The Hidden Brachos:
Rav Pinchos of Koritz zy”a said that the tochacha is actually made up of great brachos. Since these blessings are so magnificent, the world would be unable to handle them. Therefore, they are hidden within the pesukim of the tochacha and made to appear like curses.
He Hides His Face When We Think We Can Help Ourselves:
The Ruzhiner Rebbe zy”a adds that blessings need to be hidden and cloaked in curses when people lack sufficient emunah and think they can help themselves. He uses this idea to explain the pasuk in Tehillim (13:2-3): “How long will You hide Your face from me? How long will I seek solutions on my own?” This means that Hashem hides His face when we look for solutions on our own. If we would accept that we can do nothing on our and trust fully in Hashem, He would not hide his face from us.
וְכָשְׁלוּ אִישׁ בְּאָחִיו כְּמִפְּנֵי חֶרֶב וְרֹדֵף אָיִן וגו' (כו, לז)
Each man will stumble over his brother, fleeing as if from the sword, but without a pursuer... (26:37)
When One Sees Faults in Others, He Knows What He Must Fix in Himself:
The Divrei Shmuel explains that this pasuk too contains a hidden bracha. Chazal say (Gittin 43A): “A person cannot understand words of Torah unless he stumbles in them.” He explains this to mean that if a person stumbles upon someone else doing something wrong, he should learn from that how not to conduct himself. This is because the faults one sees in others mirror his own faults, so if one sees someone else’s problem, it must be because he has the same problem himself and he must rectify it. Accordingly, the pasuk is saying that a man “will stumble on his brother”, meaning that he will see his brother’s flaw and thereby know what he needs to fix in himself, which is a great bracha.
In this regard, Chazal say (Negaim 2:5): “A person can see all other negaim (blemishes) besides for his own negaim.” The Besh”t zy”a explains this to mean that “a person sees all other blemishes as a result of his own blemishes.” In other words, when a person sees flaws in others, it is because he himself possesses that flaw and is being shown from Shomayim what he needs to fix in himself.
וַאֲכַלְתֶּם בְּשַׂר בְּנֵיכֶם וגו' (כו, כט)
And you will eat the flesh of your children. (26:29)
The Fathers Ate the Children’s Leftovers:
The Imrei Chaim of Vizhnnitz zy”a explained how this pasuk is a bracha by saying that it is common for small children to run away from the table in the middle of a Rebbe’s tish because they want to go out to play, and they leave behind their portion of meat. Their father’s then “eat the meat of their children”, which the kids left behind.
He says that the reason this blessing is in the tochacha is because many fathers won’t merit receiving this bracha because they dawdle at home and don’t get to the tish on time.
The Tochacha is Only Between Hashem and Bnei Yisroel:
Sefer Zera Kodesh asks why these words are found in the tochacha. He answers that they are meant to tell us that the tochacha is solely between Hashem and Klal Yisroel. He compares this to a father who needs to chastise his son but chooses to do it in private so as not to embarrass the boy. He takes him into a place where no one else is around and says, “If you do not start behaving, I will have to punish you,”
In front of others, however, he only praises his son. So too, Hashem only chastises us in private, as this rebuke is meant to be solely between Him and us.
אֵלֶּה הַחֻקִּים וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִים וְהַתּוֹרֹת אֲשֶׁר נָתַן ה' בֵּינוֹ וּבֵין בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וגו' (כו, מו)
These are the laws and the statutes that Hashem gave between Him and the children of Yisroel. (26:46)
אִישׁ כִּי יַפְלִא נֶדֶר בְּעֶרְכְּךָ נְפָשֹׁת לַה' (כז, ב)
When a man expresses a vow, the value of lives to Hashem... (27:2)
Every Jew is Valuable:
The Chozeh of Luublin zy”a asks why the Parshah of eruchin is placed next to the tochacha. He answers that after a person hears the harsh curses, he might think that his life has little value. Therefore, the Torah speaks about how much value he has so that he should know how valuable he truly is.
