אֵ֤יךְ הָי֣וּ לְשַׁמָּ֣ה כְרָ֑גַע סָ֥פוּ תַ֝֗מּוּ מִן־בַּלָּהֽוֹת׃
װי װערן זײ צו װיסט אין אַ רגע!זײ עקן זיך, זײ װערן פֿאַרלענדט פֿון שרעקענישן.
Ramban
‘MIKEITZ’ OF SEVEN YEARS THOU SHALT MAKE ‘SH’MITAH.’ The correct interpretation appears to me that he is warning about the seventh year itself, that we make it a Sabbatical [refraining] from plowing, [sowing] and reaping, just as He said, But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow,245Exodus 23:11. this being the meaning of thou shalt make ‘sh’mitah,’ that “you should rest,” similar to the expression, to keep the Sabbath-day.246Above, 5:15. He abridged the prohibitions of sowing and pruning because He expressly mentioned them already,247See Leviticus 25:4. but he supplemented [what was previously said] to explain that it is a ‘sh’mitah’ of the Eternal248Verse 2. also in regards to the release of moneys. This is the sense of the expression, because it is proclaimed ‘the remission’ of the Eternal,248Verse 2. which is similar to a Sabbath unto the Eternal,249Leviticus 25:2. and all works are to cease. I have already alluded to its secret.249Leviticus 25:2.
Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented [that the meaning of the word mikeitz is] “at the beginning of the year.” And so say all grammarians250Including R’dak in his Sefer Hasharashim, under the root katzeh. that the beginning and end of something are each called katzeh, since there are two extremities to each thing, similar to what is written, from ‘hakatzeh’ (end) to ‘hakatzeh’ (end);251Exodus 26:28. of the two ends thereof;252Ibid., 25:19. in the four ends thereof.253Ibid., 27:4. But the words [of the grammarians and Ibn Ezra] do not seem correct to me. For “the beginning of seven years” denotes the first year [of the Sabbatical cycle], this being the katzeh which is called rosh (the beginning)! Now had Scripture said, “mikeitz of the seventh year” their interpretation would have been correct [for then the verse would mean “at the beginning of the seventh year you shall make sh’mitah.” Instead, however, Scripture says, “‘Mikeitz’ of seven years thou shalt make ‘sh’mitah’” which according to them means “at the beginning of seven years,” i.e., in the first year you shall make the sh’mitah, which cannot be correct]! And in the opinion of our Rabbis254Sifre, R’eih 111. mikeitz means “at the end of the seven years,” and Scripture speaks only of the release of money [i.e., the remission of debts], stating “at the end of all seven years counted by you [as a Sabbatical cycle] you shall make a release, that every creditor shall release that which he hath lent unto his neighbor, ”248Verse 2. and it is therefore that the Rabbis have said255Arakhin 28b. that the Seventh year cancels a loan only at the end. Similarly in their opinion254Sifre, R’eih 111. the verse ‘mikeitz’ seven years, at the appointed season of the year of remission, in the Festival of Tabernacles256Further, 31:10. means “at the end of the seventh year,” except that “the end” mentioned here [with reference to the release of debts] means immediately [i.e., in the last moment of the seventh year] and “the end” mentioned there [with reference to the Assembly at which the king was to read the Book of Deuteronomy] is “distant,” [during Tabernacles, somewhat “distant” from the end of the year], since he explained at the appointed season of the year of remission, in the Festival of Tabernacles.256Further, 31:10. Thus the sense [of mikeitz] in both cases is “the end,” stating here “at the end of seven years you shall make a release,” and there likewise it states “when the seven years end at the appointed season of the year of remission in the Festival of Tabernacles you shall make an Assembly.”
By way of the simple meaning of Scripture it appears to me that the language of Scripture in its plain sense is clear and correct. Keitz means “end,” and so is its translation [as rendered by Onkelos and Yonathan: “at the end”]. Numbers and every [other] thing have a beginning and an end, and their beginning and end are part of them. Thus when you speak of tens, “one” is the beginning of the number and “ten” its end. If so, “the end of seven years” is “the seventh year” which is the end of that number, and Scripture refers to the Sabbatical of the Land, as I have explained above. The meaning of the word mikeitz is then like one cherub (‘mikatzeh’) at the one ‘end’ and one cherub (‘mikatzeh’) at the other ‘end’.257Exodus 25:19. The purport of the verse here is thus as follows: “at the end of seven years [i.e., in the seventh year which is ‘the end’ of that period] you shall make a cessation of work on the Land.” Similarly, ‘Mikeitz’ of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother that is a Hebrew, that hath been sold unto thee and hath served thee six years258Jeremiah 34:13. means “in the seventh year” which is the end of that number, this being similar to the verse written in the Torah, and in the seventh year he shall go out free for nothing.259Exodus 21:2. Thus the point is clear: In the seventh year — i.e., from its very beginning — we are to observe an entire year’s rest for the Land. Similarly, at the beginning of the seventh year of his service, the Hebrew servant is to go free, for, as Scripture stated, he shall serve thee six years, and at [the beginning of] the seventh year he goes free for nothing. So also, and in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free;260Further, Verse 12. for having said, he shall serve thee six years,260Further, Verse 12. it was not necessary to explain [“mikeitz seven years you shall let him go”] but only to state that in the seventh year he goes free. In the same way it would appear that the meaning of the other verse — ‘mikeitz’ seven years, at the appointed season in the year of remission, in the Festival of Tabernacles256Further, 31:10. — would be in a similar way: “in ‘the end’ year, in the Festival of Tabernacles, in the beginning of that year in which plowing and sowing have been forbidden, this being the Sabbatical year.” But we could not say so, since our Rabbis have received by tradition261Sotah 41a. and they provided that the Assembly [in which the king read the Book of Deuteronomy] should be held in the Festival of Tabernacles of the eighth year, this being the year after the Sabbatical year. Therefore, the commentators262Rashi (further, 31:10). said that at the appointed season in the year of remission256Further, 31:10. means “in the appointed season of the first year in the Sabbatical cycle.” This is not correct for the year of remission in Scripture refers only to the year of rest, to that year which is the remission of the Eternal248Verse 2. [and not as Rashi explained, “the first year of the Sabbatical cycle”], and so also, the year of the Jubilee263Leviticus 25:13. [means, “the year which is itself the Jubilee”]. Our Rabbis themselves made this point, for they said:264Arakhin 24b. “Is it written ‘in the year of the Jubilee?’ It states from the year of the Jubilee265Leviticus 27:17. which means ‘the year after the Jubilee.’”266This proves that only where Scripture uses the term “from” — “from the Jubilee” or “from the remission” — it means “the year after the Jubilee” or “after the remission,” but “the year of remission” means the year in which the rest of the Land takes place.
But I say thus: keitz and soph are used in Scripture to denote “the end” of any matter, but sometimes they are within that extremity and sometimes after it, outside of it. Thus: ‘umiktzei’ (and from among) his brethren;267Genesis 47:2. ‘mikatzeh’ (that is outmost) in the set;268Exodus 26:4. ‘umiktzatham’ (that at the end) they might stand before the king;269Daniel 1:5. ‘miktzoth’ (from the uttermost part) of the one wing unto ‘k’tzoth’ (the uttermost part) of the other270I Kings 6:24. — all these are expressions of an extremity which is attached to the thing itself and is contained within it. [But the following expressions:] ‘keitz’ (the end of) all flesh is come before Me;271Genesis 6:13. and he shall come to ‘kitzo’ (his end), and none shall help him;272Daniel 11:45. ‘hakeitz’ (the end) is come;273Ezekiel 7:2. ‘keitz’ (an end) is come274Ibid., Verse 6. — all signify “the end” of the matter mentioned but it signifies a later period, for it has been severed and separated. So it is regarding the term soph (end): It is better to go to the house of mourning etc. for that is ‘soph’ (the end of) all men,275Ecclesiastes 7:2. which means “after him,” for he has died; they are wholly ‘sophu’ (consumed) by terrors.276Psalms 73:19. The work that G-d hath done from the beginning even to ‘soph’ (the end)277Ecclesiastes 3:11. — here the term end is within the work itself. And in the language of the Rabbis we find [with reference to the writing of a Scroll of the Law:278Baba Bathra 13b. “The scribe is to leave blank] about a column at the beginning [of the Torah] and about [the width of] the circumference ‘b’sopho’ (at its end).” The meaning of the verse [regarding the Assembly] will then be as follows: “From the end of the seven years in the account of the year of release, in the Festival of Tabernacles which follows after the seven years, you shall make the Assembly.” And in order it should not appear to them that “the seven years” refer to some other counting, he mentioned that the seven years be [bizman ha’sh’mitah], at “the time of” the release. Similarly, when I take ‘mo’eid’279Psalms 75:3. means “the [appointed] time.” So do all mo’adim (festivals) signify “the [appointed] times.” Thus this term mikeitz [stated in connection with the Assembly] means “after the period [of seven years] is finished,” as he explained, in the Festival of Tabernacles.256Further, 31:10. But [in the verse stated here before us] ‘mikeitz’ seven years thou shalt make a release [the seventh year is] within that number. He did not need to dwell upon and explain this since He already explained that the seventh year is the year of the release.280Exodus 23:11; Leviticus 25:4. And the word keitz (end) here is then extensive, applying [to the release during] the whole [seventh] year as I have explained by way of the simple meaning of Scripture.
It is possible to say that Scripture counts the beginning of the year from the Festival of Tabernacles, as He said, and the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year,281Exodus 34:22. and He further said, and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year.282Ibid., 23:16. And if so, ‘mikeitz’ seven years [stated further on in connection with the Assembly]256Further, 31:10. means “at the end [of the seven years] and just beyond it.” And he states, at the appointed season of the year of remission256Further, 31:10. to indicate that the reckoning of seven years be according to the Sabbatical cycles, as I have explained, but not that the [legal obligations of] release extend up to this Festival [of Tabernacles].
Now, I have seen of one author283I have not identified this author. who wrote [with respect to the verse on the Assembly]: “This teaches that we are to add from the secular to the sacred, and the law of release [although officially ending at the New Year of the eighth year] still applied until the Festival of Tabernacles of the eighth year. But it is irrefutably shown in the Talmud284Rosh Hashanah 13a. See my Hebrew commentary p. 413. with clear proofs that it [the above interpretation] is untrue.
Now it is possible to say that what our Rabbis have said254Sifre, R’eih 111. with respect to ‘mikeitz’ seven years thou shalt make a release that the release of money [i.e., the remission of debts] takes effect only at the end of the year — that it is an interpretation [deduced from the text]. Because Scripture did not say “the seventh year you shall make a release” [but instead said ‘mikeitz’ seven years …], it is more suggestive that you effect the remission at the end of the seven [years] than at the beginning. And the intent of [the Rabbis in using here] this term “end” is “beyond it.” Thus a creditor can demand his debt on the last day of the year of the release, and it is not remitted until the night, for thus we find in the Tosephta285Tosephta Shevi’ith 8:10. On “Tosephta” see Vol. III, p. 179, Note 124. that they may write a prozbul286A declaration made before a court by a creditor and signed by witnesses to the effect that the loan in question would not be cancelled by the law of release of the Sabbatical year. The prozbul’s legal basis is the Torah’s prohibition that the creditor shall not exact the debt; by turning over his claims to the court, it is they, the officers of the court, who collect it and not the creditor (Rashi, Gittin 36a). It was Hillel who established this ordinance because people refused to lend money to the poor on the seventh year for fear that the debts would be remitted, thus transgressing the law of the Torah against being callous to the condition of the poor (ibid., 36a). See “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 149-150. on the day before the New Year of the outgoing seventh year.
Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented [that the meaning of the word mikeitz is] “at the beginning of the year.” And so say all grammarians250Including R’dak in his Sefer Hasharashim, under the root katzeh. that the beginning and end of something are each called katzeh, since there are two extremities to each thing, similar to what is written, from ‘hakatzeh’ (end) to ‘hakatzeh’ (end);251Exodus 26:28. of the two ends thereof;252Ibid., 25:19. in the four ends thereof.253Ibid., 27:4. But the words [of the grammarians and Ibn Ezra] do not seem correct to me. For “the beginning of seven years” denotes the first year [of the Sabbatical cycle], this being the katzeh which is called rosh (the beginning)! Now had Scripture said, “mikeitz of the seventh year” their interpretation would have been correct [for then the verse would mean “at the beginning of the seventh year you shall make sh’mitah.” Instead, however, Scripture says, “‘Mikeitz’ of seven years thou shalt make ‘sh’mitah’” which according to them means “at the beginning of seven years,” i.e., in the first year you shall make the sh’mitah, which cannot be correct]! And in the opinion of our Rabbis254Sifre, R’eih 111. mikeitz means “at the end of the seven years,” and Scripture speaks only of the release of money [i.e., the remission of debts], stating “at the end of all seven years counted by you [as a Sabbatical cycle] you shall make a release, that every creditor shall release that which he hath lent unto his neighbor, ”248Verse 2. and it is therefore that the Rabbis have said255Arakhin 28b. that the Seventh year cancels a loan only at the end. Similarly in their opinion254Sifre, R’eih 111. the verse ‘mikeitz’ seven years, at the appointed season of the year of remission, in the Festival of Tabernacles256Further, 31:10. means “at the end of the seventh year,” except that “the end” mentioned here [with reference to the release of debts] means immediately [i.e., in the last moment of the seventh year] and “the end” mentioned there [with reference to the Assembly at which the king was to read the Book of Deuteronomy] is “distant,” [during Tabernacles, somewhat “distant” from the end of the year], since he explained at the appointed season of the year of remission, in the Festival of Tabernacles.256Further, 31:10. Thus the sense [of mikeitz] in both cases is “the end,” stating here “at the end of seven years you shall make a release,” and there likewise it states “when the seven years end at the appointed season of the year of remission in the Festival of Tabernacles you shall make an Assembly.”
By way of the simple meaning of Scripture it appears to me that the language of Scripture in its plain sense is clear and correct. Keitz means “end,” and so is its translation [as rendered by Onkelos and Yonathan: “at the end”]. Numbers and every [other] thing have a beginning and an end, and their beginning and end are part of them. Thus when you speak of tens, “one” is the beginning of the number and “ten” its end. If so, “the end of seven years” is “the seventh year” which is the end of that number, and Scripture refers to the Sabbatical of the Land, as I have explained above. The meaning of the word mikeitz is then like one cherub (‘mikatzeh’) at the one ‘end’ and one cherub (‘mikatzeh’) at the other ‘end’.257Exodus 25:19. The purport of the verse here is thus as follows: “at the end of seven years [i.e., in the seventh year which is ‘the end’ of that period] you shall make a cessation of work on the Land.” Similarly, ‘Mikeitz’ of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother that is a Hebrew, that hath been sold unto thee and hath served thee six years258Jeremiah 34:13. means “in the seventh year” which is the end of that number, this being similar to the verse written in the Torah, and in the seventh year he shall go out free for nothing.259Exodus 21:2. Thus the point is clear: In the seventh year — i.e., from its very beginning — we are to observe an entire year’s rest for the Land. Similarly, at the beginning of the seventh year of his service, the Hebrew servant is to go free, for, as Scripture stated, he shall serve thee six years, and at [the beginning of] the seventh year he goes free for nothing. So also, and in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free;260Further, Verse 12. for having said, he shall serve thee six years,260Further, Verse 12. it was not necessary to explain [“mikeitz seven years you shall let him go”] but only to state that in the seventh year he goes free. In the same way it would appear that the meaning of the other verse — ‘mikeitz’ seven years, at the appointed season in the year of remission, in the Festival of Tabernacles256Further, 31:10. — would be in a similar way: “in ‘the end’ year, in the Festival of Tabernacles, in the beginning of that year in which plowing and sowing have been forbidden, this being the Sabbatical year.” But we could not say so, since our Rabbis have received by tradition261Sotah 41a. and they provided that the Assembly [in which the king read the Book of Deuteronomy] should be held in the Festival of Tabernacles of the eighth year, this being the year after the Sabbatical year. Therefore, the commentators262Rashi (further, 31:10). said that at the appointed season in the year of remission256Further, 31:10. means “in the appointed season of the first year in the Sabbatical cycle.” This is not correct for the year of remission in Scripture refers only to the year of rest, to that year which is the remission of the Eternal248Verse 2. [and not as Rashi explained, “the first year of the Sabbatical cycle”], and so also, the year of the Jubilee263Leviticus 25:13. [means, “the year which is itself the Jubilee”]. Our Rabbis themselves made this point, for they said:264Arakhin 24b. “Is it written ‘in the year of the Jubilee?’ It states from the year of the Jubilee265Leviticus 27:17. which means ‘the year after the Jubilee.’”266This proves that only where Scripture uses the term “from” — “from the Jubilee” or “from the remission” — it means “the year after the Jubilee” or “after the remission,” but “the year of remission” means the year in which the rest of the Land takes place.
But I say thus: keitz and soph are used in Scripture to denote “the end” of any matter, but sometimes they are within that extremity and sometimes after it, outside of it. Thus: ‘umiktzei’ (and from among) his brethren;267Genesis 47:2. ‘mikatzeh’ (that is outmost) in the set;268Exodus 26:4. ‘umiktzatham’ (that at the end) they might stand before the king;269Daniel 1:5. ‘miktzoth’ (from the uttermost part) of the one wing unto ‘k’tzoth’ (the uttermost part) of the other270I Kings 6:24. — all these are expressions of an extremity which is attached to the thing itself and is contained within it. [But the following expressions:] ‘keitz’ (the end of) all flesh is come before Me;271Genesis 6:13. and he shall come to ‘kitzo’ (his end), and none shall help him;272Daniel 11:45. ‘hakeitz’ (the end) is come;273Ezekiel 7:2. ‘keitz’ (an end) is come274Ibid., Verse 6. — all signify “the end” of the matter mentioned but it signifies a later period, for it has been severed and separated. So it is regarding the term soph (end): It is better to go to the house of mourning etc. for that is ‘soph’ (the end of) all men,275Ecclesiastes 7:2. which means “after him,” for he has died; they are wholly ‘sophu’ (consumed) by terrors.276Psalms 73:19. The work that G-d hath done from the beginning even to ‘soph’ (the end)277Ecclesiastes 3:11. — here the term end is within the work itself. And in the language of the Rabbis we find [with reference to the writing of a Scroll of the Law:278Baba Bathra 13b. “The scribe is to leave blank] about a column at the beginning [of the Torah] and about [the width of] the circumference ‘b’sopho’ (at its end).” The meaning of the verse [regarding the Assembly] will then be as follows: “From the end of the seven years in the account of the year of release, in the Festival of Tabernacles which follows after the seven years, you shall make the Assembly.” And in order it should not appear to them that “the seven years” refer to some other counting, he mentioned that the seven years be [bizman ha’sh’mitah], at “the time of” the release. Similarly, when I take ‘mo’eid’279Psalms 75:3. means “the [appointed] time.” So do all mo’adim (festivals) signify “the [appointed] times.” Thus this term mikeitz [stated in connection with the Assembly] means “after the period [of seven years] is finished,” as he explained, in the Festival of Tabernacles.256Further, 31:10. But [in the verse stated here before us] ‘mikeitz’ seven years thou shalt make a release [the seventh year is] within that number. He did not need to dwell upon and explain this since He already explained that the seventh year is the year of the release.280Exodus 23:11; Leviticus 25:4. And the word keitz (end) here is then extensive, applying [to the release during] the whole [seventh] year as I have explained by way of the simple meaning of Scripture.
It is possible to say that Scripture counts the beginning of the year from the Festival of Tabernacles, as He said, and the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year,281Exodus 34:22. and He further said, and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year.282Ibid., 23:16. And if so, ‘mikeitz’ seven years [stated further on in connection with the Assembly]256Further, 31:10. means “at the end [of the seven years] and just beyond it.” And he states, at the appointed season of the year of remission256Further, 31:10. to indicate that the reckoning of seven years be according to the Sabbatical cycles, as I have explained, but not that the [legal obligations of] release extend up to this Festival [of Tabernacles].
Now, I have seen of one author283I have not identified this author. who wrote [with respect to the verse on the Assembly]: “This teaches that we are to add from the secular to the sacred, and the law of release [although officially ending at the New Year of the eighth year] still applied until the Festival of Tabernacles of the eighth year. But it is irrefutably shown in the Talmud284Rosh Hashanah 13a. See my Hebrew commentary p. 413. with clear proofs that it [the above interpretation] is untrue.
Now it is possible to say that what our Rabbis have said254Sifre, R’eih 111. with respect to ‘mikeitz’ seven years thou shalt make a release that the release of money [i.e., the remission of debts] takes effect only at the end of the year — that it is an interpretation [deduced from the text]. Because Scripture did not say “the seventh year you shall make a release” [but instead said ‘mikeitz’ seven years …], it is more suggestive that you effect the remission at the end of the seven [years] than at the beginning. And the intent of [the Rabbis in using here] this term “end” is “beyond it.” Thus a creditor can demand his debt on the last day of the year of the release, and it is not remitted until the night, for thus we find in the Tosephta285Tosephta Shevi’ith 8:10. On “Tosephta” see Vol. III, p. 179, Note 124. that they may write a prozbul286A declaration made before a court by a creditor and signed by witnesses to the effect that the loan in question would not be cancelled by the law of release of the Sabbatical year. The prozbul’s legal basis is the Torah’s prohibition that the creditor shall not exact the debt; by turning over his claims to the court, it is they, the officers of the court, who collect it and not the creditor (Rashi, Gittin 36a). It was Hillel who established this ordinance because people refused to lend money to the poor on the seventh year for fear that the debts would be remitted, thus transgressing the law of the Torah against being callous to the condition of the poor (ibid., 36a). See “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 149-150. on the day before the New Year of the outgoing seventh year.
Abarbanel
And in the ninth year, [that] of He who scatters [mazreh, alluding to Jeremiah 31:10, which has a numerical equivalent of that year] Israel: The king of Spain conquered the entire kingdom of Grenada and Grenada the great city of many people, the princess among the states [alluding to Lamentations 1:1]. And in his power and the haughtiness of his heart, his spirit changed and incurred guilt, ascribing his might to his god [alluding to Habakkuk 1:11]. And Esau said in his heart [alluding to Genesis 27:41], “How will I find favor to my god, who girded me with might [alluding to Psalms 18:33]? With what shall I begin towards my master, he gave this city into my hands? Should it not be in bringing the people walking in the dark, the lost sheep, Israel, under his wings and to bring back the wild daughter to his his religion and to his faith? Or [otherwise] to send them away from before me to another land, that they should never return to my land and be established in front of my eyes.” Therefore the command and decree of the king [alluding to Esther 4:3] went out like the decree of Medea and Persia, and the herald proclaimed in a loud voice, “You are commanded [alluding to Daniel 3:4], all you families of the House of Israel, when you pass through the water [to be baptized], you shall pray and bow to the god of the nations, so you shall eat the bounty of the land like us today and you will settle in the land and trade in it [alluding to Genesis 34:10]. But if you refuse and rebel and not utter the name of my god and you do not bring prayers to my god, get up and get out from amidst my people, from the lands of Spain, Sicily, Majorca, and Sardinia, which are under my power. And in three months, there will not be a footprint of someone called by the name Jacob and referred to by the name Israel in all the states of my kingdom!” When I was there in the courtyard of the kings’s house, I became weary with calling out; my throat dried up [alluding to Psalms 69:4]. I spoke with the king twice and three times; with my mouth did I beseech him, saying, “Will the king save [us]? Why are you doing this to your servants? Increase greatly the dowry and the gift upon us [alluding to Genesis 34:12], gold and silver and everything that each man from the house of Israel has he will give to his land.” I called my friends, the king’s confidantes, to request [help] for my people. And princes take counsel together [alluding to Psalms 2:2] to speak to the king with great force, to reverse the decrees of anger and fury and the plan that he had thought against the Jews to destroy them [alluding to Esther 9:25]. He was like a deaf viper that stops its ears [alluding to Psalms 58:5]; he responded to no one. And the queen stood at his right to mislead him; she swayed him with her eloquence [alluding to Proverbs 7:21], to fulfill his plan from start to finish. We exerted ourselves and did not rest, I had no repose, no quiet, no rest, yet trouble came [alluding to Job 3:26]. And the people heard this evil thing, and they mourned, and in every place to which the command and the decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews [alluding to Esther 4:3]. And there was a great harsh and overcoming trembling. the likes of which had not been seen since the day of Judah’s exile from its soil to foreign soil. But everyone said to one another, “Let us be strong for the sake of our religion and for the sake of our God’s Torah, against the voice of the curser and the blasphemer, from the enemy and the avenger. If he will let us live, we shall live, and if he kills us, we shall die. We shall not profane our covenant, nor shall we let our hearts go backward. We will walk in the name of the Lord, our God. And they went with no strength, 300,000 people on foot, I being among them, from youths to the elderly, babies and women in one day [alluding to Esther 3:13] from all of the states of the king. They walked to where the wind took them, and their King went out before them, and the Lord was in front of them. One shall say, “I am the Lord’s,” another shall mark his arm “of the Lord” [alluding to Isaiah 44:5]. Some of them went to the kingdom of Portugal and to the kingdom of Narbonne, which were close to them. But behold, it was distress and darkness and outspread thick darkness [alluding to Isaiah 8:22]. And they were met with frequent and bad distress [alluding to Psalms 71:20], wreck and ruin, famine and the sword [alluding to Isaiah 51:19]. And there were some of them who made a road through the sea and a path through mighty waters [alluding to Isaiah 43:16]. But the hand of the Lord was also upon them to confound them and to destroy them. Since many of the children of the forsaken one [alluding to Isaiah 54:1] were sold as slaves and maidservants [alluding to Esther 7:4] in all the provinces of the nations. And many drowned in the Red Sea, they sank like lead in the majestic waters [alluding to Exodus 15:10). And some also were put through fire and water – since ships burnt down, and the great fire of the Lord consumed them [alluding to Numbers 11:1]. The end of the matter is that not a man was spared from His difficult judgments, some for the sword, some for captivity, and the Lord [also] placed pestilence upon them. And they became a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth [alluding to Deuteronomy 28:25) until they were wholly swept away by terrors [alluding to Psalms 73:19]. And only a few of the many remained. And it is like the statement of our ancestors: Lo, we perish; we are lost, all of us lost! (Numbers 17:27). May the name of the Lord be blessed. I have also chosen their way, the way of the ship in the heart of the seas. And I am amidst the exile, I have come with all of my household, the children are my children, the sheep are my sheep [alluding to Genesis 31:43], here in the praised city of Naples, whose kings are kings of kindness. This year, the year of you have been sojourners [gerim, alluding to Exodus 22:20, which has a numerical equivalent of that year], I spoke to my heart, “That which I have vowed will I fulfill, to write a commentary on the book of Kings, which I have not done until now.” Also because it is a time to act for the Lord, to remember the destruction of our holy and splendorous Temple and the exiles that have come over our people that are written in this book, and as I will explain, with the grace of God. Behold, if so, Hiel the Bethelite, in building Jericho, laid its foundations with his first-born and set its gates in place with his youngest [alluding to I Kings 16:34] – I am a man who has seen my poverty in the youngest of the exiles, and the expulsion that came over me, and that was my personal exile that I had from the Kingdom of Portugal. I then made the foundation and began the commentary on these four books. And in the most senior of the exiles and the saddest of them, which is this bitter hasty expulsion and this great and terrible persecution, which devoured us and discomfited us [alluding to Jeremiah 51:34] and expelled us from having a share in Spain [alluding to I Samuel 26:19] that both ears of anyone who hears about it will tingle [alluding to I Samuel 3:11], I have put the gates of the commentary of this book in place and have completed it. And I have seen fit to begin this book with two general and comprehensive prefaces about its stories.
Rashbam
ולא יסף, according to the plain meaning of the text there was never again such an overpowering sound in the history of mankind. Whenever the word יסף appears it represents an addition of something. (compare Deut. 5,21, Psalms 73,19, and Genesis 18,23, the expression האף תספה, where the latter word is from the same root as יסף.)
Rashi
You gather in their spirit Heb. תסף, an expression of destruction, as (above 73:19): “They were completely consumed (ספו).”