Musar su Lamentazioni 1:1

In the Zohar on Parashat Terumah [it is taught]: 'One who luxuriates at his table and delights in those foods ought to call to mind and to feel concern for the holiness of the Holy Land and for the Temple of the King that has been destroyed. In consideration of the sadness that one feels at one's table--in the midst of the joy and celebration [lit. drinking] there--the Holy Blessed One accounts it to one as if one has rebuilt His House and rebuilt all the ruins of the Temple. Happy is one's portion!' (Zohar 2:157:2). Therefore it is customary to recite the Psalm 'By the waters of Babylon' (Psalms 137) before Grace after Meals, particularly since the table corresponds to the (Temple) altar, while, through our many sins, the altar itself is no longer. One should call to mind [the teaching], 'Woe to the children who have been banished from their Father's table' (Talmud Berachot 3a). The banishment from the Table (shulchan, sh.l.h.n) was caused by the power of the Snake (lenachash, l.n.h.sh), as is taught in the Zohar [about the word] Eichah ('.y.kh.h, 'Alas;' the name of the Book of Lamentations): 'I shall set enmity' (Eivah, '.y.b.h) (Genesis 3:15), an anagram for א׳יכה י׳שבה ב׳דד ה׳עיר 'Alas, the city sits solitary' ('.y.b.h) (Lamentations 1:1). On Shabbat and Festivals one recites the Psalm 'When the Name restores the fortunes of Zion' (Psalms 126).

The Levites' cities absorbed those forced to go into exile because of their having committed involuntary manslaughter. When disaster struck the nation, the Levites too were sent into exile as we know from Psalm 137,3 which tells of the Levites being asked to sing the songs they used to sing in Zion. They responded by refusing, claiming they could not possibly do so on foreign soil. Our sages (Midrash Tehillim 137,5) say that they amputated the tops of their fingers so as to be unable to play their instruments. Israel without a rebuilt Temple is compared to כאדם עברו ברית, "just as Adam who had violated the covenant with G–d," in the words of Hoseah 6,7. Midrash Eichah Rabbah elaborates on this, Rabbi Abahu saying that G–d describes how he had placed Adam into Gan Eden, commanded him a single commandment, which he transgressed. G–d consequently punished him with expulsion and personally elegized him with the word איכ-ה, Ayekkoh, (Genesis 3,9), which can be read as Eychah, an expression of mourning as in Lamentations, and also as used by Moses in Deut. 1,12 in the same sense, until He was able to bring the Jewish people into the Holy Land. Jeremiah 2,7 describes this in the words ואביא אתכם אל ארץ הכרמל לאכול את פריה. "I have brought you to the land of the Carmel to eat its fruit." Proof that G–d commanded Israel to observe commandments in the Holy Land is derived from Numbers 34,2: "Command the children of Israel, say to them…when you enter the land of Canaan, etc." Israel transgressed these commandments as described in Daniel 9, 9-11. Daniel includes the whole people as having violated G–d's teachings, as a result of which the curses in the Torah were poured out over them. Our exile, too, was a result of such conduct as is stated in Hoseah 9,9: "I will expel them from My House." The expulsion was not only to a country adjoining their homeland, but also to far off places as is indicated by Jeremiah 15,1: שלח מעל פני ויצאו, "Dismiss them from My Presence; let them go forth!" In His elegy, G–d refers to the lonely and isolated situation Zion finds itself in as a result; cf. Lamentations 1,1. Thus the introduction of Midrash Eicha.

Now, in this world Israel has the legal status of an almanah — a “widow.” Thus the verse in Eichah (1:1) reads, “O how does she sit in solitude! The city that was teeming with people has become like an almanah.” This word is derived from a denomination of currency called a manah (= 100 zuz), which is the amount that is guaranteed to a widow in her marriage contract when she remarries. In the future, however, Israel will again have the status of a virgin bride, as it is written, “Arise O virgin of Israel” (Amos 5:2). A virgin bride is guaranteed a base sum of 200 zuz, but Israel will receive on top of this an addition of a third (reckoned from the “outside,” so that the addition comprises a third of the total). Now, the Sages tell us in Midrash Bereishis Rabbah (68:12) that three angels comprise an entire “world,” since each angel is 2000 parsaos wide and a “world” is only 6000 parsaos in diameter. Therefore 600 angels equals 200 worlds. The additional 20 angels comprise another six and two-thirds worlds. If one adds a third (from the “outside”) to the 200 it comes to 300. Then if one adds a third to the 6 worlds it comes to 9. Finally if one adds a third to the remaining two-thirds it comes to a single world, for a total of 310 worlds. May it be Hashem’s will that we merit this speedily in our days, Amein.

Furthermore, G–d's decision to send the Jewish people into exile is not only for our benefit but even, so to speak, for G–d's benefit. Israel were still called אדם when they sinned, since they shared the fate of אדם. They originally were ראשי המטות, superior people; they are also thus described in Lamentations 1,1: שרתי במדינות, "the princess among states." There followed a period when at best the Torah described their wanderings due to their sins, i.e. ….אלה מסעי למוצאיהם למסעיהם. These words refer to exile from the Holy Land to other countries, so that eventually they would be able on their travels to return to מוצאיהם, their point of departure, i.e. to ארץ ישראל.

לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך . The reason that you must not hate your brother in your heart (19,17) is that one automatically feels superior to the person one hates in one's heart. People who feel superior are anathema to G–d. Whereas it is your duty to hate people who hate G–d, unjustified hatred has led to the destruction of the Temple and to our exile. In fact the opening lines of the famous elegy of Jeremiah איכה ישבה בדד העיר רבתי עם היתה, add up to איבה רעה. Just because he is your brother, you must not hate him in your heart (but you should tell him what is on your mind).

Rabbi Chiya continued his discourse, “On the day that the earthly Beis HaMikdosh was destroyed and Israel went into exile with a millstone around their necks and hands tied behind them, the Shechinah [Kenesses Yisroel] was also banished from the King’s palace to follow behind them. And as the Shechinah descended into exile it said, ‘First I will go and weep over My house and My children and the great unification that took place in the Beis HaMikdosh.’ “And when it descended from the Heavenly Beis HaMikdosh and saw the earthly Beis HaMikdosh in ruins with the blood of the righteous spilled therein and the sanctuary and portico burned down, it raised its voice in weeping, creating a stir in all the upper and lower worlds. Its voice ascended until it reached the abode of the King, evoking in Him the desire to destroy the world and return it primordial chaos, which prompted a number of camps of angels to descend to try to console the Shechinah, but I would accept no consolation. This is the meaning of the verse, ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, Rocheil weeping over her children, etc.’ “When the Shechinah left of the Temple it dwelt in the Land of Israel. Then it left the Holy Land to dwell in the desert, where it remained for three days, crying, ‘O how she sat in solitude, etc.’ (Eichah 1:1).”