does this come to say? Says the Malbim, this corresponds to the two matters in the previous verse. Sometimes "I was wroth and I smote him," this corresponds to what we said at first, "for not forever will I contend," that the Holy One, blessed be He, strikes the body. And we explained that this is "forever" (le'olam), because here we speak of the body, and the body is spoken of within the reality of time. And sometimes the Holy One, blessed be He, says "I hid Myself and was wroth." Sometimes in the time of anger I hide My face from them. And which is worse: hiddenness of the face or that the Holy One, blessed be He, strikes? Hiddenness of the face. And why is hiddenness of the face worse? We explained this once, the Malbim says it at length, he explains it there in the context of the defiance of Achav about who is greater, Yehoshua or Moshe. Behold, see, Moshe Rabbeinu said "and the anger of Hashem will burn against you and He will shut up the heavens and there will be no rain," and yet we have rain, and so on. There the Malbim has a very wonderful explanation that we have explained several times. Let us say it briefly, since it is connected to the matter here as well. The Malbim says: hiddenness of the face has an advantage. What is the advantage of hiddenness of the face? That sometimes it may be that things will go well for us. Why? Because in hiddenness of the face the Holy One, blessed be He, abandons us to nature. So if, according to nature, good is coming, then good will come. What does this mean? For example, if this year is by nature a rainy one, we will have rain. Because we deserve it? No, Hashem hides His face from us, hides His face from us, cast us to nature. Seemingly, if so, there is some advantage to this over when Hashem is angry with us and creates a situation in which there is no rain. The answer: no, this is not better, it is much worse. Why? Because when Hashem is angry with us, there is, to define it in our modern language, there is control over the dosages. Because the Holy One, blessed be He, brings the fierceness of anger, and the Holy One, blessed be He, gives it according to justice, and the Holy One, blessed be He, controls the dosage that we will receive, exactly according to the sin we committed. In contrast, when Hashem hides His face from them, it is horrific beyond words. If the Holy One, blessed be He, says do not call to Me, you will have problems, you will have troubles, you will be pursued, do not call to Me. Leave Me, I have hidden My face from you. And then it is horrific beyond words, the anger can be to the point of annihilation. It can be terrible and dreadful anger. Why? I placed you in the hands of nature. And nature is that every gentile hates the Jew. Nature is that every gentile would want to establish extermination camps for Israel. And if you are in a state of hiddenness of the face, do not wonder where Hashem was in the Holocaust, for He said that He would not be there. "And I will surely hide My face on that day." So behold, He keeps His word and is not present there. One asks: where is He? I said that I would not be there, why do you knock? Why do you cry out? I said I would not be there. "And I will surely hide Myself," and then, "and it will be devoured," horrific beyond words. For when Hashem hides His face, the anger can be to the point of annihilation. To be sure, there is a promise that the Holy One, blessed be He, promises that the people of Israel will never be annihilated, and on account of this oath the people of Israel will never be annihilated. But the fierceness of anger can be terrible and dreadful. So in practice the hiddenness is much worse than wrath. Because with wrath, when the Holy One, blessed be He, is wroth and yet He administers the blow, then when a father strikes his son, this is when the father is rational, he strikes his son a blow that the son can bear. But if the father threw the son out of the house, then the son can catch terrible and immense blows there. That is not it, I am not here. The father, as it were, is not here, saying: you will manage on your own. You, I have hidden My face from you. You are now already outside the house. So in practice, hiddenness of the face is always worse. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says: and sometimes, God forbid, "I hid Myself and was wroth." I do not actually give him punishment, but only hide My face from him. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: but even this hiddenness of the face is for the iniquity of his covetousness. It is only because of the evil deeds he did. And at the moment, at the time, "he went on rebelliously in the way of his heart." We understand that "he went on rebelliously in the way of his heart" means he went rebelliously in the way of his heart, meaning he went on a twisted and corrupt path. The Malbim learns the opposite. Says the Malbim, this wrath will not be forever. When will it be removed? "And he went on rebelliously in the way of his heart." When the rebelliousness with which he went in the way of his heart departs from him. Do you understand what "went" (vayelech) means? It leaves him, as it were. May the rebelliousness with which he went in the way of his heart leave him. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: accordingly I will not smite him and I will not be wroth. As long as that rebelliousness with which he went in the way of his heart has not left him, if it has not "gone rebelliously," if the rebelliousness has not gone from him, but he is still in those evil corruptions, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: My wrath is still upon him.
But if he removes from himself the rebelliousness with which he went in the way of his heart, "I have seen his ways and I will heal him, and I will lead him and restore comforts to him and to his mourners." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: when I see that he removes his twisted and corrupt ways, I promise "I have seen his ways and I will heal him." I will heal him, not as it was before when I smote him. In place of smiting him, now there will be "I will heal him." That which I was wroth about with sufferings was only because of his corrupt ways. But if the way of rebelliousness has gone from him, "I have seen his ways and I will heal him." And since the wrath was only because he went on a corrupt path, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: then "I will lead him." I will not hide My face from him, but My face will go and give you rest. It means I will lead you. How? With the light of My face. The Holy One, blessed be He, leads us with the light of His face. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: "and I will lead him," this will be in place of My having hidden My face before. So that which was previously "I smote him," now is "I will heal him." And that which was previously "I hid Myself and was wroth," now is "I will lead him." My face will lead him and there will be no hiddenness of the face. And then Hashem promises, "and I will restore comforts to him and to his mourners." The pain that he had, and that those who mourned with him in his troubles had, those who saw his suffering and together with him lamented over his troubles, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will restore comforts, meaning I will comfort them and remove from them the greatness of their pain, when they see the good things that will come to him.
The Radak explains that this refers back to the negative state of the people of Israel. "I have seen his ways," I have seen his ways, that he is not able to stand in his righteousness for a long time. I have seen his ways, that even when the people of Israel repent, a number of years pass and again they return to their corruption, as we saw throughout the entire period of the Judges. And again "He brought upon them Yavin," and He brought upon them this, and He brought upon them that, and then "the land was quiet for forty years" and around and around again. So "I have seen his ways," I know his ways, that he does not remain on a good path for a long period without sinning again. And since I struck him and exiled him for a long time, I will return and heal him with healing of the soul. I will lead him on a good path, meaning I will straighten his heart, for I have seen that he goes on a rebellious path in the way of his heart. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will straighten his heart, so that his heart will be more upright for the service of Hashem. And for all the troubles and evil he suffered in exile, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will restore comforts to him. And who is "to him and to his mourners"? Chazal say: whoever mourns for Jerusalem merits and sees its consolation. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: to whom will I restore comforts? To him and to his mourners. To those who truly mourned for Jerusalem, those who truly awaited the complete redemption, "rejoice with her in joy, all who mourn for her." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: "to his mourners," whoever truly mourned, him I will gladden, him I will lead on the straight path.
"He creates the fruit of the lips, peace, peace to the far and to the near, says Hashem, and I will heal him." "He creates the fruit of the lips," explains Rashi: I create for him a new fruit of the lips. Just as until now trouble came upon him and everyone cried out against him with strife, everyone waged war against him. "Tagar" is like "tigra" (quarrel). Everyone waged war against him, all the time inflammatory speech regarding the people of Israel, threats regarding the people of Israel. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: from now on there will be a new fruit of the lips. What is "the fruit of the lips" (niv sefatayim)? From what root is "niv sefatayim"? "Niv sefatayim" is from the language of the produce (tenuva) of the lips. If the produce of the orange tree is oranges, the produce of the lips is speech. And from this comes the word "navi" (prophet). Yes, "new wine that makes the maidens flourish" (yenovev) and so on, it is all from the same root, meaning from the language of produce. It is all from the language of produce. So "niv sefatayim," the produce of the lips will not be words of war, no more cries of strife, but rather peace, peace. Everyone will call to him peace, peace. And not like the peace that they speak to us about today, peace, peace, but there is no peace. "I am peace, but when I speak, they are for war." Not the kind of peace where we speak about peace and they are engrossed in digging tunnels. Not peace of that kind, but true peace, "to the far and to the near." Who is "to the far and to the near"? So Rashi says: whoever has become established and accustomed to My Torah and My service from his youth, this is the far one. And who is the near one? Whoever has drawn near now to return to My service. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: this is the near one. "Says Hashem, and I will heal him," all of them I will heal, both those who were far and those who were always near.
The Radak says as well, along the same line, that I will now create the fruit of the lips, I will renew the fruit of the lips, so that in this fruit there will no longer be war as the fixed refrain with the people of Israel, but everyone will speak about peace. But the Radak says this speaks about after the war of Gog and Magog. Since the war of Gog and Magog is still a war. And if the Holy One, blessed be He, says I create a new fruit, the public discourse will be new, it will be discourse of peace, not words of war and stirring of battle. He says, if so, this necessarily speaks about after the war of Gog and Magog. For as long as the war of Gog and Magog is in the arsenal, it is still awaiting us, then one cannot say that the public discourse will be peace. So here it speaks about after the mother of all wars will end, and what is it? The war of Gog and Magog. Then, and from then onward, "He creates the fruit of the lips," the new fruit will be words of peace. "To the far and to the near." The Radak explains: who is far and who is near? "Far" refers to those far from Jerusalem, and "near" to those near Jerusalem. And why does he refer to Jerusalem? Because in the war of Gog and Magog, "and I will gather all its host," to where? To Jerusalem, correct? So if so, now there will be peace, to whom? To those near Jerusalem and to those far from Jerusalem. So according to the Radak, this speaks about those near and far, in relation to Jerusalem. "And I will heal him," the Holy One, blessed be He, says: and then there will be healing for the people of Israel, for as long as there are wars there is still no stage of healing.
So according to Rashi, what comes out for us? Who is the far one and who is the near one? The far one is a person who until now has still been serving Me, from afar he has still been serving Me, from years past he has been serving Me. And the near one is whoever has drawn near from now on. In contrast, says the Radak, in Chazal there is the opposite interpretation. That "far" is not one who has always served Me, but the opposite, "far" refers to those who were far and now have begun to serve Me. And who is "near"? "Near" refers to those who were always near. Do you understand, this is entirely the opposite of what Rashi explained. Rashi explained that "far" refers to those who have always served Me. Whereas according to what Chazal expound, it is the opposite. "Far" refers to those who distanced themselves and now they serve Me, they are new. "Near," these are the righteous, who were always near to Hashem, blessed be He. From here Chazal learn: greater are the penitents than the completely righteous. As it says "to the far and to the near, says Hashem, and I will heal him." Whom does the Holy One, blessed be He, first draw near to Him? The far one. Who is the far one according to how Chazal expound? That one who was far and drew near. What do you see? That the Holy One, blessed be He, calls to Him the far ones more than the near ones. And why? As we all know, in the place where penitents stand, even the completely righteous cannot stand. Because the penitents contend with things that the completely righteous were never exposed to. So they have no effort, they have no toil like the penitent must toil and erase all his history. He must toil and forget all his bad habits. This is very difficult. In contrast, the righteous one has always been in holiness and purity, he does not have such struggles. And therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: the first peace is to the far one, and afterward to the near one, meaning the completely righteous who were always near.
Rav Yankele Galinsky told a story - it happened that just this week I spoke about this on Friday night, Parashat Vayetzei. They tell about Rav Yankele Galinsky that he related that he was once at some gathering held for scientists who were penitents. He had to deliver words before them. And suddenly he sees there someone with a long ponytail and a recording device and... what is this? So they told him this is a journalist, he came to interview one of the scientists. In order to ask him what, what happened to him? What fuse blew for him? What happened to him? Did someone die on him? For after all, if someone becomes a penitent, then surely, surely he went through a trauma, otherwise why on earth would he become religious? This is the secular conception, which perceives that essentially religion is meant for old-fashioned people, no, yes, not for progressive ones. So what does a scientist do, what does he do with faith? So they told him, fine, the Rav is standing here now to speak, sit, listen, after he finishes you can approach, one cannot interrupt in the middle of the address. Fine, I stood, I spoke what I spoke, I do not know how much he understood of what I said, but afterward he grabbed one of the scientists there, one of the researchers, and began to ask him questions. I leaned in my ear, I was simply curious to hear. And then he asks him, that scientist says to him, I will ask you a question. Tell me, who in your opinion will receive more reward in heaven? Me, or the Haredi child from Bnei Brak who grew up in a Talmud Torah and afterward in a yeshiva and everything, his whole track being the orderly track of Torah and the service of Hashem. Tell me, who in your opinion will receive more reward in heaven? Fine, I wanted to intervene and say, what is the question at all? Surely the penitent will receive much more reward. For the penitent contends against things from the past, and surely for this one merits immense reward. As we just read, "to the far and to the near." First to the far one, in the place where penitents stand, even the completely righteous cannot stand. Fine, but he did not ask me, he asked the journalist. And the journalist says to him, how would I understand these things? You speak to him about a pay stub, that he understands, but reward in heaven? No, not in his field, beyond his grasp. So he says to him, it seems, seemingly, that I would receive more reward, because I contend and I... He says to him, but I want to tell you, you should know that the Haredi child from Bnei Brak will receive much more reward than me. And I will also tell you why. He says to him, look, in the world where you are, I was there. And not just there, I was screwed in, I was in the scene, he says, I was inside all that mire and mud, he says to him, I know this world inside and out. I know this world with its filth and repulsiveness, I know this world with its "man is a wolf to man," I know this world where you can die in the street and no one will approach you. I know this world, he says to him, very, very well: the pursuit of money, the fact that people have no values for which to get up in the morning, the fact that all the values the country had at its founding, Zionism and "we answered him: to the Land" and settling the Land and the rise of the people of Israel, it has all vanished. Post, post-Zionism, he says to him, erased everything. It is a world without values, for a hundred dollars people are ready to emigrate abroad and leave behind their trash heap of values here for whoever still decided to continue receiving here, to pay extortionate taxes here. He says to him, I know all this garbage inside and out. And even if they tell me that today there is no mitzvah to be religious, and even if the Creator of the world decides that no reward is given to one who keeps mitzvot, he says, one thing is clear to me: I am not returning to this world. This garbage I know well. But the Haredi child from Bnei Brak, the yeshiva student, the secular world still beckons to him. He still thinks they have something to sell. He still thinks they have something to offer. And when he sits in the yeshiva, and is not exposed to all those internet plagues and all that filth and repulsiveness, he has a struggle, because he thinks they have something to sell, he thinks the desires and pleasures there are enjoyable. He does not know that it empties you out, he does not, he does not know that. He says to him, he will receive much more reward. He still thinks they have something to sell. He says, but I know that it is all vanity and rubbish. He says, for me, being here is not a test. For me it is clear that I left an empty and holed ship and reached a safe harbor. He says to him, it is clear to me that this is the correct path, it is clear to me that this is a world of values, it is clear to me that this is the reason for a person to get up in the morning. So I will no longer receive reward for this. But that one who still thinks they have something to sell, what a struggle he has, he will surely receive immense reward. Rav Yankele Galinsky says: I was astonished by his answer. And a better answer, he says, I could not have given him. A more successful answer than what he answered him, as one who knows the matters, more successful than that I had nothing to say to him. So this is what Chazal say, "to the far and to the near." First to the far one and afterward to the near one. Why? Because first the one who distanced himself, greater are the penitents. But sometimes, as Rashi says, it is to the near and to the far. Why? Because sometimes the near one, as the meaning of "far" refers to the person who from afar, who from always was serving Hashem. Why? Because sometimes for him the effort is greater. Sometimes for him the illusion of the evil inclination that there is something to sell is great. And afterward to the near one, that one "who came newly from nearby," who knows that there is nothing there, so for him the struggle is lesser. Sometimes peace to this one first and sometimes peace to that one first.
"But the wicked are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and mud." "The wicked are like the troubled sea," I want first to read you the Targum. "And the wicked are like the tossing sea." The meaning is like the troubled sea, driven from place to place. "That seeks to rest and cannot." The sea, as if driven from place to place, wanting to rest and cannot. "And its waters cast up sin (siyan) and mud (tin)." And its waters make sin and mud. "Siyan" and "tin" are mire and mud. So first, whoever wants to speak about imports from China (Sin) can certainly understand why the Targum for mire is "Sin." So that is perhaps an interpretation according to our generation's understanding. But truly, whoever is familiar with the books, Sephardim sign "samech-tet." There are those who think this means "a pure Sephardi" (Sefaradi Tahor). This is a corruption, that is not the meaning. "Samech-tet," its source is from here. "Sin, tin." "Sin, tin," so the Targum translates mire and mud. This means, a person who wants to write about himself "dust and ashes" writes "samech-tet," which means mire and mud. "Sin, tin." Fine, "but the wicked are like the troubled sea." Rashi says: the wicked do not repent. As we saw earlier that the Holy One, blessed be He, says, He commands them to repent, "peace, peace to the far and to the near," that the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks both with the far and with the near that they should repent before Hashem. "The wicked are like the troubled sea," the wicked do not repent. Rashi explains, why is this called "like the troubled sea"? The sea, its waves are as if they want to be driven, as if to distance themselves from the sea. They want to go out and cross their boundary. And He set a boundary for the sea. And behold you see, when the wave reaches the breakwater, or when the wave reaches the shore, it breaks and shatters upon the shore and returns backward. And again a wave comes, breaks and returns backward. Rashi says: note and see that the next wave sees what happens to the wave before it, and this does not discourage it. And nevertheless it goes out after it in order to also break upon the shore. And it saw what happened to the wave before it, and the wave after it too goes out after it so that it too shatters upon the shore. It too, a wave, sees its fellow and does not turn back. So too the wicked one sees his fellow stricken in his wickedness and does not turn back. Every wicked one anew arises, thinks that he will succeed, that he... What, do you not read history? Do you not see what happened in the past? There is no, there was never a nation that succeeded in destroying the people of Israel. And all the nations that wanted to destroy us, they have all been erased from the skies of history. They are all in the trash bin of history. And the people of Israel exists forever. Does this nevertheless bring any nation to think twice before it makes plans? Does this bring Iran to think twice before it speaks about destroying the Jewish people and the rest of the nations? You see that the reality is such, that even when they see that the previous waves broke, nevertheless another wave and another wave and another wave goes out again and again. One can see this also among the parties here in our country. From always there arose here parties that inscribed hatred on their banner. Hatred of Judaism, drafting of the yeshiva students, subjugation of the Haredim, what not, each time something else. And with all this, they too are all in the garbage bin of history. And nevertheless, you see that they do not despair. Each one arises with a great commotion, amasses a large collection of Knesset seats, and afterward evaporates and descends from the skies of history. Not a single party that inscribed hatred on its banner has endured for a long time. All the parties that endure for a long time are not parties that inscribed on themselves hatred and war against Hashem. No such party has endured over time. And with all this, it does not discourage them from arising again and again. "The wicked are like the troubled sea." Why is this? "For it cannot rest." The evil inclination from within does not give the wicked one rest. It does not give him rest. "For it cannot rest." So even though he sees what happened to those before him, with all this it does not cause him to think twice. He cannot rest, there is none, it churns within him.
"And its waters cast up mire and mud." What is "and its waters cast up mire and mud"? Chazal expound: the sea, its mire and its stench are at its mouth. This means, where is the place where the stench of the sea is found? At the shore. Every refuse, every garbage that is in the sea, the sea spits it out to the shore. If there is a corpse in the sea, God protect us, the sea spits it out to the shore. That is to say, the reality is that the sea, its stench, its mire, is at its mouth, is at the mouth of the sea, is at the seashore. So too the wicked, their stench is in their mouths. Pharaoh said, "Who is Hashem that I should heed His voice?" Sancheriv said, "Who among all the gods of the lands?" Nevuchadnetzar said, "I will be like the Most High." All of them, you see, their mouth is defiled. Their mouth is filthy, all of them with their mouths gape against the Master of the world. Like the sea which casts up from its waters mire and mud, so too they, from their inner selves they bring out through their mouths all the time mire and mud.
The Radak explains that "the wicked are like the troubled sea" is an explanation of the previous verses. In the previous verse we saw, "He creates the fruit of the lips, peace, peace," says the Holy One, blessed be He, "to the far and to the near." And then "and I will heal him," the Holy One, blessed be He, promises that there will be healing for whoever was far and will return and draw near. In contrast, He tells you: but the wicked, with them there is nothing to talk about. They are like the troubled sea, they will not repent. "It cannot rest, its waters cast up mire and mud." And therefore what? "There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked." So what I said earlier, "peace, peace," I did not mean it about them. Those who acted wickedly and increased injustice, we do not speak about them. "There is no peace, says Hashem, for the wicked." As we see that we request in prayer, "for the slanderers and the informers let there be no hope, and let all the insolent perish in an instant." Why not pray that they repent? There is a stage at which it is known that this one will no longer repent. He will not merit to repent. As the Midrash says about what was said, so there is, I saw, I was surprised to see that this is a Midrash, I heard it as a story in the name of the Chafetz Chaim. There was a story with the Chafetz Chaim, that there was some student who spoke with insolence toward the matron who was there, the house-mother, who saw to the affairs of the dormitory and what was connected to it. And the Chafetz Chaim expelled him from the yeshiva. So they asked him, Rebbe, why, Rebbe? He said to them, insolence, this by no means. They said to him, but Rebbe, perhaps he will repent? He said to them, he will not repent. They said to him, how does the Rebbe know? He said to them, because it is written "the insolent-faced one is destined for Gehinnom." "The insolent-faced one is destined for Gehinnom" means that he will not repent. For if he would, it would say "the insolent-faced one is destined for repentance." Why is it written "the insolent-faced one is destined for Gehinnom"? Because he will not repent. I was surprised to see that this is truly a Midrash. And so the Midrash says: Rav Yehuda said, the insolent-faced one is destined for Gehinnom, because it is known that the insolent-faced one does not repent. The insolent one, he has insolence of the face, do not expect repentance from him. So these wicked ones, He speaks about these wicked ones, that they are "there is no peace, says Hashem, for the wicked." They anyway will not repent, they will be destroyed. As it is written in the prophecy of Malachi, "and all the insolent and all who do wickedness will be stubble," and then, "and the day that comes will set them ablaze." Why would they not repent? Because there is a state of a wicked one about whom it can be said that he will not repent. What is "like the troubled sea"? He says, like the sea that every moment is driven to its shore, so too the wicked, they will not rest from the agitation of the world until they die. The wicked one has no rest, he is all the time in motion, all the time in movement, all the time in thoughts, how to add wickedness, what desire he has not yet been to, what deed he has not yet done. Until when? Until the day of death. "There the wicked cease from raging," as Iyov says. That is it, all the raging of the wicked one, the endless movement of the wicked one, the endless thoughts of how to do wickedness, that is it, only there, when he reaches the world of truth, there the wicked cease from raging.
The Malbim says that the wicked are those who do not repent, as we explained, "like the troubled sea, it cannot rest." And why? The Malbim explains: because the wicked one has all the time the things he saw and the things he did. And this matter causes these things to raise images upon his heart. So the Malbim defines it. That is to say, once a man came to some righteous person, and said to him, Rebbe, I constantly have bad thoughts during prayer. He said to him, what are these bad thoughts? All sorts of thoughts and images and all sorts of bad things I saw and... He said to him, the question is why, the question is not why they come during prayer. The question is why you saw them in the first place, so that they come to you afterward during prayer. This means, when a person is in mud and mire, let him not be surprised afterward that even when he wants to rinse his waters, suddenly he sees the water murky. From what is the water murky? From the mud and the mire. The wicked, since all their days are in wickedness, then he cannot rest, for his heart always raises evil images from all those things he was involved in, from all those negative thoughts that enveloped him in the reality of his wickedness. I have already said more than once that it is very simple to repent, to begin one day to put on tefillin, to begin to keep Shabbat. That is the simple part of repentance. The harder part of repentance is to erase for yourself from the hard drive, from the memory, to erase for yourself all the past. That is the hardest part. What does it mean to erase the past? The behavior of the past. Once a person angered you, you would react in a certain way. Have you today succeeded in changing yourself so that your reaction will be different? This is a very non-simple thing. Many penitents change the actions, but do not change the character traits. And this is mainly, this is mainly a result of not learning Torah. One can see very clearly the difference between penitents who go to Torah classes and penitents who do not go to Torah classes. I once gave several examples. The reality is very clear: when a person goes to Torah classes he feels that the changes are not cosmetic. It is not with a kippah, without a kippah, with a beard, without a beard. That is not it, that is very simple. Very simple. The harder part is to change the character traits, his relationship to his wife, his relationship to those close to him, his manner of speech, his manner of expression, the inner feelings. All the time he used to walk around with some sort of tough-guy attitude, and suddenly he needs to begin to understand, sir, acquire for yourself different character traits. You need to understand that humility is demanded of a person, modesty is demanded of a person. This is very non-simple. The part of inner change requires work. And work, not many like to work. A person likes to make the easy changes, and changes the outer shell and remains inside exactly the same. And this is what he says, the wicked are like the troubled sea, and why? Because the spirit rages within them. That same spirit with which they saw all that they saw and did all that they did, this still leaves its marks within him. He does not do any action to overcome it. He does not go and introduce new content. Go to Torah classes, go learn mussar, introduce new content. When holiness enters, then the mundane goes out. This, this is a law, there is no cleverness in it. The way to get out the mundane is by introducing holiness. And he, instead of this, still continues to consume all sorts of things that he consumed before, and media and all sorts of other things that he remains connected to by his navel. And then you see that the person truly has no change in him, he remains the same. He, I once defined it, there are people who are secular kippah-wearers. In his essence he remained secular. All his behavior, everything, he remained secular. Only that now he also has a kippah. So what does that help him? True, on the contrary, sometimes it is worse. Because sometimes people see, look, did you see, did you see how that religious one behaves? Did you see how this person behaves? How this Haredi behaves? Did you see how he speaks? Did you see how he burst out? Did you see... I was afraid he was about to kill me, what... Yes, sir, but you do not know that he went through a whole process. You do not know that truly, if this were five years ago, he would have killed you. Today he only got angry with you and almost crumpled you. Fine, but understand that he went through a process. This he does not understand, it does not matter. I, I am not making a complaint against them. Clearly a person went through many things in his life and it may very well be that he goes through very non-simple processes. But one must know that in this, in this is the essence. The essence is how much a person changes. Not how many secluded meditations you did, that is wonderful, that is good, that is beautiful. How many Torah classes did you go to? How much Torah did you introduce in order to get out all the mire and mud, that the wicked are like the troubled sea, all that was before, how do you get all of that out of yourself? And therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "there is no peace, says my God, for the wicked." Corresponding to what we saw regarding the righteous, regarding the true penitents, "peace, peace to the far and to the near," corresponding to the wicked the Holy One, blessed be He, says: there is no peace. "There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked." And why? Just as there is no peace in their spirit, meaning as we explained, that all the time his spirit is craving within him for every matter of transgression, so too there is no peace for all that is theirs, says my God, for the wicked. There is an expression that many know, "there is no peace, says Hashem, for the wicked." But the Minchat Shai already says that this is a complete corruption and an absolute error. Nowhere does the expression "there is no peace, says Hashem" appear. Rather the verse is always "says my God." He also brings from where this error stemmed. But in any case, listen, many quote "there is no peace, says Hashem, for the wicked." There is no such verse. The verse is "there is no peace, says my God, for the wicked." That is the correct expression and this is the true version. May Hashem grant us and all the wicked to return in complete repentance before Him, amen and amen.