Comentário sobre Levítico 26:45

ברית ראשנים THE COVENANT OF THE ANCESTORS — i. e. of the twelve Tribes (cf. Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 8 10).

AND I WILL FOR THEIR SAKES REMEMBER THE COVENANT OF THEIR ANCESTORS. This means that I will remember it for their sakes whether in the Land or outside the Land, both in the [first] exile alluded to here and likewise throughout all generations. This is the sense of the expression in the sight of the nations [And I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors … in the sight of the nations], for He will do [good] to them because of His Great Name, so that it be not profaned among the nations, but not for their sake, since they have not repented, and [thus] their iniquities have not been forgiven. And so did our Rabbis say:¹⁸⁴Torath Kohanim, Bechukothai 8:10. “I will not reject them¹⁸⁵Verse 44. in the days of Vespasian.¹⁸⁶The Roman emperor in whose days the Second Temple was destroyed. The destruction of the Temple is thus in no sense a rejection of Israel. The survival of Israel long after the downfall of the Romans who destroyed the Temple, as well as the growth of Torah throughout the generations, and Israel’s present return to the Land after an enforced absence of nearly 1900 years — these are sufficient proofs that He did not reject us in the days of Vespasian. Neither will I abhor them¹⁸⁵Verse 44. in the days of Greece.¹⁸⁷A reference to the wars that took place during the Hellenistic period, when the Syrian Greeks who attempted to suppress the practice of Judaism were defeated by the Jews under the leadership of the Hasmoneans, and the Jews also regained their political independence. [Neither will I abhor them] to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them¹⁸⁵Verse 44. in the days of Haman. For I am the Eternal their G-d¹⁸⁵Verse 44. in the days of Gog and Magog.”¹⁸⁸See Ezekiel Chapters 38-39. In the war of Gog and Magog G-d will finally overthrow the enemies of Israel who had assembled from all parts of the world against the Land of Israel. This victory will precede the reign of the Messiah.

וזכרתי להם, during the ingathering of the exiles. אשר הוצאתי...להיות להם לאלוקים, the principal reason I redeemed them from Egypt was to become their exclusive G’d, as we know from Exodus 19,6 ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש, “you are to become for me a Kingdom of priests, a holy nation.” The corruption you have become guilty of since will be reversed in the days of the Messiah and the world to come.

וזכרתי להם כרית ראשונים, "And I will remember for their sakes the covenant with the ancestors, etc." Torat Kohanim asks: "whence do we know that G'd concluded a covenant with the tribes?" They quote our verse as the source. Perhaps we should understand this in the way Jeremiah quotes G'd as remembering the time after the crossing of the sea of reeds when the Israelites willingly followed G'd into the desert, etc. (compare Jeremiah 2,2). G'd goes on record here that He will remember such deeds by our forefathers to their descendants in due course. The word ראשונים refers to the first ever generation of the Jews as a people G'd concluded a covenant with.

ברית ראשונים, for whose sake I took them out of Egypt in the first place.

וזכרתי להם ברית ראשונים, “I will remember for them the covenant with the ancients.” Nachmanides sees in this a promise that G’d will remember the covenant with the ancients (the patriarchs) both when the Jewish people are in the Holy Land and when they will be in exile. He sees in the words לעיני הגוים, “in full view of the gentile nations,” an allusion to the enduring nature of G’d’s special relationship with the Jewish people. Ibn Ezra writes that the meaning of the words וזכרתי להם ברית ראשונים, refer to the covenant concluded at the revelation at Mount Sinai; [after all the era the Torah refers to here when speaking of the exile of the Jewish people is more than 1000 years in the future, so that people alive at that time will consider that covenant without problem as “the covenant concluded with the ancients.” Ed.] There are some scholars who understand the words ברית ראשונים, ”covenant with the ancients” as the covenant concluded with the patriarchs in which G’d promised redemption from Egypt after bondage and harsh treatment. According to this opinion this is why the Torah here has added “whom I took out of Egypt in full view of all the nations.”

וזכרתי להם ברית ראשונם, “I will remember in their favour the covenant with the earlier generations;” from this verse we learn that the covenant was concluded with the different tribes at the time when the people left Egypt. The curses, i.e. admonitions, we have just read are referred to as the brit, covenant, as spelled out in Deuteronomy 28,69: אלה דברי הברית מלבד הברית אשר כרת אתם בחורב, “these are the words of the covenant, apart from the covenant He made with them at Mount Chorev.”

'אני ה, “I have not changed; any deterioration in the Jewish people’s condition is completely the result of their own doing. I will eventually successfully complete My plan, something that I have had in mind since time immemorial, but I have never revealed My timetable.”