אִם יִרְצֶה הַשֵּׁם
י׳ חֶשְׁוָן תשפ״ז
The mem of l'marbeh stands closed in the middle of the word.
L'marbeh ha-misrah u-le-shalom ein ketz.
Closed mem in l'marbeh ha-misrah: HaKadosh Baruch Hu wished to make Chizkiyahu Mashiach and Sanheriv Gog u-Magog. Middas ha-din closed the plan: David said many shiros and was not made Mashiach; Chizkiyahu received open miracles and said none comparable. The closed letter marks that the occasion was not taken.
The mem stands closed
Bar Kappara taught in Tzipori: HaKadosh Baruch Hu wished to make Chizkiyahu Mashiach and Sanheriv Gog u-Magog. The two figures were already in place, a tzaddik of the house of David who had raised the nation, and a conqueror at the height of Assyrian power.
Middas ha-din objected. David composed many shiros and tishbachos and still was not made Mashiach. Chizkiyahu, for whom open miracles were done, recovery from certain death, the sundial turned back, the army of Sanheriv destroyed at the gates, said no comparable shirah. Therefore the plan was closed. Rav Miller zt"l: the closed mem marks that the occasion was not taken.
Had the people and the king risen fully to the moment, the designation could have been made. Opportunities exist. This one fell short.
The earth offers shirah
Immediately the earth opened and said: I will say shirah before You in place of this tzaddik, and make him Mashiach.
Mi-knaf ha-aretz zemirot shamanu, tzvi la-tzaddik.
From the end of the land songs were heard; glory for the tzaddik. Tzvi also carries the sense of the will of the tzaddik.
Sar ha-olam said: do the will of this tzaddik. Although Chizkiyahu did not compose a permanent sefer like Tehillim, the land seeks to make up the lack and press his desire.
The people sang. Ambassadors came from the surrounding nations. The whole of Eretz Yisrael was in ecstasy after the fall of Sanheriv. Yet no permanent monument was left. The earth offered its songs as the substitute for the book that should have been written and the lasting change that should have been instituted.
My secret is Mine
A bas kol came forth with the words of Yeshayah: razi li, razi li. My secret is Mine; My secret is Mine.
The Navi answered oy li, oy li, ad masai, when will such an opportunity return?
The bas kol continued the verse: bogdim bagadu u-veged bogdim bagadu. The treacherous will betray, and the treacherous will betray again. Rava, or R' Yitzchak: until successive plunderers come, bezozei u-bezozei de-bezozei.
While the great nations fall one after another, the remnant remains. Rav Miller zt"l: the parallel is the refrain of Chad Gadya. Each conqueror is consumed, yet the kid is still present at the end of every stanza. The bas kol seals the timing and the precise measure still lacking. Rashi: these are My hidden matters; I know what is still preventing the designation.
Morning has already come
Masa Dumah. Elai korei mi-Se'ir: shomer mah mi-laylah, shomer mah mi-leil.
R' Yochanan: Dumah is the angel appointed over the spirits of the dead. The spirits gather and ask the watchman when the night of galus will end.
The watchman answers: morning has already come, and also the night. If you will seek, seek; return, and come. Opportunities have arrived, the generation of Chizkiyahu, the return from Bavel when the last prophets spoke of a final Temple, yet the living did not take them. The time depends on those who are still free to act.
Rashi in Bava Kamma reads the same verse of the night of exile and the morning that passed while the people slept. The shading here is the same: the occasion can come and go.
Yisro said Baruch
Vayichad Yitro al kol ha-tovah.
Yisro said Baruch Hashem asher hitzil etchem.
Bnei Yisrael said much: az yashir, zemiros, shiros, tishbachos, berachos, hoda'os. The one word Baruch itself was missing. Yisro supplied it. That is counted as a discredit, waiting until the outsider says the berachah.
Vayichad is not plain vayismach. The root carries sharpness. Rav: he passed a sharp knife over his flesh and became a ger, milah and pri'ah. Midyanim already performed milah; pri'ah was the additional cut of the descendants of Avraham.
Shmuel: his flesh became covered with points, goose-flesh. He rejoiced, yet the plight of the nations still touched him. A man's feelings remain with his former people; the soul conquered and he rejoiced anyhow.
Up to ten generations one does not scorn a gentile in the presence of a ger. The hurt remains.
Eight names of Chizkiyahu
Ki yeled yullad lanu, ben nitan lanu, va-tehi ha-misrah al shichmo, va-yikra shemo Pele Yoetz El Gibbor Avi-ad Sar Shalom.
These are not titles. Each marks an attribute.
Pele: the man of miracles.
Yoetz: the man of counsel who spread Torah through all the classes.
El: mighty, because Hashem was with him.
Gibbor: one who rules his own passions and lives by his seichel.
Avi: father who begot the people by teaching them.
Ad: without end; the effect of that parenthood continues.
Sar: prince in the eyes of Hashem, not merely by birth.
Shalom: perfection, the shalem for which Mashiach comes so that men may prepare for olam ha-ba.
The name Chizkiyahu itself is not one of the eight. It means only that Hashem strengthened him, victory over Sanheriv, recovery from the illness. It is the result of the eight qualities, not an additional quality. He strengthened Yisrael toward their Father in Heaven. That too was by siyata di-shmaya, brought about through a worthy man, megalgelin zechut al yedei zakai.
Eight names of the house of Sanheriv
Tiglat-Pileser, Pul, Shalmaneser, Sargon, and the rest. Ancient rulers placed the titles of the founder on sons and grandsons so that the firm would continue. In the language of prophecy each name marks a distinct achievement.
Mishmanav yera'eh razi: his fatness became lean. The eight names of virtue overcame the eight powers of the house of Ashur.
Sanheriv itself is not an intrinsic name. His speech was only quarrel and boasting, or he grunted words against Hashem: the gods of other nations did not save them, so do not rely on yours. The eight victories produced the big mouth; the name is the result.
The great and the honorable
Asnappar rabba ve-yakira.
Tanach does not flatter. Why record the titles the nations gave him?
Because when he stood at the gates he did not disparage Eretz Yisrael. He said: if you open the gates I will take you to a land like your land. He could have belittled the land and offered something better. He exercised restraint.
Even a rasha who guards his tongue receives words of honor in Tanach.
Rav: he was melech pike'ach. If he promised a better land they would answer that he lies, for none is better. Shmuel: melech tipesh. A land like yours, so why leave? He is credited for not speaking against the land.
The ten tribes who disparaged the land
He exiled the ten tribes. They themselves spoke in the shame of Eretz Yisrael.
When they came to Sus they said: Sus is as good as our land. When they came to Olmin they said: it is like the everlasting land. At Susra they made a play on words and said the place rejoices doubly.
Yeravam had already torn them from the Temple and set up the calves. By the time of the exile they lacked the vitality to persist as a nation. Yehudah, even in Bavel, retained the spirit of Torah and continued. When a people is already corroded, exile finishes them.
Loyalty includes not kicking one's own. The disloyal prefer the stranger's place and belittle their own.
Once the earth had said the shirah and Sar ha-olam had pressed the will of the tzaddik, what further secret still required the answer razi li razi li?
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