Komentarz do Psalmów 137:26

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat when we went down into exile, and Nebuchadnezzar asked them to sing for him as they used to sing on the stage.

By – This song was laid down in the first year after Cyrus conquered Babylon. By the rivers of Babylon – In Babylon we were not weeping and mourning Zion for the sake of the material goods we had lost, the wealth and possessions, fields and vineyards, because also ‘by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat’ meaning we had an established settlement. We also had there fields and vineyards, as it is written “build houses and live in them, plant vineyards and eat their fruits” (Jeremiah 29:5) Nevertheless, we also wept when we remembered Zion because we recalled the holiness of Zion, where the there was the Holy Temple, the service and the Divine Presence. For this we wept, for the spiritual joy which was lost to us.

On willows Willows of the brook.

and our tormentors mirth Heb. ותוללינו, kinds of musical instruments that they hang up. This is how Menachem interpreted it (p. 184): וְתוֹלָלֵינוּ שמחה, and our musical instruments of joy. וְתוֹלָלֵינוּ can also be interpreted as: our enemies who would scorn and mock and joke with us, an expression of (102: 9): “those who scorn me (מהוללי) swear by me.”

If I forget you, O Jerusalem The congregation of Israel says this.

If I forget you, O Jerusalem – The verse is putting forward the idea that just as the right hand is ready for all one’s motions and occupations, so Jerusalem is the beloved of all our motions and occupations. Therefore it is impossible to forget her just as it is impossible to forget one’s right hand. Even more than this, “May my tongue cling to my palate, if I do not remember you…” (Psalms 137:6), that all my speech is about you and if I do not speak of your memories I will be as a mute whose tongue is stuck to his palate. Not only when I am exiled and wandering, but also “…if I do not bring up Jerusalem at the beginning of my joy,” (ibid.) also if I am rejoicing in worldly success Jerusalem should be above it all, to the point where all joy is overturned to sadness through the memory of her destruction:

If I do not bring up Jerusalem The remembrance of the mourning of its destruction I shall bring up to mention at the head of every joyous occasion of mine.

Raze it Heb. עָרוּ is an expression of destruction, and so (Jer. 51:58): “The broad walls of Babylon shall be overthrown (תתערער),” and so (Hab. 3:13): “baring (ערות) the foundation.” It is used only for something whose roots are uprooted from the ground.