(ט) כִּ֛י חֵ֥לֶק יְהֹוָ֖ה עַמּ֑וֹ יַעֲקֹ֖ב חֶ֥בֶל נַחֲלָתֽוֹ׃ (י) יִמְצָאֵ֙הוּ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִדְבָּ֔ר וּבְתֹ֖הוּ יְלֵ֣ל יְשִׁמֹ֑ן יְסֹֽבְבֶ֙נְהוּ֙ יְב֣וֹנְנֵ֔הוּ יִצְּרֶ֖נְהוּ כְּאִישׁ֥וֹן עֵינֽוֹ׃ (יא) כְּנֶ֙שֶׁר֙ יָעִ֣יר קִנּ֔וֹ עַל־גּוֹזָלָ֖יו יְרַחֵ֑ף יִפְרֹ֤שׂ כְּנָפָיו֙ יִקָּחֵ֔הוּ יִשָּׂאֵ֖הוּ עַל־אֶבְרָתֽוֹ׃ (יב) יְהוָ֖ה בָּדָ֣ד יַנְחֶ֑נּוּ וְאֵ֥ין עִמּ֖וֹ אֵ֥ל נֵכָֽר׃
(9) For the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His own allotment. (10) He found him in a desert region, In an empty howling waste. He engirded him, watched over him, Guarded him as the pupil ishon of His eye. (11) Like an eagle who rouses his nestlings, Gliding down to his young, So did He spread His wings and take him, Bear him along on His pinions; (12) The LORD alone did guide him, No alien god at His side.
Voices of Torah, "Haazinu: The Eye." Cohen, Rabbi Stephen E. 1998.
“He kept him as the apple of His eye.”
AS THE ISHON OF HIS EYE - that is the black in the eye from which the light comes....
Why is [this part of the eye] called ishon (man-like)? Because it looks like the image of a small person. Just as the image of a person appears in a... mirror. Ishon is a word meaning “man-like.” (Rabbeinu Bachya)
[This refers to] the cloud, as God’s agent had performed for the Jewish people at the time what the eyelid does for the eye (pupil), i.e. it provided a protective cover. The reason it is called ishon, suggesting something dark, is that when the eyelid covers the eye the eye becomes inoperative, its owner remains in darkness. Or, the very fact that the pupil looks black is enough reason for it to be called ishon....
...Moses refers to the people receiving the Torah which is the source of their insight, the instrument by which God preserved the people "like the pupil of His eye".... When Moses added the reference to the "pupil of His eye," we are reminded of Zachariah 2,12: "for anyone who harms you (the Jewish people) is as if he harmed the pupil of his own eye." The prophet meant that an eye cannot tolerate being touched by the finger of man. The reason is that whereas the eyeball is scrupulously clean, man's fingers are not. The eye symbolizes spirituality, the finger, physicality. The former does not like to be touched by the latter....
While this word ishon can have many meanings, both literal and figurative, we learn a lot about the importance of this sense of eyesight in the Torah. It is not just the simple act of seeing, but what we do with that -- how we connect to Torah, to Jews around us, to the world around us. May we remember that each of us can be seen in the eye of another. May we remember that God sees us as the apple of God's eye. May we remember that we all have times of darkness in our lives. May we remember that we each have the opportunity to explore our own spirituality through the times of darkness and the times of light in our lives.