"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." Behold, I create new heavens. Rashi says that some hold these are literally new heavens, and this is indeed the main understanding. For Scripture proves it, since it says, "For as the new heavens and the new earth, etc." The Radak explains that from the great abundance of good that will be, it will be as though the world becomes new heavens and a new earth. As the pasuk says, the former things shall not be remembered, then it is as if everything is renewed, even the heavens are renewed. He brings the explanation of the Ibn Ezra, who says that new heavens refers to the sky, that the Holy One will renew good air, so that people will be healthy and live many years, as we will see further on. And Hashem will add to the strength of the earth so it will not be as it is today, and it will give more of its power, and then it will be a form of a new earth. In simple terms, let us define it thus: it is not literally new, but a general renovation. In short, the heavens and earth will be refurbished. And what we gain from this, since it is written that the heavens and earth will not cease before Me all the days: "If these ordinances depart from before Me, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever," just as the heavens and earth do not cease all the days. "If My covenant be not with day and night, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth." That is to say, My covenant of day and night is like the ordinances of heaven and earth. So the heavens and earth will not change. Therefore the intention is not that there will be no heaven and earth, but rather, as we said, they will be renewed, and Hashem will renew good air. On the other hand, the Radak finds this explanation somewhat difficult, for he says that if so, it would be for all the nations. Yet the pasuk says, "For as the days of a tree shall be the days of My people," which implies that this is only for the nation of Israel and not for all the nations. How could there be different heavens here and different heavens outside the Land or in other places?
The Malbim explains: Behold, I create new heavens. The heavens and earth that exist now were created by way of nature. And it is impossible for there to be permanent good without evil. Why? Because reality is one of matter, shedding one form and donning another. And it is impossible to have a reality of existence without a reality of absence. Every reality of matter is a reality that is consumed. It is a reality that wears down. It is not possible for there to be a reality of matter that remains eternal. There is nothing that stays fixed in its place, nothing that rust does not consume, no living thing that does not age, no stone that is not worn away. There is no physical reality in which changes and alterations do not occur. But the Holy One says, there will be new heavens, such a physical reality without changes and alterations toward evil. For reality will be only good, until the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mind. No one will remember anymore that there was once death, that there was once evil, that there was once a reality of loss and destruction. This will not be in nature, in reality there will be no such thing. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, so the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mind. No one will remember anymore that there was once a reality different from the new heavens that we will see in the future.
It finds outward expression. In contrast, gilah is in the heart. His heart was filled with gilah. Did you see something? I did not see anything on him. But he knows. And he can testify that his heart was filled with gilah. In contrast, I cannot say he is rejoicing (sas) if I saw nothing on him, because sasson is always something expressed in outward actions. The Malbim asks, what is the difference between gil and simchah? After all, simchah is also in the heart, and gilah too, as we now explained, is in the heart. The Malbim says, gil denotes sudden joy. Suddenly someone brings you some good news. What do you say? What joy! That is gilah. In contrast, simchah is ongoing joy. So if so, permanent gilah, is that even possible? Seemingly it is a thing that contradicts the very meaning of gilah, for what is gilah, as we just explained? Gilah is sudden. By the way, this is very interesting, it may also be the source of the word gilah, that there is some revealing (gilui), suddenly something was revealed. When a person discovers something, what does he have? Gilah. Right? There may be a connection between the two. Yes? Because gilah is something sudden. It is something that happened in a single moment. The Malbim says, permanent gilah is not possible. He also says that permanent simchah is a very difficult reality. Even though simchah is not about some momentary excitement, he says permanent simchah is a hard thing, for we know the reality of man. You rejoiced over something. Over what did you rejoice? Over the new car you bought? How long did that last? Until it grew old and you began looking at other cars, newer or more advanced ones. Or it was enough that suddenly it became clear to you that yours is a GL and your neighbor's is a GLX. Oh, you did not hear? There is a GLX, what do you say? What does it have? Cruise control. What is that? To tell the truth, I do not know, but listen, what do you really have? They did not tell me. That is it, you let the air out of his tires, out of his balloon, out of everything. What happened? He says physical joy does not last long. That is reality, it does not last long. A person gets used to the good very quickly and no longer rejoices in it. So all the more so gilah, which is about a momentary excitement of some... all the more so, will we constantly have excitement and joy? Even simchah without excitement we do not have.
By the way, this is the explanation we once brought in the name of the Gra: what is the difference between "matza" and "motze"? "Whoso findeth (matza) a wife findeth a good thing." And "I find (motze) the woman more bitter than death." Why did Shlomo use "matza" here and "motze" there? The Gra says, "matza" is past tense, "motze" is present tense. To evil we do not become accustomed. We complain about the evil all the time. Constantly complaining. No matter if it is the weather, if it is... no matter what, he will always complain about it. There is no getting used to it. In contrast, to the good, we very quickly grew accustomed. We ask for the next good thing. Because we already have a certain good, now we ask what else. So he says, if so, "whoso findeth (matza) a wife," when the wife is good, then it is "matza," once, thirty years ago when he married her, he has already gotten used to it, so "matza," fine, that was in the past. But when it is more bitter than death, then "I find (motze)," he constantly finds anew the thing more bitter than death. Because when it is bad, one does not get used to it, so every day he finds it anew. It does not matter that she is always innovating new techniques of how to make things more bitter than death for him, but even without that, the very fact that things are bad for you, that things are bad is always, always renewing itself. But when things are good for you, I have already gotten used to it, I am no longer excited by this good. So the Malbim says, if so, permanent simchah is not found. We got used to the good, we no longer rejoice in it. Gilah? All the more so. For gilah is the renewal of tidings, and that certainly cannot exist in a permanent way.
But its Creator tells us what will be in the future. "But be ye glad (sisu) and rejoice (gilu) for ever." Here "sisu" will be masos, which is outward joy, as we explained, something noticeable outwardly. And the gilah, which is momentary, will be for ever. It will be without interruption. Another thing, the Malbim says something very interesting and true: when does a person rejoice? Over something he previously lacked. If there was no lack, we do not rejoice. We all know the story of the person who came to a rav and told him that he suffers from terrible cramped housing, six souls in two rooms, he cannot live like this, and so on. The rav said to him, if so, I have a segulah for you. What is the segulah? Bring in a goat. What do you mean, bring in a goat? Bring a goat into the house. The rav said, you will see, come back to me in a week. He brought a goat into the house, and what can I tell you, the noise and the smell and the... a nightmare, dreadful and terrible, truly dreadful and terrible. He came to the rav after a week, help, Rabbi, help! The rav said to him, take out the goat. Fine, he took out the goat. He came after a week, and the rav asks him, well, how are things? Ah, thank God, Rabbi, a completely different life. What is this, ah... a clean house, no noise, no goat wandering around us, no stepping every time on a shoe landmine, ah, in short, a completely different reality. We know, in order to feel good, you have, God forbid, to feel not good. Who among us now says, ah, thank You, Master of the World, that I have no stomachache? Does anyone say that now? Why would you say it? But after two days of a stomachache, when it calms down, thank You, Master of the World, that I have no stomachache. And during those two days, Master of the World, let the stomachache stop. Master of the World, let the stomachache stop. That is to say, the good is not recognized except from within the absence, from within the evil. And light is not recognized except from within the darkness. This is reality.
The Malbim says, if so, then in the future we will have a very serious problem. For we said that in the future there will be no evil. If in the future there will be no evil, where will the good be recognized? In what will the good be recognized? Because I always feel good after I felt bad. I enjoy eating when I was hungry. If I am not hungry, then I have no enjoyment in food. I enjoy going out into the light when I was previously in darkness. But if I was not in darkness, I have no enjoyment in going out into the light. So it is in every matter. The Malbim says, but then in the future there will be only good. Nevertheless the Holy One promises there will be permanent gilah. For gilah is renewal, and there will constantly be a renewal of joy for you. And this gilah, says the Holy One, I create it. Not through the general creation, but I create it. Meaning a new gilah that will be from Hashem. Today your gilah comes in the wake of an absence. Since you did not have a certain thing, they brought it to you. You received tidings, a child was born to you. Ah, what joy! So that is to say, you were lacking and now they gave you. The Holy One says, no, in the future I create a new gilah, a gilah that does not need an absence in order to rejoice in it. A gilah that you will have with joy even without previously having lacked it. And this is what "behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing (gilah)" means. Jerusalem itself will be in permanent gilah, because of the light of the Shechinah that dwells in her permanently. And the outward signs that this gilah will have will be in the people themselves. The meaning is, through people seeing the success of the nation, seeing their upright way, then a person will constantly be in joy, they will constantly see in him how much he rejoices in his service. This is the meaning of "and her people a joy (masos)." Where was the outward expression of this gilah in Jerusalem? When they see her people all day in holiday clothes, in joy, in... the joy will burst outward, and then the immense joy that the Holy One will bestow upon us will be recognized by all.
"And I will rejoice (gilti) in Jerusalem, and joy (sasti) in My people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, says the Radak, for there is gilah in her. For I will rejoice in her. Why? Because then, in this place, they will always do My will, not like today when they rebel against My word. And also "and joy in My people," I will rejoice in them, for they will be a fence of My people, My chosen ones, doers of My will. And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. Why is there a voice of weeping and a voice of crying? People weep over a man who died in the city before his time, over those slain by the sword, over those fallen in captivity. He says, there will be no such reality. There will be no reality of evil in the world at all, no sword, no war, not even natural death. People will live for long years, hundreds of years, as the next pasuk will tell us. The Malbim explains: "and I will rejoice in Jerusalem," the Malbim says, I will rejoice a new gilah through Jerusalem. For in her they will always see the signs and wonders of the Holy One anew. So this will give them constant permanent joy, constant enthusiasm, constant desire. "And joy in My people," the meaning, as we explained, is that masos is always an outward expression of joy, so the signs of joy will be seen before the eyes of many nations through My people. "And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard, nor the voice of crying." Weeping is what people weep over trouble that has already occurred. Crying, they cry out, as we explained earlier, for salvation, asking that someone save me. He says there will be no trouble over the past and no crying over the future, meaning there will not be such troubles that we ask to be saved from in the future, but reality will be only of gilah and masos.
"There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed." The Navi says, there shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man. "Ul yamim" (infant of days) is like "olel." "Ul yamim" means young in years. There will be no one who does not fill his days. "For the child shall die a hundred years old." The child at a hundred years old will be subject to punishment, says the Midrash. He will be subject to punishment, so as to be liable to death for a transgression he commits. "But the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed." One who sins in some transgression requiring excommunication, this will be at age one hundred. That will be the age at which a person would be excommunicated for a transgression he commits. And the Radak says, "there shall be no more thence," the meaning is regarding Jerusalem. For he said, "and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, etc." But it is not specifically Jerusalem, the same applies to all of the Land of Israel. Only since Jerusalem is the main place, he refers to Jerusalem. "And there shall be no more thence an infant of days and an old man," according to the Radak the meaning is they will not take out from there a funeral of an infant of days or of an old man who has not filled his days. No person will pass away before his time, being an infant of days, and an old man who has not filled his days. And how old is old age? It is written, "sixty years for old age." So here you see there is a situation where a person is old and has not filled his days, until he is seventy. All this, says the Radak, is in our times, that it may be that he died old, but relatively young. Sixty is called old. Today we say a person died at seventy, what is this, he died early, he passed away early. But understand that at sixty he is already called old. And behold you see that in any case we call him one who died before his time. This is in our times. But in the future time, they will not say of an old man that he filled his days until he is three hundred or five hundred. Then they will say, oh, this person reached old age. And reality will return as in the earlier generations, at the beginning of the creation of the world, says the Radak, when reality was that old people would live long lives. "For the child shall die a hundred years old." If a person dies at age one hundred, they will say, oh, what a pity, he died a child. Still a youngster, only a hundred, and he is gone. The child shall die a hundred years old. One who dies at age one hundred, they will say he is a child. "But the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed." The meaning is, when the curse of God will be upon a person, he will die at age one hundred. This is one who, God forbid, has a curse resting upon him. And one who does not, will live very long.
And the Malbim says, with this you will understand what we mentioned earlier. We said the voice of weeping over a dead person will not be heard. And our pasuk is actually an explanation of the earlier pasuk. "The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her." A voice of weeping over what will not be heard? Over the passing of a person. And today there is a reality, God forbid, that a person passes away before his time, and people weep over him. But then there will be no such thing that a person does not complete his days and years. In our time there can be an old man who has not filled his days. How? Listen to what the Malbim says. The Malbim says, a person today who dies old is a person who died through the exhaustion of the root moisture and the natural strength. A person dries out. The root moisture, the natural strength, is depleted. This is called old. But in fact, he says, this is not a cause of death. Since we know that at the time of the creation of the world people would die at nine hundred. So how is it that a person today dies at eighty? Because the strength of the root moisture is depleted, his natural strength is depleted. That is to say, naturally, had the moisture and strength not diminished in a person, old age would be at nine hundred. Old age would be at a thousand. Behold, see at what ages people passed away at the time of the creation of the world. And we have already elaborated on this in the past and spoke about it, we also spoke about it in Sefer HaKuzari, that the reality of a person dying of old age is actually not a natural reality. For by nature a person was not supposed to die at all. And the reason is very simple. Once every ten years, between ten and twenty years, all of a person's cells renew themselves. All the cells. So if that is the case, "thy youth is renewed like the eagle," and there is no reason for a person to pass from the world. Since he does not actually... there is no reality created in him that is supposed to cause decay. The reality that we have decay in a table, in a car, in every device there is, is because that thing is physical, there is no renewal in it, so it wears out little by little. But in something that constantly renews itself, there should never be decay. So how is it that a person decays? How is it that a person ages? Today the researchers already know. First of all, the Ramban writes that you should not think that old age is by nature. The Ramban says that old age is not by nature, for according to nature a person renews himself and should have continued to live. Rather it is a decree from Heaven that a person ages and passes away, but essentially by nature this does not exist. And indeed today researchers examined and found that there is a certain gene responsible for aging. And this gene is what creates a state of decay of the body. And today researchers are working on isolating this gene. When they succeed in isolating it, then we will reach "the child shall die a hundred years old." Whoever dies at age one hundred, they will say, oh, he died a youngster, a child, a hundred years old. When they succeed in isolating it. When? The Holy One tells us when they will succeed. I do not know if they will succeed, or if the Holy One Himself will in the end do it. But be that as it may, this reality will be only a reality of the future. Since in actual reality now we are still not worthy. But let us not err and think there will be a miracle here. Let us not err and think that the reality that exists in the world is an unnatural reality. Pardon me, it is a natural reality. This [death] is not a natural reality. The natural reality is that a person lives endlessly long, for he constantly renews himself. If he constantly renews himself, then he is always young. So much so that some say that after some fifteen or twenty years a person needs to betroth his wife again. You are not you and she is not she. Not in terms of character traits, that entirely, they are already different people. It is not... it is not the same mass that was under the chuppah. I am not even talking about the fact that he added more mass. I am not talking about those kilograms. Yes? But I am talking about the fact that essentially all of it, all the cells here are something new. And your wife is something new. So perhaps after twenty years he needs to betroth her again. Here you see that essentially the betrothal is between the souls. It is not between those eighty kilos and those sixty kilos. It is not... that is not what is being discussed at all. What is being discussed here is a bond that is more of a soul bond. And be that as it may, the soul does not change at all, even over tens and hundreds and thousands of years.
So let us return to the matter. The Malbim says, behold you see that in our time even a person who was old, a hundred years, and passed away, I still say of him that he did not complete his days. For to complete his days is like in the past, at a thousand. It comes out, then, that this one who died here at age one hundred, the cause is the depletion of the root and natural moisture. In short, it is an external cause. An external cause that caused him to dry out. And he did not fill his days according to the measure of old age, says the Malbim. And if you say there are situations in which a person does not die of old age. There is an infant of days who did not fill his days. This can be from two reasons. Either because of illness, may Hashem save us, a person fell ill, took to bed, and died. Or because of sin. These too are two situations in which a person did not fill his days and passed away before his time. On this he comes and says, know that in the future there will not be found an infant of days who has not filled his days. And there will not be found an old man who has not filled his days. An infant of days who has not filled his days is today one who is twenty. An old man who has not filled his days is today one who is a hundred. Rather in the future, even if a child dies in his youth, it will be at least at a hundred. And even an old man, today the reality of old is at a hundred, but in the future old will be at nine hundred. And the reason for this, why will a child not die in his youth at less than a hundred? Because at less than a hundred he will still not be subject to Heavenly punishment, as the Midrash says, as Rashi brought. So that in fact it will not be applicable, as it were, to punish him before his time.
And how will the reality be? "And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them." They will build houses and dwell in them all the time the house stands, and even more. And they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit all the time they give fruit. And in fact, the Malbim says, that many times we know a person passes away even before the house is destroyed. And if we speak of houses in our time, then the houses last for hundreds of years. Unless missiles are fired from there and then the house can last two days. Right? Disintegrating. But in any case, normally a house can endure for long years. "And they shall build houses, and inhabit them," all the time the house lasts they will still dwell in it. "They shall plant vineyards," today there is a reality where a person can plant a vineyard and pass away and the vineyard still grows. But no, in the future they will plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. Now, so as not to be confused, the Neviim prophesied only concerning the days of Mashiach. We are not speaking here about the life of the World to Come. The life of the World to Come even the Neviim did not see, "neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him." And there is no difference between our days and the days of Mashiach except the subjugation to the kingdoms alone. So that we are still speaking of a reality of this world, of the days of Mashiach, in which there will be great abundance and much good. But we are not yet speaking of the life of the World to Come, which is the world of souls, which is a lofty spiritual reality that we have no grasp of at all regarding the greatness of the delight and the... and the... abundance and closeness to God, and even the Neviim did not attain it. "They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." They shall not build, and another inhabit. The Malbim says, there is a reality today that a person builds and along comes an heir, or strangers come and seize the labor. "And they shall not plant, and another eat." And the planting, says the Malbim, was written after the building, because in their time the planting would last longer than the building. In truth today too we have trees that are hundreds of years old. But in any case, in today's building, usually, unless you build with the drywall method, but normally, it should last much longer than any average tree. In any case, in their time the trees would last longer than the buildings. So not only that, but also they shall not plant, and another eat, for the planting lasts longer. For as the days of a tree are the days of My people. They will live long, like the days of a tree. And this means that therefore "Mine elect shall long enjoy (yevalu) the work of their hands." The meaning is, if a person plants a planting, he will not die and the tree still exists. It comes out, who wore out whom? We wore out the work of our hands. That is to say, we came to see them worn out. We are the ones who will see the work of our hands wearing out. And not the reverse, that the work of our hands that we created will see the person wearing out. On the contrary, we will see the work of our hands wearing out. The meaning is that reality will be that a person lives very long. In truth we have somewhat drawn closer toward the coming of Mashiach. Here we see the work of our hands wearing out. Everything today is immediately "made in China." Once a thing would last forty years, today a washing machine does not last more than a year or two. We see the work of our hands wearing out. Your cell phone usually breaks down exactly at the end of the warranty. Everything has become of such low quality that we see before our eyes the work of our hands wearing out. But this is not what is being discussed. What is being discussed is that the person will be improved and through this he will live long. And however good the products may be, in any case the person will live longer than all of them. Let us note, says the Radak, that we should not err and think that only nature will change here. The Radak says, note that it is written, they shall not build and another inhabit, they shall not plant and another eat, for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. The Radak says, the length of days promised here will be by way of a wonder and not for the rest of the nations. It will be only for the nation of Israel. And "as the days of a tree are the days of My people," according to how Yonatan translates and as Rashi also explains, this alludes to the Tree of Life. And it is very possible that this is what Chazal intended when they said that the Tree of Life is a five hundred year journey, says the Radak. And "as the days of a tree" means like the days of the Tree of Life, that the journey to reach the Tree of Life is by itself five hundred years. The meaning is apparently that reaching the Tree of Life is a five hundred year journey. So that in fact he meant to say that they will live long lives, hundreds of years and more.
"They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for terror; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them." They shall not labour in vain, says the Radak, this is the opposite of what we said in the curses, "and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it." On this He says to them, they shall not labour in vain, they will not toil and have it be for naught and in vain. Rather all their labor will be for blessing. No enemy will come to eat their labor, no mildew and blight or any other plague will come to destroy their crop. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for terror, for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord. The Malbim says, they shall not labour in vain, for through them planting and another eating, that is labor in vain. "Bring forth for terror," through the fact that the children they bear die before their time, then one brings forth for terror. "Behalah" (terror) means something that terrifies a person's heart. When, God forbid, a person is informed of the passing of one of his relatives, and all the more so at the passing of his children, he has terrible and immense terror. May Hashem bring it only upon the enemies. On this He says, nor bring forth for terror. He will not bear a child that afterwards there will come to him a report that terrifies every heart and they will inform him, God forbid, that his son passed away. So nor bring forth for terror, but rather their children will endure. Corresponding to what He said, they shall not labour in vain, He says, they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord. They live long and they wear out the work of their hands, as we said, they will have blessing in all they do. And corresponding to nor bring forth for terror, on this He says, and their offspring with them. What they bear will remain with them alive and enduring. Until now, the Malbim says, we have explained what is written in verse nineteen. There we saw, "and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her." The voice of weeping is over someone who dies before his time or, God forbid, the death of children. And on this He promised that they would live long and reach an old age of hundreds of years, and would not bring forth for terror. This corresponds to "the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her." But then He also said, nor the voice of crying. And the voice of crying means someone who cries out for salvation. These are the following pesukim.
"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." The reality in exile, says the Radak, is "Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, that no prayer can pass through." There is an iron partition that has cut off between Israel and their Father in Heaven. Chazal, as it were, compare it to a cloud, like a cloud, for the cloud creates a barrier and creates a situation in which the prayer does not ascend upward. Whereas here, before they call. What is "before they call"? The Radak says, sometimes before they call, and sometimes while they are yet speaking. That is to say, there is a difficulty here. First you say, before they call, I will answer. Even before they call. After that you say, while they are yet speaking, I will hear. Ah, while they are yet speaking, that is to say, they have already begun to call, but they have not finished, they are still speaking, and then I will hear. But earlier you said something better. You said even before they call. And not only that, but it is even more difficult, that usually the pasuk goes and adds in praise. And here you went and diminished. At first you said, even before you speak, Hashem will answer. After that you say, while you are speaking I will hear. Well, that is worse. It would have been better, even before I speak, that the Holy One answer us. Therefore the Radak says, sometimes before they call, and sometimes, that is to say, even the worst case will be that while they are yet speaking, I will hear. Even if you will not be in the best spiritual state, but know that in the midst of the speech I will already hear. The Malbim, in contrast, says, and it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer. The meaning is, they will not need to cry out at all. A voice of crying will not be heard, because they will not need to cry out. Even before they call, I will answer. And not only that, but even before they speak of their needs, note well, among themselves, says the Malbim, I will hear and fulfill the desire of their hearts, so that I will not even wait for the call. Do you hear? According to the Malbim this is wonderful, for the second part truly adds to the first. That is to say, before they call, the meaning is, let us say we are speaking among ourselves about what we need. And afterwards we say, well, let us make a prayer to ask for it. And Hashem already gave to us even before we made a prayer. But we spoke among ourselves what we need, what we will ask for. There is a situation even better than that. Not before you made a prayer, but even in the midst of your speaking, Hashem will answer you. So if that is so, "while they are yet speaking," according to the Malbim, does not mean while they are yet speaking to make requests. No. That is already too late a stage. Rather much earlier, when you are still speaking among yourselves about what we will ask for, what we need, while they are yet speaking, I will hear. I already hear their speech, and through this I bestow abundance upon them. So there is an addition here to what was said earlier. Another thing, a voice of crying will not be heard, usually a voice of crying is heard when there are harmful creatures in the world. Now the pasuk will come and say that there will not even be harmful creatures.
"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord." The wolf and the lamb shall feed together. You should know that once there was a certain zoo director who decided to create an exhibit in their zoo of a wolf dwelling with a sheep. And they decided to train in this way, "the kid dwelling with the lion," how is it written there? The wolf with the lamb. And they put a wolf and a sheep in one enclosure, and they... someone once passed by there and said to him, tell me, how, how do you manage this? What is this? This is a prophecy only for the future, how? What, the wolf and the lamb feeding together? He said to him, it is very simple, we simply replace the sheep every day, he says. Yes? But there it speaks of the wolf and the lamb feeding together. They will feed together, no, there is no need to replace the lamb. It will remain there. Rashi explains, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, the lion will not need to prey on animals, and then essentially it casts its dread. Rather it will eat straw, like the gentle animals. And dust shall be the serpent's meat. What is "dust shall be the serpent's meat"? What, and today it is different? Rather the meaning is, the serpent will still have dust as its food, always available to it. For the serpent, the dust will be with it permanently as it is today. So consequently, with this it will be content. It will not need to cause harm. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain." Rashi says, a Midrash Aggadah: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, since we find that Esav falls by the hand of the sons of Esav... by the hand of the sons of Yosef. As it is said, "the house of Esav for stubble." And the serpent no longer eats us and does not bite us, for the serpent seeks dust and we are no longer dust. The Malbim explains: the wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The Malbim says, they will not cause harm, the wolf will not harm the lamb. And also the nature of the predators will be reversed, so that the lion eats straw and does not eat meat. And corresponding to what he said, wolf and lion, who were causing harm for their needs, for the wolf or the lion, when they cause harm, it is because they are hungry. A lion, if it is sated, a person can pass by it and it will do nothing to him. A deer can pass before it and it will do nothing to it. When does the lion prey? Only when it is hungry. So that in fact of them it is said, they shall not hurt. What is "they shall not hurt"? Until now they were causing harm for their needs, but since the lion will eat straw, then they shall not hurt. In contrast, the serpent, a lion preys and eats. But the serpent is pure evil. It is only to cause harm. "It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The serpent has no benefit in what it strikes. Many times it strikes and moves on. Sometimes it strikes and eats, but sometimes it strikes and moves on. So that essentially it is absolute evil. Absolute destruction. So corresponding to "dust shall be the serpent's meat," on this he says, nor destroy in all My holy mountain. Until now it was destroying without reason. But since the serpent will have dust as its food and portion, then consequently they too shall not destroy. There will be no situation of the serpent destroying without reason and striking people. [silence]