Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 50. Thus says Hashem: Where is the bill of divorce of your mother whom I sent away, or which of My creditors is it to whom I sold you? Behold, for your sins you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. Let us explain according to the Radak. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: Where is the bill of divorce of your mother whom I sent away. The Radak brings that Yirmiyahu spoke against the ten tribes, that the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were gave them a bill of divorce, that there would no longer be a king from among them. The Holy One, blessed be He, as it were cut them off from the monarchy. And afterward it is written, "And My servant David shall be a prince to them," and they shall no longer be divided into two kingdoms. But note, the monarchy would never return to the tribe of the ten tribes. Who was king over them? Yeravam and those who followed, right? Achav and the rest of the wicked kings. But to Yehuda Hashem did not give a bill of divorce. Yehuda, after the Holy One, blessed be He, redeems them, they will return to monarchy. He is like a husband, He defines it as a husband who sends his wife out of his house, who was angry with her, but did not give her a bill of divorce because He intends to bring her back to Him. So corresponding to what Yirmiya said there, corresponding to that Yeshaya says here: Where is the bill of divorce of your mother whom I sent away? True, I sent her away, but I did not give her a bill of divorce, because it is still My aim and intention to restore the Mashiach to the family of the House of David, which means the family of Yehuda. And accordingly I did not send her away by way of a bill of divorce, but only a sending away like one who is angry with his wife and sends her out of his house yet intends to bring her back to him.
Another point: the ten tribes, as we know, did not return. When the exiles returned from Bavel, the ten tribes did not return. The ten tribes remained in Chalach, Chavor, the river Gozan, beyond the Mountains of Darkness, they did not return. And if so, it turns out that as it were the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them a bill of divorce, that there is no marriage bond. In contrast, the children of Yehuda, after 70 years of exile, returned to the Second Temple. So it turns out that with them it was not a matter of divorce. Divorce means cut off, severed. With Yehuda it was not divorce, for the story of Purim was a bit before the end of the 70 years of exile. It turns out then that the people of Israel returned, by the license of Koresh and Daryavesh, we eventually returned, and after 420 years the Second Temple was built, there was a reality of a kingdom here. It turns out then that Yehuda was not in the category of divorce. In contrast, when we speak of the ten tribes, with them it was divorce, since they went and did not return. So where is the bill of divorce of your mother whom I sent away? Behold, you see that even though I sent her away, nevertheless I did not give her a bill of divorce, but I intend to bring them back. And even though Yeshayahu prophesies still before they returned, he informs them what is destined to be. This is not a bill of divorce; I will bring them back.
And by Yechezkel it is brought there: Behold, I will take the tree of Yehuda which is in the hand of Efrayim and the tribes of Israel his companions, and I will place them upon it, the tree of Yehuda, and I will make them one tree. They are destined to be one tree, meaning destined to be gathered back together. And if so, you cannot say the Holy One, blessed be He, sent us away from before Him. Thus it is brought that the people of Israel came to the prophet and said to him: Why are you placing demands upon us? Why are you telling us what we need, to serve Hashem? For a woman whose husband gave her a bill of divorce, does he still have any claims against her? Why did you not launder, why did you not clean, why did you not do? It is over, a bill of divorce, she is severed. So they said to him: So too the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were expelled us from the land. The Holy One, blessed be He, exiled us among the nations. What is this if not a bill of divorce? And if so, why do you still come to us with demands, keep the mitzvot of Hashem and... So he says to them: No, you are mistaken. Where is the bill of divorce of your mother? Where did you see that Hashem wrote you a bill of divorce? Where did you see that the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were expelled you absolutely? No, but rather as the Radak explained, the Holy One, blessed be He, only distanced you like a woman who rebelled against her husband and there was a quarrel, there is a certain stage of distancing, but this stage is destined to end and the state of closeness is destined to return. So how can you say that the Holy One, blessed be He, expelled you and thereby the bond was severed? Where is the bill of divorce of your mother whom I sent away? And if so, certainly you should wait for the Holy One, blessed be He, to return your captivity and ultimately renew our days as of old.
And not only that, but also concerning you, says the Holy One, blessed be He: or which of My creditors is it to whom I sold you? Did I sell you an eternal sale? To which of My creditors? says the Holy One, blessed be He. So you were not sold, so you do not need money to redeem you. Rather, what caused the distancing? For your sins you were sold. There was no money here. For if there were money you would say: but there is no money, how can we be redeemed. He says: No, you were not sold for money. For what were you sold? For sin and iniquity. So if that is the case, with what will you be redeemed? By returning in repentance. "Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her returnees with righteousness," right? There needs to be repentance. The moment you do teshuva you will thereby be redeemed. There is no economic obstacle here to bringing the people of Israel back to their place.
And why does He once compare them to a mother and once to children? The Radak explains that here at the beginning He speaks of the assembly, and they are the collective, meaning the collective of Israel, Knesset Yisrael, and afterward He speaks of the children, who are really the individual, each one on his own. The Malbim explains: A person who sends his wife out of his house, this can be for one of two reasons. Either because he loathed her, or because she rebelled against him. Says the Malbim, there is a great difference whether the divorce was because he loathed her or whether it was because of the rebellion. If he sends her away because he loathed her, then truly there is no hope. He divorces her completely, expects nothing from her, that is it, it is over, he loathed her. But if he sends her away because she rebelled against him, then the rebellion against him is something temporary. Now she did something insolent against him and behaved toward him in some particular way, and in response he punished her and sent her out of his house. So he says in such a situation he does not give a bill of divorce. This is not a state of absolute severance. If it is because he loathed her, then he already has no hope, love will not suddenly renew itself, it will not sprout anew. He loathed her. So there is a bill of divorce. But in contrast, if it was because she rebelled against him, because she rebelled against him it may well be that tomorrow she will improve her ways and then he will bring her back. On this the prophet comes and asks: your mother whom I sent away, where is her bill of divorce? Where is the bill of divorce of your mother? What does he mean to say? For I did not send her away because I loathed her, for then what would there have to be here? A bill of divorce. Where did you see a bill of divorce? And if so, it necessarily follows: for what reason did I send her away? Because she rebelled against Me. And then there is no bill of divorce, but rather as we said there is a temporary distancing, and this distancing is destined to end and the bond will be renewed.
Or which of My creditors is it to whom I sold you. Says the Malbim, a person who sells his children, this can be for one of two reasons. Either because he loathed his wife, and consequently he also loathes the children. And then he sells them, and woe in such a situation there is no hope. For just as with his wife there is no more hope because he loathed her, so too with the children there is no hope, for he loathed the mother so he also loathed the children. There is another situation, where a person out of no choice sells his children. The creditor comes to take them. He has nothing to pay. And he loves his children and he loves his wife, but what can he do? And the creditor takes his children on account of his debts. But here too seemingly the hope is faint, for he has no money. And if he has no money, with all the desire and all the love and all his renewed interest in them, but what can he do? I need money to redeem them, and that I do not have. Says the Malbim, after Hashem says: Behold, you will see, He tells you with certainty: your mother I did not send away because I loathed her. So did I send the children away because I loathed the mother? Surely not. For you say clearly the mother I did not loathe. And if so, you must say: for what reason did I send the children away? Not because of loathing the mother, but because the children, what to do, were sold to creditors. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, would you entertain such a thing? Which of My creditors is it to whom I sold you? Says the Holy One, blessed be He, to whom do I owe money that he would come and take My children, the people of Israel? Which of My creditors is it to whom I sold you? For the reason you were sold is entirely different. For behold, for your sins you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
What is "your sins," what is "your transgressions"? What is the difference between them? Here the Malbim gives a foundation, worth listening to, for it is a principle that applies to all of Tanach. And here based on it he explains something quite wonderful. Says the Malbim, there is a difference between avon (sin) and pesha (transgression). Avon is from the language of distortion (ivut). Always avon, when it is written avon, it means a distortion of the intellect. The intellect entices him to deny the mitzvot of Hashem. In contrast pesha, pesha is rebellion. The transgressor does not come to argue with intellectual proofs and evidence. He does not want to, that is it. That is the transgressor. He transgresses against the mitzvot of Hashem. The one who is distorted, the possessor of avon, has some intellectual defect, for his intellect is crooked and he comes and argues, he has claims to dispute against the Torah. Avon is the language of a distorted intellect. He has a problem in his intellect, he argues against the Torah. In contrast the transgressor, his intellect is entirely sound. He knows what is good and he knows what is bad. He just does not want to. He does not feel like it. Rebellion against Hashem. The distorted one comes with intellectual claims for why not to accept the mitzvot of Hashem. The transgressor, in contrast, his intellect is straight. So why do you not fulfill? I do not want to, that is it. That is the transgressor. The distorted one, his intellect is crooked, he finds reasons why not to fulfill the mitzvot of Hashem. He has crookedness in his intellect.
Now says the Malbim, come and see. A son who sins against his father through rebellion has no hope. This is a transgressing son, who as we said is a rebel. He does not want to. He says there is no hope. What, will his father bring him back? There is nothing to expect from him. But if the son is intellectually harmed, and this is as we said the possessor of avon, he has a distortion in his intellect, then he says: I will take him, we will treat him, we will take him to a psychologist, we will find someone to straighten out his intellect. For he has a distortion in his intellect, he needs to help him. In contrast to the transgressor, what is there to expect from him? The transgressor says: I do not want to, that is it. Is there anything to expect from him? But the one who suffers from some intellectual distortion, the possessor of avon, it is possible, it is possible to try to influence him, it is possible to try to straighten out his intellect. On this He says: Behold, for your sins (avonot) you were sold. For I did not sell you out of rebellion, transgression, so that you would say: no, that is it, one who sells a child out of rebellion or transgression already has no hope from him. No. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, you were sold because of avon. And if one is sold because of avon, what did we explain? There is hope. The father still wants the child, he will still succeed in straightening out his intellect. That is, your intellect became confused, your mind became deranged. Avon is derangement of the mind. Distortion of the intellect. There is a chance to straighten out the intellect. But if there is rebellion, the intellect is straight and the son says I do not want to, the father has nothing to do with him. And so He says: for your sins you were sold, not for your transgressions. And if for your sins you were sold, there is hope. There is hope, I will bring you back.
Says the Malbim, all this is true regarding the relationship of a father to a son. Note, regarding the relationship of a father to a son, if there is an intellectual distortion, there is an illness in the child, something got disturbed in his head, the father has mercy on him, brings him doctors. And with the wife it is the opposite. And if with the son when there is rebellion the father no longer expects anything from him, with the wife it is the opposite. When there is rebellion one does still expect that perhaps the wife will straighten out her ways and not be insolent and not rebel against her husband. If so, what is worse with the wife? Avon or pesha? Avon, for it is a confusion of the intellect, it is a distortion of the intellect. It is an illness. The prophet says to them: and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. Your mother was not sent away because of avon. For then you would say: no, that is it, there is nothing to do with her. Because of avon, it is a distortion of the intellect, it is an illness, no, He expects nothing from her. No. For it was because of rebellion and transgression. And one whose wife rebelled against him still expects that she will change her ways. And if so, why do you think that I already gave you a bill of divorce? If as children, then for your sins you were sold, there is hope. And if as a wife, then for your transgressions your mother was sent away, and then indeed there is still hope.
Says the Malbim, our relationship to the Holy One, blessed be He, is like the relationship of a father to children and like the relationship of a man to his wife. We find both of these images. On the one hand, if as children, we see "you are children to Hashem your God." On the other hand, we also see the relationship of a man to a woman. Shir HaShirim is full of this. "And I will betroth you to Me forever." The reality of the people of Israel is the beloved and the maiden. The Holy One, blessed be He, is the man and the people of Israel are the bride. "A wretched bride who is unfaithful under her canopy," this is the people of Israel who made the calf. When? At the time Hashem betrothed them at the standing at Har Sinai, the canopy. That is to say, we see that between us and Hashem may He be blessed there is both a bond of children to a father and a bond of a wife to a man. And these are the two parables He states here. Says the Malbim, why, what do these two bonds come to express? That is, He speaks here of two types of bonds. Says the Malbim, the relationship of a father to a son is by way of birth. There is within us a portion of God from above. A portion of God from above means we are children to Hashem may He be blessed. We are part of Him may He be blessed. So just as when you beget a child, I say all that is in the child is part of you. And part of the mother. When the Holy One, blessed be He, "one who blows, blows from within himself," then the spiritual part that Hashem placed within us is a portion of God from above, this is a son. In this respect we are a son to Hashem may He be blessed. Our relationship as a man to a woman was in the wake of the standing at Har Sinai. Since a relationship of a man to a woman is a chosen relationship, in the language of the Malbim. There is an expression people say: you do not choose your parents. You were born to these parents. In contrast a wife, a person can choose a wife, decide to marry her, decide at a certain point to divorce her. There are those who took this a step further and consequently they quarrel with the wife on behalf of the mother. For a mother is a blood bond and the wife is severable. This is a complete mistake. The Torah says "and a man shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh." That is, "a man shall leave his father and his mother." You need to leave father and mother and cleave to be one flesh with the wife. But in any case, this is what the old mothers like to say, your bond with the mother is a blood bond, with the wife you just married, it can be temporary. Sometimes they even make sure it is temporary. So be it. In any case, we begin to understand that essentially the bond between us and Hashem, that of a man and a woman, is a bond of choice. The Holy One, blessed be He, went around the nations to give them the Torah, and He also came to the people of Israel. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the people of Israel: I have a Torah, what did we say? "We will do and we will hear." This was by choice. In contrast, the fact that Hashem placed within us a portion of God from above, that we are children, there is nothing to do about it. Hashem planted His soul within us without our being asked, without our deciding. Just as the parents begot us without a person having any choice. But whom we married, that we did have a choice. So too our bond with the Holy One, blessed be He, at the standing at Har Sinai, where He took us to be a people to Him, says the Malbim this is a bond of choice, that we chose to be like a betrothed to Hashem may He be blessed.
And this is what He says here. Hashem may He be blessed says to the people of Israel, our relationship as a man to his wife, this is the relationship in which the Holy One, blessed be He, obligates Himself to give us clothing, food. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, this was severed through the transgressions. Since we transgressed, we are like a woman who rebelled against her husband. A woman who rebels against her husband, is her husband obligated in her sustenance? The Gemara says no. Since she rebels he is not obligated in her sustenance. So there is still hope, however, since she is only rebelling, which as we explained is not a distortion of the intellect, there is hope that Hashem will still bring us back. How? By our returning to Hashem may He be blessed and receiving the Torah anew, for we explained our bond between us and Hashem is through the Torah. And when we abandon the Torah we are like rebels against that which connects us. By our returning again and receiving the Torah, believing in the principles of the faith and rectifying that which we rebelled against, and what is the rebellion? It is the transgression. I do not want to. I do not want to fulfill. By our returning, the bond between us and Hashem will be renewed, that illumination and that reality of the standing at Har Sinai will return, the match will return to its place, the connection will return to its place. How? By our rectifying the transgression on account of which your mother was sent away. What is "your mother was sent away"? We distanced ourselves from Hashem on account of the transgression and the rebellion; rectify the transgression, return to the match, to the connection between us and Hashem may He be blessed.
And also our relationship between us and Hashem, we said there is also a relationship of children. And the relationship of children is by way of, as we said, the Holy One, blessed be He, planting within us a portion of God from above. But here it was severed through sins, through error of the intellect. And this is what we explained, that when something got disturbed in the son's intellect, the father does not cast him out. The father cares for him and invests in him. So the Holy One, blessed be He, tells us, and if there is here an avon of error of the intellect, I relate to you as children, and I have hope from you to treat you, to help you, until I succeed in straightening out the distortion of your intellect. There is a remedy, then, says the Holy One, blessed be He. So there is here no reality of divorce of your mother or of "which of My creditors is it to whom I sold you." There is no eternal sale here. Rather there is here a sending away for a period of time that is ultimately destined to end.
Accordingly, now how wonderful is the following pasuk. Why did I come and there was no one, I called and there was no answer? Is My hand too short to redeem, or have I no power to save? Behold, with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make rivers a wilderness, their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, and if so, after we have clarified in the clearest way that the severance, the separation between us and Hashem, is not an absolute severance but a severance that has hope of being reconnected anew, says the Holy One, blessed be He, since I did not loathe your mother and you were sold for nothing, then Hashem will easily bring us back to Him. So if so, when I call you, what should you do immediately? Run. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, so why did I come and there was no one? So why, if I call and I come and I arrive, and behold I see that there is no one? And not only that, but I also called. What is "I called"? I also call, so to speak plead, begin to appease you, and there is no answer. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, is My hand too short to redeem? For we already said, which of My creditors is it to whom I sold you? Am I lacking money that I would need, do I owe someone something, that I have creditors and therefore sold? So if so, there is no matter here of redemption, of redeeming with money, for you were not sold, as we explained. So I can redeem you. And if you say that your buyers will not be willing to take money, that is, money does not speak to them, they want to detain you by force, says the Holy One, blessed be He, have I no power to save? If power is needed to bring you out, do you think that I do not have enough power to bring you out of the situation, out of the exile in which you are? Says the Holy One, blessed be He, and why would you think so? Behold, with My rebuke, for with a mere rebuke I dry up the sea. The rivers I make like a wilderness. What is a wilderness? A wilderness that has no water at all. And this is with a mere rebuke. And the fish within it, what happens to them? They die of thirst, their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst on account of drying up. So says the Holy One, blessed be He, do I have a lack of power? Surely not. So do not say that I expelled you absolutely; the Holy One, blessed be He, says: behold, I have shown you that I did not. And not only that, but I also came to you, so you should have been expected to come. And if that does not help, I also called, and this still does not influence. And if you say that I sold you, says the Holy One, blessed be He, is My hand too short to redeem? Do I not have the ability to redeem? And if you say the enemies do not want money, says the Holy One, blessed be He, I have the ability to save even by force. For with My rebuke I dry up the sea and I make rivers a wilderness. So if so, why do you still tarry?
The Malbim says that "tivash" (they stink), the verb bo'esh, refers to anything whose taste or smell spoils, the expression nivash appears on it. There is also the expression "Israel became loathsome (nivash) to the Philistines." "In place of barley, foul weeds (baosha)." Here too, as it were, if it becomes bo'esh, then says the Malbim, how does He afterward say "and die of thirst"? Rather he says there are stages here. There is here a state of bad odor, spoiling, and this, says the Malbim, is the difference between bo'esh and tzachan. Tzachan means it became so foul that its odor wafts. "Its odor arose (baash) and its stench arose (tzachan)." You see that these are stages. Baash means it spoiled, and after that "its stench arose," that it became foul with a bad odor, a great odor. So says the Holy One, blessed be He, their fish stink for lack of water, so at first it will only spoil. What does "spoil" mean? It means the fish will be lean, the fish will already be poor, this is bo'esh. As we explained that bo'esh is not necessarily stench but also spoilage. And afterward they die of thirst. For if He had said "tzachan," then that cannot be, that is not the order. "Tzachan" means it already stank, and stinking means it already died. So how could it afterward say "and die of thirst"? Therefore says the Malbim, you must say that "tivash" is also spoilage. "Israel became loathsome to the Philistines" means they became spoiled in their eyes. And then it is understood: the fish at first spoiled on account of having no water, and in the second stage they already died.
I clothe the heavens with blackness, and sackcloth I make their covering. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, and that I dry up the sea and dry up the rivers as well, do not think this is because the sun, the heat of the sun, strikes them powerfully. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, no, I have the power to dry up the sea and the rivers even at the time that I clothe the heavens with blackness. Even at the time the heavens are darkened with clouds, which is an action contrary to nature, for when the heavens are darkened with clouds then the river does not dry up. He says, and nevertheless I will rebuke the sea and the river and dry it up even at the time that I clothe the heavens with blackness, even at the time the heavens are cloudy and darkened with clouds. Says the Malbim, and also sackcloth I make their covering. What is "sackcloth I make their covering"? The heavens will be full of fog and rain as if they were covered with sackcloth. What does He mean by this? What is the analogue? The Malbim explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were will destroy the lands of the nations, for the nations are wicked, like a turbulent sea, right? Thus it is written of the wicked. "They shall roar like the sea." And their princes are like rivers, making great tumult, making great noise. And the fish are the gentiles themselves, who are under the princes and kings. As we explained that essentially the wicked, the princes, the kings, are the sea and the river. And the gentiles found among them are the fish within them. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, when the time comes I will destroy them. And then in the wake of that, He says what will happen is that the people of Israel will come out of the exile. We are as it were sunk in the sea and sunk in the rivers among the gentiles, and therefore we cannot come out. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, I will destroy them. And do not think this will be a natural thing. Rather this thing will be above nature. For behold, ordinarily there should be dryness on account of drought, on account of there being strong sun. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, no, the heavens will be blackness, sackcloth I make their covering, and nonetheless the sea will be destroyed and dried up. Why? For thus His wisdom decreed. For this is the will of Hashem. That is, the redemption will not be in a natural manner, but in a manner that seemingly contradicts nature. When the time comes, says the Holy One, blessed be He, then the heavens will give rains of blessing, there will be clouds, and with all this the gentiles, the sea, the river, will be destroyed.
The Malbim dwells here on a precise point: I clothe the heavens with blackness and sackcloth I make their covering. What is the difference between "levush" (garment) and "kesut" (covering)? And as is known, the Malbim already taught us and we all already know that there is no repetition of a matter in different words with the Malbim, there is no such thing. And if he said here "levush" and here he said "kesut," that means it is two things. And if on the heavens and the clouds, the blackness, he said "levush," and on the fog and the vapors he said "kesut," that means this expression suits this and that expression suits that. What is the difference between them? Says the Malbim, the garment (levush) is sewn according to the measure of the one who wears it. That is, the garment is made according to the measure of the person. In contrast, kesut is also not according to his measure. Note, we too today express ourselves with this expression. I would never say "I got dressed in a blanket." I would say "I covered myself." For a blanket is not according to my size. But in a suit I got dressed, I would not say I covered myself in a suit. For the suit clothes fittingly. So anything that fits, suits the size, that we call levush. And by the way this is not necessarily clothing. When we want to say that something suits it, fits it exactly, we say "it is fitted upon it" (mitlabesh alav). In contrast, if it only covers it in a general way, we say it covers it. We do not say it is fitted upon it, for it is not truly exact on it. Says the Malbim, the clouds are called levush. For the clouds, the blackness, clothe the heavens in full fitting, according to the measure of the heavens. In contrast, the fog and the vapors are not exactly according to the measure of the heavens. For we know that fog and vapors also fill the earth. This fills the entire atmosphere. And therefore regarding them the expression kesut applies, it covers, it is not fitted according to size. In contrast the clouds are as it were fitted to the size of the heavens. But the fog and the vapors that fill the air, this covers, for it is not fitted to the reality of the globe. And therefore I clothe the heavens with blackness, which is the clouds, and sackcloth I make their covering, also of the earth. The Radak explains that here He speaks of what happened in Mitzrayim. Says the Radak, that in Mitzrayim the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were comes and says to them: Do you think that I have no power to save? Behold, with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make rivers a wilderness. What is He speaking of? Of the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, split the sea. So He speaks of the redemption of Mitzrayim. And not only that but I clothe the heavens with blackness, they had darkness for three days. And this, the heavens as it were became dark. And sackcloth I make their covering, as if there were a sackcloth covering over them so they saw no light. The sackcloth, says the Radak, is black, so it apparently was in their time, and this was as it were a complete covering, and then through these plagues I brought you out of Mitzrayim. So why do you think that I have no power to save? Just as I saved you then, so too I have the power to save you now. Says the Radak, He mentions here water and air. Why? Because they are the elements. And if the Holy One, blessed be He, has control over the elements themselves, over the water and over the air, which are the foundations of the earth, for there are four elements: water and air, earth, dust and fire. And if the Holy One, blessed be He, has control over the elements, then essentially He has control over everything.