Musar su Abacuc 3:4

By following this approach we can also understand the Midrash in Eichah Rabbati, 2,6, on Lamentations 2,3: "He has cut down in blazing anger כל קרן ישראל, all the might of Israel." The Midrash comments that there are ten קרנות, i.e. "strongholds" termed Keren. Abraham is one such קרן; he is referred to in Isaiah 5,1, as כרם היה לידידי בקרן בן שמן, "My beloved had a vineyard on a fruitful hill." Isaac is also known as a קרן, in Genesis 22,13 נאחז בסבך בקרניו, "caught in the thicket by its horns." We find a reference to Joseph as קרן in Deut. 33,17 where his קרן is described as וקרני ראם קרניו וכו' "He has thorns like the horns of a wild ox." Moses is referred to as קרן in Exodus 34,29: כי קרן עור פניו, "for the skin of his face emitted rays (like a horn)." The Torah is also described as קרן, since we read in Chabakuk 3,4: קרנים מידו לו, "it gives off rays of light in every direction." Priesthood is referred to as קרן, in Psalms 112,9, קרנו תרום בכבוד, "his horn is exalted in honor." (Possibly the word כבוד, used here which is also used in connection with the garments of the High Priest, is the reason the Midrash interprets this verse as alluding to the priesthood.) The Levites collectively are referred to as קרן in Chronicles 1 25,5: כל אלה בנים להימן חוזה המלך בדברי האלוקים להרים קרן. [The chapter traces the genealogy of the tribe of Levi Ed.] Prophecy is called קרן, in Samuel I 2,6: רמה קרני בה'. (Hannah prophesies about Samuel's future). The Holy Temple is also described as קרן, as in Psalms 22,22: מקרני רמים עניתני. Israel itself is also described as קרן in Psalms 148,14: וירם קרן לעמו. Some people add that the קרן of the Messiah should also be included, per Samuel I 2,10: ויתן עוז למלכו, וירם קרן משיחו. The Midrash continues that all of these "horns" were placed on the heads of the Jewish people, but they forfeited them due to their sins. This is alluded to in the verse we quoted earlier from Lamentations 2,3 that in His blazing anger G–d cut down every קרן of Israel. These "horns" subsequently were given to the Gentile nations, as is written in Daniel 7,20: ועל קרניא עשר די בראשה ואחרי די סלקת ונפלו מן קדמיה. "About the ten horns which were on its head, and the other one which came and fell." In verse 24 of the same chapter Daniel speaks about ten kings and kingdoms arising from the fallen horns. Provided Israel repents, G–d will restore these horns to their rightful place viz. Psalms 75,11: "And I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up." This refers to the horns that the “Righteous One of the world,” i.e. G–d, had cut off. When is the time that He will restore them to their righful position? It is when G–d will raise the horn of His anointed: "He will raise the horn of His anointed" (Samuel I 2,10). Thus far the Midrash in Eychah Rabbati.

The meaning behind this is that Adam was on a spiritual level that made him fit to wear garments of light, and even his heel radiated a light more brilliant than the sun. Had he not sinned, his facial skin would have radiated a blinding light. Light is also called קרן, as we know from Chabakuk 3,4: ונגה כאור תהיה, קרנים מידו לו, "It is a brilliant light which gives off rays on every side". When we look at the sun we observe that many lines emanate from it. These are what are called קרני החמה, the "horns," or rays, of the sun. Once Adam sinned and had to switch to leather garments, i.e. garments whose raw material came from the dust of the earth, he became clay, just like the clay in the hands of the potter. Adam's new status is best described in Lamentations 4,2, where the prophet Jeremiah speaks of המסולאים בפז, איכה נחשבו לנהבלי חרש מעשה ידי יוצר, "Those who used to be valued as fine gold are now accounted as earthen pots fashioned by a potter." Adam's decline is compared to the decline from being קרן-like, to becoming פך-like. The name אדם originally related to a superior kind of אדמה. Subsequently it related to the inferior material we know as אדמה, dust from the earth. From that latter material one constructs the cruses, clay פכים. As long as Adam was on his original spiritual level, he himself was the offering to G–d, as hinted in Leviticus 1,2, that in the first instance one should make an offering of oneself to G–d. At that time man was like the souls of the righteous; these are described as being offered to G–d by the angel Michael after they have departed this earth. When the Psalmist tells us that man did not even spend one single night in his original innocence and now has become likened to the beasts (Psalms 49,14), he thereby hints that man descended to the level of the ox. The deeper meaning of the Midrash which tells us that the ox sacrificed by Adam had only one קרן, horn, is proof that he retains a small vestige of the image of קרן, though on a much lower plane than before.