Tanach · Acharonim on Tanach · Or HaChaim · Torah
Or HaChaim on Leviticus 26:30/אור החיים על ויקרא כ״ו:ל׳
אוְגָעֲלָה נַפְשִׁי וְגוֹ׳. צָרִיךְ לָדַעַת לָמָּה הֻצְרַךְ לוֹמַר, כִּי פְּשִׁיטָא שֶׁתִּגְעַל נַפְשׁוֹ, שֶׁהֲרֵי בִּזְמַן שֶׁהֵם צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִים נִתְבָּרְכוּ שֶׁלֹּא תִגְעַל נַפְשׁוֹ (ויקרא כו:יא), וְהַדָּבָר מוּבָן שֶׁלֹּא תִהְיֶה בְּרָכָה זוֹ נוֹהֶגֶת בִּימֵי רִשְׁעָם, וְאִם בָּא לוֹמַר הַפְכִּיּוּת הַבְּרָכוֹת, הָיָה לוֹ לוֹמַר הַפְכִּיּוּת כָּל הַשְּׁאָר, אֶלָּא וַדַּאי שֶׁלֹּא אָמַר אֶלָּא הָעֳנָשִׁים שֶׁהֵם לְבַד הֶעְדֵּר הַבְּרָכוֹת.
1 וגעלה נפשי אתכם, "and My soul will abhor you." Why did the Torah have to spell this out? It is something that we can extrapolate from verse 11 where G'd had said that as long as the Israelites would observe the commandments they would be blessed in that G'd would not abhor them. Clearly such a blessing would not continue when the people turned sinful. If G'd wanted to write how blessings would be reversed during periods when the Jewish people rebelled against G'd, the Torah should have presented all of the previously mentioned blessings as being reversed.
בוְנִרְאֶה שֶׁנִּתְכַּוֵּן לוֹמַר שֶׁאֲפִלּוּ בְּעֵרֶךְ הַצַּדִּיקִים שֶׁיִּהְיוּ בַּזְּמַן הַהוּא תִּגְעַל נַפְשִׁי מֵהֶם, בְּסוֹד (הושע ד:ה) ״וְכָשַׁל גַּם נָבִיא עִמְּךָ״. גַּם נִתְכַּוֵּן שֶׁלֹּא יִתְנַבְּאוּ עוֹד בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל נְבִיאִים, כִּי לֹא יוֹפִיעַ ה׳ שְׁכִינָתוֹ הַמִּתְיַחֵס לָהּ בְּחִינַת נֶפֶשׁ בָּהֶם. וּקְלָלָה זוֹ אֵין קְלָלָה לְמַעְלָה מִמֶּנּוּ, וְלָזֶה קְבָעָהּ אַחַר כַּמָּה קְלָלוֹת. הָא לָמַדְתָּ שֶׁהִיא גְּדוֹלָה מִמַּה שֶׁלְּפָנֶיהָ, וְהִיא שֶׁנִּתְקַיְּמָה בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה וְלָהּ כָּלוּ עֵינֵינוּ וְדָאֲבָה מְאֹד נַפְשֵׁנוּ, אוֹי נָא לָנוּ.
2We must assume therefore, that G'd listed the various punishments independent of the fact that the blessings would now be absent. I believe the message of the verse is that even the righteous who would live during these times when the bulk of the people turned sinful would not enjoy a display of G'd's favour. We find a statement to this effect in Hoseah 4,5 that "even the prophet who is among you will stumble." Another meaning of all this is that the gift of prophecy will be withdrawn [or handed to totally ineffectual individuals such as children or idiots, Ed.] so that no longer will there be prophets to admonish the people. G'd's "soul" manifests itself through His communication with His prophets. This is just about the worst curse there is and it is the reason the Torah mentioned it only after having already listed many other curses. Tragically, we are still witnessing this curse as being in effect in our own days.