Musar su Isaia 52:76

In order to explain somewhat the quality of peace, I shall adduce some of the apothegms of Chazal on this subject. This is from Ma'aloth Hamiddoth: "Know, my sons, that peace is among the highest qualities, it being one of the names of the Holy One Blessed be He, as it is written (Judges 6:24): And he called it [(the altar) 'the L-rd-Shalom.'" Wherever peace is found, fear of Heaven is found. Where there is no peace, there is no fear of Heaven. Great is peace before the Blessed One, our sages of blessed memory saying in the aggadah (Yevamoth 65b, Bava Metzia 87a): "Great is peace, even Scripture prevaricating to maintain peace between Abraham and Sarah. For whereas she said (Bereshith 18:12): 'And my lord [Abraham] is old,' G-d transmitted this to Abraham as (Ibid. 13): 'And I [Sarah] am old.'" Similarly (Ibid. 40:16-17): "and they had it reported to Joseph: 'Your father commanded before he died: "So shall you say to Joseph: 'Forgive, I pray you, the offense of your brothers and their sin, for they accorded you evil.'" Now nowhere do we find Jacob commanding any such thing at all, for he entertained no apprehension whatever of Joseph's conduct. My sons, come and see how great is the power of peace, for the Holy One Blessed be He said that even foes should be approached with peace as it is written (Devarim 20:10): "When you draw close to a city to wage war against it, call out to it for peace." Great is peace, for it consummates the priestly benediction, as it is written (Numbers 6:26): "And He shall repose peace upon you." Great is peace, for it is the consummation of prayer, as it is written (Psalms 29:11): "The L-rd will give His people strength; the L-rd will bless His people with peace." And what is more, in the day of Israel's consolation, the first report shall be of peace, as it is written (Isaiah 52:7): "How comely upon the mountains are the feet of the herald, announcing peace!" My sons, come and see how great is the power of peace, for the Holy One Blessed be He said that even foes should be approached with peace, as it is written (Devarim 20:10): "When you draw near to a city to wage war against it, call out to it for peace." It was stated of R. Yochanan b. Zakkai that no one ever preceded him in greeting, not even a gentile in the marketplace. And our sages of blessed memory have stated (Avoth 4:15): "Extend greeting to all men." What is meant by greeting "all men"? Even if you see that he is ill disposed towards you, extend greeting to him; for if you do so, you will cause him to love you. What is more, even if he will not condescend to make peace with you, the Holy One Blessed be He will deliver him into your hand and humble him beneath you, as it is written (Devarim 20:1): "And if it [the city] does not make peace with you, but wages war against you, then you shall besiege it, and the L-rd your G-d will deliver it into your hand…" And so we find with David, may peace be upon him, that he pursued peace with Saul, as it is written (Psalms 120:7): "I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." Not only was Saul not appeased, but he pursued David to do him injury, and the Holy One Blessed be He delivered him into David's hand in the cave and in the encampment. And even so, it never entered David's heart to do him wrong. For one must love peace and pursue peace, as it is written (Ibid. 34:15): "Seek peace and pursue it." Seek it with your friend and pursue it with your enemy. Seek it in your place and pursue it in other places. Seek it with your body and pursue it with your money. [Sometimes one must be liberal with his money to seize upon the "stronghold of peace."] Seek it for yourself and pursue it for others. Seek it today and pursue it tomorrow. And do not despair, saying: "I will never achieve peace," but pursue it until you do achieve it. And what is the pursuit of peace? Thus have our sages of blessed memory said (Sanhedrin 110a): "This is speaking peace at a time of dispute and sacrificing one's honor for the general good, as was done by Moses, as it is written (Numbers 16:25): 'And Moses arose and he went to Dathan and Aviram…,'" and suspending one's affairs to make peace between a man and his wife, a man and his neighbor, and a teacher and his student — even to the extent of arranging a meal for two to make peace between them.

All this is alluded to in Psalms 39,3: נאלמתי דומיה, החשתי מטוב וכאבי נעכר. "I was dumb, silent; I was very still while my pain was intense." The word דום-י-ה must be broken up so that we see that G–d decreed dumbness on the speaker in the verse. Being "silent from טוב," is an allusion to not having Torah inspiration; the only true טוב is Torah. The end of the verse describes Moses' reaction to this diminution of his intellectual/spiritual powers. According to סדר הדורות, at the beginning of his career Moses' name was שממה; it subsequently became משה. This is what is meant by Isaiah 52,13: "Indeed My servant shall prosper," meaning that Moses will be the משיח, the numerical value of the letters משה=345 being equal to the numerical value of the letters in the name שילה (a reference to Genesis 49, 10 where the word is understood to refer to the Messiah). Our sages in Bamidbar Rabbah 11,3 comment on the above that the first Redeemer will have the same name as the Ultimate Redeemer. The Ultimate Redeemer will be revealed to them only to be subsequently hidden from them, just as was the case with the first Redeemer. This is supposedly also alluded to in Kohelet 1,4: "A generation goes and a generation comes."

It is the mystical dimension of Michah 7,15: כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים אראנו נפלאות "I shall then show him miracles as I did when you came out of Egypt." The wording should have been: "I shall then show you miracles, etc." However, the prophet wanted to emphasize that the generation which will experience those miracles would be the same as the one that experienced the Exodus. [I presume that the generation of the Exodus which perished in the desert will experience a transmigration of souls prior to the final redemption which will then enable them and Moses to share the experiences they should have shared the first time around. Ed.] We have to understand Isaiah 52,13 as describing a gradual development, i.e. first הנה ישכיל עבדי, "Here My servant will prosper;" ירום, "he will be exalted;" next: ונשא, "he will be elevated," and afterwards וגבה, "to a height," and finally מאד, "very much." This last word is the transposition of the word אדם. The prophet describes the process of Man's rehabilitation. Man had originally been perfect only to decline spiritually and physically due to the sin. Isaiah then describes the climb back to his erstwhile spiritual height culminating in his achieving his original status אדם i.e. מאד. The final מעשה i.e. rehabilitation will be the completion of what had been G–d's plan for Man at the very outset of Creation. The verse in Isaiah describes the vicissitudes of Moses throughout these many generations as compensation for which he will emerge as the ultimate Redeemer.

This is described in verse 14 where the prophet says: כאשר שממו עליך רבים כן משחת מאיש מראהו ותוארו מבני אדם. "Just as the many were appalled at him, so marred was his appearance, unlike that of man, his form beyond human semblance." The מראהו מאיש the appearance unlike man that the prophet speaks of refers to Moses. The תוארו, "semblance" refers to Moses after his forehead radiated light. Alas, during the many generations which form the subject of the verse described by the prophet he was אחד מן העם, just like one of the common people. The whole of chapter 53 in Isaiah commencing with מי האמין refers to Moses and graphically describes his experiences; he even shared a grave outside the Holy Land as did the wicked people of the generation of the Exodus. When verse 12 speaks of: לכן אחלק לו ברבים this is an allusion to Moses' being involved in the סוד העיבור "the secret of possible existence" [my translation. Ed.] of all these generations who were "wicked people" compared to him. Moses will receive some reward in respect of each of these generations because of his share in whatever merits any generation accumulated. This is how we must understand the Mechilta Beshalach 15,1: that Moses was "equal" to all of the people of Israel. He provided spiritual input into every generation following him because G–d involved him in the סוד העיבור. When Isaiah 53,12 speaks about: ואת עצומים יחלק שלל, "He shall receive the powerful ones as his spoils," the meaning is none other than that G–d directly will give Moses his reward, whereas the other righteous people will receive it by way of Moses. The prophet goes on to say: תחת אשר הערה למות נפשו, "because he exposed himself to death," i.e. in each and every one of the generations since he died until the advent of the Messiah. Perhaps the fact that G–d repeated his name during their first encounter at the burning bush (Exodus 3,4) [unlike when the angel called to Abraham in Genesis 22,11, where the Torah has a line separating the two names i.e. אברהם৷ אברהם. Ed.] maybe an indication that there will be a "Moses" in every generation. When Isaiah continues: ואת פשעים נמנה, והוא חטא רבים נשא ולפשעים יפגיע, "and he was numbered among the sinners, whereas he bore the guilt of many and made intercession for sinners," this means that the final forgiveness of these sinners will be achieved through Moses' intercession. Thus far the comments in the writings of Rabbi Chayim.

Since we are already on the subject of verse 22,14, let me tell you something interesting. The expression יראה is employed here twice; once it is vocalized Yireh, the other time it is vocalized Ye-ra-eh. I have already mentioned that a great promise is contained in this verse. We have also a promise in Isaiah 52,8 כי עין בעין יראו בשוב ה' ציון, that G–d's return to Zion will be witnessed visually. I believe that the two words יראה in our verse are an allusion to a statement by our sages in Chagigah 2 that בדרך שבא לראות כך בא לראות, "just as one sees with both eyes so one is seen with both eyes." The Talmud uses our verse to draw a comparison between the way G–d sees us and the way we see Him. It concludes that if someone is blind in one eye he need not make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem on the holidays since the Torah requires him to be "seen," i.e Ye-ra-eh.

This is followed by the paragraph reporting Isaac's birth, which alludes to the future when Israel will say to G–d "You are our Father, etc." as we have mentioned. This in turn is followed by the report of the עקדה, a hint of the distant idyllic future when the verse in Isaiah 52,8 will be fulfilled.