Comentários de Citação sobre Deuteronômio 28:23

A famine from drought is that the year be with little rain. It rains in some places and in some places it does not rain; and when it does rain, the rain will be little. And a famine from tumult is when a man is involved in wars and arguments and other novelties that come up for them until the land is unworked - and he does not plant at the time of planting from the [instability in] the world. And a famine of annihilation is that it not rain at all and the rivers and lakes dry up, as its stating (Deuteronomy 28:23), "And the skies above your head shall be copper."

a famine of annihilation comes: A year that no rain falls at all - 'and the skies above your head shall be copper.' Because of the proliferation of sins, there is a great punishment.

It seems appropriate to say regarding this that in all the curses detailed in Torat Kohanim and in the portion of Ki Tavo, in all of them there is room for a stiff-necked person to remove the fear of God from before his eyes and to give himself a blessing of peace, seeking some salvation through some human stratagem. Just as it was said about the generation of the flood: Light is he upon the face of the water (Job 24:18) — [they said] “We have small, light boats that will float on the surface of the water.” Similarly with these curses, for example, it is written, And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze — implying specifically what is over your head and not what is over the heads of other nations, for there it will rain. If so, one might stubbornly say, “I will go and buy grain from other nations because they have produce.” And likewise with pestilence and sword, one might say, “I will escape for my life,” as it is written Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; he who guards his soul will stay far from them (Proverbs 22:5). Therefore, in all the curses, their faces did not turn pale because they said there is a way to be saved from them through human stratagem.
However, if you threaten a person to do something to him without specifying his punishment, then he cannot guard himself from you because he does not know what to be careful of. Now, in those curses of the plains of Moab, they are certainly one hundred, for the author of the Midrash counted them and found one hundred, but included among them are two whose nature was not specified, as it says, Also every sickness and every plague that is not written in this Torah. Without doubt, the author of this Midrash did not count every sickness and every plague as part of the number 98, but counted 98 besides them, and with them there are one hundred. But of those hundred, two are missing — not actually missing, but missing in that their nature was not specified, and therefore it is impossible to guard against them. This is why “they were alarmed, they hurried, trembling seized them” because of these two that were missing and whose nature was concealed, and they feared them, that they would bring about their destruction.

ונתתי את שמיכם כברזל ואת ארצכם כנחשה AND I WILL MAKE YOUR HEAVEN AS IRON AND YOUR EARTH AS COPPER — This threat is even severer than that of Moses, because there it says, (Deuteronomy 28:23) “And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be copper, [and the earth that is under thee shall be iron]” which implies that the heaven will at least exude moisture (will give some humidity) just as the copper exudes moisture, whilst the earth will not exude just as iron does not exude, and so it will keep its fruit in good condition, since it will not be too humid. Here, however, Scripture threatens that the heaven will not exude moisture, just as iron does not exude, and there will therefore be draught in the world, whilst the earth will exude (be too humid) just as copper sweats, and it will consequently make its fruits perish (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 5 3).