예레미야애가 3:8의 Musar

Let me explain this subject at greater length: Our sages (Berachot 32b) have said that as of the day the Temple was destroyed the gates of prayer have been locked. We know this from Lamentations 3,8: Even though I cry and plead, He shuts out my prayer." Our portion revolves around this problem. Let me first quote something from the book קול בוכים on Lamentations 5,11: "They have ravished women in Zion." The author comments as follows: We find in the Zohar that the plural "women" which Jeremiah refers to in this verse refers to two specific women, paragons of seduction, i.e. Lilith and Machalat (daughter of Ishmael). Kabbalists write that Lilith is accompanied by 480 groups of destructive agents corresponding to the numerical value of her name לילית. They follow her and indulge in wailing, etc. Machalat is accompanied by 478 groups of destructive agents corresponding to the numerical value of her name מחלת. All these 478 groups follow their mistress dancing and generally making merry. These two women never collide with one another throughout the year; they do not inflict harm on each other though there is constant warfare between them. [their philosophical outlook. Ed.] The only day in the year when they are confrontational is the Day of Atonement. Due to the confrontation these two women and their followers are engaged in on the Day of Atonement they have no time to interfere with our prayers enabling our prayers to rise heavenwards. Usually, whenever a person sins these women are alerted and told "why are you at peace at a time when there sin is about? Arise and destroy the universe!" This is the meaning of Isaiah 3,12: נשים משלו בו, "Women ruled over him" (the people of Israel). I have heard from my teacher that the women referred to in the verse in Isaiah are the wives of the two spies. They are the two "spies" of the earth mentioned in the Zohar which are identical with the two male goats used in the service on the Day of Atonement. As soon as Joshua wanted to enter the land of Israel these two "spies" submitted to the authority of Joshua, prostrated themselves before him and offered to be his servants. Joshua expressed his dissatisfaction with this arrangement, insisting that he would only use the services of Pinchas and Caleb as spies to reconnoiter the land of Canaan. However, he asked these two "spies" to spread feelings of demoralization among the inhabitants of the land of Canaan in order to facilitate the conquest of the land by the Jewish people. The "spies" agreed and complied with Joshua's instructions. We can derive all this from the text in the relevant verses in the Book of Joshua. In Joshua 2,3 the spies Joshua sent out are described as having come לחפור את הארץ, "To spy out the land," whereas in actual fact we do not find any word in the whole story about their having performed the mission of spying out the country. The inhabitants simply seem to have melted away much as wax melts in the presence of fire. The spies are reported as having arrived in Jericho by climbing the outer wall of the house of Rachav. They immediately became aware that the whole country was demoralised at the prospect of being invaded by the Israelites. The inhabitants simply had no backbone left. The Talmud Zevachim 116b derives from the statement of Rahav – the city's most prominent harlot – that: ולא קמה עוד רוח באיש מפניכם, "that the men of the country had all become incapable of having an erection due to their fear of the Israelites." Clearly then the two "spies" had performed their task in advance of the arrival of Pinchas and Caleb.

The expression שער השמים, refers to the place from where our prayers ascend to heaven, a gate which, alas, is closed to us now; Rabbi Eleazar in Berachot 32, quotes Lamentations 3,8: גם כי אזעק ואשוע שתם תפלתי, "Though I cry out and and plead, He shuts out my prayers," as proof that the gates of prayer have been shut since the destruction of the Temple. He agrees, however, that the gates of tears have remained open. It is to be noted that the word שתם, "He shut out," is not spelled with the customary letter ס, but with the letter ש, which, by its opening to the top side suggests less than a total shut-out. We observe a similar use of the letter ש, when Bileam describes himself as שתם העין "open eyed" in Numbers 24,3 and 24,15. G–d will receive our prayers gladly in the rebuilt Temple. Even though the gate is closed while we are in exile, as long as we are not in Israel, our prayers are "detoured" from wherever they emanate via the land of Israel.

The principle that all negative experiences will be recognized eventually as positive developments has applied ever since in our history. This is what the Psalmist had in mind in verse 3. When he said: "Lord my G–d, when I cried out to You, and You healed me" David meant that he realized (as per Psalms 41,5: "Heal me for I have sinned against You"), that the matters which caused him to cry out were in reality only experienced in order to serve as a cure or remedy for his soul. When he went on: "Lord, You have brought me up from She-ol," our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 44,21 comment on פרשת לך לך that Abraham chose exile for his descendants in order to spare them the experience of Gehinom otherwise known as "She'ol."