A.
והי' כי יבאו עליך כל הדברים האלה הברכה והקללה אשר נתתי לפניך והשבת אל לבבך בכל הגוים אשר הדיחך ד' אלקיך שמה: ושבת עד ד' אלקיך ושמעת בקלו כו' ושב ד' אלקיך את שבותך ורחמך ושב וקבצך מכל העמים אשר הפיצך ד' אלקיך שמה: (“And it will be that all these things, the blessing and the curse [cf. last week’s parasha, XXVII, 11ff.] will come upon you, and you will effect a return to your heart amongst all the nations where Ha-Shem your G-d has exiled you. And you will return to Ha-Shem your G-d and you will listen to His voice... and Ha-Shem your G-d will return your returning, and have mercy on you, and gather you back from all the peoples where Ha-Shem your G-d has scattered you”; XXX, 1-3).
The discerning reader with a חוש חי לשפה העברית, a living sense of the Hebrew language, will already have spotted what sems to be an egregious grammatical error in the above passage, somewhat disguised by the English translation: The verb v’shav which begins verse 3 is an intransitive verb, that is, it means “come back,” rather than “bring back,” where we should expect the causative/factitive form v’héshiv. The verse cries out: Darshéni! (“Interpret me!”). Clearly the Torah is trying to tell us something here; what might it be?
B.
The oddity did not escape the sharp eyes of Chazal, and so we find:בוא וראה כמה חביבין ישראל לפני הקב"ה שבכל מקום שגלו שכינה עמהן ואף כשהם עתידין ליגאל שכינה עמהן כו' והשיב לא נאמר אלא ושב מלמד שאף הקב"ה שב עמהן מבין הגליות (“Come and see how precious are Israel before the Holy One, Blessed is He, for in every place where they have been exiled the Divine Presence [Shechina] is with them, and even when they are destined to be redeemed the Shechina is with them... v’héshiv is not said here, but v’shav, teaching that Ha-Shem, too, returns with them from amongst the exiles”; מגילה כ"ט.).
As the Torah Tmima notes, Rabbi Shim‘on bar Yochai, the author of the above statement, evidently reads our verse as though the word eth is not the accusative particle, but rather means “with”: ‘And Ha-Shem your G-d will return with your returning....”
Rashi cites the above gmara in his comments on our passage, adding that the day on which the exiles are gathered in will surely be a great day, and a difficult one, for it will be as though Ha-Shem takes each person by his hands to lead him out of the exile, and cites in support Yisha‘yahu’s prophecy: ואתם תלקטו לאחד אחד בני ישראל (“and you will be collected one by one, bnei Yisra’él”; Isaiah XXVII, 12). So far so good, but Rashi then adds: ואף בגליות שאר האומות מצינו כן, "ושבתי שבות מואב", "ושבתי את שבות מצרים" (“and even concerning the exiles of other nations we find it so, ‘and I shall return the returning of Mo’av’ [Jeremiah XLVIII, 47], ‘and I shall return the returning of Egypt’ [Ezekiel XXIX, 13]”).
But if the prophets and Rashi are right in the last clause, wherever is the chibba, the extra affection, which Rabbi Shim‘on ben Yochai seems to discern in our passage? Note that it is the same intransitive verb which is used in the two prophetic statements as in our passage; it is nice to know that G-d at least does not hate us more than He does Mo’av or Egypt, but where is the evidence that He loves us more, if He similarly “returns” with their exiles as with ours?
C.
The following is based on a synthesis of the views held by a number of the supercommentaries on Rashi (והרוצה לראות את המקורות יעיין נא גור ארי' למהר"ל מפראג, יריעות שלמה להרה"ג שלמה לוריא בעמ"ס ים של שלמה, ספר הזכרון להרה"ג אברהם בקראט מגולי ספרד, באר בשדה לרה"ג מאיר מנחם בנימין דנון, ומשכיל לדוד להרה"ג דוד פרדו).
First, consider the phrasing of our pronouncement and those of our two prophets: Clearly, G-d is speaking directly through Yirmyahu and Yechezqel, without any prologue: “I, Myself, for My reasons, will return Mo’av from exile, and Egypt from exile.” The implication is that Mo’av and Egypt themselves have no input into the matter, but are mere pawns being moved about on the board of history: First, they are sent into exile, then they are brought out, and both times it is a matter of high Divine policy which dictates the matter.
Contrast this with Moshe’s pronouncement: Your G-d, Israel, will send you into exile; there, you will first “effect a returning” (and here, the causative/factitive form of the verb is used, va-hashévotha). This sincere effort initiated by Israel will be successful: “And you will return to Ha-Shem your G-d, and you will listen to His voice....” And then, as a result, Israel will return from exile, and G-d Himself, who has shared and the burdens of His people in exile (as any parent suffers when he must punish a child), will return as joyfully as they from it.
The impression is heightened if we next consider that both prophetic verses refer to the nations of Mo’av and Egypt in the collective, the aggregate; nowhere does it say that each and every Mo’avi or Mitzri will return from the exile -- only that the collective entities of Mo’av and Egypt will be returned. Careful examination of our passage, however, reveals that each and every second person pronoun in it is singular; G-d will see to it that each and every one of faithful Israel will be pulled out of exile, b’yadav mamash, “actually by his hands” (as Rashi writes), by the Holy One, Blessed is He. No one will be left behind. Hence, the chibba yetheira noted by Rabbi Shim‘on ben Yochai.
D.
The point, it seems to me, is this:
Ha-Shem yithbarach is nosé’ b‘ol, sympathetic and empathetic, with all of His creatures, as may be gleaned from the use of the intransitive verb in all three citations: He shares the pain of exile with everybody who endures it. In evidence of this Divine quality, there is the well-known drasha which speaks of Israel’s song of triumph as their oppressors’ army is being wiped out at Yam Suf. When the mal’achim sought to join in the song, G-d rebuked them: מעשי ידי טובעין בים ואתם אומרים שירה?! (“My creatures are drowning in the sea and you are singing?!”; מגילה י:).
But the nations of the world are undiscerning and largely clueless; they are כל גוים שכחי ד' (“All the nations, forgetful of Ha-Shem”; Psalms IX, 18), mere pawns on the board of history. Faithful Israel, cognizant of the truth, we are in fact able to effect our own redemption, by initiating the “return” of which our passage speaks; we are assured that such a t’shuva, such a return, on the part of each and every individual, when it reaches the critical mass necessary, will be successful; and the result will be that we, with G-d’s help, will have brough about not only our own redemption, but that of the Shechina, kav’yachol.
To be borne in mind, as we approach a new year, in this most propitious season of t’shuva.
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