Musar do Lamentacje Jeremiasza 1:13

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.

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.

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.