레위기 26:13 해설: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi, Sforno & Rashbam

“I made you walk erect” [26:13]. When the Messiah will come, the Holy One will rebuild the Temple twice the height of Adam and the people will also be so tall. The portion begins with the letter Aleph and ends with a Tav.⁵The first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. That is to say, when Israel will keep the Torah from the Aleph to the Tav, the blessings will come upon Israel. The Torah talks about the curses nearby. They will happen if Israel transgresses the commandments. They begin with a Vav and end with a Heh. These are two letters of the name of the Holy One. This teaches us that the Holy One is in exile with us and will redeem us from the curses. The Midrash says that one should not say that the blessings are few verses and the curses are many verses. Therefore, he began the blessing with the Aleph and ended with the Tav. That is, the blessings will be long lasting, as far as from the Aleph to the Tav. However, he began the curses with the Vav and ended with the Heh. That is, the two letters are close to each other. So too, the curses will not last long.⁶Bahya, Leviticus, 26:13.

Toldot Yizhak writes. “If you will follow My statutes” [26:3]. That is, you should keep the commandments, even those that have no reason. Why should we keep them? Only because the Holy One commanded them. Afterwards, it says, “keep My commandments” [26:3]. You should also keep the commandments that do have reasons. Another explanation why he said, “keep My commandments,” is that you should wait to fulfill the commandment, and do not allow the commandment to wait for you, and be fresh with each commandment. Therefore, the verse says, “keep My commandments.” That is to say, first you should wait for the commandment. Afterwards, it says, “fulfill them” [26:3]. That is to say, wait and when the time comes, you should fulfill the commandment. This explains why it says, “keep” and also says, “observe.” It could have just said, “keep” alone and deleted “observe them.” Toldot Yizhak gives an explanation. The Torah says that five will pursue a hundred and a hundred will pursue ten thousand. The calculation is not correct; a hundred should only pursue two thousand. The explanation is that when Israel wage war, it is just that there should be as many Israelites as gentiles. Then the Holy One comes with His miracles and wonders and causes that five Israelites will pursue one hundred gentiles. When they have won the war, the hearts of the gentiles have fallen, then one hundred will pursue ten thousand. Therefore, the verse says, “Make you fertile” [26:9]. I will increase you greatly. The portion teaches us that there are four groups among Israel. Some who work and plow the earth to grow grain. Concerning them, the verse says, “I will grant your rains” [26:4]. I will give rain and the blessing to these. There are some people who desire much money. They do not plow and desire that there should be no wars. They desire peace. Concerning them, the verse says, “I will grant peace” [26:6]. They will have peace from wars. On the other hand, there are people who desire war. Concerning them, the verse says, “five of you shall give chase to a hundred” [26:8]. Five will pursue a hundred. On the other hand, there are some Israelites who do not desire war or plowing and not wealth. Rather, they desire to study Torah and fulfill the commandments. Concerning this, the Torah says, “I will establish My abode in your midst” [29:11]. “I will be ever present in your midst” [29:12]. That is to say, the Shekhinah is among Israel because of Torah and commandments, to those who desire to cleave to Me.⁷Toldot Yizhak, Leviticus, 26:3–12.

Toldot Yizhak asks a question. Why does the verse concerning the curses have to be so long? “If you will not listen to Me and will not observe” [26:14]. We know well that if he will not listen to God’s commandments, then he will certainly not observe them. The explanation is that when a people in a land do not want to keep the laws of the king, this has four causes. The first is that the king will not oversee them because the king has too many problems of his own. The second is that the people sometimes think that the king’s laws are foolish. Good sense does not indicate that they should be kept. The third is that the king makes too many laws with heavy taxes and wars. Therefore, they do not follow his laws. The fourth is that the people sometimes want to rebel against the king. Therefore, the verse began, “if you will not listen to Me” [26:14]. That is to say, you will not listen to Me for My sake. You think that I have no oversight over you. Therefore, you do not keep My laws. Against this He says, “if you reject My laws” [26:15]. These are the commandments that we do not know why the Holy One commanded them. Our intellect cannot understand them. That is to say, just like the people do not want to keep the laws of the king. They think the king is a fool since he makes such laws. With regard to the third, the people do not want to keep the laws of the king because he makes too many of them. About this the verse says, “spurn My rule so that you will not observe them” [26:15]. That is to say, you do not want to fulfill My commandments because they are so many. It is disgusting to you because of that. Concerning the fourth, it says here, “you break My covenant” [26:15]. You want to abrogate My commandments and want to rebel against Me. Therefore it is written in the portion, measure for measure about your sin. Concerning the first, that you say that I have no oversight over everything, the verse says, “I will wreak misery upon you” [26:16]. I will have My oversight over you, and will bring a fear over you. I will show that I have oversight over everything. You say that I have too much to send, with wars, as is with the kings. Therefore, I am sometimes in a hurry and frightened. Therefore, I do not have supervision over everything. Therefore, the verse says, I will bring misery quickly and hurriedly upon you. Concerning the second, that the people hate the laws, because they are without sense or wisdom. Therefore, it is disgusting to you. This comes from arrogance, that the person holds himself important. He does not want to hear what he is commanded, since he is too important. Therefore, the verse says, “I will break your proud glory” [26:19]. I will make you lowly and your sky will darken like iron. That is to say, no rain will fall, even if the sky will be full of clouds. The clouds will not return to you and will give no rain. They will ignore you because you said that He has no supervision over everything. The third, that the commandments are to numerous, and therefore it is disgusting to you. Concerning this, the verse says, “I will loose wild beasts against you” [26:22]. The wild animals will make you fewer because you said that there are too many commandments. You did not want to keep them. Therefore, you will become fewer in number, since you did not desire many of My commandments. So too, I do not desire many of you. Concerning the fourth, that you will rebel and remove the commandments from yourselves. Thus, I want to force you and capture you, so that you will have to be in My hands. You will not be able to run away. Concerning this, the verse says here, “I will bring a sword against you” [26:25]. I will send nations against you who will kill you with the sword. If you will want to run to the fortified cities to hide from the nations, and to be protected from the sword. However, I will send the plague into the cities. This is air from which people die. You will want to flee the city, as is the custom. You will not be able to flee because of the sword and you will be captured in My hands. “When I break your staff of bread” [26:26]. I will break your bread from the oven. That is to say, the bread will crumble into pieces, just like you broke the covenant that you swore to uphold.⁸Toldot Yizhak, Leviticus, 26:14–15.

אני ה׳ אלהיכם I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD [WHO BROUGHT YOU FORTH FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT] — I deserve that you should put your trust in Me that I am able to do all these things, for, behold, I brought you forth from the land of Egypt and have wrought great miracles for you (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 3 4).