לא תהיה משכלה ועקרה בארצך את מספר ימיך אמלא (שמות כ”ג כ”ו)
רש”י: לא תהיה משכלה – אם תעשה רצוני
Rashi: “There will be no woman who loses her young – if you carry out My will.”
The beracha, “I will fill the number of your days”, is not simply a matter of longevity. We are given life in order to work, not to eat ice cream. Each day offers the potential for tikkun ha’olam – to change and rectify our reality. Thus, the import of a full “number of days” is the ability to “touch” and change all of one’s reality. In essence, it is a beracha for shleimus ha’odom – the completion of Man. You and your offspring will live life to its fullest potential.
Because this beracha centers around shleimus ha’odom, it continues specifically with a promise that Hashem will expel the Chitti and Canaanite nations, because, as Rashi explains, these were the nations who inhabited the land on the opposite side of the Jordan River. This was the land that Bnei Yisroel (specifically Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven) chose. This is an extension of shleimus ha’odom, that not only Man’s potential, but even his desires are realized.
The pesukim continue that “Little by little, I will expel them from your way until you become fruitful and inherit the Land” – not only will Klal Yisroel “fill” their own reality, but the entire reality of Eretz Yisroel as well.
We are even promised that “I will place your border from the Reed Sea until the Philistine Sea, and from the desert until the river…” Rashi writes that the pasuk is referring not to the Jordan river but rather the Euphrates, the border of Eretz Yisroel during the times of the Moshiach. This is the end point of shleimus ha’odom: at this time both Klal Yisroel and Man will be complete.
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This focus on shleimus ha’odom stands in stark contrast to the preceding pesukim (verses 20-25), where the focus is on obedience. “Behold, I send before you an angel… be careful of him and heed his voice, do not rebel against him… For if you listen to his voice and carry out all that I say… And you shall serve Hashem your God, and He will bless your bread and your water and I will remove illness from your midst.” While these pesukim make Hashem’s will the focus, the pesukim which follow (verses 26-33) center around Man. And there is no contradiction; both are true. We must always fulfill Hashem’s will, but at the “end of the day”, He wants Man. If we were to disregard His will and occupy ourselves solely with our own completion we would not get anywhere. We will achieve shleimus, only once we make His will central, as Rashi writes, “There will be no woman who loses her young… if you carry out My will.”
Good Shabbos.
