예레미야애가 1:23의 Musar

The following three פרשיות are usually read during the period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av. I have decided therefore, to combine the commentary on them under the same heading.

There is an allusion to this in the Torah: When Aaron said (concerning the next day which was the 17th of Tammuz) חג לה' מחר "tomorrow there will be a holiday to G–d" (Exodus 32,5). The term מחר, need not always refer to the day immediately following it. It may, on occasion, refer to a time in the distant future. Aaron hinted that the time would come when even a day that is a fast-day today, such as the day that Moses had occasion to smash the tablets with the Ten Commandments G–d had given him, i.e. the day after Aaron's pronouncement, would be turned into a happy occasion. It is no accident then that our calendar is arranged in such a way that the ninth day of Av always occurs on the same day of the week as the first day of Passover, the day we commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. That redemption had been the real beginning of the eventual and enduring redemption of the Jewish people. This is why the prophet Michah (7,15) says כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים "just as during the days when you came out of Egypt." The prophet introduces a vision of the redemption of the future by speaking of great miracles yet to be performed.

הן עוד היום גדול לא עת האסף המקנה. The Zohar in פרשת ואתחנן (Sullam edition page 62), commenting on Jacob's statement that there was still much daylight left (Genesis 29,7), says that we learn from this verse that, if Israel will do תשובה, its exile will not last longer than a day, and it will return to the Holy Land. This is based on Lamentations 1,13: נתנני שוממה כל היום דוה, "He has placed me in desolation, and left me in misery all day long." If Israel fails to repent, G–d says: עוד היום גדול, לא עת האסף המקנה "the day still has a long time to go, it is not yet time to gather in the cattle" [A day is perceived a day in G–d's time, i.e. one thousand years. Ed.]. This is because Israel has no merits to its credit. There is, however, one remedy for Israel, namely לכו השקו הצאן, "go water the flock," i.e. make the people study Torah, drink the waters of Torah, ולכו רעו, then you can go to the place where you find rest, to the land of Israel, your inheritance.

As a confirmation we need only look at Lamentations 3,31/32: כי אם הוגה ורחם. It should really have said וירחם, "He will pardon. "The plain meaning of the full verse is: "For the Lord does not reject forever, but first afflicts, then pardons (displays mercy) in His abundant kindness, for He does not willfully bring grief." The homiletical meaning is that the very הוגה is the cause of the רחמים.

The expansion of the גיד הנשה is the “מרכבה,” vehicle, of Samael in our world which touched, i.e. hurt, the thigh joint of Jacob. The Arizal explains Genesis 32, 26: וירא כי לא יוכל לו, ויגע בכף ירכו, "When he saw that he could not overpower him, he touched his thigh joint," as referring to Jacob's descendants. Samael, the guardian angel of Esau, left his mark on all the צדיקים, righteous people, who would stem from Jacob, i.e. any generation in which Jews would abandon their religion, etc. The words ותקע כף ירך יעקב, "Jacob's thigh joint was disjointed" (ibid.), are an allusion to the negative effect of the destruction of the Temple on this earth on the Celestial Regions. G–d swore an oath that He would not take up residence in the Jerusalem of the Heavenly Regions until the Jerusalem on earth had been restored and He would be able to take up residence there. This concept is known to us as "the name of G–d is not complete, neither is His throne complete, until matters on earth are developing to G–d's satisfaction."Put differently: "what happens down here is called גיד הנשה. The Talmud speaks about גזרות קשות כגידים, decrees as tough as sinews." The sinews referred to in such statements are the branches of the גיד הנשה. This גיד is the "evil" sinew of the 365 sinews in our bodies because it strengthens the power of Samael, i.e. the power of Esau. The damage to the Celestial Regions is done in a single "day." The word "day" in those regions is the one thousand years that Bereshit Rabbah 8, 2 describes as the length of G–d's day. [Because of this definition of "day," Adam could live almost one thousand years in terms of our days, though G–d had said he would die on the day he would eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Ed.] The Zohar, commenting on Lamentations 1, 13: נתנני שוממה כל היום דוה, "He has made me desolate, I am in misery a whole day," states that this verse proves that when the destruction of the Temple was decreed, the exile was meant to last at least one thousand years.

“He caused me to be desolate and in misery all day long” (Eichoh 1:13). Our Rabbis teach that this verse is speaking in the name of the Shechinah, remonstrating against the arrogant who cause the exile of the Shechinah’s to be prolonged. This is also alluded to in the verse, “And my splendor was transformed for me into destruction” (Daniel 10:8). That is, the arrogant transform הוד — “splendor” into דוה — “misery.” In short, a person must reflect how much evil is caused by this attribute. Let him realize that it was not in vain that the Sages said that a haughty person is considered as if he worshipped idolatry (Sotah 4b). This is because he delivers his soul into the hands of powerful impure forces (chitzonim) so that it is only with great difficulty that he can escape them. Therefore it is as if he is under the dominion of foreign gods, Heaven spare us. Therefore let the wise see and take heed, appreciating the severity of both the iniquity and its punishment.

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.

It is this thought which Vayikra Rabbah quotes in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish when the latter saw in the words (11,9): את זה תאכלו a warning to the Jewish people that if "you merit it, you will consume the Gentile nations, if not, you will be consumed by them. In Vayikra Rabbah 13,5 we are told that the reference of the Torah to the גמל, "camel which is chewing the cud" in 11,4 is an allusion to the kingdom of Babylonia which praised the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar, as reported in Daniel 4,31, praised the Lord for giving him back his sanity. The Talmud also reports that this king once made a runner run for 4 miles after a scribe to retrieve a letter to King Chizkiyahu in which he had greeted the king before greeting G–d Almighty. He changed the form of address, realizing that it would be an insult if he mentioned G–d only in second place. In 11,5 the Torah uses extra words to describe that the שפן, daman, also chews the cud though it does not have split hooves. This is an allusion to the empire of the Medes whose king Cyrus praised the Lord as reported in Ezra 1,2. The reference of the Torah to the ארנבת, hare, in 11,6 which is similarly chewing the cud, and to which the Torah allots a whole verse, is an allusion to the Greek empire whose emperor Alexander the Great also paid homage to the Lord. The Talmud Yuma 69 reports how this emperor deferred to the High Priest Shimon Ha-Tzaddik, praising the Lord. When referring to the חזיר, pig, in 11,7, the Torah mentions that it does not chew the cud; it is an allusion to the Roman empire none of whose rulers paid homage to the Lord. Not only did the Romans not pay homage to G–d, but they blasphemed against Him, as we know from the sarcastic remark in Psalms 73,25: "Who is there for me in Heaven?" which is attributed to the Romans.

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.

Concerning such truth, the prophet Jeremiah (5,1) proclaims in the name of the Lord: "Roam the streets of Jerusalem, search its squares; look about and take note; you will not find a man. There is none who acts justly, who seeks integrity, that I should pardon her." This is surely a very remarkable statement. How could the existence of even a single such “איש” be questioned, when at that time there lived in Israel numerous prophets and pious men in Israel! Does not the same prophet in chapter 24,1 describe that G–d showed him a vision of the חרש והמסגר, two Torah scholars of renown, (Sanhedrin 38) who were exiled together with king Yechonyah (Kings II 24,16-17)? The answer is simply that these Torah scholars had failed to act publicly to call upon the masses to mend their ways, and return to the ways of the Torah. Jeremiah laments that there is not a single person in the courtyards of Jerusalem who has the moral courage to proclaim his convictions publicly! Rabbi Amram in Sanhedrin 119 states explicitly that Jersusalem was destroyed because the Torah scholars ignored the commandment to admonish their fellow Jews. (Leviticus 19,17) He derives this from the verse in Lamentations 1,6: היו שריה כאילים, לא מצאו מרעה. "Her leaders were like stags that found no pasture." The prophet there drew a parallel between the spiritual leaders of Israel and the stag whose head is usually down on the ground near its tail. The leaders of the Jewish people, similarly, buried their heads in the sand in order "to see no evil, hear no evil-etc." When contrasted with this kind of behaviour, Pinchas stood out as a man of truth in whom the jealousy for his G–d was paramount. This explains why he was rewarded with everlasting life, i.e. this is why the prophet Elijah did not experience death on this earth.

Our sages, of blessed memory, spoke strongly regarding one who is able to rebuke someone but refrains from doing so. They decreed his judgment to be that he himself will be held accountable for the sin of the sinners. In the Midrash, [they expounded: "'her princes were like deer [that find no pasture...]' (Eicha 1:6) - just like during a heat wave, these deer turn their faces one beneath the other, so too the great sages of Israel would see sin committed and turn their faces away from it. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: 'a time will come when I will do the same to them'" (Eicha Raba 1:13).

We read in Chronicles I 16,27: הוד והדר לפניו, עז וחדוה במקומו, "Glory and majesty are before Him, strength and joy are in His place." This verse contains a lesson about the exiles of the Jewish people, i.e. that they are for the good of the Jewish people. The chapter quoted describes an ongoing activity, i.e. בשרו מיום אל יום ישועתו, that even the redemption that has not occurred yet should be spoken of daily, or better still, it refers to a period of over one thousand years. Considering that in our eyes G–d's day is equal to a millenium, it follows that this is why Adam died on the day he ate from the tree (as he was warned he would in Genesis 2,17), though he lived close to one thousand years, the verse quoted in Chronicles, clearly refers to a period of exile. Lamentations 1,13, which describes the exile as already lasting כל היום,-at least one thousand years,- prompts the Zohar to comment that "my very glory," הודי, has proven to be my ruin." When you re-arrange the letter of the word הוד, you get דוה, as in כל היום דוה, "suffering constantly" (ibid.). I have already elaborated on this elsewhere, where I wrote that the word "הדר," is derived from "היפוך, i.e. "turning something around, reversing it," similar to the meaning of the expression "הדרן עלך," i.e. הפוך בה והפוך בה," (keep reviewing it, keep busy with it). What the Zohar meant was that the original "הוד," glory, will eventually lead to an even greater degree of "הוד" in the messianic future, just because that "הוד" had been converted to "דוה." We are told of that day in the future that ישמח ה' במעשיו, "that G–d will delight in His works" (Psalms 104,31). When you re-arrange the letters of the word ישמח, you have the word משיח, a reference to when that time will come. Concerning that day, the Midrash says that the Messiah will be given the combined “הוד, glory of Moses and הדר (its reversal) of Joshua, meaning that from the time of Joshua the spiritual decline set in, and the glory, הוד, kept turning into progressively more דוה, suffering. The הדר, decline would then reverse itself, i.e. the meaning of that term would no longer be negative. This process will lead to the cessation and disappearance of the iniquity due to the pollutants that the serpent spread throughout the world, and will enable the Messiah to make his appearance, and the new dimension of "light," the glory of the Messiah to manifest itself. The הדר (reduced measure of majesty in relation to Moses) of the new leader Joshua will be reversed at that time, a time described in Ezra 2,63 as the period when there is once again a High Priest who can stand in front of the אורים ותומים, the time when Elijah will have appeared. This period is alluded to when the Torah tells us in Numbers 27,21 that the new leader of the Jewish people will have to consult G–d by means of the אורים ותומים, i.e. the Ineffable Name worn by the High Priest Elazar in his breast plate. We also find an allusion to messianic times when the Jewish people are counted in our portion; the name of the son of Dan is given as שוחם (26,42), whereas in Parshat Vayigash, (Genesis 46,23) it is given as חשים. I have found that the Ari comments on this that the reason why the letter ו is missing in the spelling of that name in Genesis is to allude to the letters in the word משיח. In the time immediately preceding the arrival of the Messiah, one of the descendants of Dan will conduct a great battle. All this is mentioned in the Zohar's commentary on Parshat Balak (page 68-69, Sullam edition). It is based on Genesis 49,17: "Dan shall be a serpent (נחש) by the road, a viper (שפיפון) by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider is thrown backwards." According to the Zohar, the "serpent" is a reference to Shimshon whereas the "viper" is a reference to Elijah who rescued Tzaliah a descendant of Dan when the latter "flew" in pursuit of Bileam. The latter, escaped by means of sorcery and Tzaliah was at a loss what to do. When Numbers 23,3 describes Bileam as וילך שפי, this is a reference to Bileam's profound identification with the negative forces in this world as symbolized by the serpent. Jacob's blessing to Dan referred to above and resulted in two descendants of Dan referred to as Tzaliah and Ira asserting mastery over the evil forces of this world. Ira was one of David's warriors. This is what is alluded to in Samuel II 8,4: "David hamstrung all the horses (of his adversary)…"The רכב referred to in that verse alludes to Genesis 49,17, i.e. an exploit of Dan. The words ויפול רוכבו אחור in that same verse refer to someone called Shalyah from the tribe of Dan who will assist the משיח בן יוסף in the war preceding the coming of the Messiah. The verse in Genesis concludes with the word לישועתך קויתי השם, to indicate that looking forward to imminent redemption at that time will be justified. The reason why the son of Dan here is referred to as שוחם is to express the hope that this descendant of Dan at the time mentioned will be equivalent to the משוח מלחמה, the Priest whose special task it was to accompany Israel in battle (Sotah 42 on Deuteronomy 20,2). [Active participation in war was certainly not the Priest's normal function. In fact any priest who had killed a person was no longer fit to perform Service in the Temple. Ed.] Pinchas too, seeing that he was descended maternally from the tribe of Joseph, whose descendants will play the leading role in the battle preceding the coming of the Messiah, was such a משוח מלחמה. At a later stage this very שוחם is "transformed" into a חומש. When someone has inadvertently used sacred property, i.e. Temple property, for personal or mundane purposes, he must make restitution of the principal amount plus twenty per cent so that the total amount paid back is twenty percent (חומש) larger than the original. The people of Israel are considered as קדש לשם "sacred to the Lord," as Rashi explains on Song of Songs 8,12: האלף לך שלמה, ומאתים לנוטרים את פריו. Israel is considered G–d's vineyard, and anything stolen from it must not only be replaced, but the חומש, in this case מאתים, must be added to make the restitution legal.

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).

We find that the שר של מצרים, Egypt's spiritual representative in the Celestial Spheres, was called בכור, i.e. he was the first or senior of the representatives of the seventy Gentile nations. We have explained previously that this spiritual representative of Egypt was described in פרשת מקץ as the מרכבת המשנה, G–d's secondary chariot or carrier. Egypt was second only to the land of Israel in this respect. The land of Israel was G–d's own share in this world. Egypt, however, played the role of first-born amongst the 70 Gentile nations. As a corollary we find that physically speaking, Esau was a first-born, for it was his respective שר who appeared first at the Celestial Court. This שר is a powerful force seeing that his protege became the instrument that destroyed the Holy Temple because of our sins, as mentioned in Psalms 137,7 where the Jewish people are reported as asking G–d to redress that outrage. Alas, this שר is still very powerful. We must view the שר של מצרים as the first of a number of forces who succeeded in dominating Israel in exile. G–d humiliated that force at the time of the Exodus. The שר של עשו, on the other hand, is the very last of such forces. He is so powerful that the present exile is called the גלות אדום. He may therefore be considered the head of the existing שרים. It is this force that Jeremiah refers to in Lamentations 1,5: "Its (Israel's) oppressors have become לראש, a head." Whenever an oppressor of Israel is temporarily successful, he becomes a ראש, head. What all this means is that whereas the שכינה, G–d's Presence, does not depart from Israel, does not ignore what happens to Israel, these happenings are nonetheless delegated by G–d to a שר. When our sages frequently describe the שכינה as being in exile, this is what they mean. When a שר assumes a role as ראש, this means that G–d's Presence has subordinated itself, so to speak. In practice this means that Esau has regained his position as Isaac's first-born and will retain it until the redemption, when G–d will de-throne him. All the above is an "external" view of things.

It is written, “And when the daughter of a Kohein shall be widowed or divorced, having no offspring, and she returns to her father’s house as in her youth…” (Vayikra 22:13) [and in the previous verse it is written,] “…she shall not eat of an offering of the holy things.” According to the Zohar (2:95b; 3:7a) this is an allusion to the soul. The soul was created to enter the body in order that it should be rectified and adorned with good deeds. But when a person transgresses, he blemishes his soul, causing it to cry out to Hashem, saying, “Hashem has delivered me into the hands of one against whom I cannot stand” (Eichah 1:14). When the Holy One Blessed is He hears this cry He says to the soul, “My precious daughter, you were raised in illumination and honor beneath the Throne of Glory and were called, ‘precious daughter.’ Then I lowered you into a human body, intending to elevate you to the highest levels through that human being’s good deeds. But now that he has sinned you have been degraded, plummeting from a lofty rooftop to the deep pit of the human body.” At this point the soul becomes known as a “divorcee” because it is banished from its place against its will (“divorced” and “banished” are expressed by the same word in Hebrew). But Hashem hears its cry and takes the soul from the body and purifies it though chastisements, after which it is able to relish the delights of its Heavenly Father.

I have heard some interesting comments by people who specialise in the exegesis of רשומות, "records." The Torah states in Exodus 8,19: ושמתי פדת בין עמי ובין עמך, למחר יהיה האות הזה. Moses tells Pharaoh in advance of the arrival of the plague of the wild beasts: "And I will make a distinction between My people and between your people; tomorrow this sign will come to pass." The commentators point out that the word פדות which is normally spelled with the letter ו, is here spelled defectively. Rashi points out in his commentary on Lamentations 1,6: וילכו בלא כח לפני רודף, "They could only walk feebly before the pursuer," that the word רודף is always spelled without the letter ו, whereas in this instance it is spelled plene. This is an indication that here the pursuit was totally unrelenting. This spelling gave rise to one of our liturgical poets becoming upset about the fact that whereas the pursuit of the Jewish people by their adversaries is spelled plene, the word for redemption, i.e. גאולה, is spelled defective in Isaiah 63,4: ושנת גאולי באה. He was also upset that the word פדת in our verse was spelled defective. [I have not seen an edition in which the words שנת גאולי are spelled defective. Ed.] Moses is therefore supposed to have referred to a different morrow, i.e. למחר, at which time the redemption, פדות, would be total and include the letter ו.

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).”

Bereshit Rabbah 68,13 on this portion quotes the following comment by Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: The opening words of our portion, ויצא יקב describe exile, and can be compared to Jeremiah 15,1, where G–d describes this in the cruellest terms: שלח מעל פני ויצאו, "Dismiss them from My Presence, and let them go forth." The next two words, וילך חרנה, are comparable to the verse in Lamentations 1,12: אשר הוגה ה' ביום חרון אפו, "When G–d afflicted me on the day of His wrath." The words following, i.e. ויפגע במקום, must be understood as analogous to Isaiah 5,8: עד אפס מקום, "until there is no room left" (for the Jews in ארץ ישראל); the words: וילן שם כי בא השמש, "he remained there overnight for the sun had set," should be compared to Jeremiah 15,9: אומללה יולדת השבעה, "The forlorn one who gave birth to seven." The Midrash continues in that vein.

Our sages, quoted by Rashi, say that the words: ויצא יעקב, "Jacob departed," tell us that the departure of a צדיק always leaves a noticeable void in the community he departed from. The righteous person is the glory and beauty of any community. I have already mentioned that these words also allude to Jacob going into exile. The departure of the glory that Rashi referred to as occurring when the צדיק leaves, may also refer to the departure of the glory when the Temple is destroyed. The glory Rashi referred to is described by him as זיו, הוד, and as הדר. The month in which Solomon's Temple was begun is also called זיו. (Kings I 6,37). That the loss of this glory is described in terms of "departure" can be seen from Daniel 10,8: והודי נהפך עלי למשחית, "And my glory was turned into something destructive." The departure of such glory is also referred to as the departure of הדר, in Lamentations 1,6: ויצא מן בת ציון הדרה, "The glory departed from the daughter of Zion." The respective first letters of the words הוד, זיו, הדר, are הזה.

There is also a comment in the Zohar on Lamentations 1,5: היו צריה לראש, אויביה שלו, "Her oppressors have become her masters, her enemies are at ease,” according to which Jeremiah used the word שלו to indicate that the two groups of enemies, Lilith and Machalat, had concluded a peace between themselves in order to denounce Israel jointly. I have written about this at length in my sermon on שבת חזון at the end of my treatise on מסכת תענית. It follows that the period of conquest of ארץ ישראל (which commenced under Joshua and proceeded under the heading of לא תחיה כל נשמה, "do not allow anyone to survive") really was not completed until these two exponents of what the Canaanites stood for humbled themselves and submitted to Solomon. When we have to conduct "wars" outside the boundaries of the Holy Land, we are unfortunately still encountering "attractive women," (the seducer in alluring garb) i.e. Machalat who dances and generally inspires one to emulate her lifestyle. How are we to subdue this manifestation of the evil urge? Granted that it is easier to cope with the other manifestation of the evil urge, Lilith, seeing that her melancholy attitude leads one to resort to the שערי דמעות, the gates of tears, something which has remained available to us as a last resort even after the Temple had been destroyed (Berachot 32). By wailing ourselves we can neutralize the waitings of Lilith; however, the problem of how to cope with Machalat remains. The only recourse we have is וחשקת בה, to pretend to develop a fondness for her ways but not for the objectives [such as the slogan "Enjoy yourself it's later than you think." Ed.] she espouses. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai counselled that the proper way of resisting the allure of pork is not to pretend that one does not like it and to develop a psychological distaste for it, but rather to admit that it smells good, looks good, etc., but because the Torah has forbidden it we must deny ourselves the taste of it (cf. Rashi Kidushin 20). I have dealt with this concept at length in my treatise עשרה מאמרות. The Torah speaks about "your enemies" (pl) in 21,10, and then proceeds to speak about a single enemy G–d will deliver into your hand; its message is that one of these two enemies will be much easier to vanquish than the other. The one that can be conquered easily is Lilith because the gates of tears are open for us during all historical epochs.

Rather, their crime was that Achashveirosh’s evil intention in inviting Israel was to divert the flow of bounty descending to them from On High so that instead of pour down through Shechinah it would pour down through the Sitra Achara. This is why he invited Israel — to divert them into his spiritual realm. This is called “injecting filth into them” because the flow pouring down to Israel would then come to them by way of the Sitra Achara. This is how the impure forces inject filth into concepts and conduct in this bitter exile, Because of our many sins, they partake of this flow before us and then we receive it only through them. Thus it is stated, “Her oppressors became the head” (Eichah 1:5). This is also the meaning of the Sages’ teaching that Jews who live abroad “serve idols in purity” (Avodah Zarah 8a). If Israel had not taken part in the feast of that evildoer he would have been unable to do anything to them because the realm of holiness would not have received any of its bounty from the Sitra Achara. But since Israel did partake of the feast of Achashveirosh it was if they drank from the Sitra Achara itself. Therefore that feast caused filth to be injected into them, even though they ate only kosher food and drank only permissible wine. Nevertheless, it was as if they partook of the feast of the Sitra Achara.

Although this parable describes the descendants of Esau as burning the Holy Temple, we must remember that no human being can burn G–d's building unless G–d wants it burned. To remind us of this, Jeremiah, in Lamentations 1,13, describes the Temple as being burned ממרום, "By Heavenly decree. This appears to make G–d guilty of the burning of the Holy Temple, in line with the example quoted in Baba Kama. Exodus 22,5 describes a situation where a fire is lit within one's private domain, the fire crosses that domains's boundary, ומצא קוצים, and "encounters stray thorns," as a result of which the neighbor's corn-stacks are burned. The Torah clearly holds the party that started the fire as liable for any damages arising from his action. Allegorically speaking, G–d assumes the blame for the destruction of the Temple, saying: "I have lit the fire." This is the meaning of Lamentions 4,11: ויצת אש בציון ותאכל יסודותיה, "G–d set fire to Zion and it consumed its foundations." G–d will also personally rebuild it, as we know from Zachariah 2,9: ואני אהיה לה נאום ה' חומת אש מסביב ולכבוד אהיה בתוכה "I, says the Lord, shall be a wall of fire surrounding it, and I shall be glory in her midst." When the Torah had said in Exodus 22,5 שלם ישלם המבעיר את הבערה, that the one who started the fire shalll surely pay for the damage, G–d says that it is He who has to pay for the damage caused by the fire.

David goes on to say: הודו, "give praise," an allusion to Lamentations 1,13: כל היום דוה, "in misery all day long" (constantly). The Zohar, in understanding the "day" as the day of G–d's timetable, i.e. 1000 years in our reckoning – as we have explained on several occasions – feels that the present exile was decreed for a minimum of 1000 years. This period could prove fatal for the Jewish people as alluded to when you reverse the letters in the word הוד i.e. דוה. When the Psalmist states in Psalms 96,6: הוד והדר לפניו עוז וחדוה במקומו, according to our sages, the word הדר is derived from the word הדרן, "review or reversal. If our actions are "good," then the result is הוד; if they are "evil," the result would be דוה, ongoing misery. Either way, all this happens in His Presence, i.e. G–d arranges that even the "evil" will eventually turn into good, i.e. the result of דוה will eventually be הוד, praise of G–d. I have explained this in greater detail elsewhere. The idea that הוד is reversible is expressed very clearly in Daniel 10,8: והודי נהפך עלי למשחית "My splendor turned into a destructive force."