Commento su Geremia 31:41

found favor The generation of the wilderness found favor in My eyes.

who had escaped the sword of the Egyptians the Amalekites and the Canaanites.

He [therefore] went to give Israel their resting place When He led them to take possession of the land of their rest.

From long ago In the merit of the Patriarchs.

appeared to me I, the prophet, and told me to say to the congregation of Israel, “With everlasting love have I loved you.”

Yet again will I rebuild you, then you shall be built You had two buildings made by men. Therefore, they were destroyed. Yet again will I rebuild you, I by Myself, a third building, and you shall be built forever. shall you be adorned Heb. תַּעְדִּי.

and redeem [them] in the fourth year, they shall profane their produce by redeeming it with money.

the watchers shall call The lookouts at the tops of the lofty towers to announce with a voice heard a distance away. Another explanation: נֹצְרִים is like “He keeps (נֹצֵר) lovingkindness” (Exod. 34:7), an expression of keeping. That is to say: There is a day when they will call those who kept the Torah and say, “Rise...” And so did Jonathan render: There are many days and much goodness that is destined to come to the righteous who kept My Torah from days of old.

For there is a day – There is a day prepared on which the scouts who stand on the mountains will call aloud ‘Rise! Let us go up to Zion, to the Lord’ because the redemption has come and the Divine Presence returned to her place in Zion:

For there is a day – Because in the beginning they placed guards on Mount Ephraim to prevent Israel from coming up to Jerusalem, and the day will come when they place watchmen and guards who will cry out ‘Rise! Let us go up to Zion.’ They will keep watch in the opposite fashion, because everyone will bring the fruits of the fourth year up to Jerusalem to eat them there.

and shout at the head of the nations On the lofty towers, so that they should hear from afar.

Together with the blind and the lame: They will come unhurriedly so that even the blind and the lame that will be among them, and the pregnant one and the one giving birth will walk slowly. And my father z''l interprets the verse "And I will lead them slowly on a straight path" until the blind and the lame and the pregnant one and the one giving birth will be able to walk with them without stumbling as they walk

the blind and the lame amongst them Even the staggering ones among them I will not reject.

With weeping will they come Through prayer and repentance.

“He Who scattered” (separant in French, separating.

and they will stream They will gather like a river.

fat Heb. דָשֶן.

A voice is heard on high A voice is heard in the height of the world, the voice of the house of Israel weeping over Jeremiah the prophet when Nebuzaradan sent him from Ramah to return after the exiles to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, as is stated in this Book (below ch. 39).

Rachel weeping for her children The Midrash Aggadah states (see Lam. Rabbah Proem 24) that the Patriarchs and the Matriarchs went to appease the Holy One blessed be He concerning the sin of Manasseh who placed an image in the Temple but He was not appeased. Rachel entered and stated before Him “O Lord of the Universe, whose mercy is greater, Your mercy or the mercy of a flesh and blood person? You must admit that Your mercy is greater. Now did I not bring my rival into my house? For all the work that Jacob worked for my father he worked only for me. When I came to enter the nuptial canopy, they brought my sister, and it was not enough that I kept my silence, but I gave her my password. You, too, if Your children have brought Your rival into Your house, keep Your silence for them.” He said to her, “You have defended them well. There is reward for your deed and for your righteousness, that you gave over your password to your sister.”

complaining (Konpljjet in O.F.), an expression of “who will lament for you (יָנוּד)?” (above 15:5).

“You have chastised me” With pains, You, the Holy One, blessed be He.

like an ungoaded calf (fut aiguillones in O.F.), was goaded, an expression of “an ox-goad (מַלְמַד הַבָּקָר)” (Judges 3:31). I was like an ungoaded calf in the beginning. Therefore, I sinned against You.

I have completely changed my mind I regret my abominations.

I had been brought to know myself That I thought of myself that I was treacherous, (aparsoujjge in O. F.).

the reproach of my youth That my enemies can reproach me for the sins of my youth.

“Is Ephraim a son who is dear to me?” These are the words of the Shechinah. That is to say, He is complaining, “And as for Me, I have a change of heart to have pity. Is he My dear son (as one who has but one son, whose every wish he grants him)?” dandled (Esbaniement in O.F.)

A dear son...God responds to them that there is a difference between someone from the first generations whom God was able to bring back [to God's ways] by showing them godliness, might and wonders, versus now, and there is a difference between a dear son and a little tyke. A little tyke is a small boy who, even if he sins, his father still loves him because he is a little boy and he plays with him. A dear son is a grown man who has many virtues and is dear to because of those virtues, and even if he sins, his father still loves him because he'll remember his virtues and be dear to him. So too, in Egypt, when Israel had no virtue or wholeness, they were like a little tyke in God's eyes, as it is written "when Israel was a youth I loved him." When they were in the wilderness and in the Land of Israel in the early years, they were like a dear son, because they had among them prophets, holy ministers and sages, and then if they sinned, God remembered the righteous among them and forgave their sin. But now "Ephraim is a dear son to me" - behold he has no dearness or importance, and so too "he is a little tyke" -- behold he is not a boy but he has already reached old age, and the parallel statements "Ephraim is a dear son to me...whenever I have turned on him, I remember him even more (every utterance that has the letter bet after it is a reproach) that so too whenever I speak any defamation "I will surely remember" his virtues because he is dear. "he is a little tyke...that is why my heart yearns for him" that my heart will yearn on account of him and "I will surely have mercy" because he is a small boy, I will play with him, and and if so, how can you ask that I do something miraculous and love you as in the days of old?

whenever I speak of him Every time that I speak of him. And the Midrash Leviticus Rabbah (2:3) explains: It is enough My speech (דַּי דִבּוּרִי) with which I endowed him, that I taught him My Torah, for Me to have mercy on him.

Set up markers for yourself Signs in the good ways of your ancestors.

small palms small palms (תְּמָרִים) planted for a sign on the way. And the simple interpretation of the verse is. Make signs to know the way you traversed from Eretz Israel to Babylon, so that you will return by that road; that is to say that you will surely return from there.

the road upon which you went The “kethib” is הָלָכְתִּי, “I went,” and everywhere that you went I went with you Jonathan, however, renders. place “tamrurim” for yourself: Pray with embittered spirit, deriving תַּמְרוּרִים from מַר bitter. (And Menahem [Machbereth p. 119] explained תַּמְרוּרִים as an expression of raising up, and so he explained וְתִמְרוֹת “raising of smoke” (Joel 3:3). In some editions, this is missing.)

will you hide will you hide from Me, that you are ashamed to return to Me because of your way? Behold, something new has been created on earth, that a woman shall go after a man to seek him that he should marry her. This is an expression of “and I will go around (וַאֲסוֹבְבָה) in the city; I will seek, etc.” (Song 3:2). And in the name of Rabbi Judah the Preacher I heard: A woman shall turn around to become a man. I gave you like a daughter, who receives a tenth of the property of her father, seven nations out of seventy. Ultimately, you shall take everything like a son, a male, who inherits everything.

when I return – At the time when I bring back the children of captivity to their place they will say ‘May the Lord bless You, dwelling of righteousness’ which refers to Jerusalem.

Thereupon, I awoke So said Jeremiah, “All this time I was sleeping deeply while perceiving the prophecy of retribution, but with this prophecy I awoke from my deep sleep.”

was pleasant Heb. עָרְבָה .

seed of man and seed of beasts The good and the foolish of them, I will sow all of them to be My seed. Seed of man and seed of beasts. Jonathan renders. I will set them up (our edition: I will increase them) like people and I will make them succeed like a beast, whose iniquities are not visited upon her.

unripe grapes A fruit that is not yet ripe, and it sets the teeth on edge.

And the teeth of the children shall be set on edge... The children for the fathers’ iniquity.

to illuminate (esclarzir in Prov. or eclaircir in O.F., eclairer in Modern French), to brighten, and so did Jonathan render: לְאַנְהָרָא, to illuminate.

Who stirs up the sea He breaks the sea, moves it and “boils” it, and it becomes wrinkles. Cf. “my skin became wrinkled (רָגַע)” (Job 7:5).

depart “He would not move away (יָמִיש)” (Exod. 13:22).

If the heavens... will be measured How much is their altitude.

I too will reject...Israel That is to say that just as they can neither be measured nor fathomed so will Israel not be rejected because of all that they sinned.

valley of the dead bodies The valley where the bodies of the camp of Sennacherib fell.

and the ash The place where the ashes are poured out, which was outside Jerusalem, they will add to the city and include all this within its walls. Now this prophecy relates to the future, to the final redemption, since it did not take place in the time of the Second Temple.

the fields (Kanpanjje in O.F.) (campagne in Modern French, open country.