Commentaire de citation sur Isaïe 40:12

and You have given them to drink tears in large measure Heb. שליש. In Babylon, where they were for seventy years, a third (שליש) of the two hundred and ten of Egypt. I learned this from the work of Rabbi Moshe Hadarshan. It may also be interpreted as regards the kingdom of Greece, which represents the third trouble. If you ask, is that [not] the fourth, because Persia and Media came before, all the seventy years of the Babylonian exile are only one exile. Menachem (p. 175) interprets שליש as the name of a drinking vessel. So he explained (Isa. 40:12): “and He measured with a ‘shalish’ the dust of the earth.” Our Sages explained it (Mid. Ps. 80: 4) as referring to the three tears that Esau shed, concerning whom it is said (Gen. 27:34): “and he cried a cry.” That is one. “A great one.” That is two. “And a bitter one.” That is three. Because of them, he merited to live by his sword, as it is said (Gen. 27:40): “and it will come to pass when you complain, etc.”

For the soles of the feet. An expression of, “treading with the sole of the foot,” and similarly, “in a narrow path [משעול] of the vineyards,”⁶Bamidbar 22:24. and similarly, “who measured the water with his step [בשעלו],”⁷Yeshayahu 40:12. for He trod in the Red Sea, as it is stated, “You tramped them in the sea with Your horses.”⁸Chavakuk 3:15.

And you shall make a breastplate of judgment, of skilled work. Throughout all the priestly garments, the term skilled work is mentioned only regarding the ephod and the breastplate. This indicates that this atonement is for a specific sin where the thought is considered equivalent to the action, which is found only in idolatry, as explained earlier in the section about the ephod. The breastplate comes to atone for corruption in judgment, as judicial matters are entrusted to the judge’s heart, for a judge has only what his eyes see, and it is in his power to declare right as left and left as right, depending on the situation, the person, the time, and the place. If a judge says, “This is how it appeared to me,” who can contradict him except God alone, who examines the hearts of men? Therefore, the breastplate was placed on Aaron’s heart, because judgments are entrusted to the heart, and thus it was of skilled work to atone for the judge’s thoughts.
Since it says skilled work like the work of the ephod, it links the concept of skilled work to the ephod, telling you that corruption in judgment is equivalent to idolatry, as our Sages said (Sanhedrin 7b): “Whoever appoints an unworthy judge is as if he planted an Asherah,” which refers to idolatry. Therefore, it says that the breastplate of judgment, which atones for judicial corruption, should be like the work of the ephod, which atones for idolatry. Similarly, our Sages interpreted the verse You shall not make with Me gods of silver as referring to an unworthy judge (Jerusalem Talmud, Bikkurim 3:3), because this sin primarily depends on the judge’s thoughts, as it is written (Proverbs 12:5): The thoughts of the righteous are just, for they are complete in judgment even in their thoughts.
It was square — because every judge needs to be complete in the four qualities listed in the verse And you shall choose (Exodus 18:21). It was doubled — because the sin is also doubled, as it harms one person financially and another spiritually by allowing him to keep another’s money unjustly. This is what the Midrash concludes (Lamentations Rabbah 1:57): “They sinned doubly and were punished doubly,” for they sinned through corruption of justice, as it says (Isaiah 1:21): Righteousness lodged in it, and they sinned through idolatry, which is also a double sin, as it says (Jeremiah 2:13): They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves broken cisterns.
From all this, we learn the similarity between corruption in judgment and idolatry, which is why the breastplate was like the work of the ephod. A span its length — because corruption in judgment causes the destruction of the world, and its correction is like becoming a partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the work of Creation, about which it says and measured heaven with the span (Isaiah 40:12).

Little foxes. It is written without a vav שֻׁעָלִים, because He punished them through water, which was measured with the stride [=שַׁעַל of the Omnipresent.³⁸See Yeshayahu 40:12.

for fistfuls of barley Heb. בְּשֳּׁעֲלֵי, like (Isa. 40:12): “Who measured water with his fist (בְּשָּׁעֳלוֹ)?” Jaloynes in Old French, double-handfuls. Another explanation: an expression of a measure.

במשעול — Understand this as the Targum does: IN A PATH. And similar is, (1 Kings 20:10) “If the dust of Samaria shall suffice לשעלים” — the dust that attaches itself to the soles of peoples’ feet when they walk. And similarly, (Isaiah 40:12) “Who hath measured the water בשעלו” — with his feet and through his walking (as one measures by pacing).