Musar su Lamentazioni 2:23

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.

I have stipulated the principle that G–d-Torah-lsrael are linked together, the Torah being G–d's imprint, whereas Israel is the Torah's imprint. By keeping this point in mind the statements of our sages about the commandment to procreate can be understood (as I explained in my introduction to chapter six of tractate יבמות). Every "wall" is actually composed of a double wall, as רשי has explained on Lamentations 2,8, on the words ויאבל חיל וחומה, "He made both wall and rampart wail." Similarly all the four walls are to be viewed as double walls. Repentance can be expressed visibly by fasting, donning of sackcloth and public prayer, or it can be expressed invisibly by a heart full of remorse, good resolutions, etc. It can be motivated by fear of retribution, or it can be due to a feeling of love for G–d. The invisible repentance is the real repentance. This is why it is called אמת, "truth". It is an offshoot of the attribute אמת.

Jacob's descendants merited the same advantages in due course. They experienced that the sea was split for their sake, and they witnessed the "great hand" of G–d at work (Exodus 14, 31). Israel merited the “רקיע” when G–d descended to Mount Sinai traversing all seven Heavenly Regions each known as a different רקיע at the time He gave them the Torah, commencing His revelation with the words: "I am the Lord your G–d who has taken you out of Egypt" (Midrash Hagadol Exodus 19, 20 – slightly different wording). Israel's relationship with G–d's throne is alluded to in Jeremiah 17, 12: כסא כבוד מרום מראשון מקם מקדשנו, "O Throne of Glory exalted from of old, our sacred Shrine". The "throne" mentioned is the throne of G–d in His Heaven. The same prophet wrote in Lamentations 2, 1: (after the destruction of the Temple) ‘השליך משמים ארץ תפארת ישראל, "He cast down from Heaven to Earth the majesty of Israel." Our sages in Eicha Rabbah 2,2 commented on this verse: G–d said: "The only reason you have the audacity to annoy Me is the fact that Jacob's features are engraved on My throne; Here I fling it down in your faces!" At that point in time, the letter כ in the ירך of Jacob became dislocated. The three letters in the word ירך, thigh, are the respective first letters of the words ים, רקיע, כסא. The dislocation of Jacob's thigh joint is an allusion to the dislocation of G–d's throne. The numerical value of the word כף in the expression כף ירך יעקב, is 100. It is an allusion to the letter ק which is written smaller in Rebeccah's exclamation קצתי בחיי, in Genesis 27, 46. We had explained previously that that was an allusion to the destruction of the Temple as foreseen by Rebeccah. Allegorically speaking, if one removes the letter ק from Jacob's name, one is left only with יעב, meaning a cloud which blocks out the sun and the daylight. This is the deeper meaning of Jeremiah in Lamentations 2, 1: איכה יעיב באפו א-דני את בת ציון, "How has the Lord shamed (brought dark clouds) the daughter of Zion in His wrath." The prophet refers to the former distinction of Israel having been flung to earth.

These three פרשיות are always read in the three weeks of mourning culminating in the fast of the Ninth of Av; their content is most appropriate at that time. The reason we have lost the Temple and have been sent into exile is because we were guilty of violating those Torah's laws designed to perfect our soul, body and financial dealings. Our sages have said that during the period of the first Temple Israel sinned by worshiping idols and by engaging in sexual licentiousness and murder (Jerusalem Talmud Yuma 1,1). Ever since the destruction of the first Temple, the damage done by committing these sins has not been repaired, not even when the second Temple was built. This is why five important manifestations of G–d's Presence [proof of a high spiritual level of the Jewish people], were missing during all the years that the second Temple functioned. Our sages found this alluded to in the defective spelling of the word (ה)ואכבד in Chagai 1,8: עלו ההר והביאו עצים ובנו בית, וארצה בו ואכבד אמר השם. "Go up to the mountain, get timber and rebuild the House; then I will look on it with favor and I will be glorified-thus said the Lord." The missing letter ה was the prophet's way of telling Israel that the second Temple would be inferior to the first in five respects (Yuma 21b). The sin of worshiping idols is essentially one of the soul; the very thought that there are other deities beside the Lord G–d is prohibited. Sexual licentiousness and perversion, is, of course, a sin committed by the body. There is no other sin that involves as many of one's limbs and organs simultaneously as engaging in sexual intercourse. Murder also involves all parts of the body; all the organs and limbs of the victim are rendered useless. Jerusalem had been guilty of that sin also, since the hands of the Jerusalemites are described as "filled with blood" (Isaiah 1,15). That same generation had also been guilty of unfair dealings in monetary matters, as described by Isaiah 1,23: "Your rulers are rogues and cronies of thieves; all of them greedy for bribes." The making of vows, or the failure to honor them, also involves one's soul. The immediate cause of Nebuchadnezzar's attack on Jerusalem was King's Zedekiah having broken his solemn oath to the king of Babylonia not to rebel against his rule (Kings II 25,1). This is why the elders of Zion are reported as having put dust on their heads and having lowered their heads to the ground (Lamentations 2,10). Eichah Rabbah 2,14 relates that the members of the Jewish Supreme Court at the time of King Zedekiah were executed as punishment for violation of their נדרים, vows. According to the Midrash the oath of loyalty had been taken on the golden altar, i.e. in the Sanctuary.

והיה כי יביאך ה' אלוקיך אל הארץ אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה . "When the Lord your G–d will bring you to the land to which you will come in order to inherit it." The Torah speaks of terrestrial ארץ ישראל which is similar to its celestial counterpart. The word הארץ refers to the "earth" after one's death in which one "sleeps," i.e. refines the body through metamorphosis in order to be able to take one's place in one's original inheritance, the one intended for Adam before the sin. Just as on our earth there are two mountains, Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival, which symbolize blessing and curse respectively, so there are two parallel mountains in the Celestial Regions. One is generally known in our scriptures as ההר הטוב, or הר ה', "the Mountain of ‘good,’ or the Mountain of G–d," the one which can be climbed only by people who have complied with the criteria set down in Psalms 24,4. The other Mountain is known as הר שעיר, the Mountain of Se'ir, symbolizing darkness exuded by the evil urge. Our rabbis describe it as a "Mountain" because they view the overcoming of the evil urge as similar to the scaling of a mountain. The wicked, on the other hand, consider the evil urge as something they can easily control and therefore the evil urge appears to them merely as high as an hair, hence the name הר שעיר, "the mountain no higher than an hair." Were it not for the "good angels" created by our various מצות, our access to the Mountain of G–d would be severed completely. G–d in His great mercy decided to pay more attention to the "voice" of what these good angels relate about us than to the foul deeds we commit with our hands, i.e. הקול קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו, "though the hands are the hands of an Esau, the voice is that of Jacob." [A homiletical explanation by Midrash Shmuel of Genesis 27,22 applied to Akavyah's statement in Avot 3,1. Ed.] The words ואין אתה בא לידי עברה mean that if you have קול יעקב going for you you are in no danger at the hands of Esau, the hands of Satan. The meaning of the name הר גריזים is similar to the meaning of Psalms 31,23: ואני אמרתי בחפזי נגרזתי לפניך, "I said in my haste I am thrust out of Your sight." The Psalmist goes on to say that David learned that he had not been cast out by G–d after all. The function of Mount Gerizim then is to reassure us that Paradise lost is recoverable. Our deeds create the "good angels" whose pleas reach the throne of G–d. there are also barriers in the heavens between the different categories of צדיקים. Every righteous person occupies a station appropriate to his conduct while he lived on earth. Our Rabbis (Tanchuma Beshalach 10) explained that G–d made separate lanes when the tribes of Israel crossed the Sea of Reeds. They base this on Psalms 136,13: "Who divided the Sea of Reeds into גזרים, sections." The same happened when the Jewish people crossed the river Jordan into the Holy Land. This was one of the reasons twelve stones were erected in the river-bed; they marked where each tribe crossed.

The expression of פתח בתשובה, "commenced with repentance," simply means that a person does Teshuvah before he feels any ill effects from his transgression. This is to be contrasted with someone whose repentance is due to old age, when the evil urge cannot hold out the promise of gratification as a reward for the sin. I have explained Lamentations 2,3, השיב אחור ימינו, "He has withdrawn His right hand," to mean that G–d withdrew the hand held out to repentant sinners. The reason G–d did so is because we find in that same verse: מפני אויב, "on account of the enemy." The "enemy" is the painful result of one's sins. When repentance is due only to G–d's retribution, they are not compared to "crowns." Repentance and good deeds are considered "crowns" of a person, i.e. adorn him when they are caused by free willed activity, and before reverses in one's life prompt one to try "religion."

When at the beginning of פרשת וישב, we are told that Jacob made an attempt to settle in the land of Canaan to live a quiet undisturbed life, G–d objected to Jacob at that stage wanting to enjoy both the present world and the Hereafter. This world is not slated to recover from the original sin, the time when the serpent polluted Adam and Eve, until the arrival of the Messiah. Ever since that sin our world operates on the principle that the קליפה, peel, precedes the פרי, fruit. It is this principle which forms the background of Bereshit Rabbah 2,4. We are told there by Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish that the reason that the Torah begins the story of Creation with the statement that there was Tohu Vavohu, in other words imperfection similar to the imperfection of the world experienced by the Jewish people in exile, was that imperfection has to precede perfection. The Midrash describes several such exiles as being alluded to in that verse. The word Tohu refers to the exile in Babylon; the prophet Jeremiah (4,23) describes the country thus. The word Bohu supposedly refers to the exile under the Medes, since we have a verse in Esther 6,14 where the king's messengers are described as ויבהלו להביא את המן, the word ויבהלו containing the letters of the word ובהו. The word חשך, which follows in Genesis 1,2, refers to the exile under the Greeks who blackened the eyes of Israel by demanding that the Israelites inscribe on the horns of their oxen that they had no further share in the G–d of Israel. Finally, the words על פני תהום, refer to the exile under the Romans, Edom, which seems bottomless like the תהום, Deep. When the Torah continues ורוח אלוקים מרחפת על פני המים, "The spirit of the Lord hovered over the expanse of the water," Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish views this statement as an allusion to the spirit of the Messiah of whom it was said in Isaiah 11,2 that: "the spirit of the Lord rested on him." How does one merit that the spirit of the Lord comes to rest on one? By the merit of repentance which is compared to water, as we know from Lamentations 2,18: "Fair Zion, shed tears like water day and night!"

When at the beginning of פרשת וישב, we are told that Jacob made an attempt to settle in the land of Canaan to live a quiet undisturbed life, G–d objected to Jacob at that stage wanting to enjoy both the present world and the Hereafter. This world is not slated to recover from the original sin, the time when the serpent polluted Adam and Eve, until the arrival of the Messiah. Ever since that sin our world operates on the principle that the קליפה, peel, precedes the פרי, fruit. It is this principle which forms the background of Bereshit Rabbah 2,4. We are told there by Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish that the reason that the Torah begins the story of Creation with the statement that there was Tohu Vavohu, in other words imperfection similar to the imperfection of the world experienced by the Jewish people in exile, was that imperfection has to precede perfection. The Midrash describes several such exiles as being alluded to in that verse. The word Tohu refers to the exile in Babylon; the prophet Jeremiah (4,23) describes the country thus. The word Bohu supposedly refers to the exile under the Medes, since we have a verse in Esther 6,14 where the king's messengers are described as ויבהלו להביא את המן, the word ויבהלו containing the letters of the word ובהו. The word חשך, which follows in Genesis 1,2, refers to the exile under the Greeks who blackened the eyes of Israel by demanding that the Israelites inscribe on the horns of their oxen that they had no further share in the G–d of Israel. Finally, the words על פני תהום, refer to the exile under the Romans, Edom, which seems bottomless like the תהום, Deep. When the Torah continues ורוח אלוקים מרחפת על פני המים, "The spirit of the Lord hovered over the expanse of the water," Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish views this statement as an allusion to the spirit of the Messiah of whom it was said in Isaiah 11,2 that: "the spirit of the Lord rested on him." How does one merit that the spirit of the Lord comes to rest on one? By the merit of repentance which is compared to water, as we know from Lamentations 2,18: "Fair Zion, shed tears like water day and night!"

When Rashi refers to Jacob as staying behind to retrieve פכים קטנים, he meant that Jacob was solitary as long as Benjamin had not been born. When G–d had told Jacob at Bet El in 35,11: "Be fruitful and multiply…and kings will come forth from your loins," He used the plural to indicate that He referred to King Saul and his son Ish Boshet who were both anointed from a cruse. David and Solomon were anointed from a horn. Due to our various and numerous sins, G–d גדע, "dehorned Israel in a display of burning anger" (Lamentations 2,3), until in the future the horn of G–d's anointed Messiah will again be raised.