Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses the principle of Kim Ley Bederabbah Mineh. If one violates two prohibitions simultaneously, he is only liable for the more severe penalty of the two, but not both. For example:

If one stole a wallet on shabbos but did not lift the purse but instead dragged it on the ground, exiting the private domain and going into a public domain, he is exempt from financial penalty. The prohibition of performing labor on Shabbos and the prohibition of theft are violated simultaneously the moment he drags the purse out of the owner’s property into the public domain. Therefore, he receives only the greater punishment, death, for carrying on Shabbos.

Panim Yafos (Ha’azenu) uses this principle to explain a verse from Devarim (32:43), which we also recite in the Shabbos liturgy:

הרנינו גוים עמו        כי דם־עבדיו יקום ונקם ישיב לצריו        וכפר אדמתו עמו

O nations, acclaim God’s people! For He’ll avenge the blood of His servants, wreak vengeance on His foes can be read as “forcing restitution”), and cleanse His people in the land (can be read as, “cleansed by way of the land”). 

According to Panim Yafos, only Jewish people receive the courtesy of Kim Ley Bederabbah Mineh, not the Gentiles. Therefore, at the End Times, the Nations who murdered the Jews and plundered their possessions will be made to pay with financial damages and physical punishments. This is why the verse says both “He’ll avenge the blood of His servants”, and “Wreak vengeance on His foes by forcing restitution”. On the other hand, regarding the Jewish people at the End Times, not only does the ordinary rule of Kim Ley Bederabbah Mineh apply, but they will receive even the lesser of the two punishments. This is what the verse means when it states, “His nation will be cleansed by way of the land.” God vented his anger on the Land so as not to destroy the people, as we learned in Eichah Rabbah (4). 

While we are discussing this verse, Chasam Sofer (Balak 23) parses it differently:

O nations, acclaim God’s people! For He’ll avenge the blood of His servants, by wreaking vengeance through His foes, bringing punishment upon themselves, sparing the Jewish people from having their land contaminated by bloodshed. 

Chasam Sofer is suggesting that God engineers it that evil should turn on itself through infighting, sparing the Jewish people the need to go to war. This is reminiscent of what is quoted in the name of Golda Meir: “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children," she said. "But we can never forgive them for forcing us to kill their children."

May God bless Israel that it no longer needs to fight, and its enemies self-destruct by force of their own evil and moral rot.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

Do you like what you see? Please subscribe and also forward any articles you enjoy to your friends, (enemies too, why not?)