Ki Savo 28:57 · unit 1

Parashas Ki Savo · Passuk 28:57

The Complete Passuk

וּבְשִׁלְיָתָהּ הַיּוֹצֵת מִבֵּין רַגְלֶיהָ וּבְבָנֶיהָ אֲשֶׁר תֵּלֵד כִּי־תֹאכְלֵם בְּחֹסֶר־כֹּל בַּסָּתֶר בְּמָצוֹר וּבְמָצוֹק אֲשֶׁר יָצִיק לְךָ אֹיִבְךָ בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ׃

And toward her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and toward her children whom she shall bear, for she will eat them for lack of everything in secret, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates.

Chabad.org — 28:57

Source Citation

Torah Temimah points to the extreme of the siege described in the Tochacha.

Core idea
בַּסָּתֶר — מִפְּנֵי הַבּוּשָׁה; בְּמָצוֹר וּבְמָצוֹק — שֶׁהָרָעָב מַכְרִיחַ אֶת הַטֶּבַע עַצְמוֹ.

English: “In secret” — because of shame; “in siege and in distress” — that the famine forces nature itself beyond its limits.

In context: The verse marks the absolute bottom of the Tochacha’s depiction of siege: maternal instinct inverted by starvation, and even that inversion hidden from view out of shame.

Type of Learning

Custom (amplification of the horror of the siege).

What Is Learned

The curse reaches the point at which the most basic human bonds are dissolved by hunger under enemy siege.