The book of Vayikra concludes with the Tochechah, Hashem’s admonition to His people. Before outlining the horrific curses that will befall them for their disobedience, Hashem describes the blessings for following His statutes and laws. The land will be plentiful and prosperous and there will be peace and security.

Hashem promises to focus His attention on the people:
And I will turn to you, and I will make you fruitful (V’HIFREITI ETCHEM), and I will make you great (V’HIRBEITI ETCHEM), and I will establish My covenant with you (Vayikra 26:9).
Rashi’s comments on these phrases are based on Torat Kohanim:
and I will make you fruitful — with reproduction (literally, “being fruitful and multiplying”).
and I will make you great — with an upright stature (B’KOMAH ZEKUFAH).

This is a bit of a departure from the usual understanding of V’HIFREITI… V’HIRBEITI. This pair of verbs is often found together (e.g., Bereishit 1:28, 48:4), and jointly refer to procreation. Here, however, Rashi separates them, making only the first mean production of offspring. Rashi’s super-commentary Siftei Chachamim (Shabbetai Bass, 1641-1718) says this is because each verb has its own direct object pronoun (ETCHEM).

Thereupon, the second verb phrase means increasing, not quantitatively, but qualitatively: The people of Israel will be granted importance and greatness, KOMAH ZEKUFAH.

After a number of additional blessings, this section of the Tochechah concludes:
I am Hashem, your G-d, Who brought you out from the land of Egypt from being their slaves, and I broke the poles of your yoke and I made you walk upright (KOMEMIYUT) (verse 13).
Once again, Rashi (quoting Torat Kohanim) explains:
upright — with an upright stature (B’KOMAH ZEKUFAH).

Does Rashi mean to suggest that the Torah is merely repeating itself? Is the Torah choosing a special aspect of the aforementioned blessings for its summation? Or, is this KOMAH ZEKUFAH somehow different from the one in verse 9?

If we take verse 13 solely as a reference to the Exodus from Egypt, then the “yoke” is a metaphor for slavery. This part of the verse thus reads as cause and effect:
I broke the poles of your yoke
--with the result that –
I made you walk upright (KOMEMIYUT)
-- when the yoke was removed. This is the interpretation of Ibn Ezra, Rashbam and Chizkuni (R. Chizkiya ben Manoach, mid 13th Century).

Hirsch (Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, 1808-1888), on the other hand, says that the second part of the verse refers to the fulfillment of the Exodus via the Giving of the Torah:
“With the redemption out of Egypt the Egyptian yoke was broken from off our necks, but … nevertheless another yoke could always take its place, … the yoke of moral, social and political slavery. It was only through Mattan Torah …that He raised us up for evermore and made us independent and free, at least gave us the guidance to remain upright in everything and against everything.”
This is the meaning of KOMEMIYUT.

The word KOMEMIYUT has become a familiar part of our daily prayers. In the second blessing before reciting the Shema during Shacharit, we say:
“And bring us in peace from the four corners of the earth, and lead us uprightly (KOMEMIYUT) to our land.”
R. Baruch ben Yechiel Michel HaLevi Epstein (1860-1942), in his commentary on the prayerbook “Baruch Sheamar,” explains this word, thus shedding light on our verse. He quotes a saying from Tosafot (Kiddushin 36b, “every mitzvah”): “One who eats from his friend is ashamed to look at him,” meaning that one who is dependent on the gifts of another is always embarrassed. On the other hand, one who can provide for his own needs is content. This is why we say in the Grace after Meals:
“Please, Hashem our G-d, do not make us require the gift of flesh and blood, nor their loan.”
Consequently, our request that Hashem bring us to our land KOMEMIYUT – B’KOMAH ZEKUFAH – means that we want to return as a result of our own merits, not as a gift.

According to R. Epstein, our verse
and I broke the poles of your yoke and I made you walk upright (KOMEMIYUT)
is a chronicle of independence: I Hashem enabled you to take care of yourselves, so you need not rely on the beneficence of others. You are not obliged to others and can hold your head high among the nations.

Haamek Davar (R. Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, 1817-1893) takes the metaphor of the yoke a step further. An ox is born to the yoke, and its head is constantly bowed under it:
“And even when the yoke is removed from upon him he knows that after a time he will once again be prepared for his burden. Once the yoke is broken before his eyes he is assured that he will no longer plow, but he remains with a lowly head, since he is accustomed to it. Then his master comes and trains him to raise his head and walk upright. This is a clear sign that his master does not intend to plow with him ever again.”

The people of Israel, says the Haamek Davar, were founded upon exile and wandering. This began before the descent to Egypt, when the Patriarchs were forced to wander from place to place. Exile is therefore so ingrained in them, that even when one nation ceases to oppress them, they remain troubled, for another oppression is sure to follow. [This is reminiscent of what the contemporary Israeli writer A. B. Yehoshua calls “the disease of the Diaspora.”]

However, when the people of Israel fulfill Hashem’s will fully, He assures them that He will not only destroy their “yoke,” their current oppression, but He will also teach them to stop worrying about future oppression.
And I made you walk upright (KOMEMIYUT)
-- B’KOMAH ZEKUFAH – is the ultimate promise that Hashem will undo the mentality associated with exile. Haamek Davar concludes that the people will exist
“with an exalted and free mind, certain that they will never be subjugated again.”