Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 46. "Bel has bowed down, Nevo is crouching. Their idols are set upon beasts and cattle, the things you carry are loaded as a burden for the weary." "Bel has bowed down, Nevo is crouching." Rashi says: the gods of Bavel bowed down and collapsed. Here Rashi explains that this is one of the places where Chazal, the pesukim, mock idolatry. The Gemara says: all mockery is forbidden except mockery of idolatry. To scoff at anything is bad, except to scoff at idolatry, where scoffing has a virtue. The reason is that the Gemara says mockery is a serious thing, it is not good, it is severe, it pushes aside a hundred rebukes. Someone who scoffs makes everything light in his eyes, and then even severe forbidden relations, the Gemara says, become light in his eyes too. He has no restraint before his eyes, because everything is a joke, everything is taken lightly, and nothing troubles him. So what is the punishment of the scoffer? "Judgments are prepared for scoffers." Only when the scoffer begins to receive blows does he understand that the world is not funny, then no one is laughing. That is it. He starts to get hit, that is the only way. Because through the rational, the mind, logic, it does not work. Anything you say to him he turns into a joke. There is one thing about which it is permitted to scoff, and that is idolatry. Because the war against idolatry is so difficult that it is permitted to use even this tool called mockery. And this tool called mockery often does not work through logical means, but only by making the thing into a joke, even though it may be something true and correct, but you made a joke of it, you disgraced it, you nullified it.
This, by the way, is the reason that many, unfortunately, of those distant from Torah and mitzvot use this method to fight against everything holy. He mocks the one who keeps mitzvot, he mocks the mitzvah, he mocks holy things, and then he does not need to confront it. He does not need to confront it and explain what is wrong with it. He mocked it and that is that.
In its time, when Doctor Witztum... when Doron Witztum and Doctor Eliyahu Rips, Eliyahu Rips was a mathematician, a living person, a world renowned mathematician who also won prizes in the world. And when he heard about the research of Doctor... of Doron Witztum on the subject of the Torah codes, he has a book called 'The Added Dimension', and it is a book that was truly done in a research manner, not... not all sorts of findings that people find, because in many books you can find findings. Done through research and statistics, to prove that what is in the Torah are phenomena that could occur one in a million, one in twelve million, and other things that are really not logical unless someone planned it that way. So he, Eliyahu Rips, wanted to prove that this research was biased and that this research was not correct and that... in short, you know, in research you can shoot an arrow and afterward draw the circles around it. There is such a method in research. Instead of making an effort and researching and examining something, you set the conclusion in advance, and now you begin to bring citations for why your conclusion is correct. Sometimes on this basis medicines are also produced, and on this basis people later also die. There are such situations too, where you bend everything so that it fits your research.
So he wanted to examine this and to prove the lie behind it. When he entered serious research, as a result of it he became a baal teshuvah. He came to see the truth in the Torah, that there is Someone who encoded the entire future, all of history, Chanukah, Purim, Hitler may his name and memory be erased, Saddam Hussein, whatever you want, the whole future, the murder of Rabin, all hidden in the letter codes of the Torah. So at the time they put on a show against this matter, made the whole thing into ridicule and derision. Someone told me that he heard an interview with one of those who produced the show, who was brought on with, I believe, Doron Witztum or Rips, I do not remember which of them. He tells me that they said to him, 'What do you have to say about this... this?' He says, 'I will ask only one question. I want to ask the one who produced the show: did you read the research from beginning to end?' So he says, 'No.' So he says, 'Then what do I even have to argue with him about? A person takes something, tell me, is that serious? To take something you did not read, you do not know what it is based on, and to begin making a joke of it?' He says, 'This is really not serious, I have nothing to discuss with him. I have nothing to discuss with him. Read the research, you will have objections to it, I am willing to listen. But to come and take it and produce a show that presents the thing in a ridiculous way, that is...'
It was the way of the various maskilim, their foolish way, to take something holy and ridicule it. This is the way we steal the spear from the hand of the Egyptian. When there is a matter of impurity, we know that there is a lie there. Idolatry we know is a lie. And it is possible to prove that it is a lie. And one of the principles by which we fight against idolatry is through mockery. From where, what is the source of the Gemara? The Gemara says, from here: 'Bel has bowed down, Nevo is crouching.' What is being spoken of here? The idols, Bel is the god of Bavel, the letters of Bavel include the word Bel, because that is their god. And also Nevo. They called out and collapsed. Rashi says, it is an expression of mockery of idols. Mockery of idolatry. Like one who has intestinal illness and does not manage to sit on the toilet seat before he defecates. He did not yet manage to sit and he already burst. Yes? He already relieved himself, meaning he did his needs, with apologies to the honor of the audience. This is a mockery of idolatry. "Bel has bowed down, Nevo is crouching," he did not yet manage to sit down and already bowed down and collapsed, relieving himself.
"Their idols were," their idols are the images, yes? Their idols of silver and gold, these are their images. "Were set upon beast and cattle." To what were they compared? Like a beast and cattle. Bring an animal into the house for a few minutes, afterward you have to mop and start spraying deodorant in the house and... it stinks, it relieves itself everywhere, it has no minimum of cleanliness and hygiene. He says, so were their idols, their idolatry, like a beast and cattle who soil and dirty themselves in their filth. "The things you carry are loaded," the filth in their bowels was heavy like something loaded to weariness, and therefore Bel bowed down, therefore they bowed down with the excrement inside them. The depth of these things we will see later, what he intends to hint at with this matter of excrement, why he mentioned specifically the matter of excrement here and what he intended to hint at with it.
The Radak explains that now he returns to mock the idols. If you remember, we saw in the previous chapters how he ridicules the idol worshippers, taking a log of wood, using half of it to make steaks on it, and the other half he goes and makes into a god. How ridiculous idolatry is. So he says: look, when Bavel was captured, not only did their god fail to save them, you have Bel, you have Nevo, come, let them save you. He says: not only that, but he himself bowed down. He himself fell to the ground. Nevo himself crouches. "Kores" (crouching) is like the Malbim says, like "keres" (belly). "Keres" has a vav. "Keres" and "kores" are the same idea. They mean a person who collapses like a belly, this is called... this is the expression of the fall of "kores." So those you relied upon, those you expected to protect you, not only did they not protect you, but they themselves bowed down and collapsed.
"Their idols were set upon beast and cattle." After they collapsed and broke, you loaded them onto the animals in order to carry them along with them to Madai and Paras. And they were covered with silver and gold. What is "beast and cattle"? After all, cattle is a beast of burden. Since when is a wild beast a beast of burden? Do you carry something on a deer? On a lion? What beast of burden is there? The Radak says, an elephant. An elephant is a beast of burden. So then when it is written 'their idols were set upon beast and cattle, the things you carry,' the meaning is they carried them on their wild beasts and their cattle. The cattle that are beasts of burden, donkeys and cows and oxen, and also the wild beasts such as elephants. "The things you carry are loaded." This the Radak says, he says to them in a manner of mockery and derision. The animals were loaded with the things you carry, with your idolatry, that the animals had to carry. Loaded too heavily, it would be heavy for them from all the gold on them, until the donkey drivers and the camels would say 'a burden for the weary.' The animal is already weary from the weight of the burden. There is here, so to speak, derision: look at what state you have reached, that instead of your god protecting you, not only does he bow down and fall, but he even needs, like a cripple, someone to carry him, to load him onto the animal in order to carry him. This is the god you relied upon. This is the god you prayed to. Not only did he bow down, but an animal even needs to carry his broken pieces, to take him upon it and bow down under the weight of the burden.
The Malbim says, "Bel has bowed down" is not speaking about the idolatry itself, but speaking about the man who bows down to the idol Bel. And the man who crouches before the idol Nevo. "Bel has bowed down," the man who prostrated to Bel has bowed down. And the man who prostrated to Nevo crouches. These people, "their idols were set upon beast and cattle." The Malbim has an original interpretation here. What is "their idols" (atzabeihem)? The Malbim says, atzabeihem is a description of man, the form of man. "Your hands fashioned me (itzvuni)." This is meant from the language of shaping. Atzabeihem means the shaping of a form, the form of man. "Their forms became like beast and cattle." The form of the faces of the idol worshipping people, their shape, the shaping of their faces, became like a beast and cattle. Since you prostrate to such a base and disgusting idol, you have no form of a human being at all. You descended to the level of a beast. And even worse than a beast, for a beast does the will of its Maker. And you went and took a log of wood and made it into an idol for yourself. So their forms, they lost their human character, they lost the form of man. Therefore their forms, their shape, the shaping of their faces, became like beast and cattle, worse than the beast and cattle, after they prostrate to such base idols.
"The things you carry," he comes to them and says: look, the idols that you carry on your shoulders, they are loaded. There is upon them yet another heavy burden, for the idol itself is loaded to weariness. From what? They would load gold onto it, put chains on it, put ornaments on it. And you carry the idol with the burden loaded upon it, with the jewelry, you carry all of it, instead of it carrying you. The Malbim says: notice, it is written here "the things you carry are loaded" (nesu'oteichem amusot). What is nesu'oteichem? That is a burden. What is amusot? That is also a burden, loading a burden. What is the difference between "carried" and "loaded"? The Malbim says: "loaded" (amus) always means that someone loads onto someone else. When someone loads, that is called "loaded." Like "and each man loaded upon his donkey." And likewise regarding a person, when someone else loads upon him, "your father loaded upon us a heavy yoke." When someone loads upon me, this is called "loading." When I take upon myself and carry, this is called "carrying." Therefore according to this the Malbim explained: nesu'oteichem, the things you carry, this I loaded upon myself, I took the idol upon myself. "The things you carry are loaded," the idol itself was loaded with silver and gold. So therefore, "the things you carry are loaded as a burden for the weary." Behold, look, you have in the end to carry the idol you expected to carry you, that you expected to save you.
"They crouched, they bowed down together, they could not deliver the burden, and their soul went into captivity." "They crouched, they bowed down together, they could not deliver the burden." Rashi continues along the same line, mocking the idols that supposedly cannot expel their excrement. "They could not deliver the burden," to expel the excrement in their bowels like others who relieve themselves properly. So if before we understood that they had a problem of defecating too quickly, now he says they also have the opposite problem, sometimes they have constipation. "They could not deliver the burden." They cannot expel the excrement in their bowels. "Malet" means like to bring out, to expel, "and she delivered a male." The Radak explains: they could not deliver themselves from the burden so that the animals would not carry them. As if to say, well, you are a god, you... the animals need to carry you? They could not deliver themselves from this situation of being like embalmed corpses, they are like cripples who need the animals to take and carry them. They could not deliver the burden.
The Malbim explains: now that these idol worshippers, Bel and Nevo, went into exile with their idols, as they explained that "kores" and "kara" speak about the idol worshippers themselves who bowed down and crouched before their idols, and now they are going into exile, they carry these idols on their shoulders. So even though they bowed down, crouched together, prostrated to the idols to save them, nevertheless they could not deliver the burden. They could not save themselves at least so that they would be spared from carrying this heavy burden, which is the idol with the burden loaded upon it. That is to say, in simple words: not only did you, as an idol, fail to fulfill my expectations to save me, but you do not even save me from the need to lug you around. Do you understand? Not only did you not save me, but you also do not save me from the effort that I still have to lug you now. I have to take you on my back. From this too you did not save me. This is what he says, "they crouched, they bowed down together, they could not deliver the burden." They could not deliver themselves from being a burden and a load upon my shoulders. Even this he could not deliver himself from, he did not even save me with this small salvation of at least not being heavy to carry. Even this salvation he did not grant me. And they were forced to go, "and their soul went into captivity." "Their soul" means, so to speak, the idols, who they held have a soul and have will and have powers, these idols, their soul went into captivity. Together with the worshippers they go, the worshipper and his idol go together into captivity, and even the heavy burden that he has to carry on his shoulders, from this too he could not save him.
"Listen to Me, house of Yaakov and all the remnant of the house of Yisrael, who are carried from the belly, who are borne from the womb." "Listen to Me, house of Yaakov and all the remnant of the house of Yisrael, who are carried from the belly." Rashi explains: who are carried from the belly, from when you were born in the house of Lavan the Aramean, I carried you upon My arms. Because already from then the Jewish people were persecuted. By Lavan, by Esav, by... from then the persecutions already began. In every generation. And not like the idolaters, Rashi says, who would load and carry their gods as stated above. But you are carried and borne on My arms. Here, as it were, he comes to create a distinction: you see the difference between you and the gentile. The gentile has to take his crippled god on his shoulders. The god who did not save him and broke, he has to carry him on his shoulders. But the Holy One Blessed be He says: I, I carry you on My shoulders. I carry you on My arms. Therefore see the difference between the God of truth and the false idols.
I once read a wonderful parable. It is told that once a certain person walked and saw, as it were, saw in his imagination... the paths of his life. And then he sees his way in life like footsteps upon the sand. He sees that along the entire way there is another pair of footsteps beside him. And he understands that the pair of footsteps beside him is 'Hashem is your shade upon your right hand.' That the Holy One Blessed be He accompanies him all the time. But then he notices that specifically in his difficult periods, in times of crisis, he sees only one pair of footsteps. He does not see another pair of footsteps beside him. And then he turns to the Master of the World and says: Master of the World, why specifically in times of crisis do I not see Your footsteps beside me? Why specifically in times of difficulty, in the hard situations I went through, in the troubles I had, specifically then do I see only one pair of footsteps? A heavenly voice comes forth and says to him from heaven: My son, the pair of footsteps you saw, they are Mine. Because in those periods I carried you in My arms. That is to say, specifically in the hard times, know, then Hashem is with you at the closest level possible. Specifically in difficult times the Holy One Blessed be He carries the person in His arms. There is no time of closeness to Hashem yitbarach greater than when a person is in trouble, when a person goes through pain, when a person goes through a trial, that is a time that has the greatest closeness to Hashem yitbarach. And then the Holy One Blessed be He, as it were, carries him in His arms, because the person cannot, cannot possibly withstand it at all. And if you withstood, the Holy One Blessed be He says: I carried you in My arms, I lifted you so that you could get through that period. So here too, as it were, he says: look, the idols need their worshippers to carry them. But Hashem says: you are carried and borne in My arms, I carry you. It is not you who need to carry your god.
The Malbim explains that in contrast, after what he mentioned before, he says to them: listen now, you are the house of Yaakov. The house of Yaakov is the multitude of the ten tribes. And all the remnant of the house of Yisrael is the remnant that remained from the tribes of Yehudah and Binyamin. So that he actually speaks about all of them. You who are carried from the belly. As we explained, you do not carry but are carried. The Holy One Blessed be He carries you. And he compares them to a woman who carries the fruit of her womb. At first she carries it nine months in the belly. And afterward, when it already comes out of its mother's womb, she carries it in her arms. And this is what is written here, "who are carried from the belly," these are the first nine months when Hashem still carries you, as it were, in the belly. And afterward "who are borne," after you have already come out from the womb, Hashem already carries you, as it were lifting and carrying you from the womb. The Malbim says that whenever "belly" is written the meaning is pregnancy, and afterward "from the womb" the meaning is birth. As it is written 'upon You I was cast from the womb,' this is at the time of birth. And it adds and says 'from my mother's belly You are my God.' And even before that, still in the belly, You are my God. 'The wicked are estranged from the womb,' and not only from the womb, but even 'from the belly the speakers of lies go astray.' Rather, even in the stage when they were still in the belly, in pregnancy, from there the speakers of lies go astray. So then what is written here, "who are carried from the belly," we explained: "who are carried," what is the difference between "loaded" and "carried"? "Loaded" is someone loaded it upon him, right? It is by someone else. It fits very well, "who are loaded from the belly." For in the belly, the drop there is from the power of the father. So someone loaded the pregnancy upon the woman. This is "loaded," it is by another, as we said. To load is when someone else loads. So there too the pregnancy is loaded by the man. And therefore it is called "loaded from the belly." In contrast, afterward when they come out of the womb and then there is already birth, then it is already "who are borne from the womb." For who lifts the infant? The mother, of her own will. The mother of her own will lifts the infant. So she carries him willingly. In contrast, the pregnancy is, as it were, not of her will, but rather someone else loads it upon her. Therefore the expression "loaded" versus "borne" also fits.
"And until old age I am He, and until gray hair I will bear. I made, and I will carry, and I will bear and deliver." "Until old age," the meaning is until you are already old, your strength gone, you have no merit, as it were. Before this we still had merit of the fathers, but if we have grown old, as it were the merit of our fathers is already used up, we have already made use of it, we exhausted it. The Holy One Blessed be He says: until old age I am He, and until gray hair I will bear. I am still in a good measure to save you and to carry and to deliver. As he said, Rashi says: regarding their fear, that their fear is borne, meaning it is carried by its worshippers, as we explained. The idol worshipper needs to lug the idol on his back and go. He needs to lug them. He says: with the Holy One Blessed be He, I will bear others. I will bear, "esbol" from the language of "sevel," to carry, not from the language of what we call today "sevel," suffering. But rather from the language of "sevel," carrying. Rather I will bear, I will carry you upon Me, I bear others, and their burden I will deliver. The Malbim explains that the bearing with which the Holy One Blessed be He carries His children is more than the bearing of parents for their children. Why? Because with parents the relationship is like this: when the child is small, the parent carries the child. When the child grows and the parent ages, naturally it should be that the child carries the parent. Only reality, unfortunately, is that it is not... it is hard to rely on that. Yes? They say that one father supports ten children, and ten children do not support one father and do not care for one father. Yes, he looks for who... who will care for him, who will help him, and suddenly it is not available, this one cannot right now, that one just traveled, this one is exactly on business, that one... go look for them. Yes? So it is not always so, but in any case that is how it is naturally. Naturally it is not that the parent continues to carry his child at age 20, 30, 40, 50. That is not natural. Rather the children carry, as it were, their parents, they help them. The Holy One Blessed be He says: but with us it is not so. Rather, until old age I am He. And also until gray hair I will bear. I carry the people of Yisrael even when they have grown old, and even when they have reached gray hair. Gray hair is always after old age. 'And I have grown old and gray.' Gray hair is always after old age. The Holy One Blessed be He says: when I... the people of Yisrael not only old age but also gray hair, they already grow gray hair upon them, as it were they have already grown very old, the Holy One Blessed be He says: not only will you not carry Me, but I still carry you. I will carry and I will bear and deliver. "I will bear and deliver" means: not only did I make you, but I will bear all their needs, I, as it were, carry as a bearer upon Me, and I will deliver them from every harm.