Комментарий о цитате к Эйха 3:41

• In the second statement he reproves Job for having the nerve (Lamentations 3:41) to inquire into matters greater and more wondrous than he can imagine such as the immortality of the soul, the substance of knowledge, free-will and so on. Man does not even comprehend God’s wisdom in those natural things he sees in front of his eyes. And since He has closed the door in front of him (2Kings 4:4), preventing him from entering the inner sanctuary (Leviticus 10:18) to look at God (Exodus 3:6) and to investigate metaphysical matters, he should have hidden his face (Micah 3:4) and not climbed God’s mountain or even touched its edge (Exodus 19:12).

ונס שמה רוצח מכה נפש בשגגה, “and to such a city a murderer who killed a person unintentionally shall flee.” Such a person is not guilty of the death penalty seeing he did not intend to kill his victim. This law demonstrates that the heart of the person is the prime driving force of man’s activities. This principle applies to the performance of all the commandments as well as to the commission of any sins. Exile is the penalty decreed here seeing that the man’s heart was not associated with his action. The death penalty never applies unless body and heart had committed the sin in question in tandem, in agreement with each other. The body contributes the relevant movement, the heart the relevant intention. Seeing in the example mentioned there was no such co-ordination between body and mind, the guilty party only has to be exiled.
By the same token, if a person performed a commandment, in accordance with all its details but his heart was not involved, i.e. he did not mean to perform a commandment by doing what he did, he will not receive a reward for his deed (compare Nazir 23). This is what David meant when he said in Psalms 119,48: “I raise my palms toward Your commandments which I love, etc.” The “raising of hands” which David speaks of is the intention harboured by his heart. We find these two words side by side in Lamentations 3,41: “let us raise our hearts with our palms.”

והיה בעבור כבודי, “it will be when one of My attributes passes;” I am placing you into the cleft in the rock in order that you will not need to look at My essence with your face (to protect you) ושכותי כפי, “I will cover you with the palm of My right hand;” this is a simile for a cloud G–d will place between Himself and Moses. We find a similar expression in Lamentations 3,41:נשא לבבינו אל כפים אל אל בשמים, “let us lift up our hearts with our hands to G–d in heaven.” In other words: “I will act as a protective cloud in front of you to prevent you from seeing ‘Me’ with your eyes.

Over the clouds Heb. כפים, over the clouds. Similarly (Lam. 3:41), “Let us lift our heart to the clouds (כפים),” based on (I Kings 18:44), “...a cloud as small as a man’s palm (ככף).” But our Rabbis said (Taanith 7b): Because of the sin of (the robbery of) the hands He covers the rain The rain is withheld.