Therefore, so says Hashem Elokim: Behold, I lay in Tzion a stone. A tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a founded foundation, one who believes shall not make haste. The Malbim offers an introduction, saying that this prophecy continues until chapter 29, and its content tells us about what is destined to happen. He tells us that King Chizkiyahu will rebel against the kingdom of Ashur, and that the trust you place in Egypt will ultimately not stand. Ashur will eventually arrive here, but in the end it will fall. According to this, he essentially comes to deliver words of rebuke, and later he will describe the troubles that will befall them through the king of Ashur, and afterward he will describe the downfall of the king of Ashur at the end of the matter. He now describes, in figurative language, the situation the prophet speaks of concerning Yehudah, that as it were the house of Yehudah is now destroyed and ruined, and the Holy One says: I will rebuild the house of Yehudah anew. Therefore at the beginning Hashem says: Behold, I lay in Tzion a stone. First I will place a tested foundation stone upon which the house will be built. Who is this stone, who is this foundation? This is King Chizkiyahu. A tested stone. The Malbim says that this stone has three virtues. First, in terms of the material of the stone, it will be a tested stone. A tested stone means a strong stone, one that has been examined and tested as a good stone. It is not made of chalk and sand. It is a tested stone, strong. Second, in terms of its value, it will be a precious stone, and this is the continuation: a precious cornerstone. A stone that will be a precious corner, a precious stone like a sapphire, so that it will be a precious corner, the special stone. The chief stone for the head of the corner. And third, this is a stone whose purpose will be great and mighty, for it will be a founded foundation stone. Meaning, it will be the foundation of all foundations. A foundation upon which all the foundations will be placed, that holds up the entire building. What is the analogue? He wishes to tell them: this king in himself will be examined and tested, and will be considered a perfect tzaddik, righteous in his desires, pure in his thoughts. Also in terms of his lineage, for he will be the head of the corner from the seed of the house of David, the essential ones, this is a precious corner. And also that he will be the foundation of foundations, he will don counsel and might and begin to save the people of Israel. From him the salvation will come, he will be the foundation of all the salvations that will come afterward. But he adds and says: do not think this will happen immediately. Do not sit here with a watch and say, well, tomorrow it will already come. One who believes shall not make haste. One who believes in this matter will not rush and hurry. It will not be immediate. Many troubles will pass before this comes about.
And I will set justice as a line and righteousness as a plummet, and hail shall sweep away the refuge of falsehood, and waters shall flood the hiding place. After he described the foundation of the building, he now begins to describe the building itself. The Malbim says: the way of builders, after they set the cornerstone, is to measure from that stone to the right and left, in order to know what the length of the building will be and what its width will be. This is a tool to measure its length and width. In the second stage, after we begin to build the wall to a height, we then want to verify that we are indeed building the wall straight. This must be checked by means of a line. The line is a weight attached to the end of a cord that is stretched, placed at the edge of the wall, and then one sees how the weight descends, I believe this is called a plumb line, a builders' level. One sees how it descends, always in a straight line, and by this one can know whether the wall is built straight. Accordingly he says: And I will set justice as a line. The justice that will be between man and his fellow, this will be the line of the length and width of the building. As it were, according to the justice they carry out between man and his fellow, the Holy One says, based on this I will decide how to build the house of Yehudah in length and width. What will be the measure for this? I will look at the judgments they carry out in matters between man and his fellow. And righteousness as a plummet. Righteousness is the good deeds between man and God, this will be the plummet. Based on this, the Holy One says, as it were one will be able to decide what the height of the building will be. The meaning is: righteousness is in matters between man and God, and through it there will be spiritual permanence, wondrous providence. In contrast, justice, which is an earthly matter, will be the line. The line, as we explained, is length and width, meaning more of a physical existence. So one needs the interpersonal for the physical existence of the house of Yehudah, and one needs the between man and God, which will be like the plummet with which one checks the height, this symbolizes the wondrous providence we will merit as it were from heaven to a height, this symbolizes the height, the spiritual matters. And since you are now already building a fortress that will have strength from your own power, from justice, from the righteousness you will do, then you no longer have any need to rely on Ashur. It is now entirely superfluous. Consequently, hail shall sweep away the refuge of falsehood, and waters shall flood the hiding place. Hashem says: I will sweep. To sweep is like to broom away. Hashem says: I will sweep away, you will be able to sweep away by means of hail the one who was a refuge of falsehood, Ashur and Egypt. The hail will as it were break them. But when hail breaks something, it still leaves the thing in its place, the broken tree is still here. He wishes to express that he will not be here at all, he will move away entirely, therefore he says: waters shall flood the hiding place. Afterward the waters will come, that very hiding place upon which you relied, the waters will flood. That very hiding place, the waters will flood it. The waters will come and flood it and remove it from here entirely, meaning no trace of it will remain.
And through this: And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, you shall be trampled by it. Through this the prophet tells them: consequently the covenant you had with Ashur and Egypt will be annulled. "Annulled" (kofer), the Malbim says, is a term of nullification, like atoning for sin, meaning to nullify the sin. And your covenant with death shall be annulled. And then through this, when the overflowing scourge passes through, you shall be trampled by it. You shall become a trampling for the camp of Ashur that will pass through the land of Yehudah. But he still does not say that we will fall into his hand, for although he will arrive here, in the end Hashem will save us from him. As often as it passes it shall take you, for morning by morning it shall pass, by day and by night, and it shall be sheer terror to understand the report. As often as it passes it shall take you, meaning every time it passes it will take you. When he conquered the nations dwelling in Syria, each time he would come to the land of Yehudah, for the land of Yehudah lies at the navel of the earth. Do not think he will not pass through here constantly, for he tells them: every morning he will pass, and linger with you by day and by night. And it shall be sheer terror. He says: know this, that what I bring upon you, the king of Ashur, do not fear that he will exile us as he exiled the ten tribes. He says: no, this was only sheer terror to understand the report. The purpose in bringing him here is to terrify you, to shake you. And the goal is really to understand the report, so that you understand the report you heard from Hashem, which is essentially the prophecies meant to bring them to repentance, to correct their deeds. The goal is only sheer terror to understand the report. The goal is only that your heart tremble and that you understand the report I delivered by the hand of the prophets, to shake you.
For the bed is too short to stretch out, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself. Rashi explains: the bed is too short to stretch out, I will bring upon you an enemy who will press you, so that you will not be able to meet his demands, like the bed that is too short for the man stretching out upon it, a mattress that is smaller than the dimensions of the person lying on it. That is, there will be someone here who will greatly distress you. And the covering shall be too narrow to wrap oneself. Chazal expound this on the image that Menasheh brought into the Heichal. The bed is too short, the Holy One says, for two companions to lord over it. As it were, the Beit HaMikdash is a place where it is too narrow for Me, too narrow for Me to be there with another companion, meaning together with idolatry. The Malbim explains: for the bed is too short to stretch out. He describes to them here the downfall of Ashur. Like a person who brings a guest into his home, he sets up and arranges a bed for him. He lays him in a bed whose mattress is short. This is the bed too short to stretch out. And the covering, the Malbim explains, refers to the blanket that is over him, the covering too narrow to wrap oneself. Meaning, if he wants to stretch out his hands and feet, he cannot, the bed is too short, the mattress is short. He cannot lay out his feet. If he wants to draw his feet into his body, then what happens is that now he becomes more concentrated, so the body as it were becomes more bulky, and then he needs a longer blanket. He does not have enough blanket. The covering, meaning like the blanket, is too narrow to wrap oneself. "Covering" is a term of covering. Too narrow to wrap oneself, there is nothing to cover him from above. This is a parable. What is the analogue? For like Mount Peratzim Hashem will rise up, like the valley of Givon He will be angered, to do His deed, strange is His deed, and to perform His labor, foreign is His labor. The Malbim explains: Hashem will bring judgments upon the enemy, and these judgments will be from above and from below. From below, this is the aspect we mentioned, the bed is too short to stretch out. The ground will rage beneath him, there will be a quake, an earthquake. As happened at Mount Peratzim, as it was there in the time of David, when the mountain was breached because the earth quaked, the mountain split and moved from its place. The bed is too short to stretch out, they will not be able to flee. Why? Because the bed, the ground upon which he would flee, will all be valleys and breaches. This is the bed too short to stretch out, for like Mount Peratzim Hashem will rise up. Everything will be like a mountain with breaches and valleys, one will not be able to run upon it. We said the covering will be too narrow to wrap oneself. What will they say? Well then, we will not flee since it is impossible, since there are breaches, so we will position ourselves in place, we will stand crowded together. He says: this will not help you. Like the valley of Givon He will be angered. What happened at Givon? Hailstones and fire came down from heaven. There you will not have a covering under which you can shelter. You will not have a blanket, some aerial umbrella that can protect you, for then from heaven hailstones will rain down upon you. To do His deed, the Malbim explains that the statements are parallel, the clauses of the verse are parallel. For like Mount Peratzim He will rise up to do His deed. His deed will be strange, something not customary. The Malbim says: even though an earthquake is generally a customary thing, in any case here it will be strange, this will be the unusual thing. Like the valley of Givon He will be angered, to perform His labor which is foreign, foreign is His labor. The raining of fire from heaven, the Malbim says, is an unnatural thing. It is a foreign thing, and therefore he calls it labor, because it is as it were a difficult thing, and it does not occur in reality, it is foreign. But he says: nevertheless, so will Hashem do to the nations. The Malbim explains that "strange" means something odd and set apart, like withdrawing (l'hazir) oneself from wine. The Israelite is a stranger to eating...
...holy foods, he is set apart from it. The commoner is a stranger to the use of the anointing oil, he is set apart from it. "Foreign" means something that comes from another place, from another land. What is the difference between a deed and a labor? The Malbim says: labor is always a deed that involves toil, effort, exertion. With the Holy One there is no exertion, so how can we speak of something involving toil and exertion? The Malbim explains: something that is unusual for the Holy One is called a strange deed. Something that departs from the way of nature is called foreign labor. A deed is something not difficult. Strange, we said, is something not customary. In contrast, labor as it were with the Holy One is difficult, and it is not just labor but foreign labor, meaning something not from here at all. What does this mean? Whenever something happens we can speak of cause and effect. Why is there rain? Because there are clouds. Why are there clouds? There is evaporation of water. There is cause and effect. In contrast, a foreign thing is something that does not depend on cause and effect. What cause and effect could there suddenly be for hailstones to fall from heaven upon the enemy? This is called the first aspect of labor, that it is as it were a difficult thing that Hashem does not do except in very special situations. Second, it is called foreign, because it is something that does not occur constantly and is not connected to cause and effect.
And now, do not scoff, lest your bonds be strengthened, for I have heard destruction decreed from Hashem Elokim Tzevakot upon all the earth. And now do not scoff, Rashi explains, do not say we have made a covenant with death, lest you have harsher afflictions. The Malbim says: you men of scorn, those who mock the words of prophecy, those who do not accept the truth I deliver by the hand of the prophets, beware. I have heard that Hashem is bringing destruction, and this destruction will be decreed by Hashem, and therefore beware, for it is destruction and decreed, and there is a decree here from Hashem.
Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech. Now he will come and speak with them about correction, about afflictions. Lest your bonds be strengthened. The Malbim says: now the prophet will open with a parable from his mouth, to express his view of how the afflictions that come upon the nation as a whole or upon an individual person specifically are necessary in the nature of creation. One cannot reach perfection without afflictions. Whether afflictions that come upon the community, or afflictions that come upon the individual. Afflictions are essentially a means that leads the community to its purpose, to human perfection, and also the individual, the private person. Each person according to his deeds is led to true happiness. The Malbim says: this parable now divides into two parts. The first part is verses 24 to 26, which speaks about the general afflictions of the entire nation. The second part is from 27 to 29, which speaks about the afflictions that come upon special individuals, upon private persons, for some private matter in order to rebuke that person personally.
Regarding the first part that comes upon the entire nation, he says: give ear to my voice. Regarding the second part that comes to private individuals, he says: listen to my speech. Why? Because let us speak a private matter to private persons. What is the difference? The Malbim says: there is a difference between "my voice" and "my speech." A voice is a simple sound. Ah, that is a voice. A saying is already something more complex, composed of several syllables. So the voice is really the parable, my speech is the solution to the parable. The voice is something unclear, it is the sounding of a voice. Afterward one needs the saying, which is the solution of the voice, an explanation of the voice. Therefore he says: give ear to my voice, listen to my speech. Listening is always something less than giving ear. And so, regarding my voice he said give ear, this requires strong attention, because it is only a voice, it is the parable, you must try to decipher it, you need strong attention. In contrast, my speech, which is already the explanation, listening suffices, because it is already the explanation, no strong attention is needed here. As it is written: hear my voice, give ear to my speech. The Malbim says: giving ear is less than hearing. So if we want to arrange them: there is hearing, this is the strongest. Less than that is giving ear, and less than that is listening. So take note of what is written here: give ear and hear my voice. Give ear and hear. First give ear, which is the lesser attention, afterward hear. First a person listens, hears something, listen and hear. He doubles it twice. Give ear and hear, listen and hear. Because both give ear and listen are less than hear. So therefore first give ear, at first I take it in, afterward I begin to delve deeper, begin to contemplate. Likewise I listen, afterward I begin to contemplate, to delve deeper, I hear. I already hear here and begin to understand the matters. So therefore it is always give ear and hear, listen and hear, for hearing always comes after giving ear or after listening, which is deeper contemplation.
Does the plowman plow all day to sow, opening and harrowing his ground? Now he begins to speak about the afflictions that come upon the entire nation. And he explains to us: know that these afflictions are necessary from the nature of creation. Just as with all kinds of men necessarily, when a person is born he undergoes afflictions. The very fact that he grows, the teeth that grow in him, how many times they took him to the doctor, how many times he had a fever, how many times he suffered. All of this is by providence, so that you should know: this world is not a world of experiences. It is not a world of pleasures. You see that people suffer here. This means there is another purpose, much higher. Therefore this world is built in such a way that a person will necessarily reach this conclusion. So the Chovot HaLevavot explains: one who contemplates will see how much suffering there is in the world, and will reach the conclusion, we were not created for this world. For in this world you see there is much suffering. And likewise he says: know that it was necessary to bring much suffering upon the entire Israelite nation, for Hashem chose them, and the afflictions and the sicknesses were like a crucible in which gold is refined, to remove from them the filth and the impurity that was in them beforehand. The people of Israel had their impurity removed. How? Through the afflictions they endured in the 86 years of harsh afflictions in Egypt, and through the giving of the Torah their impurity was removed. For through this the powers of the intellect and the powers of the soul were strengthened. This is the purpose of the Egyptian exile. As a parable for this the prophet says: I will give you a parable from the matter of plowing. Does the plowman plow all day to sow, opening and harrowing his ground?
It is known that the soul of a person is as it were compared to a field. Just as a field grows plants, it has within it the potential power to grow and produce seed and fruit and produce, if it is worked. If you invest, the field will grow. So too the soul of a person. If you invest in the soul, teach it the ways of wisdom, teach it ethics, the soul will flourish and grow wondrous things. But if you do not invest in the soul, if you neglect the soul, you will see that this soul will grow monsters, terrible things. Why? Because you did not invest in it. And now he moves also to the parable from which we will see the analogue. And the parable he says: the work of the land divides into two parts. There is plowing and there is sowing. So too in the work of the soul, as we will see further on.
The plowing itself, take note, divides into three matters. It is written here: the plowman plows, opens and harrows his ground. Plowing, opening, harrowing. What is the difference? First you come to the field, the field is full of thorns. It must be plowed. As it is written: break up your fallow ground and do not sow among thorns. "Fallow ground" (nir) refers to plowing. Do plowing so as not to sow among thorns. The first action, the plowman plows with the aim of sowing. After that, where does he place the seed? He must open a hole in the ground. This is what is said: opens. Afterward, in order to have a field and I must now cover the seed and make the ground more loose, one must harrow his ground. So too with the plowing of the soul. A wild donkey a man is born. And the soul in itself has within it many evil forces, which must be plowed. Those thorns and thistles that a person has from his childhood, from his youth, these are the desires and all the matters of physicality and all the matters of evil thoughts that a person has, all this comes to him from his childhood days. All this must first be removed. These are the thorns that must be removed from the ground so that one can sow in it. So too must one remove from the soul the thorns so that one can sow in it the seeds of wisdom. Afterward one must develop the powers of the soul. This is what is called "opens." Through good character traits, through the study of ethics, so that when he learns wisdom, the wisdom will be received properly. For if a person learns without ethics, without fear, then as it was told to him there, better for him that he had not been created. If there is no fear of heaven, if there is no measure of clay-earth, better for him that he had not been created. Third, one must crush the clods, the places that are like rock and flint where one cannot sow. How does he crush this? This is through the afflictions that come. The afflictions as it were crush the clods, they suppress the forces of matter, the desires, the matters of physicality. For a person may have wisdom and may have fear, yet still be drawn after his pleasures. So just as one who plows the ground, the plowing is only a preparation to reach the purpose which is the sowing, so we will ask: one who wishes to plow his ground in order to sow, does he plow without end? Certainly not. For since the aim is to sow, then certainly I will plow within a certain limit so that I can continue and sow. And this is what he says: does the plowman plow all day to sow? When the aim is to sow, does one plow all day? Is this conceivable? So too he says: the afflictions, as we explained, are the removal of the thorns, the plowing of the ground, the harrowing of the clods. He says: do you think this will be forever? These afflictions, is it something whereby forever and ever the people of Israel will be in exile and the people of Israel will suffer? No. The aim is to bring the people to repentance. And if the people of Israel repent and improve their deeds, through this the plowing will cease. Through this the removal of the thorns, through this the harrowing of the ground will cease. For the entire aim is so that one can sow. So does the plowman plow all day in order to sow and open and harrow his ground? Certainly not. So if so, so too you must know that your afflictions are not permanent afflictions, but in the end Hashem will cease those afflictions when they achieve their goal.
Is it not that when he has leveled its surface, he scatters black cumin and casts cumin, and places wheat in rows and barley in its appointed place and spelt at its border? Indeed, when he has leveled its surface, the aim is to level the surface of the ground and then to begin the sowing. And he scatters black cumin, now he describes the sowing. The sowing depends on the various kinds. The black cumin is by scattering. In contrast the cumin is by casting. And he scatters black cumin and casts cumin. And places wheat in rows. And there is also importance to the placement of the crops. The wheat, they usually place in the middle. Around it they place the barley. The spelt it was their way to sow on the border. So too he says: even though in plowing there is no difference, the whole field is plowed in the same way, in sowing you already begin to notice, there is a difference. Some of the seeds are by casting, some of the seeds by scattering, some in the center of the field, some on the sides. What is the analogue? The main purpose of afflictions, as we explained, is to awaken the person, to soften him. Just as one softens the ground so that it is fit to receive the seed, so too the afflictions come to soften a person's heart so that he will be ready to receive ethical instruction, ready to receive the words of wisdom. So the prophet says: notice that in afflictions all are equal. If there is exile, everyone suffers the same. But in contrast, what will come out of this exile? What will grow here? What conclusions did you draw? Where did it lead you? This already changes according to the nature of the kind of seed, the place in which it was sown. That is, the results of these afflictions, which is their main goal, that the person awaken to repentance, that the person awaken to the service of Hashem, here it already changes from person to person. The sowing already depends on the person himself. What do you decide to be? Are you like wheat, are you barley, are you spelt which is only at the border? But in plowing, in afflictions, all are equal. How does one receive the afflictions? What do you conclude from it? This already changes according to the preparation of those who receive. That is, one who is close to wisdom, a small hint awakens him. One who is farther, then we have already seen command upon command, line upon line, one needs again and again and another saying and another going over and another explanation. And one who is farthest, then it takes time until all this plowing even influences and works upon him.
And He instructs him for justice, his God teaches him. Now he explains the analogue. Just as the plowing is a need for the sowing, so too what Hashem instructs him for justice is so that his God teaches him. The goal has a purpose, that through this his God teaches him. Hashem shows him the correct path. Through this a person receives these ethical instructions and corrects his ways.
For black cumin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin, but black cumin is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod. Now he explains the second part of the parable. We said there are general afflictions and the general afflictions are the same for all. If there is exile, all are in exile. But there are private afflictions. Private afflictions are private suffering that comes upon a particular person or even upon the righteous. It is not suffering that everyone has. It refers either to illnesses, health problems and the like, financial problems and the like. All kinds of afflictions that are private afflictions. And now regarding this he will explain, he will give us a parable and afterward he will approach the analogue. For black cumin is not threshed with a threshing sledge. As we explained, black cumin is a kind of one of the types of crops. Now their way was to thresh the grain. The Malbim says: the threshing of the grain, for the grain itself is mixed with waste, there is chaff with it. This waste has within it two kinds of waste. There are two kinds, let us define it, mixture that is not the essential grain but is mixed in with the grain. There is the external mixture. The external mixture is the outer shell that can easily be removed. This external waste can be removed by threshing. And in contrast there is the intrinsic waste attached within the wheat itself. This cannot be removed. What must one do? One grinds it. Only after grinding does one sift it, and by sifting one succeeds in extracting it. If we want to give an example: if you take the wheat kernel, what is it on the outside? It is hard, correct? This hard part is a part that, if one wants to produce white bread, what does one do? One removes it. Now does it come out by threshing? Take an animal and let it thresh, this does not come out. What comes out is the external shell. This intrinsic shell will come out by threshing? No. What must you do? Grind it. After you grind it, then the external part is somewhat harder, and by sifting in a sieve it separates. Today they already prefer to leave it in because it is the main health of the bread, it is far superior to the wheat itself. But in any case, one who wants white bread, challot and the like, must sift it, that is, use a fine sieve to separate this part. So there are here two kinds of waste. One waste comes out easily, one waste requires only after grinding a sifting in order to succeed in extracting that waste. The Malbim says: this is a parable. There are people who have distortions, say, in their views. Now there is a situation where this distortion in views stems from imaginings. When it stems from imaginings, he says it is easy to extract it, like the external shell of the grain. You thresh it and it comes out. But sometimes it penetrates inward. That is, sometimes these distorted views entered him until they became a part of him. He, as they say today, identifies with it. If he identifies so strongly with that distortion, it becomes a part of him, he believes in it with a complete faith and... then it is very hard to extract. This is not something that threshing alone suffices for. It is not enough. You need much more, you must literally grind and crush him in order to succeed in extracting this distortion. This is the Malbim in his language: the external part that is only attached, he defines it as a neighboring attachment. And the part that becomes a part of him is an intrinsic attachment. It is already attached to his very essence. So now if we speak of the threshing as afflictions, for what do you do to the wheat? It is a kind of abuse. You take and strike it and rub it. This is afflictions. What are harsher afflictions? To grind it. Correct? These are far harsher afflictions. You literally take and turn it into dust. So this is what the Malbim says, he comes to tell us here: look. There are afflictions, each and every person according to his matter. Sometimes there are situations where few afflictions suffice for a person, because it is only like a shell on the outside. The views did not become a part of him, they are imaginings that with light afflictions, a few blows and they come out. This threshing suffices. But there are afflictions that must be much harsher, because then the people have already truly identified with those distorted views, it became a part of them. It is very hard to extract it from them. And then one needs real grinding, one needs to truly crush, to grind, only then can one extract the waste part that is attached and became a part of the wheat.
Bread grain is crushed, for he does not thresh it forever, and though he drives his cartwheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it. But if one wants to make bread, then one must also remove the shell attached to it intrinsically. Not only the external one that is easy to remove. Rather one must extract the part attached to it intrinsically, and this we explained, threshing does not suffice. What is needed? A mortar, to grind it in a mill or pound it in a mortar. And so even threshing by wheel, even this will not help to remove the inner shell. For he does not thresh it forever. The threshing removes the chaff as we explained above, and it will not help to continue threshing forever. Will it extract more shell? There is none, after the outer shell has come out, it is finished. You are left with the inner shell that no threshing will help. What must you do? As we explained, pound in a mortar or grind in a mill. He does not thresh it forever, threshing will not help him even if you continue threshing for several more years, it will not remove its intrinsic shell. And also, though he drives his cartwheel over it, even if you put it in the cartwheel and his horses, they that would pass over this wheat, it will not help, as we explained, this only removes the external shell. He says: here it will not help you, you need a mortar or a mill, and therefore he does not crush it, it will not help to crush it, to make it fine. So too a person to whom all the distortions have attached, all those odd views, all those views contrary to the Torah, became a part of him, then one does not remove it easily. Threshing will not extract it from him. For this one needs "he crushes it." "He crushes it" means like pounding it in a mortar until it is made fine. And such a person in the analogue needs harsher afflictions, that only the harsher afflictions can bring him to a change in thinking.
We once spoke, we told here about the Admor of Sanz-Klausenburg, may the memory of the righteous be a blessing, that he was in the camps with a certain person, who had been the minister of finance in the Polish government. He was a minister of finance and his name was signed on all the Polish bills. This is a person who lifted the Polish economy from nothing, there was inflation of hundreds of percent, and he lifted it from nothing, put it on the right path. And this person was a Jew. A Jew who denied his Judaism, and in his great "merits" his gentile wife, his shiksa, informed on him to the Germans, may their name and memory be erased, and they came and took him. And the one he relied upon and everything was fine and position and honor and... he says, he reached a terrible and immense crisis. They would sit and converse together, and how the Rav of Sanz-Klausenburg, who was a giant among giants, has an entire series of books Sheelot U'Teshuvot Divrei Yatziv, was an immense genius, of immense love of Torah, lost his entire family, twelve souls he lost in the Holocaust, he came to Netanya, reestablished the chassidut anew, reestablished the family, rebuilt the chassidut, built hospitals, built nursing schools, established the Shas project, what did he not do? One man. He has a series of books like the Yabia Omer. A genius, an immense genius. And he sat and spoke with him there, and each time added for him more words of encouragement and more... and he debated with him, that man there debated with him, he was a very educated man. No, it was not easy to convince him. Until finally, at a certain stage, one day he said to him: you know, I have reached the conclusion that you are right. I erred my entire path. Thus he said to him after months and after humiliations, and they ran, humiliated him especially, because he had a status, and the Germans, may their name be erased, always had some sadistic pleasure in humiliating specifically those of status, whether they were rabbis or whether they were people who had status, they specifically had an interest in humiliating them. And they abused him harshly. And at a certain stage he said to him, one night when they were on the bunk, he said to him: you know, I have reached the conclusion that you were right, I erred my entire path. The next day he returned his soul to his Maker. About this the Admor of Klausenburg said: look what this is, sometimes how much a Jewish soul must undergo. How many crushings upon crushings and grindings upon grindings, until in the end he will say Hashem is God. How much a person must undergo. This is what he tells us here. There is a situation where it is not threshed with a threshing sledge. One does not need the cartwheel, easily, a few blows with a rod, it is finished. He already extracts his shell, it is external to him, it is not a part of him. But there is a situation where it became a part of him, he identifies with it. If it is a part of him, he says the cartwheel will not help, striking him with sticks will not help, threshing him with a threshing sledge will not help, nothing will do. One must take and crush, a complete crushing, afterward sift in a sieve, and only then will you succeed in extracting what became, what is already a part of that wheat kernel.
This too comes forth from Hashem Tzevakot, who is wondrous in counsel and great in wisdom. Now he says: this too comes from Hashem who is wondrous in counsel. We see in the work of Hashem that the Holy One does the most wondrous things in the world. The Malbim says: their wonder is both from the abundance of quantity and from the abundance of quality. That is, if we contemplate the abundance of quantity, look at the reality in the world. The very existence of the world, the galaxies around it, we still do not know the end. It is clear to us that the world is finite because it is physical. But who can know where the world ends? And each time they discover more galaxies and more... we do not know and it is impossible to grasp and contain it. The Holy One created a world that is abundant in quantity beyond limit. They speak of millions of light-years when speaking of concepts of travel in space. On the other hand, when a person makes something in a very large quantity, then many times it comes at the expense of quality. But if a person examines the quality of what the Holy One created in the world, in every living cell, in the smallest thing, when one stands and contemplates the DNA within it, the complexity within it, all of them You made with wisdom, one stands astonished at the immense complexity of the smallest thing. That is, there is here on one hand a tremendous power of magnitude, and there is here on one hand immense wisdom and immense power in every smallest proton. This is what is called, what is called today both in the macro and in the micro. You can see it both in the greatness and immense power, and also when you descend into the details, what immense wisdom there is in every living cell, things that scientists have not to this day finished researching. So he says: this gives us to understand "all of them You made with wisdom." All of them You made with wisdom. How abundant are Your works, Hashem. There is much here. Ah, if there is much then usually when much is produced they are not unique things. He says: no, Hashem made much, and all of them You made with wisdom. With all this immense and vast magnitude, every single detail within it is made with wisdom. So too it is written: how great are Your works, Hashem, and about their being great, how deep are Your thoughts. In every single detail how much thought and how much investment the Holy One invested. So too here he comes and tells you: come and see that the Holy One concealed the counsel and wisdom within the reality He created, so that only one who contemplates the greatness of Hashem can discern and see the greatness of Hashem. This too comes forth from Hashem Tzevakot, wondrous in counsel and great in wisdom. Great in wisdom ("higdil tushiya") is reality itself, which is great in quantity as we explained. And "tushiya" is a term of existence (yesh). "Tushiya" means the existence that is here in the world, the Holy One made immensely great. And he tells you: beyond this, see how much He is wondrous in counsel. How much the Holy One is wondrous in counsel, that every single detail here is made with immense wisdom. And regarding this he comes to hint also, as he told us earlier about the preparation of the bread, bread grain is crushed for he does not thresh it forever. How is bread prepared? He comes and tells you: so too the Holy One desires that a person remove the chaff and the straw by the power of the soul. The meaning is, just as the Holy One created the smallest thing in perfection, a person must bring himself to a state of perfection, to a state where he will have neither the external waste nor the internal waste, neither the waste removed by threshing or by striking with a rod, nor the internal waste that requires pounding and grinding to remove it. Rather all his deeds must be in the ultimate perfection, just as the Holy One created His world with existence and with deep counsel in ultimate perfection.