ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף מלאכי 2:15

A FURTHER ELABORATION OF HOW TORAH STUDY, EVEN IN THE ABSENCE OF THE TEMPLE, ENABLES ONE TO TRANSCEND THE PHYSICAL REALM
TO FURTHER ELABORATE and clarify this matter, I would like to begin by quoting Avos de-Rabbi Nassan, chapter 28: “R. Nassan said, ‘There is no love like the love of Torah, there is no wisdom as the wisdom of the Land of Israel, there is no beauty, and so on.’” R. Nassan teaches us that spiritual love is greater and more powerful in potential than the love that results from physical pleasure, which has a finite limit. All that man aspires to achieve in physical love is provided for the sake of what his soul loves, [a form of love] that has precedence over everything [and is experienced by all]. This is not so with the love of Torah, which is so powerful in capacity, to the extent that the soul [reciprocates] and also contributes love for [the Torah’s] sake, [as experienced by] the one whose soul is greatly accustomed to her study and taste. Even though this is difficult to conceptualize and is incomprehensible to the one who has not experienced it – since it is beyond man’s intellect and human nature – however, its truth is known to the one who experiences this additional spirit within himself¹See Mal. 2:15. and is bound to the spirit of the wisdom of the Torah.

בבגדו בה, “seeing he has betrayed her.” He would have betrayed her if he sold her to a Gentile master. He can only sell her to someone who can wed her in accordance with Jewish law.
There is a disagreement between the two scholars Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva (Kidushin 18) on the precise meaning here of the words בבגדו בה, “seeing he has betrayed her.” One of the scholars traces the word בבגדו to the word בגד, “garment,” whereas the other scholar understands is as בגידה, “betrayal.” Rabbi Akiva who holds that it is connected to בגד bases himself on the principle of יש אם למקרא that the reading of the text is more authoritative when it conflicts with the spelling. The reading is based on the word לו as we read the word לא as if it had been spelled with a ו, meaning the master had designated her for himself. By becoming betrothed to her master at the time she entered his service he had placed her under the protection of his mantle, figuratively speaking. Once her master had done this he is no longer free to sell her. Rabbi Eliezer, on the other and, believes that the spelling is of greater weight whenever there is an ambiguity in the meaning of the words, a principle known as יש אם למסורת. In our case the spelling of the word לא is with the letter א meaning “no” i.e. he had not betrothed her to himself. Rabbi Akiva sees an ambiguity even in the word בבגדו-בה itself, being convinced it means “when his garment was on her,” seeing that if it were derived from בגידה, betrayal, the vowel under the second letter ב should have been a chataf kametz instead of a chirik which is proof that it is derived from בגד, a word in which the basic vowel segol always turns into a chirik when it appears in the possessive form. The word בה is to be understood as עליה, “upon her.” The word בה also means עליה in Nechemyah 2,12 הבהמה אשר אני רוכב בה, “the beast which I ride on.” Rabbi Eliezer understands the word as derived from בגידה even though the vowel pattern does not appear to support his theory. The reason is that he considers the word not as a possessive form but as an infinitive. The vowel chirik as such would be perfectly in place. A Biblical example supporting his theory would be Leviticus 26,26 בשברי לכם מטה לחם, “when I break for you the staff of bread.” The reason the Torah writes בה, (according to Rabbi Eliezer) is that the preposition used with the word בגד, betray, is always the letter ב. To quote but two examples: (Malachi 2,14 and Malachi 2,15) אשת נעוריך אשר בגדת בה, “the wife of your youth whom you have betrayed; or ובאשת נעוריך אל יבגוד, “and let no one break faith with the wife of your youth.” On that same folio of the Talmud Rabbi Shimon holds that we pay halachic attention to both the spelling and the reading so that we can derive two rulings from the verse.

By the maidens of Jerusalem: The Central Column. This is the meaning of “a man’s wife,” concerning which the prophet said (of those men who brought home foreign wives): “Has not one done this out of excess of spirit? What does one seek but godly seed?” [Mal. 2:15].⁹²The obscure passage seems to mean that shekhinah is wife to the Central Column, source of godly seed; so too should Israel, husbands and wives, bear godly seed.