Eliyahu's Plea for Israel Who Toil in Torah Amid Poverty

Tanna Debei Eliyahu Rabbah 19:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

Before the face of the Lord. Master of the universe, look now upon our affliction and plead our cause, and let our humiliation rise before You, what is done to us every single hour. And remember how many householders there are in Israel who have no livelihood yet occupy themselves with Torah every day continually. And remember how many poor there are in Israel from whom the idolaters strip the flesh, yet they occupy themselves with Torah every day continually. Remember how many blind there are in Israel who have no food, yet they pay and teach their children Torah. Remember how many lads and little ones there are in Israel who do not know their right hand from their left, yet they occupy themselves with Torah every day continually. Remember how many old men and old women there are in Israel who rise early and stay late to the synagogues and houses of study and yearn and long and wait for Your salvation every day continually. My Father in heaven, You are righteous, O LORD, and faithful in all Your works; in faithfulness may Your mercies be revealed upon Your children. For if among the idolaters You find ten people in one city, the Sages said that You judge them with afflictions and bring poverty upon them so that they can endure them; and Your people Israel, who bless You and praise You and glorify You every day and every hour, and Your name is glorified and blessed through Israel before the eyes of all creatures, even though they do all their good deeds in silence, how much more should You have mercy on them. By the Temple service, every day continually and every single hour that I read this verse, "I will go and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; in their distress they will seek Me earnestly" (Hosea 5:15), then this verse is fulfilled in me, "My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble; I am like a drunken man" (Jeremiah 23:9). Master of the universe, what shall I say and what shall I speak? I say to You as Judah answered concerning his brother Benjamin. I will tell you a parable; to what may the matter be compared? To a king who had a servant in his house and raised him from the day he came into the world until the day he came of age, and married him a wife, and he bore sons and daughters, and the king raised them amid pain and amid servitude and amid wandering and amid harrying and amid pressure and amid having no food; and after a while the king said to him secretly, Tell your sons to do labor with you. The servant rose and killed them all in a single hour, in a single moment. This servant, what is held against him? You must say it would be better for him had he not come into the world. Or a parable to a king who had a son in his house and raised him from the day he came into the world until the day he came of age, and married him a wife and built him a house and filled his house with wheat and barley and beans and lentils and all kinds of legumes; and after a while, when they were sitting at the table, the king and the son, the son rose against him from behind and threw him to the ground. This son, what is held against him? That son the king does not leave in his house even a single hour. And if a person has a son in his house who is quick and runs to set a fire in his fellow's field and is eager to rob people and says it is nothing, and is lazy from the house of study and lazy from occupying himself with Torah and lazy from occupying himself with labor to feed his wife and his children and his household, this son, what is held against him? This son is liable to the four court-imposed deaths stated in the Torah. And likewise the wicked of Israel know that their children die for their iniquities, as it is said, "Also on your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor" (Jeremiah 2:34), yet they do not repent, and it says, "A righteous man knows the soul of his beast, but the mercies of the wicked are cruel" (Proverbs 12:10). "A righteous man knows the soul of his beast", how so? A person who has words of Torah and commandments in him guards himself from coming to transgression and to an ugly matter, because he has set a thought in his mind and says, Woe to me if I sin, for my children would die for my iniquities; therefore it is said, "A righteous man knows the soul of his beast." "But the mercies of the wicked are cruel", how so? They know that their children die for their iniquities and they act as cruel ones toward them; therefore it is said, "But the mercies of the wicked are cruel." By the measure they measured, You measured to them, as it is said, "Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath... to destroy its sinners from it" (Isaiah 13:9). And when they kindle and are eager and quick to commit transgression and say it is nothing, as it is said, "For wickedness burns like fire" (Isaiah 9:17), by the measure they measured You measured to them, as it is said, "For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and all who do wickedness shall be stubble" (Malachi 3:19). And so we find with Manasseh son of Hezekiah. About twelve years old was Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah when he became king, and the Holy One, blessed be He, made him king and raised him to good and gave him many years and gave him more life than all the kings before him; and not only that, but the Holy One, blessed be He, came down from the highest heaven of heavens, from the place of His glory and His greatness and the holiness of His name, and dwelt in the Temple. Yet Manasseh rose and did exceedingly ugly things, and the Holy One, blessed be He, said: It is well that I did not dwell with My Presence with him, since he did not occupy himself with all his strength in My service and My Torah and My commandments. And You, my Father in heaven, out of the love with which You loved us and the joy with which You rejoiced in us, set apart Your people Israel from among the seventy nations, and from among them set apart the tribe of Levi, and from the tribe of Levi set apart the high priest to stand and pray for all Israel every single hour and to atone for them. My Father in heaven, remember Your covenant that You made with the first ones, with the three righteous men, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; remember how many poor and needy there are in Israel who occupy themselves with Torah every day continually. My Father in heaven, remember what You wrote for us in Your Torah, "You shall not oppress your neighbor and shall not rob" (Leviticus 19:13), and You also wrote for us, "If your brother becomes poor and his hand falters with you, you shall hold him up" (Leviticus 25:35). My Father in heaven, remember how many lame and how many blind there are in Israel who have no food, yet even so they pay wages to teachers to teach their children Torah. My Father in heaven, remember Israel, who are Your possession from of old, as it is said, "Is He not your Father who acquired you?" (Deuteronomy 32:6), and it says, "The LORD acquired me at the beginning of His way" (Proverbs 8:22). My Father in heaven, remember how many widows and orphans there are in Israel who occupy themselves with Torah and commandments every day continually. My Father in heaven, remember Your mercies, O LORD, and Your kindnesses, for they are from of old (Psalms 25:6), and it says, "The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works" (Psalms 145:9), and it says, "To the Lord our God belong the mercies and the forgivenesses, for we have rebelled against Him" (Daniel 9:9), and it says, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in kindness and truth, keeping kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and cleansing" (Exodus 34:6-7). My Father in heaven, remember what You wrote for us in Your Torah, "A son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and a father shall not bear the iniquity of the son" (Ezekiel 18:20). And further, if, God forbid, Israel should perish from the world, Your Torah would perish from the world, and the Sages taught in the Mishnah: If there is no Torah there is no worldly conduct, and if there is no worldly conduct there is no Torah. Our Father in heaven, deal with us in kindness for the sake of Your great name that is called upon us and upon the seventh day and upon the rest of the commandments. My Father in heaven, You wrote for us through Jonah Your servant the prophet, "And should I not have pity on Nineveh the great city, in which are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and much cattle?" (Jonah 4:11). As You had pity on Nineveh, so let Your mercies roll out upon us, and fulfill for us what Your lips have spoken, "For My own sake, for My own sake I will act, for how should it be profaned, and My glory I will not give to another" (Isaiah 48:11).

Themes

PrayerPovertyDivine Compassion

Continue Reading

Midrash TehillimPoetry of PrayerThe verse declares, "For the poor shall not always be forgotten; the hope of the poor shall not perish forever." But what does that really mean? Rabbi Yudan, inTalmud Bavli, TaanitThe Rabbi Whose Prayers Always Brought RainRabbi Yosei from Yokrat was the kind of man who terrified his own family. The Talmud in Tractate Taanit calls him a person "who has no mercy on his own son and Talmud Bavli, TaanitThe Donkey That Refused Stolen FoodRabbi Pinchas ben Yair owned a donkey with a conscience. The Talmud in Tractate Taanit tells the story: some thieves stole the donkey and hid it in their cave fTalmud Bavli, TaanitRabbi Chanina's Wife and the Miracle of the OvenRabbi Chanina ben Dosa and his wife lived in crushing poverty. Every Friday before Shabbat (the Sabbath), his wife would fire up the oven and throw in some kindThe Exempla of the Rabbis (1924)The Ruby Given and Returned on Sabbath EveRabbi Shimon ben Chalafta was famously poor. One Friday afternoon, as the Sabbath was closing in, his wife came to him with the familiar announcement: there wasHebraic Literature (1901)Rabbi Meir on Trades, Wealth, and the DispenserRabbi Meir, the great fourth-generation Tanna and student of Rabbi Akiva, taught that when a father teaches his son a trade, he should pair the lessons of the c