Israel’s Shame Is G-d’s Shame
“May the L-rd lift up His countenance unto you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:26). Rashi explains that “give you peace” means “conquer His anger.”
This explanation, however, is difficult to understand, for when a person is chastised, who lowers his visage in shame, if not he? Thus, when the kohen blesses the people and asks G-d to “conquer His anger,” why should it be G-d who lifts up His countenance? Doesn’t logic dictate that it be Israel – the party that angered Him and was then chastised – that should raise its countenance after G-d grants it forgiveness?
The explanation of this text, though, becomes clear once we understand a fundamental principle about the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people. The Rabbis teach us that the salvation of Israel is the salvation of G-d, so to speak, because He is “with [us] in trouble” (Psalms 91:15). We find the following in the Yalkut (Tehillim 91):
“‘I am with him in trouble’ (Psalms 91:15). R. Yudin said: To what is the matter comparable? To a pregnant woman who fought with her mother, and her mother went upstairs. During childbirth, her mother heard her shrieking below and began shrieking in response. Her neighbors asked, ‘Why are you shouting? Are you in labor with her?’ The mother replied, ‘My daughter is giving birth in pain. Although she angered me, I cannot bear her shrieking, and so I’m shrieking with her.’ G-d said the same thing: ‘My house has been destroyed and My children are in chains. Shouldn’t I feel sorrow?’”
On the verse, “With long life will I satisfy him and make him behold My salvation” (Psalms 91:16), the Yalkut quotes R. Abahu: “This is one of the difficult verses, for Israel’s salvation is the salvation of G-d.”
Finally, in Pesikta Rabbati (31:5) we find the following: “When Israel was exiled, the Divine Presence was exiled with them. The ministering angels said to G-d: Master of the Universe, with all due respect, do not treat Your Presence with contempt. G-d responded: …I stipulated with their ancestors that as long as they are doing well, I will be with them. Otherwise, My Glory will be with them. As it says, ‘I am with him in trouble.’”
Thus, when the kohanim bless the Jewish people with the Priestly Blessing, reciting the words of Numbers 6:26, they are asking G-d to redeem them for the sake of His own Name even if Israel is unworthy of redemption. For the rebuke Israel receives is, so to speak, a rebuke of G-d as well, and G-d’s countenance is therefore “lowered in shame” because of the derision and degradation His Name suffers. As Rashi states on Ezekiel 39:7: “The degradation of Israel is a desecration of G-d’s Name.” Why is this so? Because Israel’s weakness, shame, and humiliation – being trampled upon and annihilated by the nations – appears to our enemies and to the entire world as weakness on the part of the G-d of Israel.
It follows, therefore, that G-d must first of all lift up His countenance and “save Himself.” Only then can He save Israel as well so that it, too, lifts up its countenance.
The Jewish Idea