Today’s class has been sponsored for the Refuah Shelemah of Chaya Shefiah Shoshana bat Sarah, and for yeshuot for Cholei Am Yisrael.
We are now in the second of the seven weeks of Nechama, and we will quote from this week’s Haftara, Yeshayah (chapter 49, pasuk), where there is a conversation between the Jewish people and G-d:
וַתֹּ֥אמֶר צִיּ֖וֹן עֲזָבַ֣נִי ה׳ וַאד-ני שְׁכֵחָֽנִי
Sion (referring to the Jewish people) said “Hashem has forsaken me, and G-d has forgotten about me.”
There are two ways that Hashem is described is this pasuk. One is yud, keh, vav, keh, and the other is alef, daled, nun, yud
Why two different terms? The Chida says the first name refers to Hashem’s Middat Rachamim, (total mercy) and second is also a term of mercy within justice, so the Jewish people are saying that all G-d’s mercy has been forgotten.
To which G-d responds and says,
הֲתִשְׁכַּ֤ח אִשָּׁה֙ עוּלָ֔הּ מֵרַחֵ֖ם בֶּן־בִּטְנָ֑הּ
Can a woman forget her baby, Or not have mercy on the child of her womb?
גַּם־אֵ֣לֶּה תִשְׁכַּ֔חְנָה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א אֶשְׁכָּחֵֽךְ׃
Although it’s possible that she might forget, I never could forget you.
הֵ֥ן עַל־כַּפַּ֖יִם חַקֹּתִ֑יךְ חוֹמֹתַ֥יִךְ נֶגְדִּ֖י תָּמִֽיד׃
See, I have engraved your name etched on the palms of My hands, Your walls are always opposite Me.
In other words, Hashem is saying:
I am always thinking about you, and the walls of Jerusalem (that have been destroyed.) How can you say I forgot?
There is a lot of beautiful depths in these pesukim.
The Gemarah tells us firstly, that when G-d tells us
גַּם־אֵ֣לֶּה תִשְׁכַּ֔חְנָה
Although it is possible that she might forget,
He is also saying “I also forgot the אֵ֣לֶּה” the word used when the Jewish people sinned with the golden calf and said
אֵ֣לֶּה אלוקיך ישראל
This is the g-d of Yisrael.
But in case we fear that Hashem will forget Har Sinai, Hashem tells us, in the second part of that pasuk:
וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א אֶשְׁכָּחֵֽךְ
I won’t forget Anochi Hashem Elokecha
I am Hashem Your G-d
The Gemarah is telling us that G-d is saying that He has selective memory. He will forget our sins, but remember our zechuyot
/merits.
This is a beautiful thought of Nechama for us.
Furthermore, Rashi says that עַל־כַּפַּ֖יִם
Which simply means on my palms, can also refer to the clouds- the clouds of glory, which sometimes look like palms, so we are right in front of the Kiseh HaKavod.
In connection with the cloud interpretation, the Chida explains that עַל־כַּפַּ֖יִם חַקֹּתִ֑יךְ
etched on the clouds, means that I won’t forget the fact that the clouds
(referring time creation) are only there because of the Jewish people accepting the חקים- the laws.
Hashem is saying, How can I forget you? The whole running of the world is dependent on the Jewish people. Everything that happens is impacted by our learning, our Torah, our mitzvot- or Has V’Shalom, the lack thereof. So how could Hashem possibly forget us?
The Chida gives two additional beautiful explanations of this pasuk:
The Gemarah tells us that due to our sins, there is something like a wall separating us from G-d. Therefore, there is something that blocks our prayers from going up. But the Sadikim, with their Torah and mitzvot, can break through that wall and create widows. People on a lower level can’t make windows, but they can make cracks in the wall. That’s what it means in Shir Hashirim, when it says “G-d supervises through the windows” that’s a stronger level of supervision, because the Sadikim broke through the wall. And, “He peeks through the cracks” means that on one hand, yes, we are on Hashem’s mind, but חוֹמֹתַ֥יִךְ נֶגְדִּ֖י תָּמִֽיד
there is a wall interfering.
The next pasuk says,
מִֽהֲר֖וּ בָּנָ֑יִךְ מְהָֽרְסַ֥יִךְ וּמַחֲרִבַ֖יִךְ מִמֵּ֥ךְ יֵצֵֽאוּ׃
Your children went fast and broke and destroyed.
That may sound like a bad thing- “Your children went fast and broke and destroyed “, seems to imply the Jewish people are responsible for the destruction.The Chida says no, it means, Your children went with Torah and Mitzvot and broke down the wall between G-d and the Jewish people.
So we have to understand that even though there might be separations between us and G-d, we are piercing through them.
And all of these words weren’t just said back then. These words are here forever, to give us hizzuk that G-d remembers our good deeds and can forget our sins. Of course, He doesn’t really forget our sins, as it says,
, ואין שכחה לפני כסא כבודך
nothing is forgotten before the Throne of Glory
But if we do Teshuva, G-d forgets our sins, like with the sin of the Golden calf. G-d forgets.
That’s why the Tomar Devorah says that one of G-d’s great mercies is that He doesn’t say, “You have x amount of sins, and x amount of mitzvot- they cancel each other out so you’re even.”
It does not work that way. The mitzvot are in one pile and the Averot are in another pile. We never forget the mitzvot, but the Averot can be forgotten.
That is a beautiful Nechama.
Whatever you have done wrong in your life is in a separate column, that doesn’t cross out any good that you did.
The Chida continues and says that- עַל־כַּפַּ֖יִם -the palm, also refers to the Mitzvah of Sedaka, an especially powerful Mitzvah, that we do with our palms, which in Galut is like a korban that can bring the Geula closer.
That is why the Mitzvah of Sedaka is great. He says that the Arizal says a sin can not extinguish the Mitzvah of Sedaka, which means that if a person has averot, they can temporarily block the light of a Mitzvah that the person did. But there is one Mitzvah that never goes out- the Mitzvah of Sedaka.
So, it says
הן אל כפים
“because what we do with your hands” (our Sedaka) causes us to never be forgotten.
That’s an important thing to know Hashem loves Sedaka (and Baruch HaShem we give a lot of Sedaka).
Even if a person does the wrong things, he may have a lot Hatzlacha, because he gives a lot of Sedaka. Hashem does not forget that, even if the person has a lot of Averot. Of course, it does not mean we should go and do averot. Averot are still tallied in a column, to be dealt with. But these are all words of hizuk that the Navi is giving us after the negative Haftarot. We should turn around and focus on these
positive things:
1- G-d remembers and focuses on the good
2-He cannot forget us because we are the source of all the dealings of creation
3- Sedaka will protect us, even where Averot exist.
Have a wonderful Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom.