My, how beautiful. "Do you see what they are doing?" No, this is written in Yechezkel. When the Holy One, blessed be He, took Yechezkel from the exile and brought him to Yerushalayim and showed him what they were doing inside the Beit HaMikdash, all the images and the idol worship carved on the walls and so on, there it says "Do you see what they are doing?" This is not a question of wonder, "Do you see?" Rather, "Here I see, you are showing me, so I see." He says to him, "Do you see," as if to say you see. So too here, "revealed I revealed Myself," that is how I revealed Myself. So too here, "like the striking of the one who struck him, did He strike him," like the striking of the one who struck him did He strike him. Behold, says the Holy One, blessed be He, I exacted from them according to the blow they dealt you. "As the slaying of those slain by Him, was he slain," Yisrael who were the slain of Pharaoh, so too says the Holy One, blessed be He, I killed him, I acted against him just as he killed Yisrael. That is to say, I exacted from them according to what they did.
The Malbim explains that the pasuk here, as it were, says: look, does the Holy One, blessed be He, strike Yisrael the way He struck the one who struck Yisrael? The meaning is: just as Hashem killed His slain ones, does He likewise slay the people of Yisrael? For the idolaters the Holy One, blessed be He, destroyed utterly and completely. But the people of Yisrael, as we said, when the Holy One, blessed be He, strikes them He visits their sin upon them, this is with mercy, He preserves the people of Yisrael. The people of Yisrael are never wholly destroyed. He says, in contrast, look at the Holy One, blessed be He, when He strikes the nations, it is unto complete destruction. The blow is a blow of annihilation.
And now he comes and says: see that there is yet another difference between Yisrael and the nations. "בְּסַאסְּאָה בְּשַׁלְחָהּ תְּרִיבֶנָּה הָגָה בְּרוּחוֹ הַקָּשָׁה בְּיוֹם קָדִים" - "With measure, when You send her away, You contend with her; He removed her with His harsh wind on the day of the east wind." "With measure, when You send her away, You contend with her." What do Chazal learn from this pasuk? Measure for measure. This is the source Chazal bring when they wish to state the principle of measure for measure. "Besasseah," the meaning is this: the Holy One, blessed be He, does not do with the nations as He does with the enemies as we explained, that He wipes them out entirely, destroying them from the world. Rather, when He exacts from them, He exacts from them with measure. What is the meaning of "with measure"? In a measured manner. Not without limits. "Besasseah," what is "sasseah"? It is from the expression "se'ah, se'ah." That is the meaning of "besasseah." A se'ah is a measure, a measure, a measure of dry goods. So "with measure, when You send her away, You contend with her," the Holy One, blessed be He, does not exact from them with an outpouring of wrath, but with measure He exacts from them.
And then, this measure, "you contend with her." The meaning, explains the Radak, what is "you contend with her, when You send her away"? "Beshalchah" the Radak explains is like the fields of grain and of fruit, the Holy One, blessed be He, sends upon them blight, sends upon them mildew, locust, grasshopper. The meaning of the matter: the Holy One, blessed be He, does not exact from them by destruction of the body, but the Holy One, blessed be He, is exacting through their wealth. The people of Yisrael in the exiles too were struck, but many of the blows against the people of Yisrael were in their wealth. They were not allowed to develop economically, they were constantly plundered, robbed, despoiled. Endlessly you will hear of people who abroad were very wealthy and had all their money taken from them, or all that they had was nationalized. So the Holy One, blessed be He, when He exacts, "when You send her away, You contend with her." What is "beshalchah"? "Shalchah" is from the word "shelach," "shelach" is also an expression for a field, like a "sedeh beit hashelachin" (an irrigated field). Yes? So the Holy One, blessed be He, when He exacts, with what does He contend with them? "When You send her away, You contend with her." Where? In their fields. There the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts from them.
"He removed her with His harsh wind on the day of the east wind." The Holy One, blessed be He, as it were "hagah," "hagah" means to remove, yes? The Holy One, blessed be He, removes from them the fruit from their fields with His harsh wind. There are harsh winds that cause the fruit to fall on "the day of kadim," on a day of harsh winter. On a day when a powerful east wind blows, with this the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts from them, that their grain be consumed, that their fruit drop. But to exact from them in a way that destroys them entirely? That, no. And this fits the beginning of this passage. "I have no wrath," says the Holy One, blessed be He, even when I exact against the people of Yisrael, it is not with wrath, it is not unto complete extinction, but "like the striking of the one who struck him." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I do not exact from them, from those who strike them I exact harshly, but from the people of Yisrael I do not exact harshly. And this is what it says, this is what is written here "shelchah," as we said, it is the fields, the grain, and he brings "like the irrigation channel of the king's garden," "your shoots are a garden of pomegranates," he brings further examples that "shelchah" here is from the language of field, from the language of orchard.
I emphasize this because shortly we will see in the Malbim a different explanation of the meaning of "beshalchah." The Radak brings another explanation in the name of "my lord my father." The Radak says: my lord my father of blessed memory explained the pasuk, "with measure, when You send her away, You contend with her," with the measure with which she measured out You wished to contend with her and judge her. "Beshalchah," what is "beshalchah"? From the word for sword. "Shelach." What is "shelach"? "Shelach" is a sword. Does anyone know an expression where it is written "shelach" meaning sword? "And he made shelach and shields." Or "half of them held the shelach." There it is brought in Nechemyah and Ezra, yes, yes, Nechemyah and Ezra there, they held the "shelach." What is the "shelach"? Exactly, some were doing the work and some held the "shelach," because of those who came to trouble and afflict them. So "shelach" was the implement with which, the sword with which they would fight. "And they pass by the shelach," there are several places where it appears, "before his life passes by the shelach," so it is written in Iyov, "before his life passes by the shelach," there too the meaning is with a sword, yes?
So the Radak says, what is written "with measure, when You send her away, You contend with her," the meaning is: You wished to kill them and judge them with fire, as Sedom and Amorah were judged. For "besasseah," what is "besasseah"? Measure for measure. Corresponding to the sins of the people of Yisrael, they deserved that the Holy One, blessed be He, should exact from them according to their deeds. But the Holy One, blessed be He, "removed with His harsh wind on the day of the east wind." The Holy One, blessed be He, removed the fire with a powerful east wind, as is brought there regarding Yechezkel that there the coals were already prepared to be thrown upon the city, that He brought by the hand of the angel clothed in linen the vessel with the coals, and holy Gavriel cooled them, the merciful God cooled them, and nothing was left, what? Yes. So there it is brought that the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, was to bring down a decree of burning upon them. So he says, what did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? "He removed with His harsh wind on the day of the east wind." The Holy One, blessed be He, removed the fire with that very powerful east wind that was cast upon the city, so that in the end there would be no destruction of the people of Yisrael. "Hagah," says the Radak, is from the word to remove. Like "remove the dross from silver." Or "remove the wicked before the king," yes? The meaning is to remove.
The Malbim explains, "with measure, when You send her away, You contend with her." When the measure of their sins grew, increased, then seemingly He should exact from them and execute judgment upon them by the sword, "with measure, when You send her away, You contend with her," the "shelach," the sword, was needed to exact from them. But then "hagah," "hagah" is an expression of speech, says the Malbim, yes? From the word "hegeh," from the word "lahagot." At one point the Malbim says that "hagah" is an expression intermediate between speech and thought. This is why we express ourselves saying "he conceived (hagah) an idea." What is "hagah"? From what language is it? It is not actual speech, it is not actual thought, but rather in between, yes, "lahagot," also from the word "to meditate (lahagot) in Torah," yes? So he says "hagah beruchо," the Holy One, blessed be He, with His harsh wind on the day of the east wind, the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were meditated and spoke with His wind that which appears in the following pasuk.
I would like to bring an additional explanation of the Malbim, and the Malbim, before he brings this explanation, says as follows: were I not afraid to introduce new roots, I would explain it differently. What is the interpretation I would give? That the word "besasseah" is a new root. A root that comes from the word "sas." "Sas" with a samech-samech, the doubling of the samech comes to express a kind of moth. There is a moth called "sas." As it is written "like wool the sas shall eat them." This is the root samech-samech. A consuming moth. So now, what is "sasseah"? As if the aleph here is superfluous, so as if it is written "sasseah." So just as there is "dag" (a fish), and the whole species is called "dagah," so there is "sas" which is a moth, and the whole species is called "sasseah." So according to this the pasuk says, "besasseah beshalchah teerivennah." "Besasseah" means the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were sends among them a moth. Where? "Uveshalchah." This is the field, the field of grain. "Your shoots are a garden of pomegranates." The irrigated field, as we explained. And the Holy One, blessed be He, sends among them, as it were, this worm, this moth, He sends it among the nations. Where? In their fields. The Holy One, blessed be He, sends upon them a moth to consume their fields. "Beshalchah teerivennah." "Hagah beruchо hakashah." "Hagah" is from the word for removal, according to this explanation of the Malbim. Like "remove the dross from silver." The meaning is to remove, to take out. "Hagah beruchо hakashah." "Hakashah" here means "hakash," the stubble and the straw. The "kash." The Holy One, blessed be He, as it were removed the stubble and straw, yes? So what, what does he actually wish to say here in the parable? That the Holy One, blessed be He, struck Yisrael a blow, and it is not a cruel blow like the blow that befell the nations of the world. For with the nations, as we explained earlier, the blow was unto complete destruction. Now what is the parable he gives? He says: behold, see, the people of Yisrael we compared to a vineyard. As we mentioned in the pasuk "like a vineyard," "on that day a vineyard of wine, sing to her." The people of Yisrael are like a vineyard. And this vineyard, even though its vines were cut down, we saw "those coming shall cause Yaakov to take root." Still the root remains in existence. So what was cut is from above, but the roots still exist, this vineyard will return and blossom, this vineyard will bring forth a bud, will bring forth grapes, wine, abundant mixed wine. But the nations, this is what he now brings in the parable, this is "besasseah beshalchah teerivennah." The nations resemble the irrigated grain field that rot consumes. After rot consumes the grain, will something grow? No. It is not a tree. A tree, even if you cut it down from the trunk, the roots are inside, a new tree will emerge. But the nations, in contrast, are compared to the moth that consumes the grain, that after the grain was consumed by moth and rot, nothing will ever grow from it again. So the stubble too, as it were, the stubble is the stalk, it too disintegrated. And this is what he says, "hagah beruchо hakashah." The Holy One, blessed be He, removed with His wind even the stubble. "Hakashah" means her stubble. "Hagah beruchо hakashah." And about this he said, "like the striking of the one who struck him, did He strike him?" Behold, see, did the Holy One, blessed be He, strike the people of Yisrael like the blow He struck those who struck them? Those who struck them, the nations, the Holy One, blessed be He, struck with a blow of destruction. In contrast the people of Yisrael, "you Yisrael were not destroyed," as the prophet says. The people of Yisrael still remain in existence. They are not in a state where He uprooted them from the stubble, but the root still exists.
Therefore "בָּזֹאת יְכֻפַּר עֲוֹן יַעֲקֹב וְזֶה כָּל פְּרִי הָסִר חַטָּאתוֹ בְּשׂוּמוֹ כָּל אַבְנֵי מִזְבֵּחַ כְּאַבְנֵי גִר מְנֻפָּצוֹת לֹא יָקֻמוּ אֲשֵׁרִים וְחַמָּנִים" - "Therefore by this the sin of Yaakov will be atoned, and this is all the fruit of removing his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altar like crushed chalkstones, no asherim or sun-images shall stand." Therefore, by this the sin of Yaakov will be atoned. All the storm, everything we explained, all the anger that was against them, was not in order to destroy them, as with the nations, as we explained the field of grain, but in the field of the vineyard, it was in order to correct them. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, this is in order to atone their sin. "By this the sin of Yaakov will be atoned." Through this they will return from their sins. That very harsh wind that the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were brought upon them, that very storm and tempest, that wind as it were says, "by this the sin of Yaakov will be atoned." Through this harsh wind, through this their sins and transgressions will be atoned. And what is the repetition? "The sin (avon) of Yaakov," this is the sins they did intentionally. And this too was of benefit, "and this is all the fruit of removing his sin (chatato)." "The fruit" means the result, the fruit of the matter, what grew from the matter, what came out of the matter? "Removing his sin." That the sin (chet) too be removed. What is "chet"? "Chet" is unintentional sin. And now, if we pay attention, says the Malbim, there is a difference between "to atone" and "to remove." What does "to atone" (lechaper) mean in Lashon HaKodesh? "To atone" in Lashon HaKodesh is covering. The "kaporet" was the cover that was above the Aron. So "by this the sin of Yaakov will be atoned." The "avon," which is the great sin, will not be removed entirely, but will be atoned, covered. There will be a covering over it, that sin will not be seen. And on the other hand, the "chatat" of the people of Yisrael, which are the unintentional sins, they will be removed entirely. And with this "He removed his sin, all the fruit of removing his sin." Through what? "When he makes all the stones of the altar like crushed chalkstones." Those very altar stones they set up for idol worship will become like crushed chalkstones. Through this the asherim, the sun-images will be nullified, "no asherim or sun-images shall stand." The purpose of the punishment is in order to crush the altar stones they made for idol worship, to nullify the asherim and sun-images, that they be like crushed chalkstones. Through this their sin will be atoned. So it emerges then that there are two differences between the blows of the people of Yisrael and the blows of the nations. The blows of the nations destroy, the blows of the people of Yisrael chastise, but do not destroy. The blows of the nations are not for a beneficial purpose, since there will be no benefit in it, but rather to take vengeance on them. In contrast, the blows of the people of Yisrael are so that the sin of Yaakov be atoned. So that through this their sin be atoned, through this they will repent, and then the Holy One, blessed be He, will return and redeem them and restore their days as of old.
"כִּי עִיר בְּצוּרָה בָּדָד נָוֶה מְשֻׁלָּח וְנֶעֱזָב כַּמִּדְבָּר שָׁם יִרְעֶה עֵגֶל וְשָׁם יִרְבָּץ וְכִלָּה סְעִפֶיהָ" - "For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation forsaken and abandoned like the wilderness; there a calf shall graze, and there it shall lie down and consume its branches." He now returns to what he told us in pasuk 7, "like the striking of the one who struck him, did He strike him?" What difference is there between the blows the nations received and the blows the people of Yisrael receive? He says, come and see, the blows with which the Holy One, blessed be He, struck the idolaters, He struck them cruelly, to the point of leaving them no remnant. Behold, see, with the nations, "for the fortified city," a city that was fortified, exceedingly strong, now became "solitary." "Solitary" means a city that was struck, sits solitary, it has no helpers, no supporters. And not only that, but also "a habitation." "A habitation" is the pleasant gardens, the orchards, "forsaken." Those orchards will be forsaken. "Meshulach" has two meanings. Both that the branches are sent out in every direction, what does this show? There is no one to tend them, no one to trim, no one to prune. On the other hand, "meshulach" also relates to the matter of being ownerless. "Forsaken," anyone who wishes can enter those gardens, those orchards. So the fortified city became solitary, no one enters there, a desolate city. The habitation became forsaken and abandoned like the wilderness. What does this cause? "There a calf shall graze." So consequently everyone enters those forsaken places, those magnificent places, gardens and orchards, became a place where calves graze. "And there it shall lie down." What is the addition of "and there it shall lie down"? Says the Malbim, "shall graze" is on an occasional basis. "Shall lie down" is already on a permanent basis, it lies there. So the calf, since this downfall will last a long time, this situation will last a long time, so the calf will lie down there. "And consume its branches." That is to say, not only will it lie down permanently, but also its branches, all its branches will be food for that calf, and consequently nothing will remain of them.
"בִּיבֹשׁ קְצִירָהּ תִּשָּׁבַרְנָה נָשִׁים בָּאוֹת מְאִירוֹת אוֹתָהּ כִּי לֹא עַם בִּינוֹת הוּא עַל כֵּן לֹא יְרַחֲמֶנּוּ עֹשֵׂהוּ וְיֹצְרוֹ לֹא יְחֻנֶּנּוּ" - "When its harvest is dry they shall be broken off; women shall come and set them alight, for it is a people without understanding; therefore its Maker will not have mercy on it, and its Fashioner will not show it favor." He continues and says, come and see the difference between the people of Yisrael and the nations. The Holy One, blessed be He, when He struck the nations, as we saw in pasuk 10, "a fortified city solitary, a habitation forsaken," he continues to describe and says, "when its harvest is dry they shall be broken off." The parable is, as we say, comparing them to certain gardens and orchards. So these gardens and orchards, we said, will become a place for a calf to graze, it will lie down, consume its branches. What will happen afterward? Their branches will dry up. And all this is a parable for the nations. Why? There is no one who watches over them to water them, so consequently their branches will dry up on their own. On their own "they shall be broken off." "Women shall come and set them alight." What is "women shall come and set them alight"? Women will come to gather the branches in order to light up their homes with them. To use them as fuel, to place in the oven. "Women shall come and set them alight," using them for the sake of light. The Malbim explains an additional interpretation, "me'irot" also means gathering. As it is written "I have gathered (ariti) my myrrh with my spice." There too "ariti" is from the word, yes, to gather. So "women shall come, me'irot otah," the meaning is gathering the broken branches from those, from those trees as it were, from that habitation of the nations. So the Malbim says that this actually comes to show the purpose, the severity of the destruction that will be, to the point that the branches dry up, everything turns to being dry. That is to say, even in the root no vitality will remain. Nothing will remain of the nations, to the point that there will already be nothing to do with those special orchards, but only to use them for fuel, for the sake of light.
And now, if you were to come and ask, what is the difference? Why does the Holy One, blessed be He, strike the nations a blow unto complete destruction, while the people of Yisrael the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts from them little by little only in order to bring them to repentance, but does not destroy them entirely? The answer, the prophet says about this, is because there is no point in reproving the nations so that they should repent. There is no one to speak with. This is what he says, "for it is a people without understanding." Were it a people of understanding, then there would be a point in chastising them so that they should repent and mend their ways. But since it is not a people of understanding, the Holy One, blessed be He, knows that repentance will not avail them, and consequently there is no point in leaving them root or branch. So therefore, what is the result? It is to destroy them entirely. And the definition here, "not a people of understanding," says the Malbim, recalls the pasuk "and his heart will understand and repent." That is to say, when the heart understands, then what? Then there is repentance, they return in teshuvah. But they are not a people of understanding, the heart does not understand, so there is no "and repent." So consequently there is no point in leaving anything of them. "Therefore its Maker will not have mercy on it, and its Fashioner will not show it favor." They have no remedy. What, what is the repetition, "its Maker will not have mercy on it," on the one hand, "and its Fashioner will not show it favor"? Says the Malbim, there is a difference between mercy and favor. "Its Maker will have mercy on it" and "will show it favor." There is a difference between favor and mercy. A person who has mercy, this is because it is hard for him, his mercy is stirred, it is hard for him to see the thing, how this thing is being destroyed, how this thing is passing away, how the thing is being broken. It is hard for him. Or he has pangs of conscience when he sees a hard thing. In contrast, one who shows favor (chonen), this is not because it is hard for me, but because you have found favor in my eyes. What is called a free gift. "Chonen." Now there is also a difference between "its Maker" (osehu) and "its Fashioner" (yotzro). Says the Malbim, what is the difference? "Maker" is one who works with the material alone. This is called "maker." In contrast "fashioner" is one who already forms a shape. That is to say, if I now take, for example, clay powder, put water into it, begin to knead. I am now called a "maker." The moment I form a shape, I am called a "fashioner." That is to say, dealing with the material itself is called making, transforming the material from physical matter into a form, which already gave it a higher level, it is already a thing with a form, not just raw material, this is called fashioner. So he says, "therefore its Maker will not have mercy on it." What is the meaning of this? The very fact that the bodies function. The gentile, this is a body. The very fact that the body functions, this is already a reason to have mercy, that His mercy would be stirred over the fact that its body functions. "Therefore its Maker will not have mercy on it." The Holy One, blessed be He, will not have mercy on the functioning body. "And its Fashioner will not show it favor." But there is the Holy One, blessed be He, who fashioned here the spiritual part, Hashem fashions its soul, a gentile has a soul. The Holy One, blessed be He, fashions its soul, so seemingly this should find favor in Hashem's eyes, from the aspect that it is a portion of God from above. So it would have been fitting to grant it favor. He says, even so, "and its Fashioner," the One who fashioned the spiritual part, will not show it favor, it will not merit favor from Hashem, blessed be He.
"וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יַחְבֹּט השם מִשִּׁבֹּלֶת הַנָּהָר עַד נַחַל מִצְרָיִם וְאַתֶּם תְּלֻקְּטוּ לְאַחַד אֶחָד בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל" - "And it shall be on that day that Hashem will beat out from the stream of the River unto the Wadi of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O children of Yisrael." "And it shall be on that day that Hashem will beat out from the stream of the River." What is "on that day"? How did the chapter begin? "On that day Hashem will visit, with His sword the harsh and great and mighty, upon Leviathan the fleeing serpent and upon Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea." That was "on that day." That day, the very day of the redemption for which we long, when the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact from the nations. And afterward he said what song they will sing on that day, "on that day a vineyard of wine, sing to her, I Hashem watch over her, at every moment," and so on. Now he returns to what he opened with. The Holy One, blessed be He, will beat out from the stream of the River unto the Wadi of Egypt. What does one beat out? The grain, right? One beats out the grain. And what actually is the purpose of beating out the grain? In order to remove the chaff from the kernels, from the ear, from the wheat. So now he comes and says, the idolaters among whom the people of Yisrael are found, they will undergo beatings. What is the purpose of the beating? In order to remove the people of Yisrael from among them. For the people of Yisrael are in the aspect of the grain, the kernel of the seed that is within the stubble. And the nations here are in the aspect of the chaff, yes, the husks. And when Hashem wishes to gather in the dispersed of Yisrael, He must first separate them. And then the Holy One, blessed be He, will beat out. Hashem will beat out, from where? "From the stream of the River unto the Wadi of Egypt." The Malbim says, why is it not written "yadush" (he will thresh)? Why is "yachbot" (he will beat out) written? To thresh, says the Malbim, is when one threshes much at once. This is called threshing. In contrast, one who beats out, beats out a little. If someone does not now want to make a whole threshing floor, he has a little wheat that he wants to separate from it, then he beats it out. Give me an example. Come. An example from Tanach. "And she beat out what she had gathered." Right? Who is this? Rut. Right? There, "and she beat out." What, did she go and make a threshing floor? No, she gathered a little. "And she beat out." What is to beat out? Says the Malbim, it is with a stick that one beats out. One who has a little, he beats out with a stick. But one who does not, threshes with oxen and with donkeys, which is a much larger operation. So when Hashem will wish to gather in the dispersed of Yisrael, then he says "yachbot." Why? Because the ingathering will be little by little. Not in one moment will all the people of Yisrael enter here, but it will be little by little. And therefore he says "on that day Hashem will beat out." From where? "From the stream of the River unto the Wadi of Egypt." The Holy One, blessed be He, will gather them from their places of exile. "From the stream of the River," where they were exiled, that is the provinces of Ashur, "unto the Wadi of Egypt," where the people of Yisrael are in the land of Sevan, as we will see in the following pasuk. And the Holy One, blessed be He, will gather them, "and you shall be gathered one by one, O children of Yisrael." What, what is the meaning of "and you shall be gathered one by one"? Says the Malbim, when one beats out the grain, what have we actually obtained? After we have beaten it out, what have we obtained? We have obtained kernels and we have obtained chaff. Right? They are still mixed together. The kernels and the chaff, the husks, are still mixed together. Afterward, the next stage, what does "mixed" mean? At the beginning they were attached. At the stage after we beat them out, they are already separated, but mixed. We need, at the subsequent stage, to winnow them, right? That is how they used to winnow. They take, winnow with a shovel into the air, the wind would scatter the chaff, and the kernels would fall down. That is the second stage. Now, since here we are not speaking of such large quantities, there is no winnowing by wind. So how does one do it in order to separate? One gathers one by one, like a person picking through rice. One must gather one by one. And therefore the Malbim says, this is the second stage. "And you shall be gathered one by one, O children of Yisrael." After the people of Yisrael, as it were, are separated from the idolaters, they will still need to gather them, one from a city and two from a family. In order to gather them one by one, "you shall be gathered one by one." Each family will be gathered and assembled, each man to his brother.
And then, at the third stage, "וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִתָּקַע בְּשׁוֹפָר גָּדוֹל וּבָאוּ הָאֹבְדִים בְּאֶרֶץ אַשּׁוּר וְהַנִּדָּחִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַשם בְּהַר הַקֹּדֶשׁ בִּירוּשָׁלִָם" - "And it shall be on that day that a great shofar shall be blown, and those lost in the land of Ashur and those cast out in the land of Egypt shall come, and they shall bow down to Hashem on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim." "On that day a great shofar shall be blown." Says the Radak, do not wait for the blowing of the shofar, for "a great shofar shall be blown" is actually a kind of parable. Thus they will gather, as if a great shofar had been blown. That is to say, you will suddenly see everyone assembling, as if someone blew a shofar and everyone heard the blowing of the shofar throughout the entire world and began to assemble, one from a city and two from a family. "On that day a great shofar shall be blown." Whoever knows, the first waves of immigration that occurred here in the period of the establishment of the state, it was truly like this. As if someone blew a shofar and they began to arrive, from Iraq, from Yemen, from Tunis, from Morocco, from Poland, from... as if someone blew a shofar and they began to gather and assemble. "Those lost shall come," those who were exiled by the king of Ashur, "and those lost in the land of Ashur shall come," those who have not yet returned today. "And those cast out in the land of Egypt," after this the remnant of the people of Yisrael, from the kingdom of Yehudah, will come. "The cast out," this actually is not necessarily afterward, but "those cast out in the land of Egypt" refers to those whose places of dwelling we know, but they are cast out there. "Those cast out in the land of Egypt." "And they shall bow down to Hashem on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim." They will bow down to Hashem, they will come to bow down to Hashem on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim. The holy mountain means Har HaMoriah, this is the place of the Mikdash. And may Hashem help us that the ingathering of this exile be speedily in our days, Amen.