Midrash su Lamentazioni 5:20

“Why do You forget us forever, forsake us for so long?” (Lamentations 5:20).
“Why do You forget us forever?” Rabbi Yehoshua bar Avin said: Jeremiah employed four expressions: Spurning, rejection, forsaking, and forgetting. Spurning and rejection, as it is written: “Did You spurn Judah, did Your soul reject Zion?” (Jeremiah 14:19). And he was answered by Moses, as it is written: “I did not spurn them and I did not reject them” (Leviticus 26:44). Forsaking and forgetting, as it is written: “Why do You forget us forever, forsake us for so long?” And he was answered by Isaiah, as it is written: “These too may forget, but I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49:15).
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Jeremiah employed four expressions: Spurning, anger, forsaking, and forgetting. Spurning, he answered himself, as it is written: “So said the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below probed, I too will spurn all the descendants of Israel because of everything that they did, the utterance of the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:37).²⁷Since the heavens and earth cannot be measured, Israel will not be spurned. Anger, he was answered by Isaiah, as it is stated: “For I will not contend forever and I will not be eternally angry” (Isaiah 57:16).

... Teach us oh, teacher: once the Ninth of Av has ended, is everything permitted? R’ Chiyah the Great taught like this: once the Ninth of Av has ended, one is permitted to do anything. Why? Because it is like the case of a person whose dead is laid out before him, who is forbidden to eat meat or drink wine. Once the dead is buried, the mourner is permitted to do so. So to on the Ninth of Av one is a mourner – once the day has ended one is permitted to do anything. Even though we are permitted, we must always have a sigh in our hearts until the Holy One returns to her. The Holy One said to them: by your lives! I burnt her, as it says “From above He has hurled fire into my bones…” (Lamentations 1:13) I will build her, as it says “Yet again will I rebuild you, then you shall be built, O virgin of Israel…” (Jeremiah 31:3) Zion said to Him: Behold, I have been sitting thus for many years! I have counted the days from old and I have not been redeemed, therefore I have despaired. She said that my master has abandoned me. And from where do we learn that Zion said this? From that which is written regarding it “And Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.’” (Isaiah 49:14) ... Another explanation. “And Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me…” (Isaiah 49:14) What is written before this? “Sing, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, and mountains burst out in song, for the Lord has consoled His people, and He shall have mercy on His poor.” (Isaiah 49:13) Once Zion saw that the prophet recalled His people and His poor, but did not mention Zion or Jerusalem she said ‘the Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.’ Immediately the Holy One replied and said to her: just as it is impossible for a woman to forget her sucking child, so to I am not able to forget you, “Shall a woman forget her sucking child, from having mercy on the child of her womb?” (Isaiah 49:15) She said to Him: Master of the world! How is that possible? There is no end to the evils I have done! I caused Your Holy Temple to be destroyed and I killed the prophets. R’ Berachia the Kohen said in the name of Rebbe: the Holy One said to her, I will forget your evil but I will not forget your good. “…These too shall forget, but I will not forget you.” (ibid.) I have forgotten “"These are your gods, O Israel…” (Exodus32:4) but “I am the Lord, your God…” (Exodus 20:2) I will not forget.

Jeremiah asked the Holy One four things at the hour when he separated from Him, on two he received an answer and on two he did not. They are: despising, rejection, abandonment and forgetting. Since Jeremiah saw the outlandish judgments which He brought upon Jerusalem he stood astonished, saying: is it possible that the Holy One will return to them after this? Then he asked the Holy One about these four things. So it says at the end of the scroll of lamentations “Why do You forget us forever, forsake us so long?” (Lamentations 5:20) “For if You have utterly rejected us, You have been exceedingly wroth against us.” (Lamentations 5:22) This is like a king who had a matron who was very beloved to him. Because the matron knew that the king loved her too much she violated the king’s honor and transgressed his decrees. One time decreed upon her that his servants come and drag her by her hair. Her dear friend who was present stood astonished, and seeing this immediately ran to come before the king. He said to him: my master the king, tell me what you intend. If you intend to return to her, then a man should rule over his wife. If you do not intend to return to her, you should divorce her that she can go and marry another. So Jeremiah said before the Holy One: Master of the World! “Have You indeed rejected Judah? Has Your soul despised Zion?” (Jeremiah 14:19) If Your intention is to return to her “Why have You smitten us and we have no cure?” (ibid.) He replied: go to your teacher, and to the teacher of your teacher – Moshe, the teacher of all the prophets. This is what I said to him at the end of all the curses: “But despite all this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not despise them nor will I reject them…” (Leviticus 26:44) Here we see that on two he received an answer and on two he did not. Since Zion saw that Jeremiah asked four things of the Holy One - despising, rejection, abandonment and forgetting – and that the Holy One answered him about despising and rejection but not about abandonment and forgetting, she began to make claims regarding the other two. “And Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.’” (Isaiah 49:14) Another explanation. And Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, and has forgotten me.’ The verse doesn’t say this, but rather ‘The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.’ Why does it say ‘the Lord and the Lord’? She said to Him: even the two attributes of mercy which are written about You “Lord, Lord, benevolent God, Who is compassionate and gracious…” (Exodus 34:6) have abandoned me and forgotten me. Another explanation. He forfeited me to all the nations, gleanings, forgotten sheaves and the corners of the fields as it says “When you reap the harvest of your Land…you shall leave these for the poor person and for the stranger.” (Leviticus 23:22) Another explanation. ‘The Lord has forsaken me (azavtani).’ He loaded me up with many punishments as it is written “You shall surely help along with him (azov ta’azov).” (Exodus 23:5) Another explanation. ‘The Lord has forsaken me.’ That is, made me worth abandoning, as it is written “…and the Lord shall pour out their vessels.” (Isaiah 3:17) This comes to teach that He hinted to their springs and they poured forth and they were sunk in blood and abandoned and they cast them away. The Holy One said to them: complainers the sons of complainers! I was engaged with the first man, in order to make him a helpmate, as it says “…I shall make him a helpmate opposite him,” (Genesis 2:18) and he complained about Me, “The woman whom You gave to be with me she gave me…” (Genesis 3:12) I was engaged with Yaakov’s son to make him king over Egypt, “Now Joseph was the ruler over the land…” (Genesis 42:6) and He complained before Me, saying “My way has been hidden from the Lord…” (Isaiah 40:27) Even his sons did the same in the wilderness! I was engaged in choosing for them an easy food like that which kings eat, so that not one of them should be seized by indigestion or diarrhea, and they complained before Me, saying “…and we are disgusted with this rotten bread.” (Numbers 21:5) So too Zion did to Me. I was engaged in removing the kingdoms from the world, haven’t I already removed Babylon, Maday and Greece? I was about to cause the fourth kingdom to pass away and she complained before Me, saying ‘You have abandoned me, You have forgotten me.’ Another explanation. Knesset Yisrael said before the Holy One: You have forgotten that might which my children mentioned before you at the sea “The Eternal's strength…” (Exodus 15:2) Another explanation. “And Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.’” (Isaiah 49:14) Forsaken is the same as forgotten! R’ Elazar said: Knesset Yisrael said before the Holy One – Master of the World! A man who marries another wife in addition to his first still remembers the actions of the first, but You have forsaken me. The Holy One replied to her – my daughter, I created twelve constellations in the firmament opposite the twelve tribes and for each constellation I created thirty troops, and for each troop I created thirty routes, and on each route I created thirty legions, and for each legion I created thirty camps, and for each camp I created thirty squares, and for each square I created three hundred and sixty-five stars like the number of the days of the solar calendar. All of these I created only for you, and you say ‘He has forgotten me, He has abandoned me?!’ “Shall a woman forget her sucking child (ulah)…” (Isaiah 49:15) I will never forget the burnt offerings (olot) and firstborns which you offered before Me. She said before Him - Master of the World! Since there is no forgetting before Your Holy Throne, maybe then You will not forget what I did with the Golden Calf? He replied to her – I will also forget this. She said before Him – Master of the World! Since there is forgetting before Your Holy Throne, maybe you will forget what I did at Mount Sinai? He said to her “I will not forget you.” (ibid.)