Komentarz do Kapłańska 26:33

ואתכם אזרה בגוים AND I WILL SCATTER YOU AMONG THE NATIONS — This again was a harsh measure; because when the inhabitants of a country go into exile in one and the same place they have the opportunity to see each other and so find consolation for their bad lot. Israel, however, was scattered as though by a winnowing fan — as when a man winnows barley with a fan — when not even one grain of them adheres to the other (not even two grains remain in the same place; cf. Jeremiah 25:7) (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 6 6).

ואתכם אזרה בגויים, a reference to the Israelites who emigrated to Egypt after the destruction of the Temple.

ואתכם אזרה בגוים, "And you I will scatter among the nations." This verse is best explained in conjunction with what we have learned in Ketuvot 111 that G'd made the (Jews) people swear three (two) oaths at the time they went into exile.. 1) they would not try and recapture the land of Israel by force of arms; 2) they would not start a rebellion against their host countries while in exile. 3) G'd made the nations swear that they would not oppress the Jews excessively. In our verse the Torah alludes to two things. The word אזרה alludes to the oath not to try and recapture the land of Israel by force. The word בגוים refers to the oath not to start a rebellion against the host countries. The words והריקותי אחריכם חרב, "I will draw out the sword after you," is a threat that if the Israelites do not abide by the oaths mentioned G'd would make their lives הפקר, abandoned property. The words והיתה ארצכם שממה "your land will be waste-land," is the reason why G'd has to scatter the Israelites among the nations. Otherwise He could not fulfil His decree for the land to rest by not being worked and thus make up for the failure of the Jewish people to observe the שמטה years while they occupied the land. This is also why the Torah emphasises that all this would happpen while the Jewish people are in exile, i.e. ואתם, "as for you."

The scabbard is emptied. Because the expression of ריק (empty) is not applicable to a sword as Rashi explains in parshas Beshalach. הנדן is the sheath of the sword.

How am I going to do this? ואתכם אזרה בגויים, “I will scatter you among the nations.” This is to be contrasted with verse 5 of the blessings where the Torah promised that you will dwell securely in your land. This is the seventh of the curses.

והריקתי — (lit., I shall empty out) — This term may be used for drawing the sword because when one draws the sword the scabbard becomes empty (cf. Rashi on Ex 15:9). A Midrashic explanation (referring the word והריקתי to the sword itself not to the scabbard) is the sword once drawn to pursue you will not soon return unto the scabbard — as a man pours out water and it can never return to the vessel that once contained it (i. e. I will, as it were, empty out the scabbard — pour forth the sword from it, and it shall never return, but always follow you) (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 6 7).

והריקותי אחריכם חרב, a reference to Nevuchadnezzar’s sword, the latter invading Egypt as predicted by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 42,15.

As a person who empties. And therefore it is written והריקותי.

והיתה ארצכם שממה AND YOUR LAND WILL BE (REMAIN) DESOLATE — This implies that you will not soon return unto it, and on that account עריכם יהיו חריבה YOUR CITIES WILL BE WASTE, i. e. they will seem to you waste; for when a man is exiled from his house, or from his vineyard, or from his city, knowing that he is ultimately to return to it, it appears to him as though his vineyard or his house were not waste. —Thus is it explained in Torat Cohanim (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 7 1).

It does not return. I.e., the water.