פרשת נצבים תשכ"ח - הברכה והקללה

"When all these things befall you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—you shall take them to heart amidst the various nations to which the Lord your God has driven you away. And you shall return to the Lord your God, and you and your children heed His command with all your heart and soul, just as I enjoin upon you this day. Then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and take you back in love. He will bring you together again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you."

S.v. The hidden matters: … Having previously said that God “cast them into another land”, Scripture now proceeds to say, “but if you return to God , even though you be outside the Land of Israel, God will restore your exiles”...

All of the prophets commanded concerning repentance; Israel will not be redeemed save by repentance. Indeed, the Torah long since assured us that in the end, at the close of the period of exile Israel will turn to repentance and be momentarily redeemed, even as it is said: "And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessings and the curse... and thous shalt return unto the Lord thy God.. then the Lord thy God will turn ..."

והשבות אל לבבך, you will be able to distinguish the truth between apparently contradictory phenomena. When you become the victim of what has been predicted for the sinners, you will realise how far you had strayed from G’d’s Torah, i.e. from G’d Himself.

ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך, your repentance will have as its exclusive purpose to henceforth carry out only G’d ‘s will to the extent that He has revealed it. Our sages in Yuma 86 have said of this type of repentance that “it reaches right up to the throne of G’d’s Majesty.”

"When all these things befall you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you"

S.v. והיה כי יבאו עליך כל הדברים, It will be when all these things will come upon you, etc.: Why did the Torah speak about "all these things," instead of merely writing: "when the blessing or curse will come upon you?"... When having a second look at our verse I have realized how much G'd's fondness for the Jewish people is reflected here. When referring to the blessing the Torah writes: כי יבאו עליך, when the blessing will come upon you," whereas when writing about the curse the Torah writes: והקללה אשר נתתי לפניך, "the curse which I have presented before you." This is another reason why the introduction והיה כי יבאו עליך כל הדברים האלה is necessary. ... And do not worry about the fact that the Torah writes הדברים "the things" in the plural, whereas the blessing is mentioned in the singular. There are many examples in the Torah of constructions such as this.

S.v. When all these things befall you, etc. the blessing and the curse that I have set before you: It indicates that the curse is also like the blessing, to bring you to the desired goal.

"you shall take them to heart amidst the various nations to which the Lord your God has driven you away"

"And the Lord rooted them out of their land... and cast them away into another land, as it is this day."

We have learned from that which it states, "and cast them away to another land," that the exile will be in this manner of casting out only until they reach the other land; but in the lands of the nations, it was only in the manner of of driving away... And there is a difference between "casting away" and "driving away" in three things: A) In that one who casts [something] away and throws [it] makes the thing distant from him; B) that by being cast away, the thing spoils; and C) he shows that he does not want to know where it lays. But one who drives [something] away needs to be close to the thing the whole time he is driving it away; and by driving it away, the thing does not spoil; and he knows the place of that thing. So it is possible to explain, "and you shall take it to heart amidst the various nations" - when you dwell among the nations, you shall put into your heart, "that which the Lord your God has driven you out" - that He has driven you out to a special place. It is like someone who drives something from one place to another until he finds a place where it can rest properly. And this is a proof that the eyes of the Lord your God are upon you for the good.

"And the Lord thy God will return thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples."

ושב ה' אלהיך את שבותך THEN THE LORD THY GOD WILL TURN THY CAPTIVITY — To express this idea it ought to have written והשיב את שבותך, “then He will bring back thy captivity”. But our Rabbis learned from this that, if one can say so,¹ His Divine presence dwells with Israel in all the misery of their exile, so that when they are redeemed (i.e. when He speaks of their being redeemed), He makes Scripture write “Redemption” of Himself (i.e. He makes it state that He will be redeemed) — that He will return with them (Megillah 29a). Furthermore the following may be said in explaining the strange form ושב ... את, — that the day of the gathering of the exiles is so important and is attended with such difficulty that it is as though He (God) Himself must actually seize hold of each individual’s hands dragging him from his place (so that God Himself returns with the exile), as it is said, (Isaiah 27:12) “And ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel”. And we also find the same expression in connection with the gathering of the exiles of other nations, as e.g. (Jeremiah 48:47): ושבתי שבות מואב "And I shall bring back the exiles of Moab".