Комментарий к Вайикра 26:9

ופניתי אליכם AND I WILL TURN UNTO YOU — This means, I will turn away from all My business in order to pay you your reward. A parable! To what may this be compared? To a king who hired labourers etc., just as is explained in Torath Cohanim (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 2 5).

AND I WILL MAKE YOU FRUITFUL. This means that they will all have children, fruit of the womb, and there will be no barren man or woman among them.²⁶See Deuteronomy 7:14. And then He stated again, and I will multiply you, meaning that they will have many children, and will not be bereaved of them, because they will live out their days,⁴See II Samuel 7:12. and therefore they will be a large people.

ופניתי אליכם, after the destruction of the gentile nations, as predicted by Jeremiah 46,28 “I will totally wipe out all the nations…but I will not wipe you out totally.”

ופניתי אליכם, "And I will turn to you, etc." This word is to be understood as similar to what we learned in Taanit 2 that G'd holds three keys; one of them is the key to לידה, to birth, i.e. procreation. This is why G'd had to say: "I will turn to you" before mentioning that He would make the Jewish people fruitful. The word ופניתי is indicative of G'd personally involving Himself in the fertility of the Jewish people instead of leaving the matter in the hands of the agent He has appointed as part of the laws of nature to deal with such tasks. It is also possible that when the verse continues with והרביתי אתכם, "I will multiply you," that this refers to a second key G'd holds in His hands, i.e. the key to פרנסה, livelihood. Adequate food assists physical growth. This may be why Torat Kohanim understand this blessing as contributing to the physical size of the Israelites. Moreover, we are taught in Sanhedrin 90 that the words והקימותי את בריתי אתכם at the end of our verse refer to the covenant with the dead that when the time comes their bodies will be resurrected. The word והקימותי then refers to the third key G'd holds in His hands, the key to life and death. The word ופניתי may thus be understood as G'd granting us access to all the three keys in His possession.

והפרתי אתכם, “I shall make you fruitful.” According to Nachmanides the meaning is that all the Israelites will not only conceive, but there will be no miscarriages among them. The Torah continues this them by adding והרבתי אתכם, “I shall multiply you,” meaning that you will have many children from each wife. As a result you will become a numerically powerful people.

ופניתי אליכם, “I will turn (My attention) to you, etc.” I will cause that My grace will remain attached to you. It is a well known fact that this state of affairs is the objective of the intelligence with which man has ben equipped. What is known as 'רצון ה', “G’d’s grace (goodwill),” is what עולם הבא, the world of the future, is all about. We have an allusion to this in Psalms 30,6 that רגע באפו חיים ברצונו, (normally translated as) “a moment of His anger is like a lifetime of His goodwill.” Here the meaning is understood to be the combined amount of time G’d is angry at the creatures in the terrestrial universe. Or, “G’d needs to vent His anger for a moment at the creatures in the terrestrial world in order for them to ultimately merit enjoying His goodwill in the world to come.” It is as a moment compared to the infinitely long time, “a lifetime.” He displays goodwill in the hereafter.
When G’d speaks of והתהלכתי בתוככם, “I will walk among you,” in verse 12, we must not understand this in the purely physical sense, but according to Sifra Bechukotai 3,3 it means that in the future, in the hereafter we have described, the Lord will go for a walk among the righteous who have taken their places in that world. The word may be compared to when G’d used to “walk about” in Gan Eden, in Genesis 3,5. It is a metaphor for G’d’s attribute כבוד feeling at home among people. The written Torah, ever at pains to express concepts which do not exist on earth in language we understand, describes such concepts in words we can understand. The word בתוככם, “among you,” may be understood as related to something round, without beginning or end, a circle in which every spot is equidistant from the centre. People who dance in a circle are happy, seeing all of them are equidistant from the point which is the centre, i.e. in this instance the point where G’d is perceived to be.
Having said that G’d will relate to the Jewish people like the point, centre inside a circle, the Torah goes on to describe the Lord as being G’d for the Jewish people (verse 13). This is an illustration of Isaiah 25,9 who speaks of the Jewish people saying (something sounding almost blasphemous) “here is this One who is our G’d.” This verse is describing graphically the closeness in terms of knowledge and intellectual appreciation of the Lord which will exist in that idyllic period. Just as certain people have intimate psychological knowledge and understanding of certain ones of their friends, so the righteous at that time will have insights into the way G’d operates. Naturally, the word “this” in the verse in Isaiah is not to be understood literally anymore than the mixed multitude speaking of the absent Moses in Exodus 32,1 when they said: “for this man Moses, etc.” meant by the word זה, “this,” that they could see Moses at that time. Seeing that Moses had been well known to the people, it was in order to refer to him as “this man,” even though he was not physically present and visible at that time.
In other words, our paragraph is an illustration of the fact that there is reward in the hereafter for good deeds performed in this life. The Torah garbed this information in language we can understand, relying on our intellectual astuteness to understand what is meant. It is an unusual thing for the Torah to do this as the Torah does not generally spell out matters relating to the world of disembodied spirits. Even our prophets did not have a clear understanding of what goes on in that world, so that our sages in Berachot 34 went on record saying that all the prophecies of the prophets related only to matters on earth, no one having become privy to anything which goes on in that other world except G’d Himself.” Further proof that this paragraph does refer to matters transpiring in the afterlife is the indisputable fact that the promises recorded here have never come true in history, in life on earth.

To a king who hired workers ... They did not serve him faithfully, except for one who served him faithfully. When the workers came to receive their pay, that worker too came with them. The king said to him: “My son, I will turn my attention to you [later]. Because these worked for me a little I will give them a small wage, whereas I have a large calculation [to make] with you.” So is the Holy One. He pays the non-Jews’ wage swiftly. But when Israel comes, He turns away from all his [other] businesses since their wage is very large and He needs time to calculate with them to pay them for all their merits (Nachalas Yaakov). See what I wrote in parshas Ki Sissa and in parshas Acharei Mos.

והקימותי את בריתי אתכם, “I will maintain My covenant with you.” This is the covenant I established with your forefathers that I will multiply you to become as numerous as the stars in heaven and the dust on the earth. (Genesis 26,4 and Genesis 28,14, Ibn Ezra)

והפריתי אתכם AND I SHALL MAKE YOU FRUITFUL — This, of course, means:in פריה ורביה in reproductive power (i. e. in numbers), but —

והקימותי את בריתי, the covenant first mentioned in Genesis 17,7 to be “your G’d and that of your descendants after you.”

With increasing population. You might ask: Perhaps והפרתי והרבתי both refer to “fruitfulness and increase,” as everywhere [else] where פריה ורביה are written together? [Why then does Rashi translate והרבתי as “I will make you great”?]. The answer is since the Torah does not write והפריתי והרבתי אתכם, but rather, והפרתי אתכם והרבתי אתכם, this indicates that they are two separate things (R. Noson). You might ask: Why the Sages do not exposit anything regarding Yishmael where it is written (Bereishis 17:20), “ And as for Yishmael I have heard you..., and I will make him fruitful, (and will increase him exceedingly),” yet they do not expound anything from the [extra] word him? The answer is: Regarding Yishmael the word him is exclusionary: I will bless him with the blessing of fruitfulness and increase, but I will not bless the sons of Keturah, even though they too were the sons of Avrohom. Analyze this.

Another aspect of this verse is related to the statement in Shabbat 156 that Israel is not subject to the restrictions inherent in the term mazzal, such as referred to by Isaiah 41,2 when he described Abraham as having thought his fate was determined by the constellation of Jupiter (compare page 1302). The word ופניתי simply means that G'd will turn aside the horoscopic influences and apply a different set of rules to the dispensation of the blessings involving the three areas to which G'd personally holds the keys. Although, according to Moed Katan 28, the three domains over which G'd holds the key are not subject to man's merit but to his mazzal, G'd will make an exception to this rule by "moving the relevant constellation (מפנה) "aside," to enable Israel to overcome negative influences. The expression לפרות refers to the ability to have children, the expression והרביתי אתכם refers to long life, similar to Deut. 11,21 למען ירבו ימיכם; the words והקימותי את בריתי refer to the supply of adequate sustenance. The reason that the Torah referred to the covenant here is because G'd had concluded such a covenant with Noach in Genesis 8,22 not to again destroy the seasons and the harvest they are to produce. Shavuot 36 comments on that verse in Genesis where G'd is reported as saying this "to His heart," that this is equivalent to an oath. In Genesis 9,12 G'd referred to the "sign of the covenant" i.e. the rainbow as a reminder of this covenant which included all the various promises made by G'd after Noach left the ark. The oath G'd swore at the time did not comprise the whole globe. After all, we all know that part of the surface of the globe does not produce crops in certain years due to some catastrophe or other, the years of famine both in Canaan and in Egypt being just a minor example. What G'd had sworn was that He would not deprive the entire earth of sustenance simultaneously such as happened during the deluge. Please refer to what I have written on the words "and you shall love the Lord your G'd" on Deut. 6,5.

והרביתי אתכם (which may denote: “I will make you large”) means in height (lit., erect stature) (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 2 5).

אתכם, I will maintain it with you in your own right, because of your merit, not just because I remember having sworn to keep faith with your illustrious forefathers. This promise has been repeated in Ezekiel 37,27 as an eternally valid covenant, as well as in Isaiah 54,10 “My covenant of peace will never falter.”

With an upright stature. Re’m explains that if they are fruitful they will certainly increase. Therefore הרבתי must mean התרברבות (greatness), i.e., an upright stature.

Another meaning of the words ופניתי אליכם may be gleaned after we examine Samuel II 6,10. The prophet reports that David did not want to transfer the Holy Ark to him in Jerusalem and instead made it detour to the house of Oved Edom Hagitti. As a result of the latter's willingness to be host to the Holy Ark G'd blessed his entire family. Our sages in Berachot 63 describe the blessing as Oved Edom's wife and eight daughters-in-law being very prolific in bearing many children during the three months that the ark stayed in Oved Edom's home. According to Chronicles I 26, 6 children were born to that family during that time. This is the kind of blessing referred to by the words… ופניתי אליכם והרביתי אתכם, "I will turn to you….and multiply you." Once G'd turns His face to you, the rest will follow automatically. The expression והרביתי אתכם contains within it a special distinction. Normally, when we encounter a great number of something, the multiplicity of the numbers is at the expense of the worth of the individual. If someone owns 1.000 head of cattle for instance, he does not treasure each animal as a separate possession as much as he would if he only owned three cows. G'd blessed Oved Edom in that though his family became very numerous this did not detract from the individual worth of each family member (compare our comments on Exodus 1,9 and Numbers 13,18). The words והקימותי את בריתי אתכם are a blessing similar to that in Isaiah 59,21: "and as for Me, this will be My covenant with them says the Lord….My words will not depart from your mouth or the mouth of your children." It is the promise that the Torah will not depart from their offspring. Another meaning of the words is that G'd renews the covenant which He had already entered into with the patriarchs.

והקמתי את בריתי אתכם AND I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU — a new covenant; not like that covenant which you broke by worshipping the golden calf), as it said, (Jeremiah 31:31-32): “[Behold, the days come, saith the Lord that] I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant [that I made with their fathers,… which My covenant they broke, but… I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts]” (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 2 5).