Isaiah Chapter 3

This entire section is explained in Tractate Chagigah (14a) — Isaiah cursed Israel [i.e., prophesied tribulations for them] with eighteen curses, yet he was not satisfied until he said, (verse 5) “The youth shall behave haughtily against the old, and the base against the honorable.”

One who knows how to intercolate the years and fix the months.

[explained by the Talmud as “wise of the deaf,” meaning that] when he commences [to speak of] words of Torah, all become as deaf [i. e., unable to refute his statement].

[The Talmud separates this into two, explaining “understanding” as one capable of deducing a decision from an earlier premise. “Secret” is explained as] one fit to be entrusted with secrets of the Torah, given in whispers, such as the story of Creation and the account of the Celestial Chariot, related in Ezekiel 1.

These are people devoid of any observance of the commandments.

foxes, [i.e.,] weak people — But I say that according to the simple meaning, תַּעֲלוּלִים means scornful people, people who mock them, as (Job 16:15): “I soiled (וְעוֹלַלְתִּי) my radiance in the dust,” and (Exod. 10: 2): “how I mocked (הִתְעַלַּלְתִּי) the Egyptians.”

They shall be pressed and oppressing each other with competition and strife.

The youth will raise himself over the elder.

[This is to be interpreted] according to its simple meaning — The exegetical meaning is as follows: Let one to whom grave interdicts seem light come and raise himself over one to whom light interdicts seem grave.

When a man shall seize his brother in his father’s house, saying, “You are wealthy in Torah, and it is as white to you as a garment.”

and teach us.

upon which we are stumbling, in prohibition or permissibility, in defilement or in purity, shall be under your hand, for you know how to instruct us. Another explanation is: You have a garment to clothe the naked. fajjlejjnca in O.F. [faibless in modern French]. My want, that I lack bread, is under your hand to supply me. Therefore, you shall be to us as an officer. He replies, In my house there is neither bread nor clothing. What then are my qualifications as an officer?

is only an expression of swearing; he will swear to them, I will not be a ‘Chovesh.’ I will not be one of those confined to the study hall, since, in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; I have understanding neither of the Mishnah nor of the Aggadah. Another explanation according to the simple meaning is: I will not be a confiner; I will not be a judge, who confines the convicts to prison.

They are all faulty and falling, and no one assists the next one. Why? Because they refused to obey, and now, they all provoke.

against Him to provoke Him.

to provoke before His glory — Another explanation is: to provoke the matters of His glory.

The sin that they recognize faces [i.e., show favoritism] in judgment testified against them before Me. Another version is: The recognition of their facesThey are recognizable by the boldness of their faces.

They committed [sins] publicly.

Say to the righteous man that he did good.

For he is bad to himself and to others; he brings about harm to himself and to others. [This is found] in Tanchuma (Emor 5). This verse refers back to: Say to the righteous that he is good and woe is to the wicked [who does evil].

They are mockers.

Adulterous women govern them, as he states below (verse 16) — “Since the daughters of Zion were haughty,” and they turned their hearts to evil; therefore, all weaklings governed them. Jonathan renders it as an expression of creditors (נוֹשִׁים) [rendering: and as creditors they govern them].

Your leaders, who should have led you on the good way, lead you astray. Spoiled

This expression of standing means delay.

For they should have protested (Shabbath 55a), and to the nations He says, And you have ravaged My vineyard. I became slightly incensed [against them,] and you helped to do harm.

[Of] a poor generation, for they were poor in good deeds — All this is in the Midrash Aggadah, but according to its simple meaning, the entire section deals with Israel, and “stands to judge the peoples,” refers to the tribes. The elders and the officers ‘ate up’ the rest of the people.

What is to you?

Crush and degrade to disgrace them in their lawsuit.

Concerning the women who governed My people, “Since the daughters of Zion are so haughty…"

an expression of looking — Another explanation is: They paint their eyes with vermilion or with blue eye shade.

This is an expression of something floating on another, as (Deut — 11:4): “over whom He caused… to flow (הֵצִיף),” which the Targum renders as אַטֵיף. Thus, a tall one would walk between two short ones, in order to appear to be floating over them (Shabbath 62b). Jonathan, however, renders: and with wigs they surround themselves. They would tie wigs, braids of cut-off hair. They would twist together with their braids so that they would appear thick and broad.

When they would pass in the street near Jewish youths, they would stamp their feet and hint to them of the affection of the adulteresses, in order to arouse their temptation, like the venom of a serpent. עֶכֶס is the venom of a serpent.

This is an expression of zaraath [believed to be a form of leprosy, see Commentary Digest II Kings 5:1], as (in Leviticus 13:6): “It is a mispachath (מִסְפַּחַת).” But since it is written with a ‘sin,’ our Sages expounded about it that they would become enslaved maidservants (שְׁפָחוֹת), and some expounded it to mean that He smote them with many families (מִשְׁפָּחוֹת) of lice. Their vessels He shall pour out. This is the Aramaic language, like “a black vessel” פַּתְיָא אוּכְמָא [in] (Pesachim 88a). They would say, Let Him hurry and hasten His deed, to bring on the invaders. An officer will see me and take me. When the retribution came, Nebuchadnezzar’s officers took them for wives because of their beauty. Thereupon, the Holy One, blessed be He, signaled to their ‘fountains,’ and blood of an issue flowed from them profusely, as a person pours from one vessel to another. They became loathsome to them, and they cast them to the ground from upon their chariots (Lamentations Rabbah 4:15). Jonathan, however, rendered: He will remove their glory.

This means wideness or greatness.

In the future, when the Holy One, blessed be He, will come to restore Israel to Him, the Lord shall remove from them the glory of the shoes, that they will not depend for their glory on the beauty of women’s jewelry and objects of vanity.

The shoes that were on their feet with which they spouted venom.

Types of headdresses for the ornaments of the head — Many [instances of this word] are found in the language of the Mishnah: the embroidered headdress (שביס) of the hair net (Kelim 28:10).

Jonathan renders — the hair nets.

an expression similar to (Proverbs 1:9) — “And necklaces (עֲנָקִים) for your throat.” They are called נְטָפוֹת, meaning “to drip,” because they hang on the neck and drip onto the breast, and they are a sort of pierced pearls, strung on a string, mostnecs in O. F.

bracelets for the arm, translated וְשִׁירַיָא.

A veil with which they envelop their entire countenance except the eyeball, so that a man will desire to satisfy himself by gazing at the cheeks. Another explanation is that they are types of pretty shawls, with which to enwrap themselves, and in the language of the Mishnah, there is an instance: “Shawled (רְעוּלוֹת) Arabian women,” in Tractate Shabbath (65a).

The Targum renders — tiaras. This resembles (Exodus 39:28): “the beautiful hats (פַּאֲרֵי הַמִּגְבָּעוֹת).”

circlets for the legs.

as the name implies, short ties with which they tie their hair, and some make them gilded, fres in O.F.

opposite the heart, nosche in O.F.

rings for the ear, the place into which people whisper (לוֹחֲשִׁים).

[Jonathan renders:] כִּתּוּנַיָּא as in Samuel (2 2:21) — and take to yourself his clothing (חֲלִיצָתוֹ), for the body is clothed with them, and when they are removed, they are removed from the body (חוֹלְצִין).

bedspreads, according to the Targum, who renders שׁוֹשִׁיפַיָא — Tablecloths.

[Jonathan] translates it as מַחְכַּיָּא, [an ornament] bearing the shape of the woman’s private parts, as we translate כּוּמָז (Ex. 35:22) as מָחוֹ

These are mirrors, as the Targum renders — מַחְזְיָתָא, miradojjr in O.F., and because they reveal (מְגַלּוֹת) the form of the face, they are called גִּלְיוֹנִים, or perhaps their mirrors were rolled (נִגְלָלוֹת).

of linen with which they would enwrap themselves.

molekin in O.F.

Fermalc in O.F., and they are of gold with which the shawl is closed when the woman enwraps herself therein.

The place where they would perfume themselves will be decayed.

The place where she girded herself, there will be lacerated, cut with wounds and signs of blows, as (Job: 19:26): “And after my skin is cut to pieces (נִקְּפוּ) ” ; (infra 10:34) “and the thickets of forest shall be cut down (וְנִקַּף).”

[The place where they would do the deed mentioned above — “walking and raising themselves they walk,” and that is at the height of the head, there will be] מִקְשֶׁה קָרְחָה, a wound that makes the head bald. מִקְשֶׁה is an expression similar to (Daniel 5: 6): “knocked one against the other (נַקְשָׁן).” I would explain it as follows: The place where they would put the plates of gold made by hammering batdec in O.F.but it is vowelized in the Masorah among the ten words vowelized with a ‘pattach’ [i.e., a ‘segol,’ and none of them is connected to the following word, and every [instance of the word] that is in the construct state is vowelized with a ‘kamatz’ [i.e., a ‘tzeireh’].

This is like two words — פְּתִי גִיל, a vessel [or organ] that brings levity; the secret parts about which is mentioned above: shall pour out their ‘vessels.’ Instead of that levity, a girdle of sackcloth will be on all loins.

For this is fitting for them to have instead of the beauty with which they acted haughtily.

Your heroes, your men of war, who go out in the army with a number.

an expression of lamentations.

The gates of the towns and houses — In all their gates will be lamentation.

and she shall be cleansed, meaning — and she shall be emptied of everything, like (Amos 4:6): “And behold, I have given you cleanness of teeth שִׁנַּיִם) (נִקְיוֹן,” [meaning hunger,] and in the language of the Mishnah;“So- and-so was cleaned out (נקי) of his belongings” (Baba Kamma 41a).

[This denotes figuratively that they will be reduced] from a high station to a low one. (Lam. 2: 10) “… shall sit on the ground and remain silent,” on the Ninth of Av.