English translation — משפטים ג

Sicha Gimmel <pg>128</pg>

A.

"There will be no miscarrying or barren woman in your land etc."<sup>1</sup>.

In Rashi he quotes "There will be no miscarrying" and explains "if you do My will".

And the commentators wrote<sup>2</sup>,

that Rashi's innovation is,

that "although<sup>3</sup>

that here a condition is not written..

perforce he also speaks conditionally,

for otherwise, behold, it is found 'mishakeilah'",

that is,

although in the preceding verses the condition of "if<sup>4</sup>

you will surely listen to His voice and do all that I speak etc. and you will serve the L-rd your G-d etc." is explicit,

nevertheless,

since here the verse begins "there shall not be a mishakeilah"

(without a connecting vav),

behold from this "it appears<sup>5</sup>

that this is a section by itself<sup>6</sup>

and it is a promise without condition"; and this is what Rashi negates in his commentary "if you do My will",

that even this promise is conditional upon the children of Israel doing the will of G-d,

and Rashi's proof that even this promise is conditional — that "behold it is found 'mishakeilah'".

And at first glance this explanation is forced,

for even though it is said "there shall not be etc." without a connecting vav — how could it enter the mind that these blessings of "there shall not be a mishakeilah etc." are different from all the blessings in the Torah and were stated without condition and are not dependent on the state of man

(to the extent that Rashi was compelled to negate this supposition).

And furthermore: In continuation of "There will be no miscarrying etc. I will fulfill the number of your days" it is said: "I will

When will I send before you and destroy all the people etc. And I will send the hornet etc. And it will drive out the Hivite etc."

(And several more details about the expulsion of the nations from the land and the inheritance of the land)

— And certainly it is not possible to say that all these promises are "unconditional,"

since they are the very promises stated previously on condition of "If

you will surely listen to His voice etc. — And I will hate your enemies etc. My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorite etc. and I will destroy him."

And this section

(of "There will be no miscarrying etc.")

is a continuation of the preceding section.

There are commentators

that the simple understanding is only regarding this blessing of "There will be no miscarrying etc. in your land,"

that from the fact that the verse is precise in it to say "in your land,"

there is an implication,

that this blessing is not dependent on the fulfillment of the Torah and commandments

(for if not, why is it only "in your land" and not in every place where they fulfill His will, may He be blessed),

but rather this is a property of the land

; and Rashi teaches us that also this blessing

("in your land")

is conditional on "If you do My will."

But superficially, also this explanation is forced,

because if so, Rashi should have also copied the word "in your land",

since it is the foundation of his explanation "if you do My will".

<pg>129</pg>

And furthermore: according to this, it is puzzling regarding Rashi's conclusion,

that also this blessing depends on doing the will of the Holy One, blessed be He — why was this blessing given only "in your land" and not in every place where a Jewish person who does His will, may He be blessed, is found?

(like the other blessings)<sup>12</sup>?

2.

And behold the Ra'avad wrote,

that Rashi's intention in what he said "if you do My will" is "as if He said 'and you shall serve the Lord and He will bless your bread and your water and there will not be a miscarrier or barren etc.' whose explanation is: serve the Lord and through this your bread and your water will be blessed and there will not be a miscarrier etc.'",

and that is that "there will not be a miscarrier etc." is a continuation of the end of the verse before it "

(and you shall serve the Lord your God)

and He will bless your bread and your water and I will remove illness from your midst"

(and so explained several literalists,

like the Ibn Ezra,

Ramban and others)¹³.

And it appears from his words,

that Rashi in his commentary here

(not to reject the assumption that this blessing was given without the condition of hearkening to the voice of the Holy One, blessed be He — but rather)

comes to settle what is said "there will not be a miscarrier" without a conjunctive vav,

and Rashi teaches us that this is the way of the verses,

that it is as if it were written "and there will not be a miscarrier" with the addition of a vav.

But at first glance it is difficult to explain thus in Rashi's wording "if you do My will",

for according to this the main point is missing from the text,

and it would have been necessary for Rashi to write explicitly "a missing verse",

or "connected to the verse above"

(and the like),

or "if you serve Me" like the language of the verse here "and you shall serve".

And therefore it seems to me the opposite,

that precisely his wording "if you do My will" is Rashi's intention to negate this explanation

(that "she shall not be bereaved etc." is a continuation of "and you shall serve etc.")

:

From the plain sense of the verse it is understood,

that the intention in what is said "and you shall serve the L-rd your G-d" is not for the entirety of doing His will, the Holy One blessed be He,

(in keeping the Torah and mitzvos)¹⁴,

but rather for the negation of idol worship,

for in the verse before this it is said "you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them etc. for you shall utterly destroy them etc.

(and continuing from this it says)

and you shall serve the L-rd your G-d"

(negation of idol worship¹⁵).

And Rashi precisely interpreted in his commentary on "there shall be no miscarrying",

and changed from the language of the verse "and you shall serve" and wrote "if you do My will",

meaning that the condition for this blessing is not the "and you shall serve" in the previous verse,

but rather doing His will

(that is, doing the mitzvos),

and this verse refers to before its face,

the beginning of the topic,

where it is stated¹⁶

"beware of him and listen to his voice etc. if you indeed listen to his voice and do all that I speak"^*16,

that is, doing all the mitzvos,

for when Israel do His will,

behold, in addition to all the promises that were written above

("and I will set enmity etc. and He will bring you etc."),

behold, this as well,

"there shall be no miscarrying etc.".

[But the verse interrupts between them

(as a "parenthetical statement")

with the warning about idolatry,

for in continuation of what is mentioned in the verse regarding "the Amorite and the Hittite etc."¹⁷,

it warns that they should not stumble into the idolatry of the inhabitants of the land,

"You shall not bow down to them etc. nor serve them etc.

(but rather)

and you shall serve the L-rd your G-d"

(and likewise<pg>130</pg>

the reward that comes for this — "and He will bless your bread etc. and remove etc. from your midst"¹⁸)].

And according to this is resolved the language of the verse "There will not be a miscarrier etc."

(without a Vav of addition),

in order to separate it from the verse before this,

and to emphasize that it is not a continuation of "And you shall serve the L-rd your G-d",

but it refers to before its face.

3.

And explanation is needed in the content of the matter: How is this blessing of "There will not be a miscarrier" different,

that it comes specifically because of doing His will

("If you do My will"),

and not

(only)

because of "And you shall serve the L-rd your G-d"

(like the blessings of "And I will bless your bread..

your water and I will remove etc.")?

And one must say about this, with an introduction, the reason that the verse is precise "there will not be a miscarrying etc. in your land",

for at first glance it is difficult

(as above section 1)

: since also this blessing is conditional on "if you do My will",

why was the blessing given only "in your land",

and not in every place where Israel does the will of the Holy One, blessed be He?

And the explanation — simply

(to the extent that Rashi does not need to explain it)

: the meaning of "there will not be a miscarrying etc. in your land" is its simple literal meaning — that this blessing is not

(only)

for an individual person,

for this one who does the will of the Holy One, blessed be He,

but rather a blessing for the land,

"there will not be a miscarrying etc. in your land",

and that is,

that the blessing is for the land,

that "if you do My will" its nature changes to be a land in which there is no "miscarrying and barren".

And it is found,

that the addition of the word "in your land" did not come to limit this blessing

(that it is only in the Land of Israel),

but on the contrary,

to increase the blessing that comes through doing the will of the Holy One, blessed be He,

that the blessing is drawn down not only to the person who does His will,

but brings blessing to the entire Land of Israel.

And based on this, the reason is simply understood that this blessing is

(a)

reward for "do My will"

(fulfillment of "all that I will speak"),

and not only for "and you shall serve the L-rd your G-d"

(which is only the negation of idolatry as above)

— because such a great blessing requires fulfillment of all the commandments,

(b)

only "in your land"¹⁹

and not outside the land — because this blessing is connected to doing His will, may He be blessed, in the Land of Israel,

for since this is the special and elevated place that the Holy One, blessed be He, prepared for the children of Israel

(as explained in the verses before this "and to bring you to the place which I have prepared"²⁰),

therefore,

doing His will, may He be blessed, in this land brings about a special blessing for the entire land

(but not so outside the land, where the blessing is drawn down

(of "there shall not be miscarrying or barren")

only to this person who does the will of G-d).

[And with this it is well also the distinction between the two parts of the verse —

(a)

"There shall not be a miscarrying etc. in your land",

(b)

"the number of your days I will fill"

(without emphasis that this is only in your land)²¹

— because the first part speaks of a blessing that is effected in the entire land,

and in its second part the verse details a special blessing for the person who does His will — "the number of your days I will fill",

namely in every place of dwelling of each and every one of Israel,

also outside the land].

4.

And one may add further

(according to the inwardness of the matters)

:<pg>131</pg>

In reward for "And you shall serve etc." it is said "And I will bless your bread etc." — language of blessing,

whereas here the verse says "There shall not be miscarrying etc.",

which implies a promise²².

And the difference between them: blessing is only a giving of power from above upon this flow,

but it is possible that there will be hindrances and delays etc. in the drawing down of the flow below, in a way that the blessing will not be actualized in actuality,

in physicality as its simple meaning²³

; however, the promise of the Holy One, blessed be He, for good cannot fail to be actualized

(as explained in the Rambam²⁴)

;

And this is the reason for the distinction,

that regarding "And you shall serve the L-rd your G-d",

whose meaning is only the negation of idolatry

(as above),

the reward comes only through "blessing"

("And bless etc.")²⁵,

but when "you do My will" — then the reward comes with a promise,

"There shall be no one miscarrying etc. in your land; the number of your days I will fulfill",

with length of days and good years in plainness,

And they merit the inheritance of the land,

up to "And I will set²⁶

your border from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River",

that this²⁷

verse speaks about the future, in the fulfillment of the promise²⁸

"For the L-rd your G-d will enlarge your border" and it is said²⁹

"And He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth".

(From the talk of Shabbos Parshas Mishpatim 5744)