Parshas Vayikrah 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Mar 20
- 2 min read
ואחלל שרי קדש ואתנה לחרם יעקב וישראל לגדופים ... (ישעי' מג-כח)
Yeshaya HaNavi declared, “Because of your sins, I will cause Your holy princes to become desecrated by enemies. I will time and again give over Yaakov for destruction and Yisrael for insults by the enemy.” This reveals Hashem’s actions in how he often destroys “holy princes,” including righteous and noble Jews, together with the wicked ones, because of the sins of the generation. We know that Hashem is a merciful G-d, thus it is surprising that he would do this.
R’ Dovid Kimchi zt”l (Metzudas Dovid) explains that according to the Medrash, the “holy princes” mentioned here are the angels in heaven. When Yirmiyahu HaNavi urged the Jews to do teshuva before the enemies would enter Yerushalayim and destroy the Bais Hamikdash, they replied haughtily that no enemy would ever set foot in the city. In fact, they argued that they knew the various names of the angels, and they will command them to do various tasks to make Yerushalayim impenetrable. When the Almighty saw the arrogance of their talks, He said that he has seen that the angels have become the Jews’ substitute for doing teshuva and He will therefore change the angels’ names and hence their tasks. In doing so, the Jews’ plans to thwart the enemies were confounded and Yerushalayim fell. This is the meaning of the words "ואחלל שרי קדש" - that Hashem “caused the heavenly hosts to become desecrated.” Yet, despite their sins and punishment, Hashem wants Klal Yisroel to not lose heart - the hard and distressful situations will eventually cease.