Midrash Aggadah Reader

"Pinchas son of Elazar," and so forth. Why did Scripture see fit to give Pinchas a genealogy? Because they were disparaging him and saying, "Look at this son of Puti! The son of the daughters of Jethro, who was a priest of Midian, and whose maternal grandfather used to fatten calves for idolatry — and today he has become the prince of a tribe!" And from where do we know that his mother was of the daughters of Jethro? As it is said, "And Elazar son of Aaron took for himself a wife from the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Pinchas" (Exodus 6:25). Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, traces his lineage by the name of Aaron, and not by the name of Jethro.

"Therefore say: Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace" (Numbers 25:12). Just as he made peace between Me and the children of Israel, so that they were not destroyed by My zeal—for I am zealous against idolatry—therefore I cut a covenant with him, that he shall have peace from them all, so that they shall not be able to harm him.

And it will be for his seed - From here they said that Pinchas was not a kohen until that very moment, when he stood up - as it is written (Malachi 2:5) "My covenant was with him was life and peace" From the [book of] commentary of Eliezer Ben Hyrkanus: "And he said 'I certainly was zealous for Ad-nai'" (I Kings 19:14) The Holy One of Blessing said to Eliahu: You were zealous regarding idolatry in Shittim, as it says: 'Pinchas the son of Eleazar etc.' and here you were certainly zealous!

For your life [I swear] that there will be no brit milah that Israel does and you don't see with your eyes. From here the sages established that a honorary seat will be made for Eliahu, who is the angel of the brit [milah] as it says "And the angel of My brit" (Malachi 3:1) The Holy One of Blessing said to Pinchas: 'you defended My children with your tongue, hold onto the jaw as a gift; you directed the spear on the belly of a man and a woman, hold onto [your] belly; you exerted yourself with your arm, hold your arm as you project peace between people - behold you will bless My children with peace, as it says "May Ad-nai give you favor and grant you peace" (Numbers 6:26) Resh Lakish said: Pinchas and Eliahu are one and the same.

The Holy One of Blessing said to him: you established peace between Me and the children of Israel, so too even in the future you will establish peace between Me and them, as it is written "behold I am sending to you Elijah the prophet" (Malachi 3:23) And it will be for him and his seed after him - that they will be blessed by Me;;forever.

"And when you sell anything to your neighbor" (Leviticus 25:14). This is what Scripture says: "He who hastens after wealth is a man of an evil eye, and he does not know that want will come upon him" (Proverbs 28:22). This verse speaks of human beings. "He who hastens after wealth, an evil eye" — this was Cain, who killed his brother in order to inherit the world for himself; thus, "he who hastens after wealth is a man of an evil eye." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You hastened to grow rich and to inherit the world. By your life, there is a loss for you in the matter, "and he does not know that want will come upon him." And what happened to him? To be made to wander about the world, as it is said: "A fugitive and a wanderer shall you be in the earth" (Genesis 4:12). Another interpretation of "He who hastens after wealth," etc.: Who was it? This was Ephron. At the time when Sarah, the wife of Abraham, died, Abraham went to Ephron that he might sell him the cave. Ephron said to him: Give me its price. He said to him: "Four hundred shekels of silver, between me and you, what is that? Bury your dead" (Genesis 23:15). Abraham began to heap up the silver for Ephron, as it is said: "And Abraham weighed," etc. (Genesis 23:16). Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said in the name of Rabbi Hanina: All the shekels mentioned in the Torah are sela'im, except for Ephron's, which are kantarin (talents). And Abraham heaped up for Ephron; when Ephron saw that silver, he was startled and was seduced, as it is said: "in the choicest of our graves," etc. (Genesis 23:6). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You hastened after much money. By your life, there is a loss for you in the matter, "and he does not know that want will come upon him." And what is his loss? Rav Yehudah the Levite, son of Rabbi Shalom, said: Every "Ephron" written in the Torah, until he took the silver from Abraham, is spelled full; and after he took it, it is written — it is not written full, but defective. Another interpretation of "He who hastens after wealth": This is the one who lends at interest and hastens to grow rich — he lends in order to take interest from the borrower, and to grow rich from the interest — "and he does not know that want will come upon him," for a curse is placed upon his money. Another interpretation of "He who hastens after wealth": These are the merchants of the Sabbatical-year produce, who hasten to grow rich and do not keep the Sabbatical year, and they suppose that they are growing rich. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: You hastened to grow rich from the Sabbatical year, by your lives there is a loss for you in the matter, "and he does not know that want will come upon him." And since he did not keep the Sabbatical year, the curse began to enter his money, and he sells his land. What is written above the matter? "And the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord" (Leviticus 25:2), and afterward, "And when you sell anything to your neighbor." Another interpretation of "And when you sell anything to your neighbor": What is written above the matter? "And the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord" (verse 2), and afterward, "And you shall count for yourself seven sabbaths of years," etc. (verse 8). If you did not keep the Sabbatical years, keep the Jubilees; and if he did not keep one of them, in the end I make him such that he sells his land, to fulfill what is said, "And when you sell anything to your neighbor." If he repents, well; and if not, his end is to sell his house, as it is said, "And if a man sells a dwelling house" (verse 29). If he repents, good; and if he does not repent, his end is to go around begging at the doors, as it is said, "And if your brother becomes poor," etc. (verse 35). If he repents, behold it is good; if he does not repent, his end is to sell himself, as it is said, "If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you," etc. (Deuteronomy 15:12). If he repents, good; and if he does not repent, his end is to be sold to a gentile, as it is said, "and sells himself... or to the offshoot of a stranger's family" (verse 47). And this is the command to all Israel. And so you find with Jeremiah, that because they profaned the Sabbatical year they were sold to the nations, as it is said, "And he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, and slew... and all the vessels of the House of God, and the treasures of the House of the Lord," etc. (II Chronicles 36:17-18). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: See how they are sold to the nations, because they profaned the Sabbatical year. Moses said: Master of the Universe, did You not say in the Torah, "If your brother becomes poor and falls," etc. (verse 35)? Fulfill what You said to Your brother Israel, as it is said, "For the sake of my brothers and my companions" (Psalms 122:8). Another interpretation of "And if your brother becomes poor and falls": When his hand fails before Nebuchadnezzar — as it were, even Your glory is with them, as it is said, "For your sake I was sent to Babylon" (Isaiah 43:14).

"And the name of the slain man of Israel who was struck, who was struck together with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu" (Numbers 25:14). And why was it necessary to mention his name, his family, and his greatness? To make known the praise and the lineage of Phinehas, for this one was greater than all of them and from his own tribe, and yet Phinehas gave himself over to death for the sanctification of the Name. Another interpretation: to make known that all those who died in the plague were only from the tribe of Simeon, and they died by means of the princes who sought to help him, to fulfill what is said: "And I will set My face against that man and against his family" (Leviticus 20:5). And why was he called Zimri? Because through him his tribe was cut down (nizmar), as it says, "the song of the tyrants" (zemir aritzim, Isaiah 25:5). "Son of Salu" — because through him his family was cast aside (silah), and he was a prince only over five fathers' houses that belonged to the tribe of Simeon. "And the name of the Midianite woman who was struck." And why did it mention her name, her family, and her father's house? To make known to you the hatred of the Midianites toward Israel, that they made a king's daughter ownerless in order to destroy a king in Israel. And why was she called Cozbi? Because she dealt falsely (kizzevah) with her father, for he had told her, "Listen only to Moses," yet she listened to Zimri. "Daughter of Zur" — he was one of the five kings of Midian, and the choicest of them all. "Head of the peoples of a father's house." This teaches you that, because he caused his daughter to rebel, Scripture diminished him and counted him third. For every other nation that comes to join with them, they accept it, and they take wives from them and give wives to them; but Israel is not so, for they unite only with the tribes. Therefore it says "head of the peoples of a father's house," for there was only one, and there were two other nations mingled among them. And concerning this it is said, "Harass the Midianites and smite them" (Numbers 25:17). He let Moab be and took up Midian, for two reasons: one, that they died in the plague only by means of the Midianite woman; and further, that Israel was not coming against them, and they could not harm Moab; and further, that Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, had already joined with Jethro, who was a Midianite, and they ought to have drawn love toward Israel. It was not enough for them that they did nothing, but they even plotted against them, so that they would worship Peor, and many and many of them were killed; and they also made a king's daughter ownerless, through whom the plague came upon Israel.

"And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, one hundred years, etc." (Genesis 25:17). And why were the years of his life written? So that we may know through it how many years Jacob was when he was blessed by his father. "And he expired and died" (Genesis 25:17). Every place where "expiring" is stated, he was a righteous man.

"In the presence of all his brothers he fell" (Genesis 25:18). He prevailed over them, and they became a help to him. One verse says "he shall dwell" (Genesis 16:12), and one verse says "he fell." Before he stretched out his hand against the Temple — "he shall dwell"; after he stretched out his hand against the House — "he fell." May the Name cast him down soon, Amen.

And these are the generations of Isaac son of Abraham. We relate Isaac to Abraham to fulfill what is stated, "And the glory of children is their parents." (Proverbs 17:6) Abraham sired Isaac. We relate Abraham to Isaac to fulfill what is stated, "Grandchildren are the crown of their elders", and all the more so children. Another interpretation: Abraham sired Isaac. Because people were saying that Isaac was the son of Avimelech, therefore the Holy One Blessed Be He made Isaac's face similar to Abraham's, in order that all would know that Isaac is the son of Abraham and not the son of Avimelech. Therefore it is stated, "Abraham sired Isaac." And all who see Isaac would say that he is certainly Abraham's son, since Abraham sired Isaac.

"And it came to pass after the plague" (Numbers 25:19). A parable: this is like a shepherd into whose flock wolves entered, and he was counting his flock to know how many remained. So too, He did this out of His love for Israel, to know and to make known how beloved they are before Him. And this counting was in order that the Land would be apportioned according to the names of these fathers' houses; for as there were fathers' houses within a tribe, so the land that came to that tribe was divided according to the number of the fathers' houses.

And Isaac was 40 years old. Why? Because he was 37 years old when he was bound (to be sacrificed), on account of which his mother, Sarah, died. And at that same time, Abraham was told that Rebecca had been born, and Isaac waited 3 years for Rebecca, because a woman is not suitable for marriage younger than 3 years old. Sister of Laban the Aramean. And since the verse already said, "the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean", didn't I know that she is the sister of Laban? And wasn't it already stated, "and to Rebecca's brother, and his name is Laban", rather it is to teach you of Rebecca's righteousness, that she was the daughter of Bethuel, who was a deceiver, and the sister of Laban, who was a deceiver, and she did not learn from their bad deeds.

Isaac pleaded. And why is the prayer of the righteous compared to pitchfork? To tell you that just as a pitchfork turns over the grain on the threshing-floor, so too the prayer of the righteous is a pitchfork, that it turns the attribute of judgment and the attribute of anger into the attribute of mercy. Facing his wife. That she was praying on this side and he was praying on the other side. And God responded to his plea. That the Holy One Blessed Be God received Isaac's prayer, and did not receive Rebecca's prayer, because he was a righteous person the son of a righteous person, therefore God received his prayer.

But the children struggled in her womb — whenever she passed the gate of a pagan temple, Esau moved convulsively to get out; whenever she passed by synagogues and study halls, Jacob moved convulsively to get out. Another explanation: They struggled — Esau said to Jacob, "Let's divide the world." Jacob said to him, "You take this world, and I will take the world to come." And likewise did Esau say to Jacob, "You take the world to come and I will take this world."

Another interpretation: Jacob said to Esau, "Sell me your birthright." He said to him, "I will sell you my birthright." And about this it is stated, "sold that day." (Genesis 25:31) He said to him that he should sell him his birthright on the condition that was made between them that day when they were still in the womb. "And she said, If so, why do I exist?"

Rebecca said: If I had known the pain of childbirth, I would not have prayed for childbirth. Another interpretation: "Why do I exist?" Because in the future there would come twelve tribes from Isaac. Rebecca said: There will be great pain for me, why am I asking that twelve tribes should come from me in this way? Then she went to inquire of Hashem — To the study hall of Shem.

"And God answered her: There are two nations etc." For Shem the son of Noah, the Holy One Blessed Be God said, that he will tell her there are two nations in your womb. "There are two nations in your womb." This is Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi and Antoninus, who did not lack for anything on their tables, neither a radish nor horseradish, neither in the days of sun nor in the days of rain. "Two separate peoples shall issue from your body."

From the innards they shall be separated one from the other. "One people shall be mightier than the other." Rome was destroyed and Jerusalem remained, Jerusalem was destroyed and Rome remained. And similarly it is stated,"Now that it is laid in ruins." (Ezekiel 26:2) If one is in ruins, the other will be destroyed too.

Another interpretation: princes from Jacob, kings from Esau, kings from Israel, chiefs from Esau. This like what it says, "these are the kings." (Genesis 36:31) "The older will serve the younger", Esau will serve Jacob.

"There were twins." It (the word for "twins") is missing an alef, and with Tamar, "twins" is written fully (maleh) with the alef. Why? Because they were both righteous ones. But here (with Jacob and Esau), one of them was righteous and one of them was wicked, that is why it is written incomplete (chaser, missing the alef).

"And the first came out ruddy." A spiller of blood. And they called his name Esau. His father and his mother called him Esau because he was a very hairy man.

And after him came out his brother. After Esau rules, Jacob will rule, and this is like what is stated, "For liberators shall march up on Mount Zion etc." (Obadiah 1:21) And his hand holding onto the heel of Esau. That Esau wanted to tear his mother's womb so that Jacob would not come out of there. And Jacob grabbed his ankle so that he could come out after him, but his mother's womb was destroyed and she could not bear children again.

And he called his name Jacob. The Holy One Blessed Be God called him Jacob on account of the heel. And Isaac was 60 years old when he sired them. He waited for Rebecca for 10 years, since she was not able to get pregnant, as she was 3 years old when they got married.

And he waited for her 10 years because a woman does not get pregnant younger than 13 years old. Those same ten years were not counted for her because she was not able to bear children, and after that when she was 13 years old, he waited for her 10 years, just as Abraham did for 23 years. At that time he prayed, and did not want to marry a handmaiden, because he wanted a perfect (wife). And in order to fulfill the words of his father and his mother, he did not want to take a wife for himself from the daughters of the Canaan, therefore he prayed on her behalf.

When the boys grew up etc. A parable to a myrtle and a thorn bush that were growing up side by side. When they are little, no person could recognize which of them is a myrtle and which is a thorn bush. When the myrtle grew, it gave off a good fragrance, and the thorn bush put out its thorns. So too was it with Esau and Jacob: The whole time they were little, no person would know which of them is righteous and which of them is wicked. When they grew, Esau became a man who knows hunting, that he would hunt living creatures and kill them. But Jacob was a mild man who stayed in camp, that he learned in the study hall of Ever and in the study hall of Shem.

Game was in his mouth. That Esau would honor his father and whatever he would hunt, his father would eat it. Another interpretation: Game was in his mouth. That he would ask his father how to tithe salt and straw, and Isaac loved him because he thought Esau was very stringent about the mitzvot. But Esau only asked those things in order to deceive his father. But Rebecca saw Esau's wickedness and she did not love him, but she saw that Jacob was a mild man who loved to learn Torah and who would go to the study hall, and so she loved him.

Jacob was cooking a stew. That same day, Abraham had died, and Jacob was cooking a dish of lentils, in order to feed his father, Isaac. And why do they feed a mourner lentils? Because it is forbidden for a mourner to speak, and just as lentils do not have a mouth (or opening), so too mourners are forbidden to speak, as it is stated, "Aaron was silent." (Leviticus 10:3) Another interpretation: Just as lentils are round, so too death is a cycle of return in the world.

And Esau came in from the field. Five sins did Esau transgress on that day: He stole, as it is stated, "If thieves were to come to you." (Obadiah 1:5) It is written here, "come", and it is written with Esau, "come." He had relations with a betrothed woman, as it is written here, "If he finds in the field" (Deuteronomy 22:25), and it is written with Esau, "in the field." He killed someone, as it is written here, "Alas for me, I faint before the killers" (Jeremiah 4:31), and with Esau it is written, "and he was faint."

And he denied the principal, as it is written here, "he is become my deliverance" (Exodus 15:2), and with Esau it is written, "what is this to me, the birthright?" As it is stated, "thus did Esau spurn the birthright." (25:34)

Give me some of that red stuff. He said to Jacob, I will open my mouth and you can throw it in like a pot. This is like we learned about filling up a camel when one wants to go on a far journey. From this red stuff.

About himself he said "red", as it is stated, "the first came out ruddy." Because on that very day that Esau sinned five times, Abraham died, just as the Holy One Blessed Be God had promised him, that he would be buried in good old age. And this is a good old age, that he (not) see his grandson go out to an evil culture. And about Esau it is stated, "be ever mindful of his father's iniquity." (Psalms 109:14) That he caused Abraham's death and dimmed the eyes of his father, Isaac.

Another interpretation: Sell that day. Just as the day is clear, so too will your sale be clear. And why did Jacob want to buy the birthright? Because from the beginning, the avodah was for the first-borns and not the simple ones.

Jacob said, I am a simple one and I cannot do offerings. And Esau, my brother, is a wicked one and he is not fit to do offerings. Therefore, Jacob bought the birthright from Esau in order to be able to do offerings.

Here I am going to die, what is the birthright to me?! This teaches that he committed heresy. Another interpretation: Here I am going to die etc. That he warred with Nimrod and was afraid that Nimrod might kill him. Another interpretation: Here I am etc. That offerings kill their masters when those who offer them are not righteous, and I am not righteous. What is this birthright to me?! That I will die before my time (to claim it). Another interpretation: Here I etc. I give offerings and work in service to God and I am going to die like people who do not give offerings. If so, why do I work in God's service? Therefore he decided for himself to sell his birthright to Jacob.

And Jacob said swear to me etc. And didn't Jacob know that his brother was a wicked person? Why make him swear to him? Rather, he did not have him swear to him, but instead to swear on the life of his father, as Esau loved him.

And Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. And similar to the bread and lentil stew that he sold him for his birthright, we learn that so too is it the custom of merchants that after they do their trading, they feed and give drink to the traders. He got up and he went. He associated himself with the wicked ones, and he would say to them: How foolish is my brother Jacob, and it is impossible for a simple one to be the firstborn. And from where do we know that the Holy One Blessed Be God agreed with Jacob? As it is stated, "Israel is my firstborn." (Exodus 4:22) Another interpretation: And he arose and went. That he passed from the world.

"And your brother becomes poor with him" (Leviticus 25:47). What caused your brother to go out into exile? That they joined themselves with them [the nations]. Even so, "after he is sold he shall have redemption" (Leviticus 25:48), as it is said, "For the LORD has redeemed Jacob," etc. (Jeremiah 31:11). "Either his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him" (Leviticus 25:49) — this is the King Messiah. "Or if his hand has attained enough, and he is redeemed" (Leviticus 25:49) — this is repentance, as it is said, "And you shall return unto the LORD your God," etc. (Deuteronomy 4:30). "And if he is not redeemed by these, then he shall go out in the year of Jubilee" (Leviticus 25:54) — "And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great shofar shall be blown," etc. (Isaiah 27:13). "For unto Me the children of Israel are servants" (Leviticus 25:55) — and not to the nations of the world, "for I will not contend forever" (Isaiah 57:16). "I am the LORD your God" — against your will. And so it says, "And that which comes up upon your spirit," etc.; "As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm," etc., "will I reign over you" (Ezekiel 20:32-33). And He said, "My sabbaths you shall keep" — that is, even though you are exiled among the nations, do not do as their deeds, but keep My commandments, and I will deliver you from them. Amen, and may it be His will; may the Name in His mercy grant us the merit of the days of the Messiah.

And there was a famine in the land. This famine came on account of Isaac to test if he would cry out and complain or not. And he withstood the test and did not cry out to complain, but rather he went to Avimelech, the king of the Philistines, just as his father, Abraham, did.

Stay in the land. As if to say that here is your divine presence. In the land that I point out to you. In the merit of Abraham that I spoke to him "on one of the mountains that I will point out to you." (Genesis 22:2)

"If you walk in My statutes." This is what Scripture says: "My son, do not despise the discipline of the LORD" (Proverbs 3:11), for the Holy One, blessed be He, does good with the one whom He loves and disciplines him in this world, so that he may go clean into the World to Come; for it is not possible for a person to be clean of iniquities, and for this reason He brings sufferings upon him in order to refine him, like silver purified sevenfold. And the Holy One, blessed be He, desires from Israel nothing but that they labor in Torah and in good deeds. And so He says, "Oh, that My people would hearken to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! Soon I would subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries" (Psalms 81:14-15). And He says, "Oh, that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river" (Isaiah 48:18). Therefore it is said, "If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments" (Leviticus 26:3) — that a person should study Torah in order to keep the commandments and to do them; for the one who studies in order not to do, it would be better for him had he not been created in the world. Another interpretation: "If you walk in My statutes." I counseled you thus, and you did not do so, but "the children of Israel imputed things that were not so" (2 Kings 17:9) — and things that were not so they laid upon Me; so I too laid upon you things that I did not write in the Torah, as it is said, "also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this Torah" (Deuteronomy 28:61). And if things that I did not give and did not write in the Torah, you did them and transgressed against Me and against My Torah and forsook Me — as Isaiah, peace be upon him, says, "they have forsaken the LORD" (Isaiah 1:4) — and I am called merciful and gracious, yet because of your iniquities I made Myself as one cruel and reversed My attribute, as it is said, "The LORD has become as an enemy" (Lamentations 2:5). Why? Because "they rebelled and grieved His holy spirit, therefore He turned to be their enemy" (Isaiah 63:10). Therefore, "and among those nations you shall have no repose" (Deuteronomy 28:65). Another interpretation: "If you walk in My statutes." This is what Scripture says: "Wisdom cries aloud outside, in the streets she raises her voice" (Proverbs 1:20). What is "Wisdom cries aloud outside"? Once Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman found Rabbi Natan beribbi Eliezer standing in the marketplace. He said to him, "Rabbi, teach me one chapter." He said to him, "Go with me to the house of study, and I will teach you there." He said to him, "Rabbi, what is 'Wisdom cries aloud outside'?" He said to him, "You know how to read, but you do not know how to expound. What is 'outside'? Outside of the Torah. The pearl — where is it sold? Is it not sold in its own market? Precious stones — where are they sold? Are they not sold in their own market? So too the Torah is learned only in houses of study and in synagogues, the place that broadens a person's heart"; and concerning this it says, "in the streets she raises her voice." "At the head of the noisy streets she calls" (Proverbs 1:21). What is "at the head of the noisy streets"? For the Torah first warns all the people of the world. How many multitudes perished because they did not occupy themselves with it — the generation of the Flood, the generation of the Dispersion, and the men of Sodom! Thus, "at the head of the noisy streets she calls." Another interpretation: "at the head of death (be-rosh mot)" — at the head of death she calls to Adam the first man. And what does she call to him? "For on the day you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Thus, "at the head of the noisy streets she calls." "At the entrances of the gates, in the city, she utters her words" (Proverbs 1:21). At first they would make the synagogues at the highest point of the city, to fulfill what is said, "at the entrances of the gates, in the city, she utters her words." Rabbi Acha said: She speaks the good and she speaks the bad. "If you will not hearken to Me, the LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust" (Deuteronomy 28:24) — this is the bad; and the good she speaks: "If you walk in My statutes... then I will give your rains in their season" (Leviticus 26:3-4). Another interpretation: "If you walk in My statutes." What is written there? "And I will set My tabernacle among you" (Leviticus 26:11) — if you fulfill the Torah, I will leave the upper beings and descend and dwell among you, as it is written, "And I will dwell among the children of Israel" (Exodus 29:45); for on this condition Israel went out from Egypt, that they make the Tabernacle and the Shekhinah rest among them, as it is said, "And they shall know that I am the LORD their God... that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 29:46). And if they do My will, the Shekhinah does not depart from among them. Rabbi Ami said: The Holy One, blessed be He, desired that just as He has a dwelling above, so He should have a dwelling below; for thus He said to Adam the first man: "If you prove worthy, just as I am king over the upper beings, so I will make you king over the lower beings," as it is said, "And the LORD God took the man" (Genesis 2:15) — and "took" is nothing but an expression of elevation, just as you say, "And Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus" (Esther 2:16). But he did not keep the commandment, rather he sinned; and when he sinned, the Shekhinah departed. And when Israel arose, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: You went out from Egypt only on the condition that you make Me a sanctuary, and I will rest My Shekhinah among you, as it is said, "And they shall make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8). And likewise I said to Solomon: "Concerning this house which you are building, if you walk in My statutes... then I will dwell among the children of Israel" (1 Kings 6:12-13); "but if you turn away, you and your children, from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them" (1 Kings 9:6) — and what do I do? "Then I will cut off Israel from the face of the land" (1 Kings 9:7).

"And I will give your rains in their season" (Leviticus 26:4) — on the fourth nights. Another interpretation: "in their season" — at night, since all night long the rain comes down, and in the morning the wind blows and the clouds scatter, and a person goes out to his work. Another interpretation: "And I will give your rains in their season" — not the rains of all the lands. And how do I uphold "and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through your seed" (Genesis 26:4)? That through the merit of Israel the heavens give their dew and the earth gives its produce, as it is said, "The LORD also shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her produce" (Psalms 85:13), and the nations of the world live by it in general; and when Israel sins, the heavens are held back. Another interpretation: "And I will give your rains in their season" — on the eves of the Sabbaths. And it happened in the days of Shimon ben Shetach, in the days of Queen Shlomtzion, that the rains were coming down on the eves of the Sabbaths until the grains of wheat became like kidneys, and the lentils like gold dinars; and the sages bundled some of them and set them aside for the generations to come, to make known how much good deeds bring about. "And the land shall yield her produce" (Leviticus 26:4) — in the order in which it was given at the creation of the world. "And the tree of the field shall give its fruit" — in the way that it did at first, when each month it produced fruit, as it is said, "month by month it shall bring forth new fruit" (Ezekiel 47:12), to fulfill what is said, "He has made a memorial for His wonders" (Psalms 111:4).

Obeyed me and kept my laws. That he made guards for guards, it teaches that Abraham to his merit removed his father's idols. My commandments. That he circumcised Isaac his son when he was 8 days old, just as God had commanded him to. My laws. These are the forbidden mixtures, as it is stated, "My rules shall you observe etc."(Leviticus 18:4) And my teachings. Both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah did Abraham keep.

"And the threshing shall reach for you unto the vintage" (Leviticus 26:5) — that you shall be occupied with the threshing until the vintage arrives. "And the vintage shall reach unto the sowing" — that you shall be occupied with the vintage until the time of the sowing arrives. "And you shall eat your bread to satiety" — not that a person eats much and is sated, but rather he eats a little and is sated, because it is blessed within his innards. "And you shall dwell securely in your land" — that you shall dwell securely in the Land and outside the Land.

When some time had passed etc. He thought that since Abimelech had not taken his wife already, that he could banish the thought from his mind (that he would take her).

"And I will turn toward you" (Leviticus 26:9). I have a great reckoning with you. He means to say: I will turn away from the nations upon whom I wrought vengeance, and I will return to you. He will give you a good reward for your good deed, and I will cut for you a new covenant that will not be broken, as it is said, "Behold, days are coming, says the LORD, and I will cut with the house of Israel [and with the house of Judah a new covenant]" (Jeremiah 31:30).

"One of the people might easily have lain with your wife" (Genesis 26:10). Now Abimelech did not wish to take her, even though he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid that there might befall him what had befallen him concerning Abraham his father, who said of Sarah, "She is my sister"; and when he took her, the Holy One, blessed be He, shut up his whole household, and He said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken" (Genesis 20:3). Therefore Abimelech would every day observe Isaac, to see whether Rebekah was his sister or his wife. And Isaac would guard himself not to lie with her, because he had said, "She is my sister." But when the days grew long for him there, for he spent the whole summer, he said: Surely Abimelech has forgotten, and he lay with her. And Abimelech, who was watching whether she was his sister or his wife, when he saw him sporting with her, for the sporting was an act of marital intimacy, immediately Abimelech called him and said to him, "One of the people might easily have lain with your wife." And who is the singular one? This is the king.

"And Isaac sowed in that land" (Genesis 26:12) — that he performed a great act of charity (tzedakah) with the poor of that place, as it is said, "Sow for yourselves according to charity" (Hosea 10:12). "A hundredfold (a hundred measures)" — on account of that merit the Holy One, blessed be He, blessed that sowing, and the land yielded a hundred measures beyond what they had estimated of it.

"And if you reject My statutes" (Leviticus 26:15). It is not enough for you that you do not learn and you do not act, but you even reject those who learn and those who act. "And if your soul abhors My ordinances" — that you come to hate the learning, and the Torah, and the commandments, and you prevent others, so that they should not act, until you break My covenant; in the end they deny the fundamental principle, and deny the commandments that were spoken to Moses at Sinai.

"I too will do this to you" (Leviticus 26:16). With anger I come upon you. What I built, I will tear down. From your own hand this came to you, for evil never goes forth from before Me, as it is said, "Out of the mouth of the Most High does not come evil and good?" (Lamentations 3:38). "And I will appoint over you terror" — a plague that terrifies people. And which is this? Pestilence. "Consumption" — that his flesh wastes away from heat. "And fever" — this is chills, so that he has no rest upon his flesh. "That consume the eyes" — so that he himself should not expect that he will live. "And cause the soul to languish" — so that even others will not expect concerning him that he will live, and they grieve over him. "And you shall sow your seed in vain" — concerning the sons and the daughters Scripture speaks: that one toils over them and raises them, and the pestilence comes and consumes them. And so it says, "Those whom I have dandled and reared my enemy has consumed" (Lamentations 2:22).

"And I will set My face against you" (Leviticus 26:17): [You did not merit that I should turn toward you for good, so I have turned toward you for evil.] A parable of a king who said to his servant: I turn away from all my affairs and occupy myself with you for evil. "And you shall be smitten before your enemies": After all this, death will be killing you [from within], and the enemy surrounds you from without. And so it says, "Outside the sword shall bereave, and within, terror" (Deuteronomy 32:25). "And those who hate you shall rule over you": That is to say, from you and among you shall your enemies be, who will search out your hidden treasures.

"And if even with these you will not listen to Me" (Leviticus 26:18). Rabbi Eliezer says: The Holy One, blessed be He, does not bring punishment upon Israel until He first testifies against them, as it is said, "And if even with these you will not listen to Me." [Rabbi Yehoshua says: so that Israel should not say, "The plagues are finished"]: I still have plagues like these and like these that I will bring upon you. You transgressed before Me with seven transgressions; come and receive seven punishments. The explanation of the seven transgressions: a soothsayer, and a diviner, and a sorcerer, and a caster of spells, and one who consults a ghost, and a wizard, and one who inquires of the dead. I will bring upon you seven plagues that are written with seven "af" (anger).

"And I will send among you the beast of the field" (Leviticus 26:22) — that even a beast whose way it is not to do harm shall do harm. "And it shall bereave you" — these are the little ones. "And it shall cut off your cattle" — from outside. "And diminish you" — from inside. "And your ways shall be desolate" — with none passing and none returning.

"And they said, 'We have surely seen' (Genesis 26:28). [The doubled wording teaches:] We saw the deeds of your father, and we saw your deeds; and just as the Holy One, blessed be He, was with your father Abraham, so was He with you. And therefore we said, 'Let there now be an oath' — that just as there was [an oath] between us and your father Abraham, so shall it be between us and you."