Kommentar zu Dewarim 33:3

אף חבב עמים YEA, HE LOVED THE PEOPLES — Also He loved the tribes with exceeding love. — Each individual tribe may be termed עם (or גוי), “a people”, for, you see, Benjamin alone was yet to be born when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Jacob, (Genesis 25:11, see Rashi thereon) “A nation and a congregation of nations shall be of you."

APH CHOVEIV AMIM.’ Commentators have explained³⁵It is so explained by Rashi and Ibn Ezra. that the word choveiv is of the Aramaic language [as Onkelos rendered and ye shall be Mine ‘segulah’]:³⁶Exodus 19:5. “and you shall be chavivin (beloved) before Me.” The verse [here] is thus stating: “Yea, He loves Israel which consists of many peoples” [i.e., tribes], similar to what is stated, after thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples.³⁷Judges 5:14. And all His holy ones³⁸In Verse 3 before us. of Israel, namely, the Levites, are in Thy hand,³⁸In Verse 3 before us. for You have brought them near You to encamp around the ark.³⁹Numbers 3:23, and 29, 35, 38.
It appears to me that the word choveiv is from the same root as by hiding ‘b’chubi’ (in my bosom) mine iniquity,⁴⁰Job 31:33. related to the expressions: into an inner chamber ‘l’heichavei’ (to hide thyself);⁴¹II Chronicles 18:24. and there is ‘chevyon’ (the hiding of) His power.⁴²Habakkuk 3:4. He is thus stating [here]: “You are also hiding and protecting with Your hand the peoples — all the holy ones of Israel.” The above-mentioned [phrase] suggests that all the congregation are holy, every one of them,⁴³Numbers 16:3. and G-d protects them with His hand, similar in meaning to the verse, And I have put My words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of My hand,⁴⁴Isaiah 51:16. and like the expression, Thou art my hiding place and my shield.⁴⁵Psalms 119:114. Similarly, and they take counsel against Thy hidden ones.⁴⁶Ibid., 83:4. This alludes to what he said, inasmuch as Thou Eternal art seen face to face, and Thy cloud standeth over them.⁴⁷Numbers 14:14. And similarly he said in the Song [of Ha’azinu], He compassed him about, He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.⁴⁸Above, 32:10.

אף חובב עמים, he says to G’d that: “I am aware that You are fond of other peoples also, as when You said that the Jewish people are the most precious מכל העמים, from among all the nations, You meant that the species of mankind is something precious to G’d, as our sages said in Avot 3,18 חביב אדם שנברא בצלם, the species of man is especially dear to G’d among all of His creatures, seeing that only man has been created in the image of G’d.” [i.e. there are other nations to which Your relate with fondness. Ed.] כל קדושיו בידיך, You have said that You are holding all Your holy possessions (the Torah) in Your hand [people hold their most precious possessions in their hand, do not entrust them to a briefcase, for instance, which they may deposit somewhere and forget to pick up. Ed.] When You told us in Exodus 19,5 that we are to You an especially precious nation, a kingdom of Priests, You also singled us out as being Your children, (same paragraph in Avot), as well as in Deuteronomy 14,1 “You are children to the Lord your G’d.”

He also [af] cherished the nations. This has the same numerical value as “converts” (geirim). For all the converts who would convert in the future also stood at Sinai… And it uses the term “af” [which can also mean “anger”] because it refers to those who struggle and afflict themselves for the sake of the Torah.

אף חבב עמים, Also a lover of people, etc. Our sages in Baba Batra 8 understand these words to mean that although on occasion G'd displayed fondness for the other nations when He exiled the Jewish people amongst them, כל קדושיו בידיך והם, the Jews who study Torah continue to enjoy special privileges such as exemption from certain taxes even while they are in exile. It appears that our verse provides the rationale for what is written in the previous verse, namely that G'd came to both Se-ir and Paran. He did so in order to subject them to His anger on the day of judgment when these nations would excuse their conduct by saying that they had never been given a chance to receive the Torah and had not been informed of its contents so that they could have lived by its precepts. The entire verse needs to be understood as follows: "G'd had also displayed His love for the other nations when He offered them the Torah at the time he gave it to the Israelites."

אף חובב עמים, also members of the gentile nations, such as the mixed multitude whom Moses had accepted as converts at the time of the Exodus, and who had done so in order to receive the Torah, G’d became fond of and accepted them so that they too were included in the camp which His shechinah, benevolent presence, rested over the people. We have more direct confirmation of this in Psalms 68,4. “but the righteous shall rejoice, etc.”

אף חובב עמים, “You were indeed fond of the various tribes;” Moses describes G’d’s fondness as extending to each tribe separately as if it ranked as a whole nation. We find another example of a tribe being treated or referred to as a whole nation in Judges 5,14: בנימין בעממיך, “Benjamin amongst Your peoples.”

He cherished the tribes, etc. Rashi is explaining what the word also refers to, since the word also is inapplicable unless something similar precedes it. Therefore he explains, Also, with (this) surpassing love, etc. Meaning that it was already mentioned before His love for Yisroel and how He went from Sinai to meet them. Similarly, with this too there was surpassing love, etc.

V. 3. חובב .אף חבב עמים (siehe zu Bamidbar 10, 29) Präsenzform von חוב, verpflichtet, schuldig sein, wie נוצץ ,לוצץ von נוץ ,לוץ, und zwar in aktiver Bedeutung: verpflichten, zur Pflicht führen. Oder חובב ist Infinitivform des Piels wie כונן. Auch indem du die übrigen Völker zur Pflicht führen willst, nimmst du alle seine Heiligen in die Hand, d. h. sind dir dazu alle Heiligen Israels das Werkzeug. Nicht nur Israel, der ganzen übrigen Menschheit kommt der belehrende und sittigende Einfluss aller derer zugute, die in Israel sich in pflichttreuer Erfüllung dieses Gesetzes heiligen. Stillschweigend leuchten sie der Gesamtmenschheit als Beispiel der Verwirklichung heiliger Menschenbestimmung. Und wenn es oben heißt, dass selbst שעיר und פארן, diese Israel verwandt nahen Völker, noch nicht für die Entgegennahme des Gesetzes reif waren, so geschah doch die sinaitische Gesetzoffenbarung an Israel im Gesamtinteresse der Menschheit. Mit Israel und durch Israel wird die einstige Sammlung aller Menschen zur Gottespflicht angebahnt. והם, die Völker, תכו, Plural von תכה, verstärkte Form von דכה gebeugt sein. Sie werden zur Erkenntnis ihrer Ohnmacht לרגלך, durch deinen Schritt, durch den Gang deiner Waltung gebracht (wie לרגלי Bereschit 31, 30). ישא, es aber, Israel, trägt deine dich aussprechenden Worte. Durch die von Gott geleiteten Ereignisse der Geschichte, "durch die Gottesgänge" in den Ereignissen, werden die Völker zur Erkenntnis ihrer Ohnmacht geführt. Allein erst durch das Gotteswort, das Israel durch die Zeiten trägt, lernen sie den kennen, dessen Obermacht sie in den Gängen der Geschichte ahnen, lernen sie, vor wem sie sich zu beugen und wie sie Ihm ihre Huldigung zu betätigen haben. Nur durch das Gesetz, dessen Träger Israel am Sinai geworden, erhalten und erreichen die Belehrungen der Völker durch die Geschichte ihren Zweck. מדברתיך, wie וישמע את הקול מדבר אליו, sich aussprechen (Bamidbar 7, 89).

אף חובב עמים, “Lover, indeed of the peoples;” (the twelve tribes of Israel are termed “peoples). We know that the Israelites were viewed as “special” by G-d when He said to us in Exodus 19,5: והייתם לי סגולה, “you will be for Me a treasure;” Why is this so? It is because all of His holy beings are under His direct supervision. How does this work in practice? “והם תוכו לרגליו, “they are sitting between His feet;” Compare Exodus 19,17: ויתיצבו בתחתית ההר, “they had taken up their positions at the base of the Mountain.” (Sinai). An alternate interpretation: even at times when G-d is fond of the gentile nations and delivers the sinful Israelites into their hands, they still remain under His direct supervision, (though they may not be aware of it.)

כל קדשיו בידך ALL HIS SAINTS ARE IN THY HAND — the souls of the righteous are stored up with Him, just as it is said, (I Samuel 25:29) “And the soul of my lord shall be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God" (Sifrei Devarim 344:7).

והם תכו לרגלך, whereas they, the other nations, are lying broken at Your feet. (compare Proverbs 29,13 for a similar use of this expression where it refers to offering prayer to G’d with a broken heart)

כל קרושיו בידך, “all its holy ones were in Your hand.” This is a reference to all the members of the tribe of Levi whom You G’d brought especially close to You, in allowing them to encamp around the Tabernacle and within easy range of the Holy Ark. Nachmanides writes that the word חובב is derived from the same root as חבי in Job 31,33 לטמון בחבי עוני, “to bury my guilt in a well hidden place.” The expression מחבא means a “hiding place.” The Holy Ark is the place on earth within which G’d’s Power is hidden. Allegorically speaking, Moses acknowledges that G’d also provided the Jewish nation with a hidden reservoir of spiritual fortitude. The entire Jewish nation is holy, and G’d “hides” them within His hand, as a gesture of His protection.

They were worthy of this. The explanation of תכו is similar to תוך (within) except it is a verb, meaning that they entered at the bottom of Mount Sinai which is compared to His feet. Rashi says They are worthy of this in order to connect the statement for they were gathered at Your feet with the statement all their sacred ones are in Your keeping. It is as if the verse said, And why did these souls merit to be secreted beneath the Throne, etc. more than other people? Because they were gathered into, etc.

The words כל קדושיו may best be understood in line with Yalkut Shimoni at the end of Parshat Kedoshim item 626, on Leviticus 20,26: "and I have separated you from the other nations to be Mine." If the Torah had written: "I have separated the other nations from you," this would have meant that we do not accept proselytes. Seeing that the Torah uses the reverse order and writes: "I have separated you from the nations," this means that when Gentiles wish to convert to Judaism they are able to do so. [this is the thrust of the comment; our author has enlarged on it. Ed.] The words קדשיו בידיך mean that G'd reserves the right to allow those who wish to sanctify themselves by embracing the Torah to do so.

AND THEY ‘TUKU.’ This is like ‘huku’ (and they were smitten)⁴⁹The tav in the word tuku replaces the letter hei [huku], and as explained further on: “‘they were smitten’ and endured all hardships because they followed You wherever You took them.” Rashi explains that the word tuku is derived from the word toch (middle) — “and they placed themselves in the middle.” According to this interpretation the tav cannot be in place of a hei. [at Thy feet], as Scripture says ‘tirgalti l’Ephraim’ (I taught Ephraim to walk)⁵⁰Hosea 11:3. in place of hirgalti.⁵¹Here, too, the tav replaces a hei. Similarly the feminine hei is exchanged for a thav in the following expressions: I will not give ‘sh’nath’ (sleep) to mine eyes;⁵²Psalms 132:4. The word sh’nath is in place of sheinah (sleep). The letter thav thus replaces a hei. a sinner doeth evil ‘m’ath’ (a hundred times),⁵³Ecclesiastes 8:12. The word m’ath is in place of meiah (a hundred). and there are many such examples. He is thus stating that “‘they were smitten’ with every plague in the wilderness by following You wherever You went; they cared not for hunger, thirst, the affliction of serpents and scorpions. They only followed Thy feet and ran after You.” This is similar to what is stated, I remember for thee the affection of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, thy going after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.⁵⁴Jeremiah 2:2.

והם, “and they are;” Israel, תוכו לרגלך; after all when the gentiles persecute them it is only because they are G-d’s people, having entered into a covenant with Him to observe His commandments.לרגלך, this expression, presuming that G-d has physical dimensions, is also used in Genesis 30,30 where even the pagan Lavan acknowledges the existence and personal providence of Yaakov by his G-d when he enriched Lavan in order that the latter treat Yaakov fairly. This is why Yaakov could say to him there: ‘ויברך ה׳ אותך לרגלי, “He has blessed you at my foot.”Another interpretation of the words: והם תוכו לרגלך, “in the Holy Temple.” The Temple is perceived as G-d’s footstool on earth. His presence manifests itself in and around the Temple. This is where most Israelites are found three times a year at least.

והם תכו לרגלך AND THEY SAT AT THY FOOT — And they are deserving of this, because they betook themselves right into the middle within the underpart of the mountain unto Thy foot at Sinai.

לרגלך, at the footstool of Your throne at Sinai.

והם תכו לרגליך, “for they had sat down at Your feet.” Ibn Ezra writes that there is no other instance in the Bible in which the word תכו or a derivative of it occurs [not in our editions of his commentary. Ed.]. According to him, some people consider the word as related to תוך, “within, in the midst of,” in which case the Israelites are perceived as walking within the protective umbrella of G’d’s feet. Others say that the letter ת in תכו instead of the letter ה, indicates that Moses refers to these people who have been the victims of every conceivable affliction during the forty years in the desert. They endured it all in order to follow G’d wherever He led them.

והם תכו ברגלך, ”and they planted themselves at Your feet.” They always feel drawn to the site of the Holy Ark which symbolises Your Presence, which they perceive as הדום רגלך, “the footstool for Your feet.” The word תכו is the same as הכו, the letter ת being a substitute for the letter ה. This letter is used interchangeably in a similar manner in Kohelet 8,,12 where the words עושה רע מאת should normally have been עושה רע מאה, “doing evil one hundred times.” Or in Psalms 132,4 we find the words אם אתן שנת לעיני “if I will allow my eyes to sleep,” when we would have expected the psalmist to write אם אתן שנה לעיני. [The author quotes more such examples. Ed.] We sometimes find the ת replacing the letter ה, whereas on other occasions the letter ה replaces the letter ת. In the phrase (verse 11) commencing with ישימו קטורה, “they shall prepare incense,” etc., the letter ה, I believe, is also a substitute for the letter ת in the word קטורת, incense. I believe this is a rule in grammar, seeing that the letter ה normally symbolizes the feminine gender, such as in אמרה, שמרה, קראה,, as well as in all the other verbs; the letter ת seeing that it is the final and last letter in the aleph bet, also symbolizes something feminine, passive. This is the reason it was made the last letter. The letter ה at the end of the third person of the verb is also reminiscent of the last letter of the tetragrammaton. The letter ת is used in many forms of the verb in the third person feminine future. In other words, the function of the letter ת and the letter ה frequently overlap, so that we need not be surprised to see them used as alternate spelling for each other.

The מ"ם here relates to the root, etc. Rash is answering: Why do we need the “מם if the explanation [of מדברותיך] is Your Torah”?

Another approach to our verses may be this. The meaning of the words אף חובב is that there remains one single fondness for the Jewish people vis-a-vis the other nations, namely that those who study Torah, the "holy ones," enjoy some privileges as I have explained. The word והם, "and they," refers to the Jewish people who are the principal subject of the verse. We are told that the Jewish people are able to maintain their sanctity or improve it because תכו לרגלך, "they planted themselves at Your feet." This is an allusion to the statement in Shabbat 146 that as a result of the revelation at Sinai the Israelites were completely cleansed of any residual pollutant dating back to the sin in Gan Eden. They achieved this status because they planted themselves at G'd's feet, i.e. embraced the Torah wholeheartedly. This enabled them to be addressed by G'd directly. Our sages in Shabbat 86 go so far as to say that at that time their souls left them (based on Song of Songs 5,6: "my soul left me when He spoke"). It was this experience which removed their pollutant. This remained an advantage of the natural born Israelites over their proselyte counterparts (compare Zohar volume three page 14).

YISA MIDABROTHECHA.’ The word yisa is similar to: Thou shall not ‘thisa’ (take) the Name of the Eternal thy G-d in vain;⁵⁵Exodus 20:7. and nor ‘esa’ do I take their names upon my lips;⁵⁶Psalms 16:4. ‘yisa’ (he shall swear) in that day, saying.⁵⁷Isaiah 3:7. And the word midabrothecha is like the expression ‘umidbareich’ (and thy mouth) is comely.⁵⁸Song of Songs 4:3. He thus states [in the verse before us] that Israel will take Your words upon his lips and meditate upon them always.”

ישא מדברותיך, “receiving part of Your words.” This was a reference to the first two of the Ten Commandments during the revelation at Mount Sinai which the whole people heard directly from the mouth of G-d before having asked Moses to become their interpreter. (Deuteronomy, 5,21-26)

— The word תכו expresses the idea of “they were acted upon” (a passive) — “they placed themselves right in the middle (תוך) between Thy feet”.

ישא מרברותיך, “bearing Your utterances.” Israel has the words of Torah (i.e. G’d) constantly on its lips, similar to an ox that bears its yoke.

Here too, “Your self-spoken” — that which You had spoken, etc. You cannot say that the “מם here is a prefix and means of, because if so it would imply that they did not accept the entire Torah upon themselves, when in reality they accepted all the 613 commandments. The difference between מתדבר and מדבר is as follows: מדבר implies that Hashem is speaking directly to a person, but this is not respectful toward the Above, that He speaks directly to man, just as a person speaking to his friend. However, מתדבר means to speak to oneself and someone else is listening. This is what Rashi explains, That which You had spoken, etc. The [first] יוד of ישא מדברותיך [converts the verb] to the future tense from the past tense [which, grammatically speaking would be correct] because at the time that Moshe blessed Yisroel, they had already received the entire Torah. Rashi says the yoke of Your Torah because the expression of burden is not applicable to speech. Therefore Rashi adds the word yoke, because the expression of burden is applicable to a yoke.

ישא מדברותיך, accepting Your pronouncements. The word means "authority" in this instance. We find a similar meaning for דבר in Psalms 47,4: "He subjects peoples to us." The meaning is that only natural born Jews have true authority over other Jews; proselytes or their (immediate?) descendants may not become kings. Our sages in Kidushin 76 have derived this ruling from Deut. 17,15: "from amongst your brothers." This restrictive clause applies not only to kings who must be natural born Jews but also to judges and princes. The Talmud Sotah 41 relates that when King Agrippas read these words in the Torah his eyes started watering with tears as he was not a natural born Jew. The meaning of the words ישא מדברותיך here is that only a natural born Jew may arrogate to himself a position of authority over fellow Jews. The reason that the word ישא is in the singular is an allusion to Sanhedrin 8 that the Jewish people will have only a single authority, there will be no power-sharing.

ישא מדברתיך EVERYONE RECEIVED THY WORDS — they bore upon themselves the yoke of the Law (Sifrei Devarim 344:3).

Another interpretation: “Even when the nations were cherished, etc.” even during the time when the Gentile nations were cherished, etc. According to this interpretation, the word אף [now translated as even] does not refer to what precedes it. This interpretation is more correct because the first interpretation does not explain well why it says אף חובב (He also cherished) here. According to the other interpretation you might ask that how can the Torah write an expression of cherishment regarding idolaters. Even if He shows them a beaming countenance, this is only because He wants to deliver Yisroel into their hands, but no cherishment is involved. Therefore the first interpretation is also needed.

An additional meaning of the word ישא מדברותיך could be that it provides the rationale for תכו לרגליך. We have been told in Shabbat 88 that the acceptance of the Torah by the Jewish people was not exactly voluntary but that G'd threatened to bury them under the Mountain if they would not accept the Torah. On the other hand, the acceptance of the Torah during the period of Esther and Mordechai was entirely voluntary as a result of Haman's decree against the Jews being cancelled. I have explained the reluctance of the Jews to accept the Torah in my commentary on Exodus 19,5. It did not extend to acceptance of the biblical commandments but only to the rabbinic decrees. At any rate, the words תכו לרגליך are a reference to the threat of death at the Mountain if they would not accept the rabbinic ordinances. The people accepted the biblical parts of the Torah wholeheartedly and voluntarily. They did so in order to be spiritually uplifted by it, i.e. ישא מדברותיך. When the Torah wrote in Exodus 24,7 that the Jewish people said unanimously: "we will do all that G'd has said and we will hear it," the word "all" refers to the rabbinic ordinances.

מדברתיך. The מ in it (in this word) has a close affinity to a root letter (i.e., it is an integral part of the noun and is not a prefix), as in (Numbers 7:89) “And he heard the voice uttering itself (מִדַּבֵּר) unto him”, and (Ezekiel 2:2) “And I heard Him that uttered Himself (מִדַּבֵּר) unto me”, which is the same as מִתְדַּבֵּר (see Rashi on Numbers 7:89). So, too, this word מדברתיך denotes: that which Thou didst speak unto Thyself to make it audible to me that I might tell them; tes pourparlers in old French, [English = thy utterances]. — Onkelos, however, translated it in the sense that they travelled in accordance with Thy words (only at Thy command), so that the מ in it is a servile letter (a prefix) used in the sense of מן. — Another explanation of this verse: אף חבב עמים, YEA, HE LOVED THE PEOPLES — even at the time of Thy love for the nations of the world — when You did show unto the nations a smiling (friendly) countenance and did deliver Israel into their power, even then כל קדשיו בידך ALL HIS SAINTS WERE IN THY HAND — all their righteous and pious people clung to You and did not depart from You and You did guard them (Bava Batra 8a),

The word מדברותיך may also be understood as referring to the people giving guidance to the Jewish people, the ones who introduce certain new ordinances if circumstances seem to call for this. When the Jews during the time of Mordechai observed how successful the latter had been in his looking after Jewish interests, the people voluntarily embraced all such rabbinic ordinances.

והם תכו לרגלך and they betook themselves right into the midst of, and gathered beneath Thy shadow,

Still another meaning of the words ישא מדברותיך may be based on the Midrash Rabbah (Song of Songs 1,2) explaining the words ישקני מנשיקות פיהו, "may He kiss me with the kisses of His mouth." According to this Midrash every single word which G'd spoke He communicated to every single Israelite asking if the Israelite in question was prepared to accept the law in question. The Israelite would answer in the affirmative. In response G'd would kiss him and place a crown on his head. This is why the Torah adds… והם תכו ישא מדברותיך. The reason that the Torah writes מדברותיך instead of the usual דברותיך is because the words themselves "spoke" to the Israelites asking them if they were prepared to accept them.

ישא מדברתיך they gladly accepted Thy decrees and Thy laws. And these were their words:

The reason the word ישא is in the future tense instead of in the past tense, is because after the episode with the golden calf the Israelites were deprived of the crowns we have mentioned (Exodus 33,5), whereas Moses received them (Shabbat 88). This is based on a concept developed in Chagigah 15 that two places are reserved for each person, one in purgatory and one in Paradise. The one who forfeits his place in Paradise leaves it for his colleague who is more deserving, and the same is true for those who vacate their place in purgatory. This is the mystical dimension of Exodus 33,8 that "the people looked after Moses." Our sages in Sanhedrin 110 explain this to mean that each Israelite suspected Moses of committing adultery with his wife. This is not to be understood literally, of course, but it means that the Torah which was considered as betrothed to the Jewish people had become Moses' exclusive bride seeing he had taken over the parts that the people had previously been entitled to. By the Torah writing ישא in the future tense we receive the assurance that the removal of the crowns of the Israelites after the episode with the golden calf is reversible and that the time will come when they will once more merit and receive these crowns. Our sages (a glossary in the prayer-book edited by the Ari Zal) state that these crowns return to the heads of the Israelites on every Sabbath and that on the Sabbath Moses retains only his own crown. This is the reason that we say in the Sabbath morning prayer that Moses rejoices in his (personal) share, i.e. even though on that day he retains only this single crown.

Our verse may also be a veiled reference to the statement in Makkot 24 that the Israelites heard the first two of the Ten Commandments from G'd Himself whereas Moses was the intermediary for the balance of the commandments. On the other hand, the Mechilta on Parshat Yitro claims that all of the Ten Commandments were spoken by G'd in a single utterance. We explained this apparent contradiction by referring to the tradition that the souls of the Jewish people left them during the revelation. This occurred after they had heard the first two of these commandments. The words תכו לרגליך are a reference to this overpowering effect of G'd speaking to the people as a result of which their souls left them. This is further supported by the words ישא מדברותיך, i.e. that G'd "uplifted their souls" after they heard part of His words. They heard the balance of the Ten Commandments from the mouth of Moses after their souls had been restored to them. This is the reason why we read in the next verse תורה צוה לנו משה, "Moses commanded us the Torah," instead of "G'd commanded us the Torah." A close look at the word תורה reveals that its numerical value equals 611, i.e. an allusion to the number of commandments the Jewish people heard from the mouth of Moses. When you add the two words ישא מדברותיך you get the total of 613 commandments.

The words in our verse may also reflect something we have been told in Megillah 29 that the Presence of G'd accompanied the Israelites into exile. In this connection, the Talmud relates that the angels wanted to expel Rabbi Sheshet from the synagogue on account of the presence there of the Shechinah. Thereupon Rabbi Sheshet asked G'd: "if there is a person who has been subjected to insults and another who has not, which of the two deserves to be expelled?" As a result of this appeal G'd instructed the angels not to bother Rabbi Sheshet. This is the meaning of והם תכו לרגליך, "they have already been humbled at Your feet," i.e. the very fact that the Jews have been exiled is enough of a putdown for them so that if they use this fact as an argument ישא מדברותיך, He will uplift them when they are confronted by the angels i.e. "Your spokesmen."

Still another allusion which may be contained in our verse is based on Berachot 5 that G'd gave the Israelites three good gifts all of which they acquired only by means of suffering afflictions first. They are: the Torah, the land of Israel, and the hereafter. The Talmud in Berachot 63 also states (based on Proverbs 30,32: "if you have exalted yourself through acting arrogantly, etc.") that if a person is prepared to suffer disgrace for the sake of Torah he will eventually be elevated to a high position. This is the meaning of the sequence תכו לרגליך, ישא מדברותיך. "You will eventually be elevated as your disgrace was due to your humbling yourself for the sake of Torah." Torah confers high office on a person as we know from Proverbs 8,15: "kings reign through me."

Still another message contained in our verse is based on Rosh Hashanah 21 based on Psalms 8,6: "You have made him only a little less than divine." This means that G'd endowed Moses with 49 of a possible 50 "gateways to insight" when the latter was on Mount Sinai. The 50th gateway is reserved for G'd Himself. I have explained this concept in connection with Isaiah 11,9: "for the earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord." The prophet means that at that stage of the development of mankind G'd will hand over even the 50th gateway of insight to man, something He had not even done for Moses. This will be part of the Messiah revealing himself. In accordance with this concept the words תכו לרגליך refer to the Torah insights which had already been revealed, whereas the words ישא מדברותיך are a reference to the final degree of insight which so far had been withheld by G'd.