Hashem's Love For Us
At the end of the tochachah, the Torah concludes (26:44), לא אויביהם בארץ בהיותם זאת גם ואף 'ה אני כי אתם בריתי להפר לכלותם געלתים ולא מאסתים אלקיכם, "Even if the tochachah will come to fruition [nevertheless] when they will be in the lands of their enemies, I will not be disgusted with them to destroy them, and to annul my covenant with them, because I am Hashem, your G-d." Even though we were banished from Eretz Yisrael due to our aveiros, and we now live in non-Jewish lands, Hashem still loves us.
The Zohar (vol.3 115:) elaborates on this pasuk:
12. The Ropshitzer Rav adds the following words: "Therefore, a person should never lose hope. He should never say that he is detached from Hashem's holiness... [And if he feels distant], he can turn this feeling into a tefillah. He should shout and pray to Hashem that he became so distant from Him that he cannot even speak before Him properly. He should plead that Hashem have mercy on him, that he should be able to express himself well before Hashem, to say the proper words, and to daven as one should, and Hashem will certainly help him."
Rebi Chiya said: "I heard a new lesson from Rebi Elazar: The pasuk writes- מאסתים לא לכלתם געלתים ולא. The word לכלותם usually is spelled with a ו"וא, meaning 'To destroy them.' In this pasuk, the word is written without a vav, saying געלתים ולא מאסתים לא, 'I will not be disgusted with the Jewish nation'... לכלתם, because I love [Bnei Yisrael, like a כלה, a bride]."
The Zohar continues, "It can be compared to a person who loves a woman that lives in a tannery market [בורסקי, where there are very foul odors]. If she didn't live there, he would never go there. But since she lives there, he considers it like a perfume market, where the best scents of the world are present.
"[This is what the pasuk is saying]: גם ואף אוביהם בארץ בהיותם זאת, 'Even when they will live in the lands of their enemies,' which the lands of galus have a terrible stench, like a tannery, געלתים ולא מאסתים לא, I will not be disgusted with her. And the reason is לכלתם, because I love her [like a כלה]. She is my beloved, and she lives there. It is as if the best perfumes in the world are there because my kallah is there.
"Rebi Yosi replied, 'If we came here just to hear this vort, it would be enough.'"
The Zohar (vol.2 p.5:) states, "If the Jewish nation knew how much Hakadosh Baruch Hu loved them, they would roar like a lion to chase after Hashem." This is the lesson of the pasuk, to know that Hashem loves us. He never abandons us, even when we are in galus.
Another translation of לכלתם is yearning (הנפש כלות). According to this translation, the Ropshitzer Rav zt'l (Zera Kodesh, משה וידבר ה"ד וארא) explains the pasuk as follows: בהיותם זאת גם ואף אויביהם בארץ, even when you are very distant from Hashem, געלתים ולא מאסתים לא, I will never be disgusted with you, because לכלתם, you yearn to serve me, with all your heart and soul.
