Musar zu Ejchah 4:22

We must always remember that nothing evil descends upon Israel from the Celestial Regions, since Israel remains at all times in the category of בנים אתם לה' אלוקיכם, "you are children of the Lord your G–d" (Deut. 14,1). Even when G–d is angry at Israel, such as when He allows the destruction of the Temple and Israel's dispersion among the nations of the earth, this is only for Israel's good. Just as the discipline a father administers to his son is due to his love for him, so the Lord disciplines us, and it is all for our own good. Such discipline aims to refine us who are His first born among all the nations. He aims to cleanse us of the stains of sins and iniquity, and thereby cause us to return to Him in penitence, so that ultimately we will be totally pure, without any blemish. We will explain this when we discuss the portions that are usually read in public during the period between the 17th day of Tammuz and the 9th day of Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the Holy Temple. When that objective will have been reached, the prophecy contained in Psalms 30,2: "I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up and not let my enemies rejoice over me, "will be fulfilled. The word דליתנו can mean one of two things. It could be explained as coming from the root דל, "poor," or it could be an expression denoting "elevation." Poverty and troubles may be the causes that bring us a surfeit of light, over and beyond the light we enjoyed prior to our having been plunged into darkness (through exile, etc.). This great light emanates from the very darkness into which G–d has plunged us, so that thereby great enlightenment may emerge, a process similar to blood which eventually is converted into milk that is pure white. In a similar fashion, G–d turned the curse (of Bileam) into a blessing. The curse was not replaced by a blessing, but eventually became a blessing. Thus the destruction of the Temple is actually the beginning of its restoration. It was the catalyst that alone would lead to the condition of תם עונך בת ציון, "Your iniquity is expiated, Fair Zion; He will exile you no longer" (Lamentations 4,22). At that time, the great Temple, the everlasting one will be built. Because חורבן is the commencement of rebuilding, we conduct ourselves with dignity just as we did when the Temple was still standing; destruction is the true cause of an enduring Temple, i.e. the true ישוב. Halachah recognizes this phenomenon. We are culpable for certain kinds of destructive activities on the Sabbath despite the rule of כל המקלקלים פטורים, "all who ruin something on the Sabbath are not culpable" (Shabbat 106). The exceptions are destructive activities which are a necessary precondition to constructive activities, such as the tearing down of a structure in order to enable a new structure to rise in its place (compare Shabbat 31b). Our prophets have assured us that the fast-days we observe nowadays on the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av respectively will become great holidays on the reconstruction of the Temple (Zecharyah 8,19).

Who among us can read the above three verses without being deeply moved and inspired to cleave to G–d who has chosen us the Jewish nation as His people. Clearly, the "threefold thread" will not easily be broken and will serve as an ongoing reminder for you. We are linked to G–d through the covenant; we have also received the Torah on pains of an oath. This is the background to all the verses (25,15-26) in which curses are called down on all those who fail to honor this commitment. It is why these verses were also recited in the guise of blessings such as: "Blessed the man who did not make an idol, etc." (cf. Rashi). At first glance we may be puzzled why the Torah chose to spell out the various curses whereas it only implied the blessings? Normal practice would have dictated the opposite! After all, the Torah usually prefers to stress the positive! The Torah here intended that it should be accepted on oath. Hence the people had to be sworn what not to do. The very fact that the chapter concludes (28,69) with: "These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel, etc." shows that the list of "cursed be, etc." is an essential part of this presentation. The curses and blessings between them have combined to keep us and to assure us of a future when a surfeit of physical and spiritual light will be the beacon leading us out of our exile, when the guilt of Zion will have been expiated.

In interpreting the verse in Lamentations 4,22: תם עונך בת ציון, "your iniquity is expiated, daughter of Zion," Rabbi Chelbo quoting Rabbi Yochanan said that Pharaoh's withdrawing his "ring" (protection) from the people of Israel while the latter were in Egypt, was better for them than the forty years Moses kept prophesying for them in the desert, since only the former resulted in redemption whereas the latter did not. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that the withdrawal of Ahasverus' ring was better than the six hundred thousand prophets who prophesied in the days of Elijah, because the former resulted in repentance and subsequent redemption. The Rabbis also said that the scroll of Lamentations was better for Israel than the forty years the prophet Jeremiah spent predicting the destruction of the Temple, since the former resulted in repentance. This is the meaning of the above mentioned verse in Lamentations that Israel's sins have been expiated (Eichah Rabbah, end of fourth chapter). All of the foregoing is an example of Judges 14,14: ומעז יצא מתוק, "out of the strong came something sweet." I have elaborated on the meaning of this elsewhere.

Actually, the matter is not quite so. When G–d saw that His handiwork was going to be damaged, He decided to make allowance for this and to provide a method by which such damage could be repaired. This method is the principle of exile. Through the mechanism of exile, Israel, or even mankind itself, could be saved from utter destruction. Mentioning or even merely alluding to such exiles is not something that spoils a happy mood therefore, but on the contrary helps to reassure us that all G–d's plans for His universe will eventually bear fruit.

The words Alah, i.e. "curse," and the word Eyleh i.e. "these," contain the same letters in the same order, only the vowel pattern is different. The message of the Torah is that once the curses of both Leviticus chapter 27, and Deuteronomy chapter 29, have come to pass, the return of Israel to its roots will be signalled by conversion of the אלה, curse to אלה דברי הברית, "these are the words of the covenant," that the guilt of Israel will be at an end, that there will no longer be a need for exile and dispersion. Lamentations 4,22 refers to these sins of Zion having come to an end. All this is the direct result of expulsion, exile, dispersion. The author refers to his commentary on מסכת תענית, in which he has elaborated on this subject.

The future Temple is referred to by Jacob here as בית אלוקים וזה שער השמים. Considering this we can understand the Midrash saying that Jacob saw the Temple built, destroyed, and rebuilt. The interval between the destruction of the first Temple and the rebuilding of the third Temple is considered one unbroken period of destruction, the purpose of which is to encourage Israel to wipe out its sins through repentance.

The subject matter this Midrash concentrated on is the קליפה, peel, that was created by Adam's sin, which caused the brilliant light prevailing at the time of Creation to be withdrawn, and which can only be regained through efforts to refine oneself and to repair the damage done by Adam. The means to achieve such refinement is the series of exiles. Once having lived through these exiles, Israel's sins will be expiated, the Messiah will arrive and the world will once again be bathed in the brilliant light that prevailed when Adam and Eve wore clothes woven of light. The experience of the Jewish people in Egypt was of a similar nature. Israel, which still suffered from a degree of pollutants absorbed through the serpent, was cleansed and left Egypt with its head held high. All the judgments visited upon the Egyptians were in the nature of what our sages call חידוש העולם, a renewal of universal dimensions. The phenomena displayed testified to the fact that it was G–d who had created the universe and who could work His will upon it. We have explained all this in its appropriate place. G–d had already alluded to the other exiles at the time he concluded the original covenant with Abraham reported in לך לך chapter 15. The operative words at the time were: אימה, חשיכה גדולה נופלת עליו.