Commentaire de citation sur Les Lamentations 1:3

Between Paran and between Tophel. The phrase between… and between gives me room to add my own hand and explain it about that which occurs between the 17th of Tammuz and the ninth of Av. For “Paran” refers to the incident of the spies, where they cried needlessly, and crying was established for generations on the night of the ninth of Av. And “Tophel” refers to the golden calf that they made. For what Rashi explained, that they complained about [made “taflu”] the manna, has no parallel in Scripture. It would have been more appropriate if Rashi had explained it from the language Can that which is tasteless [tafeil] be eaten without salt? (Job 6:6), for anything without taste is called “tafeil,” and this would have agreed with Rashi’s words.
But according to our approach, it makes more sense that “tophel” alludes to the incident of the golden calf, because we find this term used for idolatry in several places. In Jeremiah (23:13) it is written: And in the prophets of Samaria I have seen folly [tiflah]; they prophesied by Baal, etc. And it is written (Lamentations 2:14): Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive [tafeil] visions, etc. And similarly, Ezekiel called them plasterers of folly [tafeil] (13:11). And so said the makers of the golden calf, These are your gods, O Israel (Exodus 32:4). With this, they attributed falsehood [tiflah] to God, and this occurred on the 17th of Tammuz, and on that same day the tablets were broken. And the breaking of these stones was established for generations, for on the 17th of Tammuz the wall of the city and its stones were breached.
And between these two boundaries, Israel lies crouching between the borders, and this is the meaning of between… and between mentioned here, as it is written (Lamentations 1:3): All her pursuers overtook her between the straits. For between the sin of the golden calf and the sin of the spies, [Israel] crouched and bowed down, and they could not rise, because naturally there is no salvation from the distress of the enemy except in one of two ways, or both together: Either through the providence of God, who saves all who cling to Him, even if they are not naturally strong, nevertheless when they fulfill you shall love the Lord your God, which causes attachment to God, then He saves all who cling to Him; or naturally, when they fulfill love your neighbor as yourself. Then each person helps his fellow, even if they are sinners and God has departed from them. Still, they have some hope naturally if the heavenly orchestration does not oppose them.

And in these two times, Israel lost both at once, and if so, to whom shall they flee for help? For on the 17th of Tammuz when they made the [Golden] Calf, on that very day they turned backwards and turned their backs, not their faces, to God, in the month whose zodiac sign is Cancer, whose manner is to walk backwards — so too did they turn backwards, and thus they lost the salvation that comes from Divine providence. And on the 9th of Av was the incident of the spies; on that very day was born the trait of baseless hatred among Israel, as it is written And you said: Out of the Lord’s hatred for us, He brought us out [of Egypt]… (Deuteronomy 1:27). Rashi interprets, “What is in your heart about your friend, you assume is in his heart about you” (Yalkut Shimoni, Deuteronomy 805). For they reasoned that since each of them hates his fellow, so presumably the Holy One, blessed be He, also hates them. And furthermore, since they erred in saying that the Holy One, blessed be He, hates them without cause, then certainly the nature of the matter compels each one to hate his fellow. And this trouble conceived and gave birth to this evil trait which destroyed the First and Second Temples. For in the First Temple, there was baseless hatred among the leaders of Israel, and in the Second Temple, the affliction spread among all of Israel, as stated in Yoma (9b). And this was in the month of Av, whose zodiac sign is Leo, for each one’s likeness is as a lion longing to tear apart his fellow. And thus they lost also the natural salvation, for if there is no love between them and there is no one supporting and helping his fellow, who will stand up for Jacob, for he is small and poor (Amos 7:2). Thus, between these boundaries, the bundle came completely apart, for they turned quickly away from God, and they also turned away from each other. And so it was that the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av are a fence on this side and a fence on that side, and there is no way to turn right or left; therefore, all her pursuers overtook her between the straits (Lamentations 1:3). All implies that even a weak pursuer of any kind could prevail over them, because at one time they spurned the Holy One of Israel, they profaned the holiness of Israel which depends on the unity of the nation, and at another time they turned backwards from the Divine Presence, and to whom shall they flee for help?

Rabbi Benjamin explains it differently: Why do we recite this in Aramaic? Because of the exposition in Lamentations Rabba: (Lamentations 1:3 “Judah was exiled because of Oni (affliction): Israel was not exiled to Babylonia until they ate Chametz on Passover, as it said “Judah was exiled because of (lechem) Oni.” – Therefore we recite this passage in Aramaic to reveal the sin to our children that caused us to be in exile so that we can avoid it. In effect we are saying, “This is the bread which our ancestors ate when they left Egypt.” Because of it we were exiled – therefore we must be cautious (in fulfilling this mitzvah). Then we remind people all who are hungry make sure you eat only matzah! And conclude now we are here - that is because of our sins – May it be your will to bring back your redeemed ones since we no longer have this sin to prevent us from returning to the land of Israel. We conclude this passage in Hebrew since we are talking about redemption from slavery to freedom. We say it in Hebrew so the Angels will understand. We are taught that one should never petition God in Aramaic since the angels do not understand this language!