Why the Land Was Lost and the Chatter of Children at Study

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana opened: "Who is the wise man that may understand this, and to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it: For what cause is the land perished?" (Jeremiah 9:11). Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai taught: If you see towns uprooted from their places in the land of Israel, know that they did not uphold the wages of the Scripture teachers and the wages of the Mishnah teachers. What is the reason? "For what cause is the land perished and laid waste like a wilderness?" (ibid.). What is written after it? "And the LORD said: Because they have forsaken My Torah" (ibid.). Rabbi [the Patriarch] sent Rabbi Yasa and Rabbi Ami to go out and inspect the towns of the land of Israel. They would enter a town and say, "Bring us the guardians of the town," and the people would bring the captain of the watch and the patrolman. They said to them, "These are the guardians of the town? These are the destroyers of the town. And who are the guardians of the town? The Scripture teachers and the Mishnah teachers, who keep watch by day and by night," as it says, "You shall meditate on it day and night" (Joshua 1:8), and it says, "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain" (Psalms 127:1). Rabbi Huna and Rabbi Yirmeyah in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak said: We find that the Holy One overlooked idolatry, sexual transgression, and bloodshed, but did not overlook the rejection of Torah, as it says, "And the LORD said: For what cause is the land perished?" It does not say "because of idolatry, sexual transgression, and bloodshed," but "because they have forsaken My Torah" (Jeremiah 9:12). Rabbi Huna and Rabbi Yirmeyah in the name of Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba: It is written, "They have forsaken Me" (Jeremiah 16:11), as if to say, perhaps they kept My Torah. Would that they had forsaken Me but kept My Torah, for if they had forsaken Me yet kept My Torah, the leaven within it would have brought them back to Me. Rav Huna said: Study Torah even not for its own sake, for from studying it not for its own sake, once you are occupied with it, you will come back and do it for its own sake. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Every single day a heavenly voice goes out from Mount Horeb and proclaims, "Woe to the creatures for the insult to the Torah." Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: No philosophers arose among the nations of the world like Balaam son of Beor and Avnimos the Gardite. The nations of the world came to Avnimos the Gardite and said, "Can we contend with this nation?" He said to them, "Go and make your rounds of their synagogues and study houses. If you find children chirping aloud there, you cannot contend with them; if not, you can contend with them. For thus their father assured them and said, 'The voice is the voice of Jacob' (Genesis 27:22). As long as Jacob's voice chirps in the synagogues and study houses, the hands are not the hands of Esau, but whenever Jacob's voice does not chirp in the synagogues and study houses, the hands are the hands of Esau." Shmuel said: "And a host was given over to it against the daily offering through transgression" (Daniel 8:12) [means] through the transgression against Torah. As long as Israel casts the words of Torah to the ground, this wicked kingdom decrees and succeeds. What is the reason? "And it cast truth to the ground" (ibid.), and truth is nothing other than the words of Torah, as it says, "Buy truth and do not sell it" (Proverbs 23:23). Rabbi Yudah bar Pazzi said: "Israel has rejected the good; the enemy shall pursue him" (Hosea 8:3), and good is nothing other than the words of Torah, as it says, "For I have given you good doctrine; do not forsake My Torah" (Proverbs 4:2). And so it says, "Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble" (Isaiah 5:24). Is there stubble that devours fire? Surely the way of fire is to devour stubble. So why does it say "as the tongue of fire devours the stubble"? Rather, "stubble" is the house of Esau, who is likened to stubble, as it is written, "and the house of Esau shall be stubble" (Obadiah 1:18); "tongue of fire" is the house of Jacob, who is likened to fire, as it is written, "and the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame" (ibid.). "Their root shall be as rottenness" (Isaiah 5:24) refers to the patriarchs, who are the roots of Israel; "and their blossom shall go up as dust" (ibid.) refers to the tribes, who are the blossoms of Israel. Why? "Because they have rejected the Torah of the LORD of hosts" (ibid.). Rabbi Yudan said: "Because they have rejected the Torah of the LORD of hosts" refers to the Written Torah, and "and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel" (ibid.) refers to the Oral Torah.