God Who Remembers Jerusalem and Rachel Weeping for Her Children

"A psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have entered Your inheritance, they have defiled Your holy temple, they have laid Jerusalem in ruins; they have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the sky" (Psalms 79:1-2). Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, who remembers Jerusalem at every time and in every hour; yet before Him there is no injustice, no forgetting, and no favoritism. And so it is set forth by tradition through David, king of Israel, who said, "Awesome is God from Your sanctuaries; the God of Israel, He gives strength and might to the people" (Psalms 68:36). What does "Awesome is God from Your sanctuaries" teach? From here they said: when Moses set up the Tabernacle, the nations of the world were shaken and afraid before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said, "Since miracles were done for these in Egypt and at the Sea" - as it says, "He did great things in Egypt, wonders in the land of Ham, awesome deeds at the Sea of Reeds" (Psalms 106:21-22) - "perhaps, just as the Holy One executed judgment in Egypt and on their firstborn, so He will do to all the nations," and all the more so that He will exact punishment from anyone who touches them for harm, as it says, "for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye" (Zechariah 2:12). As it were, Israel is before the Holy One, blessed be He, like a man who has but one eye; therefore it says, "touches the apple of His eye." And so it is set forth by tradition through Jeremiah the prophet: "My tent is ravaged and all my cords are snapped; my children have gone out from me and are no more; there is no one to pitch my tent again or to set up my curtains" (Jeremiah 10:20). As it were, He made Himself as though He had no power to save, God forbid. The Holy One said: These plunderers came and plundered My city and My house and My temple. And who are these plunderers of whom the Holy One spoke? They are the officers of the king of Babylon, as it says, "and all the officers of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate" (Jeremiah 39:3). Another interpretation of "My tent is ravaged": "tent" means none other than the place of the Divine Presence, as it says, "Moses would take the tent and pitch it outside the camp... and he called it the Tent of Meeting" (Exodus 33:7). Another interpretation: "tent" means none other than the Temple, as it says, "And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8). Another interpretation: "My tent is ravaged," as it says elsewhere, "Suddenly my tents are ravaged, my curtains in a moment" (Jeremiah 4:20) - these are the synagogues and study houses, as it says, "And he burned the house of the LORD and the house of the king and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burned with fire" (2 Kings 25:9). Another interpretation: "My tent is ravaged and all my cords are snapped" - just as a tent cannot stand without pegs and without cords, so Israel cannot stand without Torah scholars; therefore it says, "all my cords are snapped." "My cords" are the Torah scholars in Israel, who permit the permitted and forbid the forbidden, and who are to Israel like the cords of the world; therefore it says, "all my cords are snapped; my children have gone out from me and are no more." And since Israel was exiled, it was in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, never again to return Israel to their place, until Rachel stood in prayer before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said before Him: Master of the universe, remember on my behalf that I was not jealous of my rival. Not only that, but my husband served seven years for me, and when I was to enter the wedding canopy they substituted Leah my sister, and I said nothing to Jacob, so that he would not tell my voice from my sister's voice. Now is this not an a fortiori argument? If I, who am flesh and blood, was not jealous of my rival, and You are a merciful and gracious King, how can You be jealous over idolatry, which has no substance, as it says, "their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands; they have mouths but do not speak" (Psalms 115:4-5)? At once the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, was stirred, and He swore to Rachel to return her children to their place, as it says, "A voice is heard in Ramah... Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, for they are gone. Thus says the LORD: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your work, says the LORD, and they shall return from the land of the enemy; and there is hope for your future, says the LORD, and the children shall return to their own border" (Jeremiah 31:15-17). Do not read "Rachel weeping for her children" but "the spirit of God weeping for her children."