Комментарий о цитате к Ирмеяу 34:18

הנה דם הברית, “here is the blood, the symbol of the covenant;”The blood of the covenant is divided into two halves, as always when a covenant is made between two parties. We know this already from the first covenant made between G-d and Avraham in Genesis chapter 15, when Avraham divided all the slaughtered animals except for the bird.[Nowadays when two parties conclude an agreement each receives a copy of the text, and each signs both copies. Ed.] The prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 34,18, refers to העגל אשר כרתו לשנים ויעברו בין בתריו, “the calf which they cut in two so as to pass between the halves.” The reason why in Genesis15,17, G-d is not described as passing between the pieces Avraham had cut, was His way of indicating to Avraham that there would be a price to pay in blood for violating this covenant. This idea has also been referred to again in Leviticus 26,25 in the tochachah, the chapter of dire warnings, where G-d describes His reaction to when the Jewish people become guilty of violating this covenant.

'ויאמר אליו קחה לי וגו, the purpose of Avram taking these animals was to offer them to Gd as a sacrifice. G’d would use this sacrifice to illustrate to Avram the future of his descendants, their settlement in the land of Canaan, as well as their exile from that land. By means of these animal sacrifices G’d would conclude a covenant with Avram that was not subject to permanent dissolution, ever. Concluding a covenant is a procedure such as follows in the next verse, ויבתר אותם בתוך. In Jeremiah 34,18 the prophet spells this out more clearly, עגלה אשר כרתו לשנים ויעבר בין בתריו, “(like) the calf which they cut in two so as to pass between the halves”

ויבתר אתם AND HE SPLIT THEM — He divided each into two portions. This verse does not lose its literal meaning although there are various Midrashic explanations of it. Since He was making a covenant with him to keep His promise to give the land as an inheritance to his children — as it is written (Genesis 15:18), “In that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying …” — and as it was the custom for parties to a covenant to divide an animal and to pass between its parts, as it is said elsewhere (Jeremiah 34:19) “who passed between the parts of the calf”, so also here the smoking furnace and the flaming torch which passed between the pieces (Genesis 15:17) were representative of the Divine Shechinah which is spoken of as fire.

לעברך בברית THAT THOU SHOULDEST PASS INTO THE COVENANT — The way of “passing” was as follows: those who made a covenant used to make a partition (i.e. used to place objects in a straight line) on one side and a partition on the other and passed between them, as it is said, (Jeremiah 34:18—20) “[And I will give the men which have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me] when they cut the calf in two, and passed between the parts thereof … [into the hands of their enemies]”.