이사야 22:12의 인용 해설

Another interpretation: Regarding the ascent [from Egypt], He mentioned the Divine Presence [Shekhinah] both before and after. For He said I — referring to the Divine Presence, will bring you up — referring to Jacob’s ascent in the middle, and also bring up — this refers to the Divine Presence. However, since they [the Israelites] were evil and sinful in Egypt, as mentioned in Ezekiel’s prophecy, therefore this promise was not fulfilled in them completely. For the Divine Presence only went before them, as it is said And the Lord went before them (Exodus 13:21). Therefore, the Midrash concludes (Yalkut Shimoni Bo 12:199), “This is what is meant by you shall eat it in haste — this refers to the haste of the Divine Presence.” The explanation of this matter is that since the Divine Presence was only before them, they needed to eat in haste in order to quickly follow after the Divine Presence, like someone who walks behind another person who is leading them — they must walk quickly after them so as not to become distant from the one walking ahead. Nevertheless, the word of our God will stand forever, and this promise will be fulfilled in the future, when they will not need to go in haste because they will be surrounded by the Divine Presence both front and back, as it is written For you shall not go out in haste, nor go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard (Isaiah 52:12) — meaning both front and back. This is the promise stated here: I will bring you up, also bring up.

A kabbalistic approach to the words ויתעצב אל לבו, understands the subject of “He was saddened” to be the very “architect” or the “broker” mentioned in Rabbi Ami’s parables. The conversation described in the Torah reflects what G-d said to the architect. When He said: אמחה את האדם אשר בראתי..... כי נחמתי כי עשיתם, we must pay attention to the switch between the word בראתי at the beginning of the verse and the word עשיתם at the end of that same verse. [G-d was never saddened about the בריאה aspect of man only about the עשיה aspect, i.e. that He had completed the creation of man by fusing earth to spiritual matter. Ed.] Moreover, we must also pay attention to האדם בארץ, in verse five and in verse six. In the first verse the words האדם בארץ refer to what was written immediately before that, i.e. רבה רעת, “the great amount of evil,” whereas in the second verse the words האדם בארץ refer to what follows, i.e. ויתעצב אל לבו. so that the word ויתעצב refers back to האדם, to “man.” It is a reference to the concept of “Man the glorious,” the reason why G-d created the entire universe (ארץ) as we explained already in connection with the word בראשית, very first word of the Torah. Unfortunately, it had now become “ארץ” which had become responsible for this sad state of the universe. The meaning of the full verse in its profounder meaning is: G-d reconsidered having made man not because of man, but because of the earth , i.e. the architect and the broker who had not carried out the assignment G-d had entrusted to them.
The reason that the Torah mentions such “feelings” as ויתעצב, “He was saddened,” is only because at the time of the completion of His handiwork at the end of the sixth day the Torah had seen fit to describe G-d’s “joy” when it stated that “G-d saw all that He had done and it was very good,” i.e. “He was very pleased.” You should not be bothered by the fact that at this point the Torah speaks abou ”G-d experiencing sadness;” nor should you be bothered by such statements as ויקרא א-דני אלוקים צבאות ביום ההוא לבכי ולמספד “on that day My Lord of Hosts called for weeping and lamenting, etc.” The Talmud in Chagigah 5,2 [in response to the statement of Rabbi Papa that no sentiments of sadness are to be attributed to G-d, Ed.] explained that what is meant is הא בבתי גוואי והא בבתי בראי, that although we distinguish between externally visible manifestations of sadness and only internal manifestations of such feelings. When it comes to the destruction of the Temple, even angels were allowed to display such sentiments. [The impending destruction of mankind certainly also warranted a display of such sentiments. Ed.] The term בתי בראי “an external house,” i.e. a manifestation that is visible to outsiders refers to emanations from גבורה closer to מלכות, whereas the term בתי גוואי refers to emanations from the emanation גבורה “upwards.” When the Torah speaks here about a visible display of G-d’s sadness as occurring in internal terms, i.e. “G-d was saddened to His heart,” we find the equivalent of this a few chapters later after Noach had presented an offering of thanksgiving (8,21) when the Torah describes G-d’s reaction as “G-d said to His heart, I will not continue to curse the earth for the sake of man.”

Scripture says, “When I think of this, I pour out my soul” [Psalms 42:5].¹⁵From here until the end is a combination of Yalkut Shimoni, Lamentations, Remez 995 and 996, and selections from Lamentations Rabbah, Petihtah 24. What does this verse mean? It means that Israel is speaking before the Holy One. Lord of the Universe, I remember the good and peace that I had. Now, You have distanced Yourself from me. Therefore, I cry and say who will restore me as I was. Previously, the Temple stood among us and Your Shekhinah was among us. All the nations praised me and when I prayed about my sins, You always answered me. Now, I am only in embarrassment and shame. Furthermore, Lord of the Universe, a great trouble and devastation has come upon me. When I go before Your house, where Israel, the seed of Abraham our Patriarch, offered You sacrifices and the priests and levites praised You with song, organs and harps. Now it is destroyed and foxes and wild animals run around in it. What should I do? My sins caused this and the false prophets among us were the ones who led me from the good path. Scripture says, “God called on this day for weeping and lamenting” [Isaiah 22:12]. This means, God called on this day for weeping and lamenting. On the same day that the Holy One desired to destroy his House, he said: since I dwell in it, the enemy can do nothing. I will avert my eyes and I will swear that I will not watch over it until it will be destroyed. Therefore, he swore with His right hand. The same time, the enemies went into the Temple and burned it. The Holy One said: I have no seat on the earth. I will remove my Shekhinah and will return to my first home in heaven. In the same hour, the Holy One said: what have I done? I had allowed my Shekhinah to rest below because of Israel. Now they have sinned and I had to return to my original place. Heaven forbid, I should not become a mockery in the eyes of the nations. In the same hour, the angel Metatron, the senior angel, came and fell before the Holy One and said: Lord of the Universe, let me weep and you will not weep. The Holy One responded: you don’t want me to weep? I will go to a place where you won’t have to go there and I will weep there. Afterwards, the Holy One said to the angels. Come, we will go to my house and will see what the enemies did there. They went and the prophet Jeremiah accompanied them. The Holy One saw the Temple. He said: it is certain that this is my house and my resting place and the enemies did what they wanted in there. Where are my priests and where are my friends? However, what should I do to you? I warned you enough and you did not want to repent.