📜 Daily Chumash & Rashi – Parshas Ha’azinu Revi’i: Hashem’s punishments to the Jews

Revi’i

• Hashem’s punishments to the Jews: Hashem will become angry at what He sees, and He will hide His face from them. “Just as they angered Me with a foreign god so too I will anger them with a foreign nation. Fire will burn through My nostrils and consume the land and its produce. Bloated by famine, they will have the teeth of animals sent against them. Outside there will be the sword [of war], and inside will be fear. I will scatter them amongst the nations and obliterate their memory from man. The nations will think this is their doing and not that of Hashem. They are a nation bereft of council or understanding.

 

Q&A on Rashi

Parsha Bee – Devarim 32:19–28 (Rashi)

1. Why did Hashem become angry in verse 19?
   Answer: Because of the actions of His sons and daughters.
2. What does “I will see what their end will be” mean?
   Answer: Hashem will see what will happen to them in the future.
3. What does “a generation of changes” mean?
   Answer: They changed Hashem’s goodwill into anger.
4. What does אֵמֻן mean in Rashi’s first explanation?
   Answer: Reared or raised.
5. What does Rashi’s second explanation of אֵמֻן mean?
   Answer: Faithfulness.
6. What proof does Rashi bring that Israel lacked faithfulness?
   Answer: They said “Na’aseh v’Nishma” and shortly afterward made the Golden Calf.
7. What does “They provoked My jealousy with a non-god” mean?
   Answer: They worshipped something that was not truly a god.
8. What is a “non-people” according to Rashi?
   Answer: A nation without significance or name.
9. Which nation does Rashi mention as an example of a “non-people”?
   Answer: The Chaldeans.
10. What does “a foolish nation” refer to?
    Answer: Heretics.
11. Which verse does Rashi quote about a fool?
    Answer: “The fool said in his heart, there is no God.”
12. What does קָדְחָה mean?
    Answer: Burned.
13. What does Hashem’s fire consume?
    Answer: The land and its produce.
14. What city is alluded to by “the foundations of mountains”?
    Answer: Jerusalem.
15. Why is Jerusalem called “the foundations of mountains”?
    Answer: Because it is surrounded by mountains.
16. What does אַסְפֶּה mean according to the first explanation?
    Answer: I will add or heap evil upon evil.
17. What is the second explanation of אַסְפֶּה?
    Answer: I will consume.
18. What blessing is hidden in “I will use up My arrows on them”?
    Answer: The arrows will end, but Israel will not.
19. What does מְזֵי רָעָב mean according to Rabbi Moshe Hadarshan?
    Answer: Hairy from famine.
20. What causes a person to become “hairy from famine”?
    Answer: Severe emaciation.
21. What are בְּנֵי רֶשֶׁף according to Rashi?
    Answer: Demons.
22. What is מְרִירִי?
    Answer: A demon.
23. What does קֶטֶב mean?
    Answer: Destruction or excision.
24. What unusual event does Rashi mention regarding “the teeth of livestock”?
    Answer: Sheep once bit people to death.
25. What are זֹחֲלֵי עָפָר?
    Answer: Snakes and other crawling creatures.
26. What does “outside the sword will bereave” mean?
    Answer: Enemy armies will kill outside the city.
27. What is one explanation of “terror from within”?
    Answer: Fear causing the heart to pound.
28. What is another explanation of “terror from within”?
    Answer: Fear of deadly plague inside the house.
29. According to a third explanation, why does the sword strike outside?
    Answer: Because of idolatry performed in the streets.
30. Why does terror come from within according to that explanation?
    Answer: Because of sins committed in private rooms.
31. What does אַפְאֵיהֶם mean according to Rashi’s first explanation?
    Answer: I will make an end of them.
32. What is Rashi’s second explanation of אַפְאֵיהֶם?
    Answer: I will cast them away like ownerless property.
33. Why did Hashem not completely destroy Israel?
    Answer: So the enemy would not claim victory for itself and its gods.
34. What would the enemies mistakenly say?
    Answer: “Our hand was triumphant.”
35. What would they fail to recognize?
    Answer: That Hashem caused everything.
36. What does “lest they distort” mean?
    Answer: They would misinterpret events and give credit to a false power.
37. Why are the enemy nations called devoid of counsel?
    Answer: Because they do not understand Hashem’s role in history.
38. What would a wise nation realize according to Rashi?
    Answer: That Israel’s defeats could only occur because Hashem allowed them.
39. What major theme appears throughout these verses?
    Answer: Hashem punishes Israel but never allows their complete destruction.
40. What central lesson does Rashi teach from “I will use up My arrows on them”?
    Answer: Israel is eternal even when punishments come.

Bonus: What is the hidden blessing inside one of the strongest punishments in this section?
Answer: “My arrows will be finished, but Israel will not be finished.”