Illustration Credit: Noa Kelner
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
Moshe warns Benei Yisrael that, if they stop following God, they’ll be sent into exile from their land. But God promises that they’ll return:
וְשָׁב ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ אֶת שְׁבוּתְךָ וְרִחֲמֶךָ
וְשָׁב וְקִבֶּצְךָ מִכׇּל הָעַמִּים אֲשֶׁר הֱפִיצְךָ ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ שָׁמָּה׃
Then God your Lord will return your displaced people and have compassion for you.
God will return and gather you from among the nations where God scattered you.
- Do you notice that the pasuk twice says וְשָׁב (ve-shav), which means that God will return?
- Why doesn’t it just say וְהֵשִׁיב (ve-heishiv, using the הִפְעִיל/hif’il form of the verb)? Ve-heishiv would mean that God will cause the Jewish people to return. Wouldn’t that make more sense here?
Rashi brings an interpretation from the Talmud (Bavli Megillah 29a):
הָיָה לוֹ לִכְתֹּב "וְהֵשִׁיב" אֶת שְׁבוּתְךָ, רַבּוֹתֵינוּ לָמְדוּ מִכָּאן כִּבְיָכוֹל שֶׁהַשְּׁכִינָה שְׁרוּיָה עִם יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּצָרַת גָּלוּתָם, וּכְשֶׁנִּגְאָלִין הִכְתִּיב גְּאֻלָּה לְעַצְמוֹ — שֶׁהוּא יָשׁוּב עִמָּהֶם.
The Torah should have said “ve-heishiv,” that God will cause the Jewish people to return. Our Rabbis learned from this that it’s as if the Shekhinah (God’s presence) is immersed in the misery of galut (exile) with Israel. And when Israel is redeemed, the Torah calls that a redemption for God too. For God returns with them.
The word ve-shav makes sense because God is also returning. God comes back from exile together with the Jewish people, because God went into exile with them.
- What does it mean that God goes into exile with the Jewish people? What could that represent? What does this teach us about God?
Rashi goes on to describe what God does in the redemption:
וְעוֹד יֵשׁ לוֹמַר שֶׁגָּדוֹל יוֹם קִבּוּץ גָּלֻיּוֹת וּבְקֹשִׁי, כְּאִלּוּ הוּא עַצְמוֹ צָרִיךְ לִהְיוֹת אוֹחֵז בְּיָדָיו מַמָּשׁ אִישׁ אִישׁ מִמְּקוֹמוֹ.
Also, the day of kibbutz galuyot (the gathering of the exiles) will be great and hard, as if God needs to take the hands of each and every person to lead them from their place.
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