God Weeps Over The Destruction Of The Temple

And concerning earthquakes. What are "earthquakes"? Rav Katina said: A tremor of the earth. Rav Katina was once going along the road. When he reached the entrance of the house of a necromancer, a tremor of the earth rumbled. He said: Does the necromancer know what this tremor is? The necromancer raised his voice and said to him: Katina, Katina, why should I not know? At the hour when the Holy One, blessed be He, remembers His children who dwell in distress among the nations of the world, He lets fall two tears into the Great Sea, and His voice is heard from one end of the world to the other -- and that is the tremor. And this differs with what Rafram bar Pappa said in the name of Rav Chisda. For Rafram bar Pappa said in the name of Rav Chisda: From the day the Temple was destroyed, the sky has not been seen in its purity, as it is said: "I clothe the heavens in blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering" (Isaiah 50:3).

וְעַל הַזְּוָעוֹת. מַאי זְוָעוֹת? אָמַר רַב קַטִּינָא: גּוּהָא. רַב קַטִּינָא הֲוָה קָאָזֵיל בְּאוֹרְחָא. כִּי מְטָא אַפִּתְחָא דְּבֵי אוֹבָא טַמְיָא גְּנַח גּוּהָא. אָמַר: מִי יָדַע אוֹבָא טַמְיָא הַאי גּוּהָא מַהוּ? רְמָא לֵיהּ קָלָא: קַטִּינָא קַטִּינָא, אַמַּאי לָא יָדַעְנָא? בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא זוֹכֵר אֶת בָּנָיו שֶׁשְּׁרוּיִים בְּצַעַר בֵּין אוּמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם מוֹרִיד שְׁתֵּי דְמָעוֹת לַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל, וְקוֹלוֹ נִשְׁמָע מִסּוֹף הָעוֹלָם וְעַד סוֹפוֹ, וְהַיְינוּ גּוּהָא. וּפְלִיגָא דְּרַפְרָם בַּר פָּפָּא אָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא. דְּאָמַר רַפְרָם בַּר פָּפָּא אָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא: מִיּוֹם שֶׁחָרַב בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ לֹא נִרְאֵית רָקִיעַ בְּטׇהֳרָתָהּ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״אַלְבִּישׁ שָׁמַיִם קַדְרוּת וְשַׂק אָשִׂים כְּסוּתָם״.

Commentary

This is a myth of great divine distress, agony, and regret. At the same time, the myth demonstrates God's grief over the chain of events that led to the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jews. Although God permitted the destruction of the Temple to take place (and in some myths was the cause of this catastrophe), here he faces the consequences of His actions and weeps. Metatron, who normally substitutes for God in many respects, is so disturbed at the sight of God weeping that he begs to weep for God instead. Metatron's response indicates the rabbinic discomfort at the notion of God weeping. Despite Metatron's offer, God is so distraught that He is ready to go off alone to weep. The place Metatron is not permitted to enter is the Pargod, the heavenly curtain, behind which only God and the Shekhinah can go. This is God's inner sanctum. God's insistence that he will continue to weep is explained by the verse For if you will not give heed, My inmost self must weep, because of your arrogance (Jer. 13:17). In Esh Kadosh Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira proposes that the reason the world was not destroyed by God's suffering over the afflictions of Israel and the destruction of the Temple is because God wept in secret, in his innermost chamber. For had his grief penetrated to this world, it would no longer exist. God's garment is described as purple, referring to the imperial purple garments worn by kings. Indeed, throughout God behaves in mourning as would a human king.

God Weeps Over The Destruction Of The Temple

Themes

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