All the while her maidens dance and do not care for her pain at all, and some take actual pride in their advantage and fall to a blindness of their own in this - and how will they recover? But others see her pain and slow their dancing and wonder at what they have to learn from her about her beloved and whether they have recognized him at all if they have not seen him through her eyes, and these will stand with her in the hour of her glory, for they sit up with the bride, even to midnight, and have filled their lamps with oil.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Midnight Oil
While the maidens dance with their admiration for the groom the bride remains unseeing..., she does not recognize him who is hers... but the more she does not see him the more she describes him well, and so well that her anticipation grips her heart with its fist, and she calls for him to come to her but without voice because her heart is so tight with longing for him that it cannot breath.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Yearning for Moshiach
Posted from: http://www.ascentofsafed.com
Story #715 (s5771-49) 8 Menachem-AV 5771
From the desk of Yerachmiel Tilles
The tzadik Rabbi Yitzchak of Radvil, having heard of the greatness of Rabbi Avraham Hamalach [“the Angel” – son of the Maggid of Mezritch], decided to travel to see him. He arrived on Erev Tisha B'av. That night, as everyone sat on the floor of the shul reading Eicha [“Book of Lamentations”] and mourning the destruction of the first two Holy Temples, a bitter cry suddenly broke out. Rabbi Yitzchak turned and saw “the Angel” sitting with his head between his knees, weeping bitterly. Long after everyone had left, he continued watching Rabbi Avraham, who sat in the same position without moving. When the clock struck midnight, Rabbi Yitzchak retired for the night.
The following morning, Rabbi Yitzchak arrived early to shul and found Rabbi Avraham Hamalach still mourning, a puddle of tears surrounding him, From time to time, he would lift his holy head and ask in a pained voice, "He's still not here?"
* * * * * * * * *
Other tzadikim living during the time of the tzadik Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, the Yismach Moshe, said that he was a reincarnation of Yirmiyahu Hanovi [the prophet Jeremiah), who prophesied the destruction of the first Holy Termple. The Yismach Moshe would constantly cry about the exile, especially during the Three Weeks, and his longing for Moshaich was remarkable. Next to his bed, his finest Shabbat clothing lay prepared, and before sleeping he would warn his attendant to wake him the moment the shofar blast of Moshiach was heard. Whenever he heard some bustle in the street, he would run to determine whether Moshiach had arrived.
Once, a notice arrived to his home that on a coming date his beloved son-in-law would be arriving for a visit. This caused a stirring of great joy and everyone prepared for his arrival. The special day came, but the visitor was nowhere to be seen, and the family became restless, imagining possible reasons for his delay. The Yismach Moshe sat in his room engrossed in learning, while some family members stood outside waiting impatiently. Suddenly a carriage was seen in the distance. The Rebbe's attendant ran in to bring the tzadik the good news, "Rebbe, he has arrived!"
Hearing this, the Rebbe jumped from his place in excitement, put on his fine Shabbat garments, including kapota (long black frock-coat and shtreimel (elaborate, round fur hat) and ran outside toward the approaching carriage. Seeing none other than his son-in-law descending from the carriage, he was unable to bear the pain and fell to the ground in a faint. When his family revived him, they heard him moaning to himself, "Oy! It's not him. He still has not yet arrived."
* * * * * * * * *
The chief Rabbi (a century ago) of Jerusalem, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, related that as a student learning in the yeshiva (of the Chatam Sofer) in Pressburg, he once overheard a woman ask her friend what she had prepared for supper.
"Squash," the other replied.
"And for tomorrow?" the woman questioned further.
"Chas v'shalom [Heaven forbid]! Don't speak like that! If Heaven forbid Moshiach does not come by tomorrow, then I will make lentils [a food often associated with mourning]."
Source: Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from passages in Lma'an Yishme'u #72, <avreicheilubavitch @gmail.com>.
Connection: Seasonal – Tisha B’Av. Biographical notes: R. Avraham the Malach ("the Angel") [1739 - 12 Tishrei 1776] was the son of Rabbi Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezritch. While still a young man he chose an ascetic and secluded lifestyle, and on his father's passing in1772 declined to assume leadership of the chasidic movement. He wrote a work entitled Chesed L’Avraham, and died at the age of 37. His only son, Rabbi Shalom Shachna of Probisht, was the father of Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin. Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum [1759-28 Tammuz 1841], known as the Yismach Moshe after the title of his book of Torah commentary, was famed both as a scholar and wonderworker. A disciple of the Seer of Lublin, he was instrumental in the spread of Chasidut in Hungary. His descendants founded the dynasties of Satmar and Sighet. |
Sunday, August 7, 2011
LAMENTATIONS CHAPTER 5 - Judaic Commentary
Study Notes by Avraham ben Yaakov
"Remember, HaShem, what has come upon us; look and see our shame" (v 1). The concluding chapter of EICHAH, unlike all the previous chapters, is not an alphabetical acrostic. It is a prayerful elegy enumerating the painful details of Israel's terrible suffering at the hands of the nations throughout their various exiles.
"Because of this our heart is faint" (v 17). The Hebrew word translated here as "faint" has the connotation of menstrual impurity (cf. Lev. 12:2, 15:33 & 20:18). In the words of the Midrash: "On account of the fact that a menstruating woman has to separate herself from her house for a number of days, the Torah calls her 'faint'. How much more so are we – who have been separated from the House of our life and from our Temple for so many days and so many years – called 'faint', and that is why it says, 'Because of this our heart is faint'" (Eichah Rabbah).
"But You, HaShem, dwell forever… Why do You forget us forever and forsake us for so long? Turn us to You, HaShem, and we will return; renew our days as of old!" (vv 19-21).
With this prayer for God to turn our hearts to Him in repentance the Elegist concludes EICHAH – AYEKAH? "Where are you???" – a call to repent. Since verse 22 has a negative tone, it is customary to repeat verse 21 thereafter in order to conclude the reading of EICHAH on a positive note.
This final chapter of EICHAH is included in the readings included in TIKKUN RACHEL, which is the first part of TIKKUN CHATZOS, the Midnight Prayer, recited every night by the very devout. TIKKUN RACHEL consisting of laments over the destruction of the Temple is recited only on those weekdays on which Tachanun is recited but not on Sabbaths, festivals and other days with a semi-festive character. However, the second part of TIKKUN CHATZOS, known as TIKKUN LEAH, may be recited every night of the year (see "The Sweetest Hour" by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum, Breslov Research Institute).
Subscribe to Rabbi Greenbaum's commentary notes here > knowbible@azamra.org
Subscribe to Rabbi Greenbaum's commentary notes here > knowbible@azamra.org
LAMENTATIONS CHAPTER 4 - Judaic Commentary
Study Notes by Avraham ben Yaakov
from Azamra.org
As discussed in the commentary on EICHAH Chapter 1, the elegy contained here in Chapter 4 was said by the rabbis of the Talmud to have been composed by Jeremiah on the death of the saintly King Josiah in Megiddo at the hands of Pharaoh Necho (II Chronicles 35:25; Rashi ad loc.).
"How is the gold become dim!" (v 1) – "This lament was said over Josiah, and with it he wove in the other children of Zion" (Rashi on v 1). Rashi here is explaining why it is that if this is an elegy for Josiah, almost all of its contents relate not specifically to the slain king but to the entire people. The elegy is truly about the loss of Josiah, whose importance lay in the fact that he "went in the ways of David his father without turning to the right or the left" (II Chron. 34:2). As such Josiah was the last hope of Judah – had he had time to complete his mission of bringing the people to genuine repentance, he could have saved Jerusalem from destruction, and thus he had the potential to be Mashiach (as he is indeed called here in verse 20). But he was cut down in his very prime and his death sealed the fate of Jerusalem, making the destruction of the Temple and the cruel exile all but inevitable.
Thus with the death of Josiah twenty-two years prior to the actual destruction, Jeremiah already prophesied the horrors of the coming calamity. "The hallowed stones are poured out at the top of every street" (v 1) – "these are the children, who radiated like precious jewels. And there is also a Midrash telling that Jeremiah gathered every cupful of blood that flowed out of each of Josiah's arrow wounds and buried it in its place, chanting, 'The hallowed stones have been poured out…'" (Rashi on v 1).
The children are cast out like broken shards (v 2). Their starving mothers, who ignore their pleas for food in order to find something to eat themselves, have been reduced to a cruelty that even jackals do not show to their young (v 3, see Rashi). Those brought up in the lap of luxury are thrown out on the streets clutching at the garbage heaps (v 5). Even as Jeremiah depicts the horror, he weaves in his teaching about its cause: "For the sin of the daughter of my people is greater…" (v 6). The fire that was to consume Zion was from God (v 11). The enemy was able to do the unthinkable and enter the gates of Jerusalem "on account of the sins of her prophets, the transgressions of her priests" (vv 12-13).
Verse 15 portrays the terrible victimization of Israel in their places of exile, rejected as an unclean caste by the sanctimonious nations. The face of anger God shows them in their exile is the penalty for their having failed to give the proper respect to their priests and elders in their time of tranquility (v 16, see Rashi).
"As for us, our eyes do yet fail for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save" (v 17). The kings of Judah who followed Josiah expected that Egypt would intervene to save Israel from the clutches of Babylon, but in vain (see Rashi ad loc.). In our time it seems that many in Israel somehow expect the country they see as her closest ally to come to her defense, but as the threats around little Israel grow ever more menacing with the apparent complicity of her ally, it seems that any hopes that this ally will ever help may also prove to have been in vain.
After the Elegist's depiction of the horrors of the calamity that was to come as a result of the death of Josiah, we now understand why it was such a disaster that "The breath of our nostrils, HaShem's anointed, has been captured in their pits – he of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations" (v 20).
The concluding verses of this elegy promise that God will take vengeance upon the nations that persecuted Israel and destroyed the Temple. Although Jeremiah was living at the time of the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians, he already sees prophetically to the eventual destruction of Edom, i.e. Rome, which perpetrated the destruction of the Second Temple.
Targum on verse 21 identifies "the daughter of Edom who dwells in the land of Ootz" with "KOUSTANTINA (=Constantinople), the city of the wicked Edom that was built in the land of Armenia with a great population from the people of Edom – upon you too is He destined to bring punishment, and the Persians will destroy you…" Constantinople was indeed until its demise in the Middle Ages the center of the Latin Empire, which was actually called the Roman Empire. The Talmudic rabbis had a tradition that "Rome is destined to fall by the hand of Persia" (Yoma 10a) and "this will take place just before the coming of Mashiach" (Tosfos on Avodah Zarah 2b). Zion's punishment will then be complete and they will know no more exile (v 22).
LAMENTATIONS COMMENTARY CHAPTER 5
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Root of The Soul
"By his sense of smell (his 'holy spirit') the Mashiach will know how to connect each Jewish soul to its Divine root, and thereby identify its tribe (branch) in Israel."
http://www.inner.org/times/cheshvan/cheshvan.htm
<> } MellowWolf Notes: Reflections on 'root of soul'
If we say that the root of the soul is in the place prior to the Tzimtzum, is this to say that it is in the place prior to creation?
But is this to say something other than that which Paul says, that all things were created in Christ/Mashiach?
Language itself is challenged in this question.
Here is also where we see that it is impossible to truly speak about the precise relationship between God and the word of God, between God and Mashiach. There are two reasons for this. First it is the fallen mind that cannot think or speak of truth on a level that there can be no shadow. Second it was forbidden to Adam to do this. Rectification must be in intentionally not attempting to do this.
When we attempt to speak precisely of the relationship of the Father and the Son we stop the rectification of Adam's disobedience.
If someone says that their heart knows what it means when it says that the Jewish soul is an aspect of God and therefore can say this in public, this person must take responsibility for the fact that to the fallen mind of Adam they are saying that the Jewish soul is not actually created but merely incarnated within creation. It is no differernt than the Christian who says that Jesus is God. They may think that their heart knows what it means but the fallen mind of Adam can only agree with them by conceiving idolatry.
How is it then possible to even talk about this at all? That both Judaism and Christianity are prone to talk about this, each in their own way, says that even if they do not understand one another their hearts are drawn to the same place. But what is that place and is it possible to talk about it more clearly, so that all those who are drawn to it may understand one another clearly?
There is a way, which we know, because the Bible speaks about this place of the Jewish soul of Mashiach before the Tzimtzum, and we know that in the Bible and in its language there is no idolatry. One way that the Bible speaks about this in in terms of the firstborn and the secret of the firstborn.
LAMENTATIONS CHAPTER 3 - Judaic Commentary
Study Notes by Avraham ben Yaakov
Like Chapters 1, 2 and 4 of EICHAH, Chapter 3 takes the form of an acrostic built upon the Aleph-Beis, except that in this case each of the letters of the Aleph-Beis is used in succession as the initial letter of three short verses or triplets.
"I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath" (v 1). Starting with this verse, the first six triplets in this elegy (vv 1-18) all pour forth from the heart of the Elegist himself – a righteous prophet – complaining that God has set him up as His target: "He is to me like a bear lying in wait and like a lion in secret places" (v 10). The entire passage is somewhat reminiscent of Job's complaints that God was tormenting him for no reason, and the rabbis of the Midrash point to a GEZERAH SHAVAH (identical phrase in two disparate texts indicating a midrashic connection between the two) between the first verse of our present chapter, "I am the man (GEVER)…", and a verse in Job where his interlocutor Eli-hoo criticizes him, saying "Which man (GEVER) is like Job, who drinks up scorning like water?" (Job 34:7). "Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi commented: 'I am the man…' – I am the same as Job, of whom it is written, 'Which man is like Job, who drinks up scorning like water?' Everything You brought upon Job, You have brought upon me!" (Eichah Rabbah). The Elegist is simultaneously pouring out his own pain and giving expression to the national pain. Rashi on v 1 explains the pain of Jeremiah himself: Jeremiah was complaining that he "witnessed greater affliction than all the other prophets who prophesied about the destruction of the Temple, because it was not destroyed in their days but in mine!"
In Job's case it was Eli-hoo who brought him to understand that although he may have been righteous, he had perhaps not been righteous enough and that was why he suffered. But in the case of the present elegy here in EICHAH, it is Jeremiah himself who is in dialog with the thoughts in his own heart, and simultaneously with those in the hearts of his people, who felt that the cruelty of their plight meant that God had become their enemy. [Many have felt similarly about the Holocaust.] "And I said, My strength and my hope are perished from HaShem" (v 18). But immediately after this expression of despair, there is a change in the tone of the elegy in the seventh triplet (vv 19-21). Having given expression to the real feelings of despair in his heart, Jeremiah begins to pray to God to remember his suffering even as his soul is bowed down within him, and he discovers how to reply to that inner voice of despair: "With this shall I give an answer to my heart, therefore I have hope" (v 21).
The ensuing message of hope begins in the beautiful passage in vv 22ff: God's kindnesses and mercies are truly unending. They are renewed every morning! It is this gives the Elegist the courage to address God directly: "Great is Your faithfulness!" (v 23). Since we can rely on the constant renewal of God's kindness, there is always hope, and because there is always hope, it is fitting for man to bear his suffering patiently in the knowledge that God sends it for his own ultimate benefit. Having delicately reached this point, Jeremiah now teaches the suffering people the proper way to respond to their suffering. [1] We must always wait for God's salvation (v 26). [2] It is necessary to bear our suffering with patience (v 27). [3] We must "sit alone and keep silent"(v 28) – i.e. enter into deep personal self-reckoning without railing against fate. Here in EICHAH is one of the foundations of the pathway of HISBODEDUS – secluded meditation and prayer – that Rabbi Nachman of Breslov emphasized more than anything. [4] We must "put our mouths in the dust" (v 29). Dust or earth is =APHAR, the vessel that receives the three higher elements of Fire, Air and Water. APHAR is MALCHUS, the acceptance of God's kingship, which we do through prayer. [5] We must "turn the other cheek" to our detractors (v 30), for it is through the silence in which we bear their insults that we attain God's glory (Likutey Moharan I, 6).
Continuing on his delicate path of helping the people to accept and come to terms with their suffering, the Elegist explains beginning in the eleventh triplet (vv 31ff) that God will not reject Israel forever (v 31), and that if He has afflicted them, He will eventually have mercy (v 32), for His chastisements are not sent arbitrarily (v 33ff). Addressing deep questions about the justice of God's providence (which is also the subject of the book of Job) Jeremiah affirms that the Righteous God never twists any man's judgment, and that nothing in the world comes about except through the command of the King (v 37).
"Out of the mouth of the Most High do not the bad things come and the good?" (v 38). The original Hebrew words of this verse are necessarily susceptible to a variety of interpretations that may even appear contradictory to one another. This is because the verse contains the mystery of how good and evil emanate from the One God, who is perfect goodness. Rashi (ad loc.) paraphrases: "If I were to come to say that it was not from His hands that this evil came upon me but that it was a chance occurrence that happened to me, this is not so. For whether bad things or good things occur, 'Who is this that spoke and it came to be if not that HaShem commanded it?' (v 37)… 'Why then does a man complain while he yet lives, a man over the punishment of his sins?' (v 39). Each man must complain about his own sins because it is they that bring evil upon him. 'From the mouth of the Supreme it does not go forth' (v 38): Rabbi Yohanan said, From the day that the Holy One blessed be He said, 'See, I have set before you life and goodness, death and evil' (Deut. 30:15) [i.e. man has been given free will], 'the bad and the good do not go forth from His mouth', but rather, evil comes by itself to those who do bad while goodness comes to those who do good. Therefore what should a man complain and be upset about if not about his own sins?" (Rashi on v 38).
The moral is clear: "Let us examine and search out our ways and return to HaShem" (v 40). "Let us lift up our HEARTS to our HANDS to God in heaven" (v 41) – It is not enough merely to stretch out our HANDS in prayer: our HEARTS must be in our prayers – we must be sincere and mean what we say, not like those who "immerse in the mikveh while still clutching the defiling unclean creature in their hand", verbally expressing their intention to repent while still holding onto their bad ways (see Taanis 16a).
"We have sinned and rebelled, but You have not forgiven us" (v 42). This verse marks a transition from the Elegist's exhortations about prayer and repentance to a further outpouring of the pain, grief and tears caused by Israel's protracted suffering – for he knows that even his wise advice in the previous section (vv 21-41) cannot that quickly assuage the pain and hurt. Yes, we continue to weep –and we will weep "until Hashem will look down and see from heaven" (v 50). Again and again the Elegist delicately steers us back to knowing that we must turn only to God. "I called Your Name, HaShem, from the bottommost pit" (v 55). The following verse, "You have heard my voice; hide not Your ear at my sighing" (v 56) is among the six verses customarily chanted in unison by the congregation immediately prior to the blowing of the Shofar in the synagogue on Rosh HaShanah.
The final section of this elegy (vv 57-66) are a ringing affirmation of faith that God will redeem Israel and wreak His vengeance on their enemies for all their evil.
LAMENTATIONS COMMENTARY CHAPTER 4
LAMENTATIONS CHAPTER 2 - Judaic Commentary
The first nine verses of Chapter 2 depict the calamity that struck Zion in such a way as to emphasize that it was God who sent it. As the text states explicitly later on in the chapter: "HaShem has done that which He devised: He has fulfilled His word that He commanded in the days of old…" (Lam. 2:17). The cycle of sin and consequent suffering that culminated with the destruction of Jerusalem is deeply rooted in God's plan for the world, which is laid down in the Torah: "If you will not listen to me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins" (Lev. 26:18, see Rashi on Lam. 2:17).
The Elegist makes no attempt to "sweeten" the suffering by trying to minimize how terrible it was. On the contrary, he heightens our sense of the horror by repeatedly emphasizing the way in which the kind, merciful God became like an enemy in the fury with which He brought death and destruction upon the people and their land (vv 1-8). All who were pleasant to the eye were slaughtered (v 4). The precious Temple was ravaged (v 6). The rejoicing of the Sabbath and the festivals became forgotten. Without respect for person, the king and the princes were sent into a humiliating exile, the prophets were bereft of vision, and all that was left for the people to do was to mourn as children fainted in the streets and little babies starved (vv 7-12).
It is precisely through articulating the full intensity of the horror and showing how the soothsaying false prophets had betrayed the people while their mocking enemies gloated triumphantly over their plight that the Elegist leads his listeners to the understanding that they have no recourse except to cry out to God (vv 18ff). The moral of EICHAH is: "Rise, cry out in the night at the head of the watches, pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord…" (v 19).
LAMENTATIONS COMMENTARY CHAPTER 3
Genesis 49 Level One
Jacob Blesses His Sons
1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: Gather round so that I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. 2 Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honour, excelling in power. 4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Reuben you are my firstborn... In the end Reuben will be able to testify to the messianic nature of the position of the firstborn. The rectification of this testimony will come first before every other rectified testimony. The key to Reuben being able to do this is for him to testify as to why the nature of his error muted the testimony of the firstborn. This means that he must show how it was the root of the sin of allowing the making of the golden calf, that it was at the root of Israel's failure with respect to the erev rav at that time.
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers- their swords are weapons of violence. 6 Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. 7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Simeon and Levi are brothers... In the end Simeon and Levi will have the privilege of testifying to the true eternal relationship between the tribes of Israel. They will testify also as to the purpose of the twelve tribes in relation to the nations. The key to Simeon and Levi being able to do this is for them to testify as to why Jacob was severed into two houses resulting in alienation in captivity under the rule of ungodliness of all Jacob's children due to misdirected righteous anger.
8 Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you. 9 You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness- who dares to rouse him? 10 The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Judah, your brothers will praise you... In the end the anointing of Joseph will freely pass to Judah. Just as the whole house of Jacob freely bowed down to Joseph in chastisement, so it will freely bow down to Judah in victory over the world. The Redeemer from Judah will not rest in his land until he has established eye to eye justice in all the earth. How can Judah prepare to fulfill this destiny? What is the key? He can only faithfully protect Benjamin and guarantee his life and prepare to yield him up to Joseph when it is time.
13 Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend towards Sidon.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Zebulun will live by the seashore...his border... In the end Zebulun will have the privilege of testifying to the definition of the border of the Land of Israel and to the distinction of the Land of Israel among all the lands of the earth, for blessing and prosperity, world without end, amen. The key to Zebulun's being able to this is for him to testify always, with humility and fearlessness, of the love in his heart for the living Land of Israel while he is yet in the dust of captivity.
14 Issachar is a strong-boned donkey lying down between two saddlebags. 15 When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labour.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Issachar...lying down between... In the end Issachar will have the privilege of testifying to the perfect halachic rulings that set the boundaries between each of the tribes of Israel. Out of the principles of these rulings will arise the testimony of the joy of the perfection of Halakah, world without end, amen. The key to Issachar's being able to do this is for him to testify always, with humility and fearlessness, of the love in his heart for the living Torah of Israel's God while he is yet in the dust of captivity.
16 Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backwards. 18 I look for your deliverance, O LORD.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Dan will provide justice...the tribes... In the end Dan will have the privilege of testifying to the amazing grace of Israel's Redeemer. As one who was lost from being a tribe of Israel, he shall be found like Joseph, and in being found he shall testify to the restorative justice of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the Holy One Blessed is He. The key for Dan to be able to do this is to learn to proclaim the commandment, with humility and fear, whereby Israel's God, in the end days, commands all people everywhere to repent.
19 Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Gad...attacked...will attack... In the end Gad will have the privilege of testifying to Israel's victory over Amalek coming from behind. Gad will stand up with Simeon and Levi and will testify to the rectification of all converts in the heart of Israel and the end of the erev rav, the mixed multitude.
20 Asher's food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Asher...will be rich...will provide... In the end Asher will have the privilege of giving the testimony to the full nature of the riches of the blessing of the Creator to his world, which is the blessing of Torah-Israel, both a land and people of milk and honey. The key for Asher to be able to do this is for him to be satisfied with no fruit that is not fit for King Mashiach.
21 Naphtali is a doe set loose that bears beautiful fawns.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Naphtali...set loose...bears... How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isaiah 52:7 In the end Naphtali's feet are these feet and her fawns are singing good news with her. The key for Naphtali to be able to do this is to wait upon Hashem until the hour when the barren one is given children, and not to turn to the bonds-maid...
22 Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. 23 With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. 24 But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed supple, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 25 because of your father's God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb. 26 Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Joseph...branches...over a wall. In the end Joseph will have the privilege of revealing all that is concealed. He will reveal the cornerstone of the Temple of the Eternal Jerusalem, the stone rejected by the builders. The key to Joseph's being able to do this is to remain himself a rejected stone that offers itself as a key stone until it finally is the only stone that remains for its place, and rejoices to be carried in the arms of those who cherish it and put in its place.
27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Benjamin... a wolf in the morning...in the evening... In the end Benjamin will have already captured the captivity, for he is the net of Mashiach. And as a net is hungry for fish, like a wolf for its prey, yet in the evening rests in its place, so Benjamin will rest in his own camp in the evening and share with his brothers the abundance of his harvest.
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: The Twelve Tribes...this is what their father said to them... In the end the twelve will be four camps of three, and each camp will be a gate to the Creator's new creation, that the old may enter into the new from every direction, each according to its proper gate.
29 Then he gave them these instructions: I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: Bury me with my fathers... In the end the burial place of Israel will yield its fruit an hundred fold.
31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.
<> } Mellow Wolf NOTE: ...there I buried Leah. Rachel and Leah in the end will be as one. From the side of G-d we exist and we do not exist. G-d sees both our existence and our non-existence. From our side we must receive our existence and behold our existence as being entirely in the Hand of G-d, not as being taken from the Hand of G-d. The desire to possess our own existence in our own power is the desire for the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is the spirit of the erev rav, the mixed multitude that came with Israel out of Egypt, the old nature, the fallen nature; it is Israel's evil inclination, the inheritance of Israel in Adam and not in the Son of Adam; but it is the fallen nature of Adam that is the object of G-d's pity, and while we error in taking as our own the forbidden fruit, as if to take our existence out of G-d's Hand, and destroy our existence, G-d, who calls what is not as though it was, is able to turn the destruction of our existence into our eternal life, for He is able to do it from His side. For He sees all and keeps all things within His Hand, both existence and non-existence. The G-d of Jacob will utterly destroy the old Adam and yet redeem him and make him a new Adam. Jacob loved Rachel as Adam loved Eve, and how else could he redeem the world through his offspring? He had to have this love, but by this love alone he could not bring forth the children of eternal life. Laban thought to take advantage of the weakness of Jacob's natural love for Rachel by putting his daughter Leah in her sister's place and causing Jacob to stumble. He thought to mock Jacob's spiritual calling by requiring of him a purely spiritual love for Leah. Jacob laboured then for Leah, but his heart laboured for Rachel and he could not rectify his own heart by his own effort. But the Protector of Jacob redeemed Jacob's heart so that it was transformed through great suffering until Leah and Rachel were one soul in his heart. So it is that G-d created joy in the world of sorrow and revealed the Protector of Jacob in Jacob's heart, to be found there by all souls that would be saved.
32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. 33 When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
<> } MellowWolf NOTE: The breath of Jacob = In the end the breath of Jacob will return to the dry bones of all Israel. Jacob breathed his last in exile and was gathered to his people in the world of redemption.
LAMENTATIONS CHAPTER 1 - Judaic Commentary
Study Notes by Avraham ben Yaakov
from Azamra.org
from Azamra.org
The original Hebrew name of Lamentations is KINOTH, "Mourning Dirges" (see II Chronicles 35:25), but the work is more generally known by the name of EICHAH after the Hebrew word with which chapters 1, 2 and 4 all open, meaning "How???"
The book of EICHAH was written in stages by the prophet Jeremiah. He wrote Chapter 4 as a mourning elegy over King Josiah, the last righteous king of Judah, who was slain in battle at the height of his efforts to cleanse Israel, and whose death signified that the sun had gone down for the House of David (Ta'anis 22b). "And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their laments to this day, and he made them an ordinance in Israel, and behold they are written in the laments (KINOTH)" (II Chron. 35:25). Rashi writes on this verse: "When they are struck by some trouble or occasion for weeping and they mourn and cry over what happened, they recall this trouble with it, as for example on the Fast of Tisha B'Av, when mourning dirges are recited over those who died in the decrees that have occurred in our days, and likewise they weep over the death of Josiah" (Rashi ad loc.).
The other chapters of EICHAH were written prophetically by Jeremiah not many years after the death of Josiah, in the fourth year of the reign of his son, the wicked King Yeho-yakim, as a warning of the disaster that was to strike Judah and Jerusalem if the people did not repent. The full account of how Jeremiah composed Eichah and how it came to be read before Yeho-yakim, who cut the scroll to shreds and burned it in the fire, is contained in Jeremiah ch 36. Jeremiah had previously prophesied to the women of Judah: "Teach your daughters wailing and each one her neighbor lamentation" (Jer. 9:19). Now in the scroll that he composed as a graphic warning to the people of the coming doom, he depicted the relentless destruction of Jerusalem as if it had already happened, penning words of mourning and lamentation that the people would have to repeat from generation to generation in order to make amends for having failed to repent in time to avert it.
The Mishneh in Mo'ed Katan 3:9, discussing mourning practices, explains that a KINAH dirge (e.g. at a funeral) would be recited responsively: "One woman speaks a verse and all the others answer, as it is written, '…and each one her neighbor lamentation'". Chapters 1-4 of EICHAH are written in the form of alphabetical acrostics. Chapters 1, 2 and 4 each consist of 22 verses starting with successive letters of the Aleph-Beis, while Chapter 3 consists of 66 verses, the first three of which begin with Aleph, the second three with Beis and so on. Prior to the availability of printed texts for everyone, alphabetical acrostics were a useful mnemonic device. Moreover, "Rabbi Yochanan said, Why were Israel punished with troubles depicted in verses beginning with the letters of the Aleph Beis? Because they violated the Torah, which was given with the letters of the Aleph-Beis!" (Sanhedrin 104a).
"Rabbi Abahu began expounding on the scroll of EICHAH quoting the verse, 'And they, like the man (KE-ADAM), have violated the Covenant' (Hosea 6:7). What does 'like the man' mean? The verse is comparing the people to Adam, the first man. The Holy One blessed be He said: I brought Adam into the Garden of Eden and gave him a commandment, but he violated My commandment so I drove him out and banished him and mourned over him with the phrase, 'Where are you?' (=AYEKAH, Genesis 3:9, consisting of the same Hebrew letters as EICHAH). Likewise I brought his children to the Land of Israel and gave them commandments, but they violated My commandments and I banished them, and I mourned over them with the word EICHAH!!!" (Introduction to Eichah Rabbah).
This Midrash is teaching us that the disaster which befell Judah and Jerusalem must be seen as part of the greater cycle of human sin and consequent suffering and chastisement that began with Adam and continues until today. Just as God's call to Adam, "Where are you???" (Gen. 3:9) was a call to repentance, so is the scroll of EICHAH, a call to repentance, challenging us to see the meaning and purpose of the suffering with which Israel has been afflicted. There are many ways in which humans react to terrible reverses and suffering. Sometimes they fall into the depths of helpless grief, despair and depression. In other cases, they react with rage and anger, kicking and rebelling against God or "fate" for sending them such troubles. But in putting the laments of EICHAH onto the lips of Israel, the prophet Jeremiah was providing them with words and images by means of which they could not only give expression to their pain and grief but also come to terms with their suffering by understanding its meaning and purpose through the recognition that it was divinely sent to chasten and purify them from their sins. The prophet (NAVEE) draws his words from the level of BINAH, "understanding", sweetening the bitter pill of suffering by justifying the ways of God. "For great as the sea is your breach: Who (MEE) can heal you?" (Lam. 2:13). Kabbalistically, the word MEE alludes to BINAH, which lies at the root of God's judgments and through which they are "sweetened" when we gain deeper understanding of their meaning and purpose.
Not only is EICHAH full of allusions to the historical disasters that struck Israel with the destruction of the Temple and the exile. The multi-layered text is also replete with allusions to the metaphysical roots of Israel's fall, which lie in the "Breaking of the Vessels" as explained in the Kabbalistic writings. For "He cast from heaven to earth the glory (TIFERET) of Israel and did not remember the stool of His feet (=MALCHUS) on the day of His anger. The Lord has swallowed up (BEELA) and has not shown pity" (Eichah 2:1-2). BEELA has the same Hebrew letters as Bela son of Be'or, first of the Seven Kings of Edom, who correspond to the shattered vessels of the Sefirot.
Rabbi Hayim ben Attar, author of the commentary OHR HA-HAYIM on the Five Books of Moses, explains in his commentary RISHON LE-ZION on EICHAH that the way the Elegist accomplishes his purpose, which is to arouse weeping in his listeners, is by crafting each and every verse as "a lamb's tail with a thorn caught in it". Without digressing to give expansive explanations and background, each verse is designed to pierce the listener in the heart with a sharp evocation of some detail of the calamity.
The opening verses of EICHAH chapter 1 contrast the lost greatness, power and prestige of Jerusalem with her present abject state of subjection, isolated like a leper, having been betrayed by those she thought were her friends.
"She weeps sore in the night" (v 2). The doubled Hebrew verb for weeping alludes to the weeping over the destruction of the two Temples, which came about because of the needless weeping of the Children of Israel in the wilderness on the night after they received the Ten Spies' negative report about the Land (Numbers 14:1). This was on the 9th day of the month of Av, which was thereafter marked out as a day of weeping for all the generations (Ta'anis 29a; see Rashi on Lam. 1:2).
Already in verse 5 the Elegist weaves into his depiction of the overthrow of Israel at the hands of their enemies the understanding that it came about "because HaShem has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions" (Lam. 1:5) – for "Jerusalem has sinned a sin…" (ibid. v 8).
Israel is depicted as a widow (v 1), an unclean Niddah-woman (v 8) and a raped virgin (v 15). The pathos of Israel is increased by the fact that there is none to comfort her. This leads the Elegist to call upon God Himself to look on her in her wretchedness (verse 9), thereby drawing into us the understanding that everything is under His watchful providence. The Elegist depicts the full horror of the calamity, evoking the fire that burned in the people's very bones, their sense of being helplessly trapped in a snare (v 13), the destruction and devastation of the youth (vv 15-16) etc. Yet after all this he says, "HaShem is righteous, for I have rebelled against His mouth…" (v 18).
Israel's pain over her suffering at the hands of the nations brings her to call for vengeance against them, but this is because they are truly guilty. For if Israel must suffer because of her sins, so should they (vv 21-22).
LAMENTATIONS COMMENTARY CHAPTER 2
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