Musar untuk Yesaya 63:9

The fourth - "To the remnant of His inheritance" - behold, the Holy One, blessed be He, acts with His people in this way, to say, "What can I do with Israel, [as] they are My relatives - relation of flesh do I have with them." As they are the spouse to the Holy One, blessed be He; and He calls them, "My daughter" and "My sister," "My Mother" - as they, may their memory be blessed, explained (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 3:11:2). And it is written (Psalms 148:14), "Israel, His close (kerovo) nation" - He has actual closeness (kurvah) with them, and they are His children. And that is [the meaning of] the remnant of (she'erit) His inheritance" - it is an expression of relation (she'er) of flesh; and in the end, they are His (literal) inheritance. "And what shall I say? If I punish them, behold the pain is upon Me; as it is written (Isaiah 63:9), 'In all their distress, the distress (tsar) was to Him.'" And [to Him (lo)] is written with a [letter,] alef, to say that their pain reached the Highest Wonder (Wonder, peleh, being composed of the same letters as the spelling of alef, and representing Keter) - and all the more so, the two Faces through which is the central running [of the world] - but it is written with a [letter,] vav, [to mean that] the distress is to Him. And it is written (Judges 10:16), "and His soul could not bear the travail of Israel" - as He does not bear their pain and their disgrace, because they are "the she'erit [of] His inheritance."

It states, “Thus said Hashem, for your sake I have sent you into Babylon and I have sent them all down in boats” (Yeshayahu 43:14). [The Zohar comments (Parashas Shemos 2b), “‘I have sent you into Babylon’ — This alludes to the Holy One Blessed is He.”] This illustrates the great love of the Holy One Blessed is He for Israel, on account of which He shares in their afflictions and descends with them into exile. Similarly, regarding the descent into Egypt it is stated, “These are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt with [es] Yaakov” (Shemos 1:1). Wherever the word את appears it includes something not mentioned in the verse. In this case it includes the Shechinah, which went down with Yaakov into Egypt, in keeping with the verse, “I will descend with you into Egypt and I will bring you up” (Bereishis 46:4). Regarding the Babylonian exile, however, not only does it state, “For your sake I have sent you into Babylon,” but, “In all their afflictions He is afflicted” (Yeshayahu 63:9). The succeeding exiles were more difficult to bear than the Egyptian exile.

And thus it is proper to be distressed over the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash [temple] which was destroyed due to our sins, not because we are exiled, pained, and downtrodden, but rather due to the sorrow of heaven which is very great. And similarly over all types of afflictions, this should be one’s sorrow: that he causes anger and pain to the High and Exalted King, as is written (Isaiah 63:9): “in all their affliction he is afflicted”. And this is similar to a son who loves his father and angers him greatly until the father is forced to forsake his kindness and strike him with a great blow, for if the son is a loyal lover he wouldn’t worry about his blows at all, rather [he would worry] over the anger and distress of his father, and think, what will I do and how will I reconcile with my father so that he will not have sorrow and anger because of me. And even more so [we should be distressed due to] our knowledge that the mercy of Heaven is great, and that He bestows good without end, and great is His love for his people Israel. And his sorrow over their suffering is [also] vast, as is written (Exodus 19:21) “and many of them perish”. And our rabbis of blessed memory explain [the verse] (Mechilta on Parsha Yitro 84), that if even one falls, it is in his eyes as if many [have fallen]. If so, it is proper to be distressed over afflictions, on the one hand, since certainly our Father in Heaven is greatly angered, to the point that he was compelled to strike him with a great blow. And at the time when a person suffers, the Divine Presence suffers — what does the phrase say? “My head is heavy” etc. [Sanhedrin 46a]