משכית, the word is derived from שכה in the same manner as מרבית is derived from רבה. It has no companion in the Bible except Psalms 73,7 עברו משכיות לבב, a reference to visions of one’s heart. Here too, the stone and its multi-coloured decorations are designed to awaken one’s fantasies.

וישן מפני חדש תוציאו, from the granaries in order to sell it forthwith. Compare Deuteronomy 14,28 תוציא את כל מעשר תבואתך ונתתה ללוי, ”you shall bring out the full tithe of your yield of that year and give it to the Levite, etc.”

מוטות עולכם, similar to Jeremiah 27,2 עשה לך מוסרות, “make for yourselves thongs and bars, etc.” The thongs are used to connect the yoke of wood which is known as מוטות because it depresses the neck of the ox.

קוממיות. When the yoke is removed he can hold his head high.

שבע על חטאתיכם; meaning that you will be struck with many afflictions for your sins. The expression is similar to the use of the word שבע by Solomon in Proverbs 24,16 שבע יפול צדיק וקם, “the Just will fall seven times, (many times) and each time he will rise up again.” Compare also Isaiah using the word שבעתים, literally, “sevenfold,” to compare the light of the sun in the future. He means it will be immeasurably stronger than in the pre-messianic times. (Compare Isaiah 30,26) The same prophet also employs the word “seven” as meaning “many,” In Isaiah 4,1 when saying that many women will beg to be just allowed to use the name of a chosen man, asking not to be supported by him but just to be allowed to be known as belonging to that man.

ושברתי את גאון עוזכם, as we read in verse 26 בשברי לכם מטה לחם, “when I will break your proud glory,” (economic independence) Ezekiel 16,49 uses similar words to express the same thoughts In the aggadic literature the predictions are understood as predicting the destruction of the Temple. In Ezekiel 24,21 the Temple is referred to as גאון עזכם, “your pride and glory.” The plain meaning of the text is in accordance with what I explained as testified to by the end of the verse ונתתי שמיכם כברזל ואת ארצכם כנחושה, “I will make your skies like iron and your earth like copper.”

כחכם, for the earth will no longer lend you its strength.

ואם תלכו עמי קרי, Menachem interprets the word קרי as related to Proverbs 28,17 הוקר רגלך, “restrain your foot.” This is nonsense. The word הוקר in Proverbs is derived from a group of verbs known as פ'ה, first root letter being the letter ה, as in Genesis 47,6 הושב את אביך, a transitive mode of the root ישב, meaning: “settle your father, etc.” The word קרי is derived from the root קרה as in Numbers 23,15, meaning: “if you will walk with Me as if your fate is subject to coincidences, totally arbitrary happenings, not subject to providence, as a person who walks haphazardly, not following a definitive direction.”

נקם ברית, vengeance for the covenant which you broke. Compare what was written in verse 15.

עשר נשים, meaning “many;” the number “10” is not to be understood literally. It is used in the same sense in Job 19,3 עשר פעמים תכלימני, “time and again you humiliated me.”

בתנור אחד, for one woman does not have enough dough with which to fill the oven.

והשיבו לחמכם במשקל, because it had been brought into the oven by weight, and according to the same weight it will be returned to the owners of the dough. The whole expression describes the minute amount of bread available. Ezekiel 4,16 graphically describes these conditions, writing “they shall eat bread by weight, in anxiety, and drink water by measure, in horror.” בשברי לכם מטה לחם, “when I break your staff of bread,” it will be baked and consumed strictly according to weight.

ואכלתם ולא תשבעו, because the rations are so inadequate. Alternatively, the meaning is that “although you eat a lot of it, it will not satisfy because a curse rests on the bread.”

ויסרתי, same as Deuteronomy 8,5 כאשר ייסר איש את הנו, “as a father who disciplines his son.” The word occurs in this sense also in Deuteronomy 21,18 ויסרו אותו, “after they disciplined him.” (physical punishment.) Similar constructions are found with the root ישב, as in Ezekiel 25,4 וישבו בך טירותם, “they will establish their palaces within you.”

על פגרי גילוליכם, because in the very houses which served as your temples you will be killed; there is a parallel verse in Jeremiah 7,32 describing the lack of suitable burial grounds for the dead.

ושממו עליה איביכם, when they come there with the intention to settle in them. (compare Tzefaniah 2,15 כל עובר עליה ישרוק, יניע ידו, “everyone who comes by her hisses and gestures with his hand (in disgust).”

כל ימי השמה תשבות, for the 70 years of exile in Babylonia are to compensate for the years the land should have lain fallow during the sh’mittah and Yovel years.

תשבות. Spelled plene, with the tone sign etnachta. If it were not for the tone sign it would have been spelled תשבת, tishbat, as in verse 34. Similar constructions are found in Genesis 11,28 וימת, or Genesis 39,12 וינס, whereas in Psalms 114,3 the spelling is וינוס, and in Genesis 5,5 it is וימות, all on account of the tone sign etnachta. (or end of verse).

מרך בלבבם, this does not mean that the heart has become soft, as in Deuteronomy 20,8 or as in Job 23,16, but the letter מ in the word מרך is an integral part of the word, not a preposition. In fact, even the emphasis is on that letter, as in the word אהל, tent. The word and its intonation is similar to Isaiah 58,13 וקראת לשבת עונג, and the word אוכל, ochel, which is intoned on the first syllable. The word מרך does not appear again in Scriptures.

ימקו from the word נמקו חבורותי, “my wounds stink and fester.” The construction is similar to יסעו and יסעו (yissu and yissa-u)

וזכרתי, if their hearts will humble themselves.

והארץ תעזב מהם, according to the number of years the sh’mittah legislation has been ignored so that their sin can be expiated. After that, the promise of verse 45 that G’d will remember the covenant with the patriarchs can be fulfilled.

יען וביען במשפטי מאסו ואת חקותי געלה נפשם, the first word יען refers to the mishpatim, the second to the chukkim.

ברית ראשונים, for whose sake I took them out of Egypt in the first place.

בהר סיני ביד משה, just as the whole chapter commences with the subject of the sh’mittah legislation (25,1) so it concludes with linking the retribution as being the result of neglect of that important commandment. The subject matter of both the portion Behar and Bechukotai deals almost exclusively with the release of the land or the slaves, freeing slaves (Jewish ones, not bodily owned) and freeing land which had been sold only due to economic necessity. The importance the Torah attaches to these commandments is underlined by their being repeatedly mentioned as originating at Mount Sinai.