בָּכ֨וֹ תִבְכֶּ֜ה בַּלַּ֗יְלָה וְדִמְעָתָהּ֙ עַ֣ל לֶֽחֱיָ֔הּ אֵֽין־לָ֥הּ מְנַחֵ֖ם מִכָּל־אֹהֲבֶ֑יהָ כָּל־רֵעֶ֙יהָ֙ בָּ֣גְדוּ בָ֔הּ הָ֥יוּ לָ֖הּ לְאֹיְבִֽים׃ (ס)
Она плачет, да, она плачет ночью, и ее слезы на ее щеке; у нее нет утешителя среди всех ее любовников; все ее друзья предали ее; они стали ее врагами.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ותשא כל העדה ויתנו את קולם, “The entire assembly raised its voice,“ According to the plain meaning of these words the people commenced crying in the evening and kept crying all night long. We know that the spies had returned close to nightfall bringing with them a special kind of darkness, similar to the one we experience on the night of the ninth of Av when we mourn the destruction of the Temple. The prophet Jeremiah (Lamentations 1,2) refers to the repeated crying of the Jewish people on that night. Midrash Eicha Rabbati (1,28) points out that the dates when the people cried mentioned by Jeremiah coincided with the date they cried on this occasion.
How is the date of this occurrence arrived at? According to Taanit 29 Moses constructed the Tabernacle during the first year of the Exodus and put it together during the second year when he also sent out the spies. The cloud lifted off the Tabernacle on the twentieth of the second month in that year. The month of Iyar is always only 29 days long. The Torah testifies (10,11) that the people commenced their journey away from Mount Sinai on the twentieth of that month and that they traveled for three days in the first instance. The first of these three days does not count in the calendar as it was identical with the day on which the cloud had lifted. According to Rabbi Chama in the name of Rabbi Chanina this (the third) was the day on which the people already departed from their obedience to G’d, as the Torah mentions in Numbers 11,4 that the rabble among them lusted after various cravings, which in turn caused even the elite (בני ישראל) to commence crying from discontent. This occurred on the 22nd day of Iyar. The meat provided by G’d as a result of this rebellion lasted for 30 days (11,20) which brings us to the 22nd day of Sivan. The Torah then mentions that further travel was delayed while Miriam was isolated for seven days (12,15) which brings us to the 29th day of Sivan. This is the day when Moses dispatched the spies who returned after 40 days, i.e. the 9th day of the month of Av. The month of Sivan had thirty days whereas the month of Tammuz had 29 days. This would mean that the spies actually stayed away only thirty nine days if they returned on the ninth of Av. The Talmud raises this point. The answer given is that during that particular year the month of Tammuz had thirty days so that the ninth of Av occurred on the fortieth day of the spies’ departure. The scriptural reference to this unusual length of the month of Tammuz is provided by Lamentations 1,15: “He proclaimed a set time against me to crush my young men.” This “time” was the thirtieth day of Tammuz which caused the spies’ return to occur on the fateful ninth of Av.
When the Torah wrote in our verse that the entire congregation raised their collective voice in weeping, the reference is to the calendar date, the ninth day of Av. Rabbi Yochanan quotes G’d as saying that seeing that on the occasion of the spies’ report the people spent the night weeping without cause, He would give them cause to weep on a future occasion on that same date, i.e. the night of the destruction of the Temple. Starting from that night, the people would have many occasions to weep; this accounts for the repetition of the words בכה תבכה,“you will weep repeatedly, in Lamentations 1,2.
Our sages in that connection also understand the repetition of these two words as referring to the weeping for the destruction of the first Temple as well as the weeping for the destruction of the second Temple. Midrash Eicha Rabbati 1,24 also comments that the repetition refers to weeping for the destruction of the Northern Kingdom (10 tribes which preceded the destruction of the Kingdom of Yehudah) and that for the destruction of the latter kingdom. Similarly, the words refer to separate weeping for Jerusalem and Zion respectively, i.e. the loss of our physical and our spiritual capital respectively. We have evidence that the destruction of the first Temple occurred at night as this is mentioned explicitly in Jeremiah 39,4: “When King Tzidkiyahu of Yehudah saw them, he and all the soldiers fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the double walls.” Jeremiah had already prophesied (Jeremiah 6,5) “up, let us attack by night, and wreck her fortress!” The destruction of the second Temple also occurred at night as the Talmud Taanit 29 interprets Jeremiah 6,4: “alas for us! For the day is declining, the shadows of the evening grow long,” as a reference to the destruction of the second Temple. When the wicked Titus destroyed Jerusalem and set it ablaze the Jews fled to the camp of Titus’ army and were exiled from their city. There were a number of Arabs in that army and they kidnapped 400 Jewish children and carried them to the sea at night and shipped them to their homeland as prisoners. (Gittin 57). The children debated among themselves if to commit suicide by jumping ship. They were afraid to lose their share in the world to come if they would commit suicide. To this argument other boys replied that there is a verse (Psalms 68,23):”The Lord said: ‘I will retrieve from Bashan, I will retrieve from the depth of the sea.’” [They meant that their share in the world to come would not be forfeited. Ed.] When the girls heard this they immediately jumped overboard drowning themselves. When the boys observed this they said to themselves that if even the girls who are no strangers to being sexually abused prefer death to being violated, they, the boys, who are not usually exposed to sodomy [an Arab specialty, Ed.] must certainly prefer death to such indignities being perpetrated upon them.
All these tragic events occurred at night as a punishment for the weeping of the children of Israel on the night after the return of the spies. Even the eventual destruction of the Temples and the dispersion of the Jewish people was decreed on the night mentioned in our verse. This is the meaning of Psalms 106,25-27: “they grumbled in their tents and disobeyed the Lord. So He raised His hand in oath to make them fall in the wilderness. To disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them through the lands.” The prophet Ezekiel also refers to this when he says in Ezekiel 20,23: “However, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the lands.” So you have clear proof from all three parts of the Bible that this night was predetermined to become a night of weeping for the Jewish people throughout the generations.
How is the date of this occurrence arrived at? According to Taanit 29 Moses constructed the Tabernacle during the first year of the Exodus and put it together during the second year when he also sent out the spies. The cloud lifted off the Tabernacle on the twentieth of the second month in that year. The month of Iyar is always only 29 days long. The Torah testifies (10,11) that the people commenced their journey away from Mount Sinai on the twentieth of that month and that they traveled for three days in the first instance. The first of these three days does not count in the calendar as it was identical with the day on which the cloud had lifted. According to Rabbi Chama in the name of Rabbi Chanina this (the third) was the day on which the people already departed from their obedience to G’d, as the Torah mentions in Numbers 11,4 that the rabble among them lusted after various cravings, which in turn caused even the elite (בני ישראל) to commence crying from discontent. This occurred on the 22nd day of Iyar. The meat provided by G’d as a result of this rebellion lasted for 30 days (11,20) which brings us to the 22nd day of Sivan. The Torah then mentions that further travel was delayed while Miriam was isolated for seven days (12,15) which brings us to the 29th day of Sivan. This is the day when Moses dispatched the spies who returned after 40 days, i.e. the 9th day of the month of Av. The month of Sivan had thirty days whereas the month of Tammuz had 29 days. This would mean that the spies actually stayed away only thirty nine days if they returned on the ninth of Av. The Talmud raises this point. The answer given is that during that particular year the month of Tammuz had thirty days so that the ninth of Av occurred on the fortieth day of the spies’ departure. The scriptural reference to this unusual length of the month of Tammuz is provided by Lamentations 1,15: “He proclaimed a set time against me to crush my young men.” This “time” was the thirtieth day of Tammuz which caused the spies’ return to occur on the fateful ninth of Av.
When the Torah wrote in our verse that the entire congregation raised their collective voice in weeping, the reference is to the calendar date, the ninth day of Av. Rabbi Yochanan quotes G’d as saying that seeing that on the occasion of the spies’ report the people spent the night weeping without cause, He would give them cause to weep on a future occasion on that same date, i.e. the night of the destruction of the Temple. Starting from that night, the people would have many occasions to weep; this accounts for the repetition of the words בכה תבכה,“you will weep repeatedly, in Lamentations 1,2.
Our sages in that connection also understand the repetition of these two words as referring to the weeping for the destruction of the first Temple as well as the weeping for the destruction of the second Temple. Midrash Eicha Rabbati 1,24 also comments that the repetition refers to weeping for the destruction of the Northern Kingdom (10 tribes which preceded the destruction of the Kingdom of Yehudah) and that for the destruction of the latter kingdom. Similarly, the words refer to separate weeping for Jerusalem and Zion respectively, i.e. the loss of our physical and our spiritual capital respectively. We have evidence that the destruction of the first Temple occurred at night as this is mentioned explicitly in Jeremiah 39,4: “When King Tzidkiyahu of Yehudah saw them, he and all the soldiers fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the double walls.” Jeremiah had already prophesied (Jeremiah 6,5) “up, let us attack by night, and wreck her fortress!” The destruction of the second Temple also occurred at night as the Talmud Taanit 29 interprets Jeremiah 6,4: “alas for us! For the day is declining, the shadows of the evening grow long,” as a reference to the destruction of the second Temple. When the wicked Titus destroyed Jerusalem and set it ablaze the Jews fled to the camp of Titus’ army and were exiled from their city. There were a number of Arabs in that army and they kidnapped 400 Jewish children and carried them to the sea at night and shipped them to their homeland as prisoners. (Gittin 57). The children debated among themselves if to commit suicide by jumping ship. They were afraid to lose their share in the world to come if they would commit suicide. To this argument other boys replied that there is a verse (Psalms 68,23):”The Lord said: ‘I will retrieve from Bashan, I will retrieve from the depth of the sea.’” [They meant that their share in the world to come would not be forfeited. Ed.] When the girls heard this they immediately jumped overboard drowning themselves. When the boys observed this they said to themselves that if even the girls who are no strangers to being sexually abused prefer death to being violated, they, the boys, who are not usually exposed to sodomy [an Arab specialty, Ed.] must certainly prefer death to such indignities being perpetrated upon them.
All these tragic events occurred at night as a punishment for the weeping of the children of Israel on the night after the return of the spies. Even the eventual destruction of the Temples and the dispersion of the Jewish people was decreed on the night mentioned in our verse. This is the meaning of Psalms 106,25-27: “they grumbled in their tents and disobeyed the Lord. So He raised His hand in oath to make them fall in the wilderness. To disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them through the lands.” The prophet Ezekiel also refers to this when he says in Ezekiel 20,23: “However, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the lands.” So you have clear proof from all three parts of the Bible that this night was predetermined to become a night of weeping for the Jewish people throughout the generations.
Midrash BeChiddush
One might ask, since the actual exodus happened during the day, as Scripture states, “None of you shall go outside of his house until morning.” (Ex. 12:22) and, “For on that very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt,” (Ex. 12:17), why do we remember the Exodus at night? The sages sought a reason from the following verse, “‘It is because of what Adonai did for me when I went free from Egypt.” (Ex 13:8) Even though the Haggadah explains, “One only says this at the time when matzah and maror are before the person,” the main event was during the day.
However, since the first part of the obligation is for a person to behave67This text follows the version of the Haggadah of the Rambam and used by most Sephardic Jews. In other texts it says “A person is obligated to see himself/herself (lirot) as if…” בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לְהַרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְּאִלּוּ הוּא בְּעַצְמוֹ יָצָא עַתָּה מִשִּׁעְבּוּד מִצְרַיִם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר וְאוֹתָנוּ הוֹצִיא מִשָּׁם as if one personally went forth from Egypt, this is best done in the evening when one eats the Passover sacrifice.68Even though they had not yet been liberated from Egypt on the night of the first Passover, they acted as if the liberation had already taken place. Therefore it is an obligation to go on at length before the meal and afterwards recall the miracles that were performed. Or (one might explain), the remembrance of the suffering in Egypt should happen at night, as Scripture states, “Arise, cry out in the night at the beginning of the watches,” (Lam. 2:19) and it is also stated, “Bitterly she weeps in the night,” (Lam. 1:2). Since, “the sound of which could be heard from afar.” (Ezra 3:13) it is fitting to announce the redemption at night. The redemption from Egypt hints at the future redemption and “night” arouses compassion for our redemption, and that “Merit is brought about by means of one who is meritorious.”69BT Baba Batra 119b One might also explain that since the people engaged in much singing, praise, and rejoicing in Egypt, on the night before the Exodus, as is written, “For you, there shall be singing, as on a night when a festival is hallowed,” (Is. 30:29) they offered supplications to God, that He might have compassion on them and not listen to the one who prosecuted them, asking permission to enter their homes to cause destruction. As Scripture says, “Nor let the Destroyer enter and smite your home.” (Ex. 12:23) From this we may conclude that the Destroyer had to ask permission to enter (their homes). So, too, we also behave as if we went forth from Egypt as our ancestors did, singing, praising, and speaking of God’s wonders in order to arouse God’s compassion so that the Holy One may again do with us as He did with our ancestors.
The sages say, “The days of your life,” refers to this world; “All the days of your life,” refers to the coming of the Messiah. The sages interpreted this verse as referring to the future with a Gezera shawa,70Gezera shawa, “equal category,” according to which an obscure passage might be illuminated by reference to another containing the same key term. (Britannica) with the verse, “And dirt shall you eat/all the days of your life.” (Gen. 3:14) Everyone admits that this also refers to the messianic period, since Scripture also states, “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together/And the lion shall eat straw like the ox/And the serpent’s food shall be earth.” (Is. 65:25) “One may heal oneself with any substance except for it…”71See Pesachim 25a, I am not certain what the connection here is to this passage to the Gezera shawa.
However, since the first part of the obligation is for a person to behave67This text follows the version of the Haggadah of the Rambam and used by most Sephardic Jews. In other texts it says “A person is obligated to see himself/herself (lirot) as if…” בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לְהַרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְּאִלּוּ הוּא בְּעַצְמוֹ יָצָא עַתָּה מִשִּׁעְבּוּד מִצְרַיִם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר וְאוֹתָנוּ הוֹצִיא מִשָּׁם as if one personally went forth from Egypt, this is best done in the evening when one eats the Passover sacrifice.68Even though they had not yet been liberated from Egypt on the night of the first Passover, they acted as if the liberation had already taken place. Therefore it is an obligation to go on at length before the meal and afterwards recall the miracles that were performed. Or (one might explain), the remembrance of the suffering in Egypt should happen at night, as Scripture states, “Arise, cry out in the night at the beginning of the watches,” (Lam. 2:19) and it is also stated, “Bitterly she weeps in the night,” (Lam. 1:2). Since, “the sound of which could be heard from afar.” (Ezra 3:13) it is fitting to announce the redemption at night. The redemption from Egypt hints at the future redemption and “night” arouses compassion for our redemption, and that “Merit is brought about by means of one who is meritorious.”69BT Baba Batra 119b One might also explain that since the people engaged in much singing, praise, and rejoicing in Egypt, on the night before the Exodus, as is written, “For you, there shall be singing, as on a night when a festival is hallowed,” (Is. 30:29) they offered supplications to God, that He might have compassion on them and not listen to the one who prosecuted them, asking permission to enter their homes to cause destruction. As Scripture says, “Nor let the Destroyer enter and smite your home.” (Ex. 12:23) From this we may conclude that the Destroyer had to ask permission to enter (their homes). So, too, we also behave as if we went forth from Egypt as our ancestors did, singing, praising, and speaking of God’s wonders in order to arouse God’s compassion so that the Holy One may again do with us as He did with our ancestors.
The sages say, “The days of your life,” refers to this world; “All the days of your life,” refers to the coming of the Messiah. The sages interpreted this verse as referring to the future with a Gezera shawa,70Gezera shawa, “equal category,” according to which an obscure passage might be illuminated by reference to another containing the same key term. (Britannica) with the verse, “And dirt shall you eat/all the days of your life.” (Gen. 3:14) Everyone admits that this also refers to the messianic period, since Scripture also states, “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together/And the lion shall eat straw like the ox/And the serpent’s food shall be earth.” (Is. 65:25) “One may heal oneself with any substance except for it…”71See Pesachim 25a, I am not certain what the connection here is to this passage to the Gezera shawa.
Tze'enah Ure'enah
“Any widow” [22:22]. This teaches us that even a widow, who is very rich, should also not be tormented, just like a poor widow, since widows cry easily and their tears are not shed in vain. Therefore, one should be warned not persecute them with communal taxes, even if they are rich. Even if they have much money, if she does not have a husband, the money is insignificant, and she cries all the time. Concerning this, Jeremiah compared Jerusalem to a widow, as the verse says, “is become like a widow” [Lamentations, 1:1], and shortly afterwards is written, “bitterly she weeps in the night” [Lamentations, 1:2]. Therefore, he said, she weeps at night, since there are many rich widows who can have everything they desire with their money and can forget their husband. However, she weeps at night when she wants to lie down. That is why he says, “bitterly she weeps in the night” [Lamentations, 1:2]. So writes Baal ha-Turim.33Baal ha-Turim, Exodus, 22:21.