In the beginning of his short and direct, but nevertheless powerfully inspiring book, Tomer Devora,(*) R. Moshe Cordovero(**) expounds upon the various attributes of God listed in Micha 7:18-20.: "Who is God like You, Who Pardons iniquity, and Forgives the transgression of the remnant of His Heritage? He does not maintain His Anger forever, because He Delights in mercy. He Will again Have Compassion upon us; He Will Suppress our iniquities. And You Will Cast all their sins into the depths of the sea; You Will Show truth to Yaakov, loyal love to Avraham, as You Have Sworn to our fathers from days of old." The author posits that since the Tora in a number of places emphasizes how we are to emulate God and walk in His Ways --- see Devarim 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 28:9;30:16 --- we can establish personal plans of action by analyzing what those Divine Ways are based upon Biblical descriptions such as the one cited above, and figuring out how we might strive to act similarly.
With regard to the phrase appearing in the verses listed above LeShe'eirit Nachalato (the remnant of His Heritage), RaMaC writes the following: Behold, God interacts with the Jewish people in this manner, saying, "How Can I Deal badly with Israel? After all they are My Relatives. I have a She'eir Basar (blood relationship) with them. For she [the people of Israel] is the spouse of the Holy One Blessed Be He, and He refers to her as "My Daughter", "My Sister", "My Mother" (see Shir HaShirim Rabba 3:2; Tehillim 45:11; Song of Songs 5:2; Yeshayahu 51:4). And what can be said? For were I to Punish them, behold I Feel the pain, as it is said, (Yeshayahu 63:9) BeChol Tzoratam Lo Tzar --- the word Lo is written with an Alef (i.e., Lamed Alef) to teach that the pain experienced by the Jewish people reaches up to LePeleh Elyon (Peleh is Aleph spelled backwards!) and Lo is read as if there is a Vav (i.e., Lamed Vav), and it is written (Shoftim 10:16) "And His Soul was shortened due to the travail of the Jewish people," because He Cannot Bear their pain and disparagement because they are the remnant of His Heritage."
The author then proceeds to extend this Divine Attribute to human beings, when he writes that all Jews should see one another as being part of the same entity, blood relatives, sharing a common soul. If such an idea would be internalized, then each of us would be happy when another succeeds, and will care as much about the honor of the next person as his own. And when another is suffering, then you too must feel the pain and the discomfort, if in fact we are all so closely related to one another.
The touching and reassuring empathy that is suggested in Tomer Devoraparallels the Rabbinic sentiment regarding why HaShem chose to appear to Moshe in a burning bramble bush (see RaShI on Shemot 3:2) and allowed Himself to be "observed" with a brickwork of sapphire stones beneath His Feet (see RaShI on Shemot 20:2 and 24:10).
These sources are starkly contrasted by a comment in this week's Parsha, part of the Tochecha (threats of what is to come if the Jewish people will not adhere to the commandments of the Tora and God's Ways.) In Devarim 28:63 we read, "It will come to pass that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and to annihilate you."
On one level, even if we accept this terminology as an anthropomorphism since God is by definition not susceptible to human emotion, a theological conundrum arises. Megilla 10b(***) commenting on this verse, states: "Now does the Holy One Blessed Be He rejoice over the fall of the wicked?" What is the meaning of the verse, (Shemot 14:20) "And one came not near the other all night"? The ministering angels wanted to sing songs of praise, but the Holy One Blessed Be He, said, "The Work of My Hands is being drowned in the sea, and shall you sing songs?" If God negates others from rejoicing over the fall of the enemies of His People, how can He Himself entertain such sensibilities with regard to having to punish them Personally? Furthermore, even if parental "tough love" may be at times necessitated by particular recalcitrance on the part of a child, do we expect the punishing parent to enjoy doling out pain and suffering to his She'eirit Nachala? Not only is this theologically problematic, but, if in fact we are expected to generally emulate the Ways of God, can such a choice of terminology in this Parsha possibly lead to reprehensible parental behavior towards their offspring that will now be justified by a Biblical reference?
Several explanations are offered for this baffling choice of words describing how God approaches punishing his people. The source in Megilla cited above explains the terminology employed as follows: R. Eliezer replied,"He Himself does not rejoice, but He Makes others rejoice. This is also indicated by the text which writes Yasis [causative] and not Yasus [active]; which proves what we said." R. Baruch HaLevi Epstein, in his commentary Tosefet Beracha, uses the Gemora in Megilla to turn the implication of the verse in our Parsha on its head: since the understanding of the word Yasis is that others (as opposed to HaShem Himself) will rejoice, and the verse in Mishlei 24:17 states, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; lest the Lord See it, and it Displease Him, and He Turn away His Wrath from him." If so, the very joy experienced by the evil nations of the world when witnessing the punishment of Israel, will directly lead to the salvation of the Jews, for HaShem will Remove His Anger from the Jews (in order to end the delight of their enemies). In effect, since the Jews are incapable of saving themselves in terms of improving their behaviors, their enemies' perverse pleasure in Jewish suffering is exploited as the justification for improving Israel's lot, even in the absence of a change of heart for the better by the Jews themselves. R. S.R. Hirsch suggests a different creative spin that avoids having to redefine the word Yasis and play off the sadistic joy of the enemies of the Jews."Just as it would have been for your good that He Made you extraordinarily fortunate, so will it be for your good that He Lets you be so extraordinarily unfortunate." Therefore since the long term will prove beneficial to the Jews directly as a result of their short-term suffering that will force them into repenting from their evil ways, and because God, Who Operates above the dimension of time, always Possesses the long view, He Can paradoxically Personally Rejoice in terms of what will eventually happen, even as He Applies severe punishments to His People during the present moment. A third approach would entail investigating the specific meaning of the verb Sas. MaLBIM on Yeshayahu 35:1 compares several verbs connoting joy. "There is a difference between Simcha, Sasson, and Gil. Sasson refers to external actions that one does to demonstrate joy, such as playing a drum, a harp, dancing, etc. Simcha and Gil are internal feelings, with Simcha referring to the ongoing, uninterrupted sensibility, whereas Gil connotes the excitement that arises from something new and fresh, e.g., when one finds a lost object or receives good news." The implication for the verse in Devarim describing God's Sasson would then become, that, at least upon the surface, when Jews come in for Divine Punishment, it may appear that there is a sense of satisfaction on God's Part that evildoers have received their just deserts. But that does not mean that, KaVeYaChol, such is the reality and that HaShem has given up on the Jewish People and their ultimate redemption.
Perhaps an analogue would be what RaMBaM writes concerning the demonstration of human anger. In Hilchot De'ot 2:3, after reiterating how anger is a negative character trait and is to be avoided at all costs, we learn that there are certain circumstances where the assumption of the guise of anger can be justified. "And if one wishes to impose fear upon his/her offspring and the members of his/her household, or upon the community if s/he is its leader, and s/he wishes to become angry at them in order that they change their ways for the better, s/he should present him/herself before them as if s/he is angered in order to make them feel badly; however, unto him/herself, his/her temperament should remain calm, like one who is pretending to be angry when s/he is angered, but in reality, s/he is not angry." If human beings, who are quite capable of anger but who should make every effort to avoid it, are allowed to give the impression that they are consumed by this emotion, how much more so does this become the case with respect to the Divine, Who by definition does not possess such qualities, inherent or otherwise. The use of the language that God "will enjoy" afflicting us, then, appears for no more than its shock value; it is all part of the ruse being played out by our best and most reliable Advocate, to try to cajole, frighten, entice, reason with, and even resort to force to finally get His People to do what He Created them to do, to serve as an Ohr LaGoyim in a spiritually- and morally- wanting world, to further the meta-goal of Tikkun Olam (perfecting the creation and human civilization.) Possibly, we read this Parsha in general, and this Pasuk in particular during Ellul,(****) to illicit from us a positive response in terms of self-improvement and the striving after spiritual growth and perfection well before the Days of Judgement, so that when we finally enter the Yomim Noraim, we can do so with love and confidence, rather than fear and trembling.
Shabbat Shalom!
(*) The Palmtree of Devora, the name being derived from Shoftim 4:5.
(**) 1522-70, Kabbalist, student of R. Yosef Karo.
(***) Tractate Megilla, which deals with the holiday of Purim, notes that R. Yehoshua ben Levi would begin a discussion of Megillat Esther by citing the verse in Ki Tavo. The reference in Esther which calls the verse in Devarim in mind is Esther 5:9: "And Haman went out on that day rejoicing and happy of heart, and when Haman saw Mordechai in the gate of the king who did not stand nor did he move in deference to him, and Haman was filled with hatred towards Mordechai." The Amora therefore suggests that it was Haman's pleasure, coupled with his decision to do away with Mordechai and the Jews, that stirred HaShem into action.
(****) When the Tora was read on a tri-annual cycle, this would not necessarily work out in the same manner.