ושבת עד ה' אלוהיך...בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך...ושב ה' אלוהיך את שבותך, "and you will return unto the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Then the Lord your God will bring back your captives, etc.⁠" You have already become familiar with the statement of our sages in Avodah Zarah 5 "that the son of David (redeemer) will not come until all the souls in the bodies have expired;⁠" this is based on Isaiah 57,16: "until a belated spirit from Me envelps them and the souls which I have made.⁠" The meaning of the whole verse is that God will not be angry at the Jewish people forever, nor will He remain furious indefinitely by not redeeming the people, seeing that a spirit יעטוף מלפני, "certain spirits emanate from Me belatedly,⁠" and the souls which I have created enter the body at this stage of history. [Rashi understand the word כי in that verse as meaning "when.⁠" Ed.] The word יעטוף is a kind of "being late,⁠" such as when it occurs in Genesis 30,42 "for the ones born late belonged to Lavan.⁠" [If I understand correctly, the author understands that just as the evil spirit enters man at birth, whereas the urge to do good does not enter him until he is of age, (13), so one cause of his corruption is due to the belated entry of the יצר הטוב. This affords God an opportunity to find some excuse for man's (the Jewish people's) behavior and to redeem them after a sufficient interval. Ed.]

Nachmanides, in commenting on our verse, focuses on the reason why the verses 2 and 3 appear sequentially, i.e. the words נפשך ושב follow each other. He understands the first verse as saying that if all the Jewish people ("all your souls,⁠" כל נפשך) become penitents) only then will the redemption occur, i.e. God will bring back your captives (ושב ה' אלוהיך את שבותך). The meaning is that totally new (renewed) souls will enter the bodies of the Jewish people. This is why the Torah here stresses אתה ובניך, i.e. this תשובה movement must embrace not just a single generation. These two words are an allusion to the whole people of Israel (historically speaking). We find yet another pronouncement on this subject by our sages in Yevamot 62, in which this conclusion is arrived at from the same verse in Isaiah, and the Talmud adds that immediately after this statement [actually immediately preceding this statement, Ed.] the prophet continues with the words ואמר סולו סולו פנו דרך, "Pave (a road,) pave a road, clear a path!⁠" The prophet paints the scenario which alone will clear the way to the final redemption.

ושב וקבצך מכל העמים, "then He will bring you back collectively from all the nations to which He scattered you.⁠" I have already mentioned (29,27) that the previous paragraph speaks of the period of the first Temple when the people sinned by committing idolatry and they were punished by being banished to ארץ אחרת, a different country, and the ten tribes were cast out, הנדחים, by King Shalmanesser of Assyria to Chalach, Chavor on the river Gozan and the cities of Media (Kings II 17,6). This passage proves that our assumption was right, seeing it commences where the last passage had left off, i.e. the נדחים, the outcasts of King Shalmanesser, by referring (verse 1) i.e. "to which the Lord your God had cast you out there.⁠" Clearly, it speaks of the exile to which the ten tribes had become doomed. They represented the bulk of the Jewish people. Having dealt with the ingathering of the ten tribes from their exile, the passage continues speaking about yet another ingathering, the countries to which the tribes of Yehudah and Binyamin had been exiled where we have been enslaved by people who hated us and persecuted us. These people are the Arabs and Edomites. We are scattered throughout their countries until this present day and this is why the Torah speaks of "the countries to which the Lord your God has scattered you" (verse 3). In that verse the Torah addresses us. The Torah twice mentions ושב, "He will bring back,⁠" to hint that there will occur two separate ingatherings, one of the ten tribes and one of the tribes Yehudah and Binyamin. Concerning these ingatherings we read in the prophecy of Isaiah 56,8: "I will gather still more to those already gathered.⁠" It appears therefore, judging by the syntax of the text in our verses, that the principal ingathering of the tribes who will do penitence will be that of the ten tribes, the ones described as אשר הדיחך ה', "whom the Lord cast out.⁠" God assures the ten tribes that repentance will immediately trigger their return to their homeland. After having dealt with the redemption of those tribes, the Torah adds ושב וקבצך, (verse 3) that there will occur a second ingathering, that of the tribes of Yehudah and Binyamin. This is why the Torah had employed the expression והפיץ, "He scattered,⁠" seeing that these two tribes are scattered all over the globe. After that, the Torah once more addresses the נדחים, the ones who had been cast out, i.e. the ten tribes, assuring them that even if they had been scattered in the meantime to the ends of the earth, God would not fail to gather them in and bring them back to their homeland which they would once again inherit. Actually, we find allusions to three separate "inheritances" here. The third will outrank the former two inheritances, will encompass more territory than the Israelites controlled during the glorious days of King Solomon. Moreover, God promises the people that the evil urge will be banished and that such emotions as envy and jealousy will disappear from among them. This is the meaning of verse 5: "He will do good to you and make you more numerous than your forefathers and circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring to love the Lord your God with all your heart, etc.⁠" The meaning of the words ואתה תשוב, "and you will return,⁠" in verse 8, is that the penitence of which God speaks is an assurance, a promise by God to the people.

אל הארץ אשר ירשו אבותיך וירשתה, "to the land which your forefathers had inherited, and you will inherit it.⁠" Our sages in Seder Olam (chapter 30, an ancient historical text) have explained that the words: "which your forefathers inherited, and you will inherit it,⁠" mean that whereas they inherited it twice, they did not (need to) inherit it a third time. The first time the people inherited the land and sanctified it by their presence was under Joshua. This sanctification remained effective only until their expulsion and the destruction of the Temple. The second sanctification (and inheritance) occurred during the time of Ezra. That sanctification was for all times so that after the present exile there is no need to inherit and sanctify the land once again. This is how my teacher Rabbi Shlomo Aderet, may his light shine, explained this matter to me.

It is possible to explain our verse as meaning that whereas the first and second inheritance by the Jewish people extended only to the land of Israel, the third inheritance will include entitlement to any part of the globe. This is what the Torah means in our verse when it writes: "He will do good for you, and increase you more so than for your forefathers.⁠" This is why the expression "inheritance" is used by the Torah in connection with the period of the first two Temples, but not in connection with the future. The expression used in that connection clearly envisages an additional distinction the Jewish people will enjoy then. This is similar to what our sages (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 1,37) expounded on as the reason why whenever we read about the word שירה in the Bible it is feminine, except when the song refers to events in the future, such as in Psalms 96,1 or Isaiah 26,1. It is the nature of a woman to become pregnant and give birth and to experience the same procedure time and again. The redemption of the Jewish people in the future will be a final redemption, something not needing to be repeated. This is why, when the Bible speaks of such times, the song sung then will be a masculine song, i.e. שיר חדש. It is the function of the male to inherit his father's property absolutely, once and for all, as distinct from when daughters receive such an inheritance, as an emergency and interim measure. (Compare Ezekiel 48,33: שער יששכר אחד, שער זבולון אחד, "the gate of Issachar — one; the gate of Zevulun — one.⁠")

Midrashim link the verse in Ezekiel with Zecharyah 13,8 describing the destruction of two thirds of the inhabitants of Israel. Midrash Tanchuma Shoftim 9 on the words לתת להם ולזרעם אחריהם, "to give to them and to their descendants after them,⁠" breaks up this verse into three sections. The words לתת להם refer to the people leaving Egypt; the word ולזרעם refers to the immigrants in the time of Ezra, the word אחריהם refers to the eternal redemption. In a Midrash in Devarim Rabbah (not found in our editions, see Pesikta Zutrata on Deut.1,8), לתת להם refers to the people leaving Egypt, ולזרעם refers to the immigrants to Babylonia, אחריהם refers to the returnees during the messianic epoch.

ומל ה' אלוהיך את לבבך, "the Lord your God will circumcise your heart, etc.⁠" Nachmanides writes on this verse: "this means that the Lord will remove the 'foreskin' covering the people's heart", a simile for desires of sexual and other varieties which are described as ערלת הלב. We know that someone who is captive to such desires is known as ערל, from Jeremiah 9,25 where the prophet describes the Jewish people as being of uncircumcised heart [although they do not have a foreskin on their sexual organ. Ed.] Just as the removal of the foreskin of that organ helps to restrain excessive sexual urges, so the removal of its equivalent covering of the heart will control the cravings responsible for committing other sins. God assures the people in that verse in Jeremiah that a time will come when such obstacles to obedience to God's laws will be removed. [Although what the author wrote here is the gist of what Nachmanides writes, it does not represent an accurate translation of his words. Ed.]

על אויביך ועל שונאיך, "against your enemies and those who hate you.⁠" The former are the Ishmaelites, Arabs; the latter refer to the descendants of Esau. The prophet Micah (Micah 5,8) speaks of "your hand shall prevail over your foes, and all your enemies shall be cut down.⁠" This is a reference to the two nations to which we are enslaved and amongst which we are scattered. This is why the sages in Baba Batra 73 refer to two geese in a story related by Rabbi Bar bar Chana. The story goes as follows: "I once walked in the desert and we saw these two geese which lost their feathers due to their excessive obesity. I extracted a continuous thin line of honey from them. I said to them: "are we going to have a share in the world to come?⁠" One of them lifted its body, whereas the other lifted its flank.⁠" When Rabbi Bar bar Chana came to Rabbi Eleazar (and told him of his experience) the Rabbi said to him that the meaning is that in the future the Jewish people will have to render an accounting. Thus far the Talmud. [The fact is that the entire story does not appear in our editions of the Talmud. Rabbi Chavel claims he has found it in a similar form in Agadot haTalmud. Ed.]
The meaning of the whole story is that the sage (Rabbi Bar bar Chana) saw in his mind, while in an isolated part of the world, i.e. the desert, that these two Empires, that of the Mohammedans and that of the Romans, attained tremendous power in this world. This was symbolized by the obesity of the geese. When the Rabbi asked them: "are we not going to have a share in your prosperity in the future?,⁠" the meaning of the words: "one of them lifted its wings" is a reference to Ishmael This was a symbol that the Ishmaelites will flee to us in the future and take refuge under the wings of the Shechinah. They will give us their beasts to use as sacrifices to the Lord on their behalf. This is the meaning of Isaiah 60,7: "all the flocks of Kedar shall be assembled for you (the Jewish people); the rams of Nevayot shall serve your needs.⁠" This indicates that these Ishmaelites will convert to Judaism. It also is an allusion to the fact that they will wear phylacteries, seeing the phylacteries have been compared to wings (Shabbat 49). Concerning the other goose which raised its rump, this is a reference to Edom, whose protective angel had dislocated Yaakov's hip joint in the nocturnal encounter described in Genesis 32,26. It is also an allusion to the commandment of circumcision, i.e. that in the time under discussion these people would convert and circumcise themselves. There is no need to add that at that time political and moral sovereignty will be restored to the Jewish people. This is the symbolism portrayed by the fatness of these two geese and the honey which dripped from them. As to the words of Rabbi Eleazar that the Israelites would be called upon to give an accounting at that time, the meaning is that they will have to give an accounting for not having become penitents during all the preceding years, and have tarried so long before living as true Jews. The reason the term אויב is applied to the Roman Empire, whereas the term שונא is applied to the Islamic Empire, is that the former is a term describing fiercer hatred and animosity than the word שונא. אויב is an enemy who is full of hatred in his heart, knows no mercy. A שונא, on the other hand, though he too inflicts hurt and death, tempers it with a degree of mercy. Proof of this found in Isaiah 47,6: "but you showed them no mercy. Even upon the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.⁠" [actually in that chapter the prophet speaks of the cruelty of the Babylonians, not the Ishmaelites. Ed.] The very etymology of the word אויב, reflects that it refers to unrelenting hatred; it is derived from אבוי, a word which has the same letters as אויב, and means "woe.⁠" The reason that the Torah mentions אויביך before speaking of שונאיך, [when we would have expected the Torah to describe matters in an ascending order, Ed.] is that it wanted to link the שונאיך to the pursuit, i.e. אשר רדפוך, "who have pursued you.⁠" This nation has traditionally uprooted our exiles wherever their rule extended. The reason they are referred to by the term שונא, "someone who hates,⁠" is that God Himself describes His relationship with Esau with the words: "I have hated Esau,⁠" (Maleachi 1,3). Midrash Mishley confirms this when explaining the words (Proverbs 30,23) "because of the loathsome woman when she becomes married.⁠" The "loathsome, hateful one,⁠" is understood to be a reference to Esau. The verse from Scripture cited as proof is also the one from Malachi I,3. The final words in that verse in Proverbs, i.e. ושפכה כי תירש גברתה, "and when a slave-woman inherits her mistress" (another phenomenon confounding Solomon who describes such phenomena as intolerable), is a reference to Ishmael, seeing his mother Hagar was the slave-woman of Sarah.) Seeing that the attitude of the Ishmaelites towards the Jews is more hostile than that of the Edomites, the Torah describes them as "your enemies.⁠" This is confirmed by the popular saying: "rather under the Edomites than under the Ishmaelites.⁠" [The idea is that if Jews have a chance which exile to choose they would invariably prefer to live under the yoke of the former. Ed.] God, when describing for how long He will hold generations responsible for the deeds of their forefathers, says ועל רבעים לשאוני, "and to the fourth generation concerning those who qualify for the term שונאי, "those who hate Me" (Exodus 20,5).
Concerning God's אויביו, "His enemies,⁠" however, we read in Psalms 37,20: ואויבי ה' כיקר כרים כלו בעשן כלו, "and the enemies of the Lord shall be consumed like meadow grass consumed in smoke.⁠" The verse teaches that nothing at all will remain of these "enemies.⁠" This is why they are compared to the fat of the fat sheep which goes up completely in smoke (on the altar). Solomon refers to both of these nations as "two daughters,⁠" mentioning that both are destined for Gehinom, hell. This is what he meant when he wrote in Proverbs 30,15 that "the leech has two daughters, 'give give'!;⁠" He compared Gehinom, the place where judgment is meted out to the souls of the wicked, to a leech which is a blood-sucker. Concerning these two nations the prophet in Isaiah 66,17 wrote: "those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to enter the groves;⁠" the former who sanctify themselves are the Edomites whose habit it is to shake their fingers in different directions. The latter are the Ishmaelites whose habit it is to bathe their hands and feet (to cleanse them) but not their hearts, which is their essence. The prophet in that verse continues אחר אחד בתוך, and alludes to the manner in which the Edomites sanctify themselves in the center of the garden. Alternatively, these last three words may be an allusion to the day of their judgment, a day already appointed for that purpose. One of these nations will be judged on a Friday preceding the onset of the Sabbath, whereas the other will be judged immediately after the Sabbath, the Sabbath remaining "in the center;⁠" when the prophet describes one of these people as "consuming swine,⁠" he refers to the Edomites, whereas the ones described in that same verse as eating reptiles and mice, are the Ishmaelites. The verse concludes by saying: "they will perish together.⁠"

ועשית את כל מצותיו אשר אנכי מצוך היום, "and you will carry out all His commandments which I command to you this day.⁠" After having spoken about Israel's repentance, and their return to the Holy Land, the Torah now speaks of the commandments being commanded "this day;⁠" we find a similar formulation already in verse 2 of our chapter where the repentance had also been featured. All of this is to focus on the fact that the essence of repentance is to accept the Torah as governing our lives. This is why whenever repentance is mentioned the reference to the commandments of the Torah is appended. The prophet Jeremiah employs a similar style when he writes (Jeremiah 2,17) "is this not what has happened to you for forsaking the Lord your God at the time He led you on the way?⁠" "The way" is the path of Torah. This was the path which earlier generations of Jews observed and their lives were successful.

כי ישוב ה' לשוש עליך לטוב כאשר שש על אבותיך, "when Hashem will return and rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your forefathers.⁠" It is possible that this verse alludes to the time when the King will return with His bride (the Jewish people), i.e. an allusion to the time of the redemption. At that time He will provide you with all the benefits accompanying such a return to favor. Should you inquire when exactly all this would happen, the Torah adds: "when you will hearken to the voice of the Lord your God to observe, etc.⁠" The Jewish people are always expected to make the first move towards reconciliation with God, i.e. observing His commandments. Immediately God notices this, He in turn will hasten the rapprochement. Our fortunes depend on our becoming penitents. All this has been expressed in unmistakable language by Malachi 3,7: "שובו אלי ואשובה אליכם, "return to Me and I will return to you.⁠" The letter ה at the end of the word אשובה in that verse is a reference to the final letter in the tetragrammaton, the attribute which created the universe.

כי המצוה הזאת, "for this commandment, etc.⁠" In this instance the word המצוה refers to the entire Torah, just as it did in Deut. 8,1 where the Torah spoke of כל המצוה.
לא נפלאת היא, "it is not hidden.⁠" The Torah is not so mysterious and mystical that you cannot fulfill its commandments. This is why Moses added immediately: "it is not in heaven.⁠" Neither is it beyond the ocean. All these comparisons are only variations of the words לא נפלאת. The ocean that Moses speaks about here is the great ocean, which is dark and beyond man's ability to navigate (Ibn Ezra). Moses does not refer to seas which man is able to navigate [with the existing means of navigation, Ed.] The words compare such an ocean to "heaven,⁠" neither of which is accessible to man.