פרשת עקב תשכ"ה - הפטרה

Thy children make haste; Thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee.

Thy children make haste; Thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee.

For thy waste and thy desolate places And thy land that hath been destroyed— Surely now shalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, And they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.

The children of thy bereavement Shall yet say in thine ears: ‘The place is too strait for me; Give place to me that I may dwell.’

The children of thy bereavement Shall yet say in thine ears: ‘The place is too strait for me; Give place to me that I may dwell.’

The children of thy bereavement Shall yet say in thine ears: ‘The place is too strait for me; Give place to me that I may dwell.’

ויאמרו גש הלאה AND THEY SAID, STEP BACK — Get you away over there — as much as to say, Take yourself aside and keep away from us. Similarly wherever the word הלאה occurs in Scripture it has the meaning of further away. For example: (Numbers 17:2) “Scatter (הלאה) yonder”; (1 Samuel 20:22) “Behold the arrows are beyond thee (הלאה)” Thus גש הלאה signifies, withdraw yourself further away (old French Retire-toi de nous). It is an expression of contempt, signifying, “we do not take any notice of you!” Of a similar character are: (Isaiah 65:5) “Stand by thyself (אל תגש בי) come not near unto me”, and (Isaiah 49:20) גשה לי “Give place to me that I may dwell” which means “withdraw aside for my sake (לי) that I may dwell where you are now”. — They really meant to say to Lot: “You intercede for these strangers; how dare you!” In reply to what he had said to them regarding his daughters they answered: “Get out of the way” — a somewhat gentle expression — whilst with regard to his advocacy for the strangers they retorted, האחד בא לגור THIS MAN CAME TO SOJOURN — You are the only strange man amongst us, for you have come to sojourn here, וישפוט שפוט and you make yourself a Reprover of us!

Then shalt thou say in thy heart: ‘Who hath begotten me these, Seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, An exile, and wandering to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; These, where were they?’

Then shalt thou say in thy heart: ‘Who hath begotten me these, Seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, An exile, and wandering to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; These, where were they?’

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; Thy walls are continually before Me.

... Another explanation. “…for love is as strong as death…” (Song of Songs 8:6) The love with which the generation of persecution loved the Holy One, as it says “For it is for Your sake that we are killed all the time…” (Psalms 44:23) “…zeal is as strong as the grave…” (Song of Songs 8:6) In the future the Holy One will have a great jealousy on behalf of Zion, as it is written “I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy…” (Zechariah 8:2) “…its coals are coals of fire of a great flame!” (Song of Songs 8:2) R’ Berachia said: like the fire above – where the fire does not extinguish the water nor the water extinguish the fire.