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Yeshayahu reassures the land that Hashem has not forgotten her and all her sons will return: מִהֲרוּ בָּנָיִךְ; מְהָרְסַיִךְ וּמַחֲרִיבַיִךְ מִמֵּךְ יֵצֵאוּ. שְׂאִי-סָבִיב עֵינַיִךְ וּרְאִי, כֻּלָּם נִקְבְּצוּ בָאוּ-לָךְ (Is 49:17-18) Loosely translated: "Speedily your sons come, Your destroyers will depart from you. Look around and see – all have gathered and returned to you." Quite simply (according to Rashi and others), Hashem is promising redemption in two spheres: All the Jews will return quickly to Israel and those foreigners who have been occupying and misusing the land till now, will be expelled. The first phase, of returning the Jews, is in line with other prophecies: "And it will be on that day…those lost in the land of Assyria and the outcasts in the Land of Egypt will come" (Is 27:13), "Behold I will take the children of Israel from the nations into which they have gone…and bring them into the land" (Ez. 37:21) "Hashem, Return our exiled like streams in the Negev [desert, with forceful flash floods]" (Tehillim 126). Yet the second phase is no less crucial, because if we return to the land but the foreigner aggressors remain here, much tension and difficulty is created - as we see time and again in modern day Israel, even up to this last week!
An additional and unfortunately all too relevant twist is added by the Metzudat David. Not only does the verse not specify who the "Destroyers" are, but it adds the superfluous word "ממך – from you". The destroyers are from within you: Those self-hating Jews, the informers, those spreading disunity, hatred and discord among the nation, those who spiritually caused the destruction and have since prevented the return and the rebuilding. These internal, Jewish destroyers will be expelled from the Jewish nation and land with Kibutz galuyot, not some external foreign force! How appropriate.
However, upon closer examination of the verse, a further theological point can be discerned, according to the Abarbanel. Instead of reading the verse as two separate events – return of the exiles and expulsion of the aggressors – the verse could be read as a causative conditional statement: [If] speedily your sons come, [then] your destroyers will depart. This then changes the whole focus of the prophecy. The responsibility and initiative rests with us! Hashem promises that if we all come back speedily to Eretz Yisrael, he will take care of the rest. During the beginning of the second Temple, this was definitely the case. Few returned and those who did were from the lower echelons of society. As a result they suffered untold troubles from the (new) locals. Perhaps this is the source of our current negative political situation vis a vis the modern day aggressors in Israel?
So as not to end on a pessimistic note, I would like to point out that the verse suggests two concurrent processes. It begins with the nation’s return, describes the expulsion of the destroyers and then returns to describe in greater detail the full Kibutz galuyot. This is a "work in progress" – and we are a part of it!
Rabbi Hillel Maizels
The Rabbi of Kehillat Ohel Efraim in the city of Ariel of "Bet Shalom" Shul in the Ariel University.
The Seven Weeks of Condolence Is Redemption Fixed or Flexible
Shiv'a de-Nechemta: The Philosophy of Comfort and Redemption - 1
The Seven Weeks of Condolence God's Punishment and Comfort are our Support
Shiv'a de-Nechemta: The Philosophy of Comfort and Redemption - 4
The Seven Weeks of Condolence Rebuilding Jerusalem
Shiv'a de-Nechemta: The Philosophy of Comfort and Redemption - 3
The Seven Weeks of Condolence Kibutz Galuyot and Self Hatred
Shiv'a de-Nechemta: The Philosophy of Comfort and Redemption - 2
The Seven Weeks of Condolence God's Punishment and Comfort are our Support
Shiv'a de-Nechemta: The Philosophy of Comfort and Redemption - 4
The Seven Weeks of Condolence Is Redemption Fixed or Flexible
Shiv'a de-Nechemta: The Philosophy of Comfort and Redemption - 1
Rabbis in Midrash
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
