Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah Reader

Another interpretation of "who faint with hunger": the Sages said: when Moses came down from Mount Sinai and saw the foulness with which Israel had befouled themselves by their deeds, Moses looked at the tablets and saw that their writing had flown off from them. At once Moses broke them beneath the mountain; Moses was struck dumb and could not answer a word. At that time a decree was decreed upon Israel that they would learn Torah amid pain and amid servitude and amid wandering and amid harrying and amid pressure and amid having no food; and in reward for that pain the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to pay their reward in the days of the son of David doubled and redoubled, as it is said, "Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might... behold, His reward is with Him" (Isaiah 40:10), and it says, "Who has given to Me first, that I should repay him? Whatever is under all the heavens is Mine" (Job 41:3). And as the Sages said: for his good the leg of his cow was broken so that his wage would be complete, so Aaron said: had it not been for Korah, that covenant would not have stood firm for me, as it is said, "a memorial for the children of Israel, so that no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the LORD" (Numbers 17:5); and Aaron said: for my good the leg of my cow was broken. Another interpretation of "who faint with hunger": "hunger" is nothing other than for words of Torah, as it is said, "Behold, days are coming, says the LORD, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the LORD" (Amos 8:11). From here the Sages said: a person should learn Torah in dread and in fear, in trembling and in sweat, and let a person look at himself and know what will be of him after death. Therefore let a person lift his eyes and look at the heavens and say: Who created the stars and the constellations in the firmament and gave a place and a way and a path to each one? And likewise let him look at the earth and see how many towers the idolatrous kingdom built; who cut them down and threw them to the ground? And how many towers the kingdom of Media built; who cut them down and threw them to the ground? Who kicked over the first tower and put its head in one place and its body in another, twenty-one miles between this and that? as it is said, "Your heart shall meditate on the dread; where is the scribe, where is the weigher, where is he who counted the towers?" (Isaiah 33:18). From here the Sages said: a person should always be in fear of Heaven, complete fear, fear upon the truth, acknowledging the truth and speaking truth in his heart; and every single day let him rise early and say: Master of all the worlds and Lord of lords, it is not on account of our righteous acts that we cast our supplications before You, but on account of Your abundant mercies. What are we, what is our life, what is our kindness, what is our righteousness, what is our salvation, what is our strength, what is our might? What shall we say before You, O LORD our God and God of our fathers? Are not all the mighty as nothing before You, and the men of renown as though they never were, and the wise as without knowledge, and the discerning as without understanding? For most of their deeds are emptiness, and the days of their life are vanity before You, and the advantage of man over beast is nothing, for all is vanity. But we are Your people, the children of Your covenant, the children of Abraham who loved You, to whom You swore on Mount Moriah; the seed of Isaac his beloved, who was bound upon the altar; the congregation of Jacob Your son, Your firstborn, whom out of Your love for him and Your joy in him You called by the name Israel and Jeshurun. Therefore we are obligated to give thanks to You and to praise You and to glorify You and to bless and sanctify and give praise and thanksgiving to Your name. Happy are we, how good is our portion, and how pleasant our lot, and how beautiful our inheritance. Happy are we who rise early and stay late, evening and morning, and say twice each day, "Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is One." Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever. You are He before You created the world, and You are He since You created the world; You are He in this world, and You are He in the world to come. Sanctify Your name over those who sanctify Your name, and sanctify Your name in Your world, and in Your salvation raise and lift up our horn. Blessed are You, O LORD, who sanctifies His name among the multitude. You are the LORD our God in heaven and on earth and in the highest heaven of heavens. You are true; You are first and You are last, and besides You there is no God. Gather those who hope in You from the four corners of the earth, so that all who come into the world will recognize and know that You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and who among all the works of Your hands, above or below, can say to You, What are You doing? Our Father in heaven, deal with us in charity and kindness for the sake of Your great name that is called upon us, and fulfill for us, O LORD our God, what is written, "At that time I will bring you in, and at the time I gather you, for I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the LORD" (Zephaniah 3:20).

"Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way" (Exodus 23). Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, who chose Israel above all the work of His hands, acquired them as a complete acquisition, and called them sons and servants for His name. Come and see what is said of Israel (Exodus 6): "Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the LORD... and I will take you to Me for a people... and I will bring you to the land." May it be Your will, my Father in Heaven, that You never deliver me into the hand of a messenger. What is written before this passage (Exodus 19): "In the third month..."; and after it (Exodus 21): "And these are the ordinances"; and after that: "Behold, I send an angel." They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who came with horses, horsemen, and many troops. When his servants and household heard, they trembled and were greatly afraid. But the king was wise, shrewd, and full of understanding. What did he do? He came and settled in a town near his house and said to his officers and dukes: How many householders are there? Give them so much wheat and barley to eat, and wool and flax to clothe them. How many poor and needy are among them, how many blind, lame, and deaf? Give them so much wheat and barley to eat, and wool and flax to clothe them. How many youths and small children, how many old men and old women are among them? Give them so much to eat and to clothe them. At once his servants and household were calmed of their fear. So too, when the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to give the Torah to Israel, He revealed Himself only with two hundred and forty-two thousand myriads of angels, as it says (Psalms 68): "The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands." And it says (Habakkuk 3): "God comes from Teman." Even when the Holy One, blessed be He, came and dwelt on Mount Sinai, there were with Him twenty-two thousand angels appointed over Israel, and each one of Israel was borne twelve mil, as it says: "As an eagle stirs up its nest... He spread His wings, He took him, He bore him on His pinions" (Deuteronomy 32). When our fathers stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, at that hour they trembled and were greatly afraid, as it says (Exodus 19): "And it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings... and all the people in the camp trembled." And it says (Exodus 20): "And all the people saw the thunderings... and the people saw and trembled and stood far off, and said to Moses, You speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die." When Moses saw that Israel were afraid when the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself and spoke with them, Moses said to them: Do not fear, as it says: "And Moses said to the people, Fear not, for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be upon your faces, that you do not sin." Moses first appeased Israel, and afterward arranged before them the laws of damages and all the measures of justice, as it is written afterward: "And these are the ordinances which you shall set before them: If you buy a Hebrew servant..." up to "and his master shall pierce his ear." Woe to the wicked, who through their corrupt deeds bring themselves to ruin and remain poor until the day of death. Are these matters not a fortiori? If of the wicked who are sold for their theft Scripture says (Deuteronomy 15), "You shall surely furnish him from your flock... it shall not be hard in your eyes when you send him free," then how much more so for the righteous of the world who do the will of the Omnipresent every day. They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To a king who had a great palace with the door locked, so that no one could enter. A projecting beam came out of it, and upon it were figs and grapes and all kinds of delicacies; and another beam beside it came out, and on it were food and drink and all kinds of provisions. All the people standing outside the king's palace pass by there. What do they say? From the beam that projects from the king's palace you can know what is inside it. So from the sufferings of the righteous in this world you may learn the measure of the punishment of the wicked in Gehinnom. And from the ease of the wicked in this world you may learn the reward of the righteous in the world to come, as it says (Psalms 31): "How great is Your goodness which You have hidden away for those who fear You." And it says (Isaiah 64): "From of old men have not heard, nor perceived by ear, neither has the eye seen..." Once I was passing from place to place, and an old man met me and said to me: Are there idolaters who will live to the days of the son of David? I said to him: All the nations and all the kingdoms that afflicted Israel and oppressed them will see Israel's joy and will be grieved and angered in their hearts, and afterward they go to their dust and never return, as it says (Psalms 112): "The wicked sees and is angered, he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked perishes." And it says (Isaiah 65): "And you shall leave your name for a curse to My chosen." But all the nations and kingdoms that did not afflict Israel and did not oppress them will see Israel's joy and become plowmen and vinedressers for Israel, as it says (Isaiah 61): "And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and vinedressers, and you shall be called the priests of the LORD." While I was standing and speaking with the old man, a certain student who was not expert in the law came to me and said: I labor in words of Torah, and I long and yearn and hope that Torah will come to me, yet Torah does not come to me. I said to him: My son, a man does not merit words of Torah unless he gives his soul over to death for it, for the honor of Heaven, like this ox that is brought under the yoke and gives itself over for the honor of its owner to serve him, as it says (Proverbs 14): "And much increase is by the strength of the ox." And it says (Proverbs 16): "To man belong the arrangements of the heart, but from the LORD comes the answer of the tongue." And it says: "The poor and needy seek water and there is none... I the LORD will answer them" (Isaiah 41). My Father in Heaven, may Your great name be blessed forever and ever, and may You have contentment from Israel Your servants in all their dwelling places, for what You said: that You receive the transgressors of Israel in repentance. For even if a man has committed a hundred sins, each greater than the last, and repents, behold I am with him in mercy and I receive his repentance; even if a man stands and blasphemes toward Heaven and then turns and repents, You, the Holy One, blessed be He, pardon him for all of them, as it says (Isaiah 35): "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall sing." And the blind, deaf, lame, and mute are none other than one who lacks knowledge in words of Torah and lacks good deeds, for it says, "For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert" (Isaiah 35).

Come, let us go to the law of women, as stated afterward (Exodus 21:7): "And if a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant..."; "if she is displeasing in the eyes of her master..."; "then he shall let her be redeemed"; "if he takes another wife for himself, her food, her clothing, and her conjugal rights he shall not diminish." Happy is the man all of whose deeds are for the sake of Heaven. The heart knows whether it bends straight or crooked, as it says, "if he takes another wife, her food, her clothing, and her conjugal rights he shall not diminish." Once I was sitting in the study house in Jerusalem before the sages, and we were occupied with matters concerning women. I said to them: This matter, that one should not treat a Hebrew maidservant as one treats a Canaanite slave woman, that he should not say to her, Take coins and bring me vegetables from the market. They said to me: For what reason? I said to them: My masters, because a woman may sell herself and commit a transgression for the sake of a single meal at a time when there is famine in the world, saying, There is nothing wrong in this, as it says (Lamentations 5:10-11): "Our skin is hot as an oven because of the burning heat of famine," and it is written afterward, "They ravished the women in Zion, the maidens in the cities of Judah." And what has one matter to do with the other? It comes to teach you that whenever there is famine in the world, a woman may sell herself and transgress for the sake of a single meal, saying, There is nothing wrong in this. Therefore it says, "Our skin is hot as an oven because of the burning heat of famine," and afterward, "They ravished the women in Zion." From that hour the sages enacted and said the law: One who died and left sons and daughters, when the estate is large, the sons inherit everything and the daughters are maintained from it; and when the estate is small, the daughters are maintained and the sons go begging at doors. Admon says: Because I am male, shall I lose? Rabban Gamliel said: I see the words of Admon. From here they said: Every house that has in it a Hebrew maidservant has strife within it, and finds no contentment in the world, as it says, "And if a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant," and it is written afterward, "And if men strive together." And what has this to do with that? It teaches you that every house that has a Hebrew maidservant in it has strife within it. Another interpretation: "And if men strive together and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist... only he shall pay for his loss of time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed"; "And if a man strikes his servant... and he dies... he shall surely be avenged." I said to them: My masters, from here we learn concerning a physician who healed the sick, an agent of the court who administered forty lashes, a teacher who disciplines his student, a judge, and a priest who serves at the altar, all of whom killed a person willfully: they must all cease from their work and go do other work; and if they returned and repented, they are healed, and if not, they are punished even regarding their money, which is the lighter matter. Therefore it says, "And if men strive together..." and "if a man strikes his servant... and he dies... he shall be avenged." And I further said to them: My masters, what is written afterward? "And if men strive and hurt a pregnant woman so that her children come out... he shall surely be fined... and if any harm follow..."; "And if a man strikes the eye of his servant..."; "and if he knocks out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his tooth." From here we learn concerning a beast that killed a person willfully: it is taken out, and if it returned and signs of reform are found in it, it is spared, and if not, it is punished. When Israel came and saw that the mercies of the Holy One, blessed be He, are abundant, they said: Had we been worthy, the Divine Presence would never have departed from among us. But when Israel were in Egypt and in the wilderness, they were whole-hearted in their way, and so when our fathers stood at Mount Sinai they were whole-hearted in their way. Therefore He first appeased them, and afterward arranged before them the laws of damages and all the measures of justice, and afterward they said, "Blessed is the LORD, the God of Israel, the God of hosts who dwells upon the cherubim; You alone are God, in understanding." When Israel were in Egypt they all gathered and sat together, for they were all in one band, and they made a covenant together to perform acts of lovingkindness with one another, to keep in their hearts the covenant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to serve their Father in Heaven alone, not to abandon the language of the house of Jacob their father, and not to learn the language of Egypt because of the ways of idolatry. How so? When Israel served their Father in Heaven alone in Egypt and did not change their language, the Egyptians would say to them: Why do you not serve the gods of Egypt, that your labor be lightened? Israel would answer: Did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob our fathers forsake our God in Heaven, that their children after them should forsake Him? And the Egyptians said: No. And Israel said: As our fathers did not forsake Him, so will we not forsake Him. And when Israel kept the covenant of their God in Heaven and circumcised their sons in Egypt, and the Egyptians said to them, If you do not keep it and circumcise, perhaps the hard labor will be lightened from you, Israel would answer: Did our fathers forget the covenant of our God in Heaven, that their children after them should forget it? And they said: No. And Israel said: As our fathers did not forget, so we will never forget. Another interpretation: When Israel circumcised their sons in Egypt, the Egyptians would say: Why do you circumcise your sons, when after a short while they will cast them into the river? Israel said: We will circumcise them, and afterward do to them as you wish. And when Israel held the seven days of feasting, the Egyptians would say: Why do you hold seven days of feasting, when in a short while they will be taken out for affliction? Israel said: We will hold the seven days of feasting, and afterward do to us as you wish; let the dead die, let the slain be slain, and let the one who comes alive live. For all these things the Egyptians would taunt Israel and strike them and assail and storm at them, and Israel had no refuge from them, as it says (Psalms 44:14): "You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us... All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten You, nor have we been false to Your covenant... though You crushed us in the place of jackals" - this is Pharaoh king of Egypt and all the Egyptians - "and covered us with deep darkness" - these are lives of distress; "if we had forgotten the name of our God and spread out our hands to a strange god... for Your sake we are killed all the day, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why do You sleep?" For when Israel does the will of their Father in Heaven, what is said of them? "Behold, He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps" (Psalms 121:4); and when they do not do the will of the Omnipresent, what is said of them? "Awake, why do You sleep?"

Once I was passing from place to place, and an old man met me and said to me: Rabbi, are these generations more worthy than those who came out of Egypt? See with your eyes and hear with your ears, for the generation of Moses had with them only the Torah alone, whereas these generations have with them Torah, Prophets, and Writings. I said to him: No. For those generations that lived from the day the First Temple was destroyed until the Second Temple was built had with them Torah, Prophets, Writings, and the dialectics of Torah, and even so they were not as worthy as those who came out of Egypt. And if you wish to learn and desire words of Torah, go and learn what is said of those who came out of Egypt (Jeremiah 2:2): "Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD: I remember for you the devotion of your youth, the love of your bridal days, your going after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel is holy to the LORD, the first of His produce." When those who came out of Egypt traveled in the wilderness, the Holy One, blessed be He, left nothing in His world that He did not reveal to Israel, as it says (Psalms 25:14): "The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, and His covenant, to make it known to them." And it says (Amos 3:7): "For the LORD God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets." By the Temple service! I call heaven and earth to witness concerning me, that every day and every hour, when I remember all these deeds, I fall on my face to the ground and bless and exalt and praise and sanctify the name of Him who spoke and the world came to be, blessed be He and blessed be His name, the name of the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, who sits and apportions sustenance to all who come into the world, to all the work of His hands, from man to beast to creeping thing to bird of the sky, and all the souls He created. David too praised those who came out of Egypt, for even the single commandment that was in their hand was pleasing before the Holy One, blessed be He, far more than many commandments of ours. And what was that single commandment in their hand? That they all gathered as one band and made a covenant to perform acts of lovingkindness with one another, and to keep the covenant of circumcision, which is the covenant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not to abandon the language of Jacob our father, and not to learn the language of Egypt because of the ways of idolatry, as it says (II Samuel 7:23): "And who is like Your people Israel, one nation in the earth, whom God" - this is Moses and Aaron - "went to redeem for Himself as a people, and to make Himself a name, and to do for you great and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, nations and their gods." Do not read it thus, but rather read: "before Your people Israel whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, You cut off nations and their gods."

"Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; further not his evil device" (Psalms 140:9). Come and see the difference between those who came out of Egypt, who are of the seed of Jacob, and the idolaters, who are of the seed of Esau. Those who came out of Egypt had one commandment in their hand, and it was pleasing before the Holy One, blessed be He, far more than a hundred commandments. And what was that one commandment? That they all made one band and made a covenant to perform lovingkindness with one another, to keep the covenant of circumcision, not to abandon the language of the house of Jacob, and not to go and learn the language of Egypt because of the ways of idolatry. But the seed of Esau were not so. So long as Isaac was alive they upheld the covenant of circumcision, but as soon as Isaac died, they immediately annulled the covenant of circumcision, as it says (Proverbs 15:25): "The LORD will tear down the house of the proud" - this is the house of Esau - "but He will establish the boundary of the widow" - this is the house of Obadiah. They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To a king who gives his crown to his beloved friend and says to him: Let this crown rest on your head and on the head of your son forever. His friend placed it on his head until the hour he entered his eternal home. In time, after he entered his eternal home, the king said in his heart: I will go and see my friend's son, whether my friend's crown rests on his head. The king went to his friend's son and found the crown cast on the refuse heap behind him at the far edge of the house's boundary. At once the king went off to the end of the boundary, as it says (Judges 5:4): "O LORD, when You went forth from Seir, when You marched from the field of Edom..." To what were Esau and Eliphaz the Temanite likened, with his son Amalek, and Jeroboam son of Nebat, and Merodach with Nebuchadnezzar, and Agag with Haman the Agagite? To one who found a garment on the road near a city, seized it in his hand, and brought it into the city, and was known there, saying: Whose lost article is this? All the people of the city gathered and went out to meet him, saying to one another: Do you see this man, how righteous he is, how pious, how worthy? At once the people of the city stood and made him head and officer over the city. After two or three years he arose and destroyed all the provinces and all the land. So too were Esau and Eliphaz likened with his son Amalek, and Merodach with Nebuchadnezzar, and Jeroboam son of Nebat, and Agag with Haman. Esau, as reward for three tears that he shed and that fell from his eyes, was given Mount Seir, from which the rains of blessing never cease. Eliphaz, as reward for honoring his father, had Amalek come forth from him into the world. Jeroboam, as reward for answering a matter before King Solomon, was given the ten tribes into his hand. The reward of Merodach, who honored our Father in Heaven, was that Nebuchadnezzar came forth from him into the world. The reward of Agag was that while he was imprisoned in the prison house he wept and groaned, saying, Woe is me, perhaps my seed will be lost from the world; and Haman came forth from him into the world. And what will be the end of Amalek? Thieves will come upon him and bands will strip him from outside, as Obadiah the prophet prophesied of him, as it says (Obadiah 1): "If thieves came to you, if robbers by night, how you are undone!" And why did Obadiah merit prophecy? Rabbi Yitzhak said: Because he hid a hundred prophets, as it says (I Kings 18:4): "And Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them, fifty men in a cave, and fed them with bread and water." Why fifty and fifty? Rabbi Elazar said: He learned from Jacob our father, as it says, "And the camp that is left shall escape." Rabbi Abahu said: Because the cave could not hold more than fifty men. Scripture says of Obadiah (I Kings 18:3): "And Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household, and Obadiah feared the LORD greatly." What did Ahab say to him? Rabbi Yitzhak said: Thus he said to him: Perhaps your deeds are not like the deeds of the pious. Through Jacob the house of Laban was blessed, as it says (Genesis 30:27): "I have observed the omens, and the LORD has blessed me on your account," and it says, "And the LORD blessed you at my coming." Through Joseph the house of Potiphar was blessed, as it says (Genesis 39:5): "And the LORD blessed the house of the Egyptian on Joseph's account." Why was my house not blessed on your account? Perhaps your deeds are not like the deeds of the early pious ones. Therefore it says, "And Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household"; a heavenly voice went out and said, "And Obadiah feared the LORD greatly," but the house of Ahab is not destined for blessing. What of Eliphaz and Amalek? Amalek said to Eliphaz his father: Who will inherit this world and the world to come? Eliphaz said to Amalek: The children of Israel will inherit this world and the world to come. So now go and dig for them pits, ditches, and caves of water that they and their cattle may drink, and prepare roads for them; if you do so you will merit and inherit and possess and come to the world to come. But he did not do so; rather, as soon as the import of the matter was told him, Amalek went out at once to destroy the world, as it says (Exodus 17:8): "And Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim." And why was the place called Rephidim? Because they slackened their hands from the commandments. And the Holy One, blessed be He, who searches hearts and minds, says to him: Fool of the world, did I not form you after seventy nations? Therefore you shall be the first and the last of all who descend to Gehinnom, as it says (Numbers 24:20): "And he looked on Amalek and took up his discourse and said, Amalek was the first of the nations, but his end is to perish forever." And it says (Deuteronomy 25:19): "And it shall be when the LORD your God gives you rest... you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget." And it says (Exodus 17): "For I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven," and it says, "For a hand is upon the throne of the LORD; the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." And not only this, but the seed of Esau, who annulled the covenant of circumcision from their flesh, transgressed the commandment of the Sabbath and all the commandments stated in the Torah, and gave the corpses of His righteous and pious servants as food to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, as it says (Psalms 79:2): "They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the sky, the flesh of Your pious ones to the beasts of the earth." Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, who searches hearts and minds, said to him: Had the covenant of circumcision been in your flesh, I would not have judged you for every thought as for a deed, and for what you are destined to do as though it were already done. What is written afterward (Ezekiel 35:10): "Because you said, These two nations and these two lands shall be mine, and we will possess them, though the LORD was there." Who revealed the hidden things? Say: the Holy One, blessed be He. Therefore it says, "though the LORD was there." And it says (Obadiah 1:2): "Behold, I have made you small among the nations; you are greatly despised... Though you soar like the eagle..." And it says (Jeremiah 49:15-16): "For behold, I have made you small among the nations, despised among men. Your horror has deceived you... Though you make your nest high like the eagle, from there I will bring you down." What is "your horror"? Vile and a scoffer. He said to him: The scoffing that was in you, it caused you to be removed from the world. And blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, who exacts retribution from the enemies of Israel measure for measure, that just as it was in his intent, so the Holy One, blessed be He, uproots him and his seed from the world, as it says (Obadiah 1:18): "And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble, and they shall kindle in them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau." And it says (Malachi 1:4): "Though Edom say, We are beaten down but we will return and build the ruins... they shall build but I will tear down." And it says (Obadiah 1): "For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Esau: You wished to do violence to Jacob your brother; therefore shame shall cover you and you shall be cut off forever. And what was the violence he did to Jacob, that shame should cover him for it? That he did not wish to leave the Torah scroll in his hand; therefore shame shall cover him and he shall be cut off forever. And not only this, but Shem the great, son of Noah, prophesied four hundred years to all the nations of the world, and they did not accept from him. And thus the great Shem said to them: Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. And do not covet. They said to him: All these things are good, yet even so they did not accept your sovereignty upon them. But we, the children of Israel, Your people, the children of Your covenant, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Your beloved who did Your will in the world, we accepted Your Torah; therefore do for us also a favor, and fulfill what You promised us and said to Your children, to be zealous and to avenge us of our enemies, as it says, "For He will avenge the blood of His servants and render vengeance to His foes" (Deuteronomy 32:43). And so David said (Psalms 7:7): "Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; lift Yourself up against the fury of my adversaries." And when Israel came out of Egypt, all Israel gathered with Moses among them and said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the world, there is nothing between us and the nations of the world, as it says (Exodus 33:16): "For how then shall it be known that I have found favor in Your eyes, I and Your people? Is it not in that You go with us, so that we are distinguished, I and Your people, from all the people on the face of the earth? And the LORD said to Moses: This thing also that you have spoken I will do... and I know you by name." At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, swore by His great name that a perfect Torah would be given through them, all ordered and arranged before them like goblets and cups full of water and wine, and tables full of all the delicacies of the world, as it says (Song of Songs 7): "Your navel is a round goblet, never lacking mixed wine." Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, swore to His people that He would not exchange them for another nation, nor change them, nor substitute them for another people, nor destroy them, as it says (Hosea 11:9): "I will not execute the fierceness of My anger."

"And God spoke all these words, saying: I am the LORD your God" and so forth (Exodus 20:1-2). Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, who chose Israel out of all the work of His hands, and acquired them as a complete acquisition, and called them sons and servants to His name. Sometimes He speaks with them as one speaks with the many, and sometimes He speaks with them as one speaks with the individual. And why all this? Rather, because of the love with which He loves them, and because of the joy in which He rejoices over them; therefore He speaks with them in the singular and in the plural. Accordingly I used to say that each and every one of Israel is obligated to say: When will my deeds reach the deeds of my fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? For the fathers acquired this world and the world to come and the days of the son of David only because of their good deeds and the study of Torah. And thus the Sages taught in the Mishnah: Each and every one of Israel is obligated to say, "For my sake the world was created." And let a person not say in his heart to himself: The world to come is nothing but chaos and void, therefore I will walk in the stubbornness of my heart and eat and drink and take pleasure in this world, and afterward I will go out from this world. And if he does so, concerning him it says, "The fool said in his heart: There is no God" (Psalms 14:1). And if he is a scholar, wisdom and understanding are withheld from him; and if he has turned himself to other matters, concerning him Scripture says, "For the fool speaks folly" and so forth (Isaiah 32:6). And likewise let a person not see the many in distress and say: I will walk in the stubbornness of my heart and eat and drink and take pleasure from this world. And if he does so, concerning him Scripture says, "And behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (Isaiah 22:13). What is written after it? "And the LORD of hosts revealed Himself in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be atoned for you until you die" (Isaiah 22:14). This far concerning the middling measure. But concerning the measure of the wicked, what is written? Scripture says, "Come, let me take wine, and let us fill ourselves with strong drink, and tomorrow shall be like this day, great beyond measure" (Isaiah 56:12). After it, what is written? "The righteous one perishes, and no man takes it to heart" and so forth (Isaiah 57:1). What is the matter of what is after it? "He shall enter into peace; they shall rest on their couches, each one who walks straight" and so forth (Isaiah 57:2). From here the Sages said: Even a sage of Israel who is like Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him, who was the father of the sages and the father of the prophets, and pious like Aaron his brother, should not say: Here I am in joy in my house, and peace be upon you, my soul. Rather, let him go out from his house and be with the community in their distress. Rather, with what does a person acquire his Father in heaven and the world to come? You must say that he acquires the Holy One, blessed be He, through good deeds and the study of Torah, and the Holy One, blessed be He, grants him in possession this world and the world to come and the days of the son of David. And these are the good deeds through which a person acquires the Holy One, blessed be He, and the world to come within them: through love and brotherhood and reverence and peace and friendship, and through truth and peace, and through humility, and through meekness, and through much study and little commerce, and through attending upon the sages, and through the disputation of the students, and through a good heart, and through worldly conduct, and through one's "no" being a "no" and one's "yes" being a "yes." We have learned from Abraham our father, that at the beginning of his deeds he had reverence before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying: Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you" (Genesis 15:1); and one does not say to a person "Do not fear" except to one who is truly God-fearing. They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king who said to his son: My son, go and kill all these brigands, and take nothing of their money should they fall into your hand, so that they will not say, the king's son went out to kill these brigands only in order to take the money. Immediately he went out and killed all the brigands. On his return, his father went out to meet him and said to him: Blessed are you, my son, and may you have satisfaction in the world, for you did not benefit from their money at all. Now come with me and I will give you every precious vessel in the world, and precious stones and pearls from my treasure houses. And so to this Abraham our father was likened: at the time when he went out to kill the kings, on his return the king of Sodom went out to meet him, and it seemed to the king of Sodom that Abraham would not return anything to him, and he asked and said to Abraham: Please, give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself (Genesis 14:21-22). Immediately, "And Abram said to the king of Sodom: I have lifted up my hand to the LORD" and so forth, "that I will not take a thread or a sandal-strap, nor anything that is yours" and so forth; and I have already sworn that I will take nothing of all that is yours. And Abraham said to the king of Sodom: Fool of the world, do I need your silver and gold and all your precious vessels? I will cast everything before you to the ground, and you will see that I did not benefit from your money at all, "except only what the young men have eaten" and so forth. At that hour Abraham sanctified the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, and stood and returned all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah. Immediately, "After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision" and so forth, "your reward is very great." And likewise we have learned from Isaac, that at the beginning of his deeds he was truly God-fearing; for Isaac was seventy-five years old at the time when Abraham entered his eternal home, and Isaac said: Woe to me, perhaps there are not in me good deeds such as there were in my father; what will become of me before the Holy One, blessed be He? Immediately the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, was stirred upon him, and He stood with him at that hour, as it is said, "And the LORD appeared to him that night" and so forth (Genesis 26:24). And likewise we have learned from Jacob our father, that at the beginning of his deeds he had reverence before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "And he was afraid and said: How awesome is this place" and so forth (Genesis 28:17). And likewise we have learned from our first fathers, that at the beginning of their deeds they had reverence before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "And the people feared the LORD" and so forth (Exodus 14:31). From this you have learned that as the reward of the reverence with which our holy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob revered the Holy One, blessed be He, and as the reward of the faith with which Israel believed in the Holy One, blessed be He, when they were in Egypt, they were redeemed from Egypt and the sea was split for them. And so it will be in the time to come, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will come and redeem Israel from among the idolaters, and bring them the days of the son of David and the days of our redemption, as it is said, "Writhe and labor, daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth" and so forth, "and you shall come to Babylon; there you shall be delivered, there the LORD shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies" (Micah 4:10). And all the iniquities of Israel they leave behind in Babylon, and they go up pure to the land of Israel, as it is said, "And I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, two women coming" and so forth, "and they lifted up the measure between the earth and the heaven; and I said to the angel who spoke with me: Where are they taking the measure? And he said to me: To build for it a house in the land of Shinar; and it will be established and set there" and so forth (Zechariah 5:9-11). And why is its name called Shinar? Because it shakes off (menaaret) all the iniquities from upon itself; therefore it is said, "to build for it a house in the land of Shinar." What is "and it will be established and set there upon its base"? Rather, this verse goes back and refers to the Tabernacle, which was hidden away in its place, and likewise the ark with the tablets that are within it, and the chest that the Philistines sent as a gift to the Holy One, blessed be He, and the rod of Aaron, and the flask of the anointing oil, and the jar of manna, as it is said, "And Moses said to Aaron: Take one jar and put there a full omer of manna" and so forth, "and Aaron laid it up before the Testimony to be kept" (Exodus 16:33-34), so that Jeremiah the prophet might say to them: This is the manna with which I fed Israel in the wilderness. The ark and the tablets within it, how so? As it is said, "These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire" and so forth (Deuteronomy 5:19); He said to them: These words are the Ten Commandments that I spoke with you at Sinai. And why was the Tabernacle hidden away until this day? Because the worthy ones made it with the freewill offerings of their heart, and it is hard before the Holy One, blessed be He, to let perish all that the worthy ones made with the freewill offerings of their heart; and in the time to come the Holy One, blessed be He, will come and dwell within it as in the first measure, as it is said, "Awake, north wind, and come, south wind" and so forth, "I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice" and so forth (Song of Songs 4:16-5:1). (Another interpretation:) "I have come to my garden," these are the synagogues and study houses; "my sister, my bride," this is the community of Israel; "I have gathered my myrrh with my spice," these are Torah, Prophets, and Writings; "I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey," these are midrash, halakhot, and aggadot; "I have drunk my wine with my milk," these are the good deeds that the sages of Israel look forward to; and afterward, "Eat, friends, drink and be drunk with love."

Another interpretation: "And God spoke all these words, saying: I am the LORD your God" (Exodus 20:1-2). Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, who chose them, Israel, more than all the idolaters, and acquired them as a complete acquisition, and called them sons and servants to His name. And sometimes He speaks with them in the plural, and sometimes He speaks with them in the singular. And why all this? Because of the love with which He loves Israel, and the joy in which He rejoices over them. And thus said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Israel: My children, I am the One who sat nine hundred and seventy-four generations before the world was created, until I expounded and investigated and refined and examined all the words of this Torah. And from the day the world was created until that hour I sit upon My throne of glory: a third of the day I read and study, a third of the day I judge the whole world entirely, and a third of the day I do charity and feed and sustain and provide for the whole world and all the work of My hands. I am the One who set aside all the seventy tongues that are on the earth and came and cleaved to you, and called you "gods," and made your name equal to My great name, and called you My brothers and My companions. I am He before the world was created, and I am He from the time the world was created; I am He in this world, and I am He in the world to come. "I, even I, am He; I put to death and I make alive; I have wounded and I will heal" (Deuteronomy 32:39), as it is said, "So that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He: before Me no god was formed, and after Me there shall be none. I, even I, am the LORD, and besides Me there is no savior" (Isaiah 43:10-11). And it is said, "Am I not the LORD, and there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a savior; there is none besides Me" (Isaiah 45:21). And it is said, "For I am God, and there is no other; God, and there is none like Me" (Isaiah 46:9). Another interpretation: "I am the LORD your God." This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, looked over the whole world from the beginning of the world to the end of the world, and He foresaw ten men who would spurn Him. And these are they: first, Micah; second, Jeroboam; third, the son of the Israelite woman; fourth, the wood-gatherer; fifth, Absalom; sixth, Joab; seventh, Samson; eighth, Achan; ninth, the witness against Naboth; tenth, Ahab. "I am the LORD your God": Micah spurned. "You shall have no other gods": Jeroboam spurned. "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain": the son of the Israelite woman spurned. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy": the wood-gatherer spurned. "Honor your father and your mother": Absalom spurned. "You shall not murder": Joab spurned. "You shall not commit adultery": Samson spurned. "You shall not steal": Achan spurned. "You shall not bear false witness": the witness against Naboth spurned. "You shall not covet": Ahab spurned. Another interpretation: "I am the LORD your God." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: If you uphold it, there will be fulfilled in you, "I said: You are gods" and so forth (Psalms 82:6); now that you have transgressed it, there is fulfilled in you, "Nevertheless you shall die like men" (Psalms 82:7). "You shall have none": if you uphold it, there will be fulfilled in you, "I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and establish My covenant with you" (Leviticus 26:9); now that you have transgressed it, there is fulfilled in you, "And I will set My face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies" (Leviticus 26:17). "You shall not take": if you uphold it, there will be fulfilled in you, "The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength: I will no more give your grain as food to your enemies" and so forth (Isaiah 62:8); now that you have transgressed it, there is fulfilled in you, "And the anger of the LORD be kindled against you" (Deuteronomy 11:17). "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy": if you uphold it, there will be fulfilled in you, "Then you shall take delight in the LORD" and so forth (Isaiah 58:14); now that you have transgressed it, there is fulfilled in you, "Then the land shall be appeased for its sabbaths" and so forth (Leviticus 26:34). "Honor your father and your mother" and so forth: if you uphold it, there will be fulfilled in you, "And nations shall see your righteousness" (Isaiah 62:2); now that you have transgressed it, there is fulfilled in you, "Therefore fathers shall eat sons" and so forth (Ezekiel 5:10). "You shall not murder": if you uphold it, there will be fulfilled in you, "And the sword shall not pass through your land" (Leviticus 26:6); now that you have transgressed it, there is fulfilled in you, "And I will draw out the sword after you" and so forth (Leviticus 26:33). "You shall not commit adultery": if you uphold it, there will be fulfilled in you, "Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and young men and old together" (Jeremiah 31:13); now that you have transgressed it, there is fulfilled in you, "I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery" and so forth (Hosea 4:14). "You shall not steal": if you uphold it, there will be fulfilled in you, "And you shall consume all the peoples" (Deuteronomy 7:16); now that you have transgressed it, there is fulfilled in you, "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me" and so forth (Jeremiah 51:34). "You shall not bear false witness": if you uphold it, there will be fulfilled in you, "And you are My witnesses, says the LORD" (Isaiah 43:12); now that you have transgressed it, there is fulfilled in you, "What shall I take to witness for you? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I compare you, that I may comfort you?" and so forth (Lamentations 2:13). "You shall not covet your neighbor's house" and so forth: if you uphold it, there will be fulfilled in you, "And no man shall covet your land" and so forth (Exodus 34:24); now that you have transgressed it, there is fulfilled in you, "And they covet fields and seize them" and so forth (Micah 2:2). Another interpretation: "I am the LORD your God," Joseph upheld, as it is said, "And Joseph said to them: Do not fear, for am I in place of God?" (Genesis 50:19). "You shall have no" and so forth, Jacob upheld, as it is said, "And Jacob said to his household" and so forth, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you" and so forth (Genesis 35:2). "You shall not take," Joseph upheld, as it is said, "By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go out from here" (Genesis 42:15); and is this not a matter of inference from minor to major: if when he swore by a mortal king he kept his oath, then if one swears by the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, how much more so. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," Joseph upheld, as it is said, "And he said to the one over his house: Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and prepare it" and so forth (Genesis 43:16). And "prepare" means only for the Sabbath, as it is said, "And it shall be on the sixth day, that they shall prepare what they bring in" (Exodus 16:5). And what is "and slaughter an animal"? It teaches that Joseph said to the slaughterer: Uncover the place of slaughter before them and separate before them the sinew of the thigh-vein. Another interpretation: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah upheld, as it is said, "For thus says the LORD to the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths" (Isaiah 56:4). "Honor your father and your mother," Joseph upheld, as it is said, "And Israel said to Joseph: Are not your brothers pasturing in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them" and so forth (Genesis 37:13). Another interpretation: "Honor your father and your mother," Isaac upheld, who was cast down before his father like a lamb to the slaughter. "You shall not murder," Joseph upheld, who did not heed Potiphar's wife to kill Potiphar. "You shall not commit adultery," Joseph upheld, as it is said, "And how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9). And what does "against God" come to teach? It teaches that he swore to his inclination by God and said: By God, I will not do this thing. Another interpretation: "You shall not commit adultery," Boaz upheld, as it is said, "Lie down for the night" and so forth (Ruth 3:13). "You shall not steal," Joseph upheld, as it is said, "And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt" and so forth (Genesis 47:14). Another interpretation: "You shall not steal," the tribes upheld, as it is said, "Behold, the money that we found in the mouth of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan; how then should we steal silver or gold from your master's house?" (Genesis 44:8). "You shall not bear false witness" and so forth, and "You shall not covet," Abraham upheld, as it is said, "And Abram said to the king of Sodom: I have lifted up my hand to the LORD, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or a sandal-strap, nor anything that is yours" and so forth, "except only what the young men have eaten" and so forth (Genesis 14:22-24). Another interpretation: "I am the LORD your God," and "You shall have none," and "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain": what has this to do with that? Rather, it is to teach you that anyone who is accustomed to vain oaths and false oaths, it is as though he worships idolatry, and he gives no satisfaction before the One who spoke and the world came into being, and he does not accept upon himself the complete yoke of the kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who is not accustomed to vain oaths and false oaths gives satisfaction before the Holy One, blessed be He, and accepts upon himself the complete yoke of the kingdom of Heaven. Woe to the wicked, who through their corrupt deeds bring themselves to disqualification and become poor until the day of their death, as it is said, "I have brought it forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall come into the house of the thief and into the house of him who swears falsely by My name, and it shall lodge within his house and consume it, both its timber and its stones" (Zechariah 5:4). "I have brought it forth" without delay, "and it shall come into the house of the thief," this is one who steals the minds of others; "and of him who swears falsely by My name," according to its plain meaning. For all the transgressions in the Torah, if one transgresses them, payment is exacted from him through his body, but for a vain oath payment is exacted from him through his body and through his money. Therefore it is said, "and consume it, both its timber and its stones." And not only that, but the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself testifies against him, as it is said, "And I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage of the hired worker, the widow, and the orphan" and so forth (Malachi 3:5). And it says, "And I am the One who knows and a witness, says the LORD" (Jeremiah 29:23). Another interpretation: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain," and "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy": what has this to do with that? Rather, it is to teach you that anyone who is accustomed to vain and false oaths does not accept upon himself the complete yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, and one who is not accustomed to vain and false oaths accepts upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who is accustomed to vain and false oaths does not inherit the life of the world to come, and anyone who is not accustomed to vain and false oaths inherits the life of the world to come. Therefore let a person not say in his heart to himself: I will be God-fearing and love the Holy One, blessed be He, on the condition that I transgress one of all the commandments stated in the Torah; for this is a bad sign and a bad portion, and harsh decrees come upon him. Rather thus let a person say in his heart: I will be God-fearing and love the Holy One, blessed be He, on the condition that I do not transgress even one of all the commandments stated in the Torah; and this is a good sign and a good portion for him, and no sin comes about through him. Know that this is so: for when Israel were in the wilderness, what was said of them? "And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day" (Numbers 15:32-33). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Why did this one profane the Sabbath? Moses said before Him: Master of the universe, I do not know. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: I will tell you. On all six weekdays Israel has phylacteries on his head and on his arm and sees them and turns back from his deeds; but now, on the Sabbath day, when he has no phylacteries on his head and on his arm, therefore this one profaned the Sabbath. At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Moses, go and choose for them one commandment which they may observe on Sabbaths and festivals: this is the commandment of the fringes, as it is said, "Speak to the children of Israel" and so forth, "and they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations" and so forth, "and you shall see it and remember all the commandments of the LORD" and so forth (Numbers 15:38-39). And "throughout their generations" (le-dorotam, read as le-dor tam, "for the perfect generation") means only the perfect generation, and "the perfect one" (tam) means only Jacob, as it is said, "And Jacob was a perfect man" (Genesis 25:27): perfect from robbery, perfect from sexual immorality, perfect from bloodshed. Therefore they brought it and placed it beside the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, which is grave, for they begin "Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one" and they conclude "and they shall make for themselves fringes" and so forth. From this you have learned that the light among the commandments is like the grave one, and the grave one is like the light. Another interpretation: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." With what do you sanctify it? With Scripture and Mishnah, with food and drink and clean clothing and rest; for anyone who delights in the Sabbath, it is as though he honors the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "And you shall call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable" (Isaiah 58:13), to teach you: if you have called the Sabbath a delight, then it is the holy day of the LORD honorable. And even though Rabbi Akiva said, "Make your Sabbath ordinary rather than be dependent on others," nonetheless a person should take a little meat and a little wine, and not increase meat and wine to excess; and if he increased meat and wine to excess, Scripture testifies against him: "Do not be among those who drink too much wine, among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton come to poverty" (Proverbs 23:20-21). And if a person did not merit to ask for mercy concerning words of Torah, that they enter into his innards, nonetheless let him ask for mercy concerning excessive eating and drinking, that they not enter into his innards, as it is said, "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction" (Isaiah 48:10): just as this furnace, even if you put into it all the wood in the world, it burns it and ruins it, so a person's gullet, even if you put into it all the fine foods in the world, it swallows them and ruins them. There was an incident with Rabbi Judah the Prince, who said at the hour of his death: It is revealed and known before the Holy One, blessed be He, that I labored in Torah with all ten of my fingers, and I did not eat nor take pleasure in this world even with one of my smallest fingers; and never did I say, I will go and eat and drink and take pleasure from this world, and afterward go out from the pleasures of this world, departing from this world to the world to come; rather, I made for myself eating and drinking only as much as my life required, and I engaged in Torah all the days of my life. Therefore now grant me rest in my eternal home. What did they answer him? "He shall enter into peace; they shall rest on their couches, each one who walks straight" (Isaiah 57:2). And of everyone who does so, Scripture says, "Good is the man who is gracious and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice" (Psalms 112:5). From here you have heard that the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, the holiness of the Sabbath, and the holiness of Israel, all three are reckoned as one. Concerning the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, what is written? "But You are holy, enthroned upon the praises of Israel; in You our fathers trusted" and so forth (Psalms 22:4-5). And concerning the holiness of the Sabbath, what is written? "And you shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you" (Exodus 31:14). And concerning the holiness of Israel, what is written? "Israel is holy to the LORD, the first of His harvest" (Jeremiah 2:3). From here they said: In the time to come, in the days of the son of David, the teeth of Israel's eaters will be drawn out twenty-four cubits, and the Sages say thirty-three cubits. And why is thirty-three different from twenty-four? Rather, it corresponds to the nine months of a pregnant woman and the twenty-four of nursing women, a single cubit corresponding to each and every month. And why specifically corresponding to the pregnant and the nursing? Rather, it is to tell you: just as this infant has its strength because it nurses from its mother for the nine months of the days of her pregnancy and afterward nurses milk from its mother's breasts all those twenty-four months, and even if its mother dies it has no concern for her. Another interpretation: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," and "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long": and what has this to do with that? Rather, it is to teach you that as long as a person honors his father and his mother, no sin of profaning the Sabbath, nor any other sin at all, comes about through him; and if he sinned, it is forgiven him, as it is said, "Happy is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds fast to it, who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it" (Isaiah 56:2); do not read "from profaning it" (mehallelo) but "it is forgiven him" (mahul lo). And it says, "And the LORD said: Because this people draws near with its mouth and with its lips it honors Me, but its heart is far from Me, and their fear of Me is a commandment of men learned by rote" and so forth (Isaiah 29:13).

Another interpretation: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Honor your father and your mother..." Let a man not say: Since my Father in Heaven came first, I will do the will of my Father in Heaven and honor Him, and set aside the honor of my father and mother. Therefore it says (Proverbs 3:9-10): "Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the first of all your produce, and your barns will be filled with plenty." And it says: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long." Likewise let a man not say: Since my Father in Heaven came first, I will do the will of my Father in Heaven and fear Him, and set aside the fear of my father and mother. Therefore it says (Deuteronomy 6): "You shall fear the LORD your God," and it says (Leviticus 19:3): "Every man shall fear his mother and his father." Therefore, when a person curses his father and mother or strikes them, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, folds His legs beneath the throne of His glory and says: I made My honor equal to the honor of these, for the three of them are weighed as one. Had I been among them, they would have done this to Me. I did well that I do not dwell with them in one neighborhood. From this you learn: whoever seeks days and years and wealth and honor and long life in this world and in the world to come, life that has no end or limit, let him do the will of his Father in Heaven and the will of his father and mother. Therefore it says: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long." Another interpretation: "Honor your father and your mother... and you shall not murder." What has "honor" to do with "you shall not murder"? It teaches you: if a man has food in his house and does not honor and feed and support his father and mother even in their youth, and all the more in their old age, it is reckoned to him as though he were a murderer all his days before the Holy One, blessed be He. Therefore it says, "Honor...," "you shall not murder." Another interpretation: "Honor... and you shall not commit adultery." What has this to do with that? It teaches you: if a man has the means and does not honor and support his father and mother, it is reckoned to him as though he committed adultery all his days before the Holy One, blessed be He. Another interpretation: "Honor... and you shall not steal." It teaches: if a man has the means and does not honor and support his father and mother, it is reckoned to him as though he stole souls all his days before the Omnipresent. Another interpretation: "Honor... and you shall not bear false witness." It teaches: if a man has the means and does not honor and support his father and mother, it is as though he bore false witness all his days before the Omnipresent. Another interpretation: "Honor... and you shall not covet." It teaches: if a man has the means and does not honor and support his father and mother, it is as though he coveted the money of others all his days before the Omnipresent. And when a person honors and feeds and supports his father and mother in their youth and in their old age, to what is he likened? To a king to whom the son of his beloved friend came. The king said to him: My son, from where do you come? He said to him: From the house of my father and mother. He said to him: Your father and mother, what are they doing? He said to him: They departed in peace to their eternal home. The king said to him: My son, blessed are you, and may you have contentment in the world, because you gave rest to your father and mother until they departed in peace to their eternal home. Now come with me to my house and I will show you what your father and mother have stored up for you with me. So too, one who honors and feeds and supports his father and mother until they depart in peace to their eternal home, and also walks in the ways of Heaven and thereby gives contentment to his father and mother, the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: My son, come and see the treasures of Heaven that are stored up for you with Me, because you honored and supported your father and mother and gave Me contentment by your good deeds. As it says (Deuteronomy 28:2): "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, when you hearken to the voice of the LORD your God." When shall all these blessings come upon you? When you hearken to the voice of the LORD your God and walk in His ways, which are the ways of Heaven. And what are the ways of Heaven? That He is merciful and shows mercy even to the wicked and receives them in complete repentance, and feeds and supports all creatures; so you too be merciful to one another, supporting one another and showing one another a kindly face in goodness. Another interpretation: what are the ways of Heaven? That He is gracious and gives a free gift to those who know Him and to those who do not know Him; so you too give a free gift to one another. Another interpretation: what are the ways of Heaven? That He is abounding in kindness and inclines toward kindness; so you too incline toward goodness, to do good to one another more than evil.

When a person honors his father and mother in their youth, and all the more in their old age, this is expounded concerning him in the received tradition through Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 58:7): "Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and to bring the wandering poor into your house, when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?" How so? If a man has food in his house and wishes to make charity from it so that others may be supported from what is his, how shall he act? First let him support his father and mother; and if there is more left, let him support his brothers and sisters; and if there is more left, let him support the members of his family; and if there is more left, let him support the people of his neighborhood; and if there is more left, let him support the people of his alley; and from then on let him increase charity with the rest of Israel. Therefore it says afterward, "and bring the wandering poor into your house." "The wandering poor" - how so? When a person eats from what is his own, his heart is settled within him; but when he eats from what belongs to others, his heart is embittered within him, because he must eat from others. Happy is the man who walks in the ways of the Holy One and who has abundant food in his house, and his servants and household come and benefit from him at his table. Of him Scripture says (Psalms 128): "Happy is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall be well with you." Let one become like Aaron the High Priest, who set his intention on increasing peace in the world between Israel and their Father in Heaven, between a man and his fellow, and between a man and his wife. And let one become like David king of Israel, who set his intention on increasing charity in Israel. And let one become like Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, who gladdened the faces of his students with the law. Of him Scripture says (Isaiah 53): "From the travail of his soul he shall see and be satisfied." From here they said: the Torah scholar of the generation bears the iniquities of the generation in which he lives, privately, and no creature can recognize it except the Holy One alone; and of him Scripture says (Isaiah 53), "and he shall bear their iniquities." And if there are ten who have done such a deed, and all the more an entire congregation, the enemy cannot prevail over them, as it says (Isaiah 54:17): "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn; this is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication." "When you see the naked, cover him": just as the Holy One, may His great name be blessed forever and ever, saw the first man and Eve his wife who were naked, and did not wait even a single hour while they were naked but immediately clothed them, as it says (Genesis 3:21): "And the LORD God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin and clothed them," so likewise let a person not see his father and mother going about in worn garments, but let him clothe them in fine garments. If a man clothes himself for five maneh, let him clothe his father and mother for ten maneh, and so let him choose for them all the good ways. They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who had a servant who fled from him. The king pursued him through all the lands until he fell into his hand. When he came into his hand, the king brought him into his house and showed him silver and gold and precious stones and pearls and all the good he had in his house. Afterward he took him out to the field and showed him gardens and orchards and all he had in the field. Afterward he showed him his sons and his servants, both great and small. After he showed him all these, the king said to him: You have seen that I need nothing from you; only come and do work with my sons and servants, and treat me with honor and fear me. So too the whole world belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Holy One asks of a person only that he honor his father and mother and fear them, for it is as though he honors the Holy One and fears Him, since the Holy One made His honor equal to the honor of father and mother, and made the fear of Him equal to the fear of father and mother, and like a servant toward his master, as it says (Malachi 1:6): "A son honors his father, and a servant his master." What is "To you, O priests, who despise My name" (Malachi 1:6)? When Israel offer turtledoves and young pigeons and bring the rest of the lesser holy offerings, but do not do the will of the Omnipresent, what is said of them? "To you, O priests, who despise My name." And even if a father's spittle runs down on his beard, let the son heed him at once. One might think that even if his father said to him, Transgress one of all the commandments stated in the Torah, he should heed him; one might think he should heed him in all matters. Scripture comes to teach: in everything he should heed him, except for transgression and robbery and a repulsive matter. Therefore it says, "To you, O priests, who despise My name." What is "and do not hide yourself from your own flesh"? They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To one who was imprisoned in a prison overseas for nine months, and three men came to him: one of them stood and sustained him in the prison, one of them took him out of the prison, and one of them gave him food until he reached an inhabited place. In time the three of them happened to be together before him. Let that man not say in his heart: This one is greater than that, and that one is greater than this; rather let him treat all three of them with honor as one.

Another interpretation: "Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?" There is no hunger except hunger for words of Torah, and there is no bread except words of Torah, as it says (Amos 8): "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread nor a thirst for water, but to hear the words of the LORD." From here they said: if a person understands words of Torah, let him sustain others also from his Torah, so that his wisdom may increase for him and they add to it for him. And whoever does so is not held back from the good that is destined to come upon Israel in the days of the son of David, and of him Scripture says (Psalms 50): "To him who orders his way I will show the salvation of God." "Way" - this is Torah, as it says (Deuteronomy 5): "In all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, you shall walk, that you may live and that it may be well with you." And "salvation" refers only to the days of the son of David, as it says (Isaiah 51): "My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth." But if a person has words of Torah and does not sustain others from his Torah, he brings evil upon himself, for in the end the wisdom of his Torah is diminished in his hand, and needless to say, they do not add to it for him; and of him Scripture says (Proverbs 11): "He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing is on the head of him who sells it." If so, "and bring the wandering poor into your house" - how so? If a person has words of Torah and sufferings come upon him, his heart is settled within him; but if a person has no words of Torah and sufferings come upon him, his heart is embittered within him. Rather, how should he act? Let him justify the judgment upon himself. How so? If he is hungry and thirsty and naked and has no food, and is alive and surviving on the face of the earth only with meager bread and scant water, naked and lacking everything, let him say: Thus and thus is written in the Torah (Deuteronomy 28): "Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and goodness of heart, out of the abundance of all things, you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst and nakedness and want of all things, and He will put a yoke of iron upon your neck until He destroys you." Therefore let the great and holy King, who lives and endures forever and ever, be blessed and praised, blessed be He and blessed be His name forever and ever, who gave me life in the world and did not destroy me from the face of the earth. And so David said: Were it not for the words of Your Torah that comfort me when sufferings come upon me, I would already have uprooted myself from the world, as it says (Psalms 119): "Had Your Torah not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction." Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, who chose the words of the sages and their students and fulfills concerning them: by the measure a person measures, so it is measured to him. Just as they sit in synagogues and study houses and in every place that is free for them, reading and learning for the sake of Heaven, with fear in their hearts, and uphold words of Torah upon their lips, so too the Holy One, blessed be He, sits opposite them and reveals to them the secrets of the Torah upon their lips and in their hearts, and concerning them is fulfilled what is said (Deuteronomy 30): "For the matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it." Happy is the person who has words of Torah, who sits and reads and learns in a modest and hidden place. With whom does he lodge? With the Holy One, blessed be He, as it says (Psalms 91): "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High abides in the shadow of the Almighty." Just as they make themselves solitary in this world with no stranger among them, so too in the world to come they sit beside the Holy One alone with no stranger among them; of them Scripture says (Psalms 68): "God settles the solitary in a home, He brings out the prisoners into prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land." And "prisoners" refers only to Torah scholars who bind themselves to the Omnipresent in the study house, to Scripture and Mishnah and Talmud and Midrash and laws and homilies. And it says (Isaiah 49): "saying to the prisoners, Go forth, to those in darkness, Show yourselves" - "saying to the prisoners, Go forth," these are the unlearned who have decency and the rest of the commandments and strengthen the hands of the Torah scholars and keep themselves far from transgression and robbery and every repulsive matter; "to those in darkness, Show yourselves," these are Torah scholars who dwell in a place unfit for them. Another interpretation: "God settles the solitary in a home." The Holy One, blessed be He, brought Israel out of Egypt only for the sake of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah: as reward that Sarah took Hagar and brought her up to Abraham's bed; and as reward that they said to Rebecca (Genesis 24), "Will you go with this man?" and she said, "I will go," and placed her trust in the Holy One; and as reward that Rachel took Bilhah and brought her up to Jacob's bed; and as reward that Leah took Zilpah and brought her up to Jacob's bed. Therefore it says, "God settles the solitary in a home, He brings out the prisoners into prosperity." If so, "when you see the naked, cover him" - how so? If you saw a person who has no words of Torah, bring him into your house and teach him the recitation of the Shema and prayer, and teach him one verse each day or one law, and urge him on in the commandments; for there is no naked one in Israel except one who has no Torah and commandments, who is like one who is naked. And so you find with the congregation of Israel in Egypt, as it says (Ezekiel 16): "And you grew up and became great and came to excellent beauty; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown, but you were naked and bare." Do not read "excellent beauty" but "ornament of ornaments," because she was emptied of the commandments and had in her only two commandments, one the blood of the Passover and one the blood of circumcision, as it says (Ezekiel 16): "And I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, and I said to you, In your blood, live, and I said to you, In your blood, live." What is written afterward? "But you were naked and bare." What is "And I passed by you and saw you, and behold, your time was the time of love"? When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Abraham our father (Genesis 22), "Take now your son, your only one," Abraham at once heeded the words of the Holy One and did all that He commanded him; therefore it says, "and behold, your time was the time of love." Another interpretation: when Isaac said to Abraham his father, Bind me well and set me upon the woodpile lest I kick against you and be found liable for two deaths before the Holy One - and he was a young man standing in his strength, thirty-seven years old - therefore it says, "and behold, your time was the time of love." Another interpretation: when the Holy One found all twelve tribes who all did the will of Jacob their father, as it says (Hosea 9), "Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel" - do not read "Israel" but "He saw God," that all their deeds were directed toward Him - therefore it says, "and behold, your time was the time of love." "And I spread My wing over you," this is the Torah; "and covered your nakedness," this is the kingdom of Heaven; "and I swore to you," this is the dwelling of forty years in the wilderness; "and I entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became Mine," this is the second dwelling in the Tabernacle at Shiloh. What is "and do not hide yourself from your own flesh"? Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, said to this person: My son, all the days that I have set you upon the face of the earth, do good deeds and study Torah, and keep yourself far from transgression and from a repulsive matter; therefore it says, "and do not hide yourself from your own flesh." Another interpretation: "and do not hide yourself from your own flesh": one who has a Torah scholar in his neighborhood and knows of him that he reads for the sake of Heaven and learns for the sake of Heaven, and feeds and supports and sustains him, is found to be upholding and giving life to that scholar and his wife and children and all that is his and all his relatives in the family; therefore it says, "and do not hide yourself from your own flesh." Another interpretation: "and do not hide yourself from your own flesh": if a man married a woman and found in her some fault and divorced her, and in the end she became poor, let him support her according to his ability, as much as he can; therefore it says, "and do not hide yourself from your own flesh." Let a person always look upon himself and know that after a short while there is death; therefore let him lift his eyes to Heaven and say in his heart: Who created these, the sun and moon, stars and constellations and the four winds of the world and all the work of creation, all of which rise early and set late to do the will of their Creator? So you too rise early and stay late at words of Torah and to do the will of the Holy One every day continually, and be like the sun and moon that give light to many, as it says (Isaiah 58): "Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily." This is your reward for the light matter; but the reward for the weighty matter is what is said afterward (Isaiah 58): "And your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall gather you in; then you shall call and the LORD will answer, you shall cry and He will say, Here I am." And just as you did My will in My Torah every day continually, so I will give you an opening of the mouth in clear Torah that no one can refute; and if you see yourself in clear Torah that no one can refute, at once your bones will be invigorated in the commandment, as it says (Isaiah 58): "And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones," and then you shall be like a spring drawing from the garden, watering figs and grapes and pomegranates and all kinds of delicacies, as it says (Isaiah 58): "And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail."

...out of love. How so? Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, loves Israel and loves the Torah scholars most of all, as it says (Deuteronomy 7): "Not because you were more numerous than all the peoples did the LORD desire you and choose you... but because the LORD loved you," and it says (Malachi 1): "I have loved you, says the LORD" - so let a person love Israel and love the Torah scholars most of all. Whence the love of a person for the Omnipresent? The love of a person for the Omnipresent is a weighty commandment of the Torah, for the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven is written beside love, as it says (Deuteronomy 6): "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one." From here they said: whoever recites the Shema and makes his voice heard to his own ears is praiseworthy, and whoever prays and makes his voice heard to his own ears, this one bears false witness; and some say he is lacking in faith. Another interpretation (Deuteronomy 6): "And you shall love the LORD your God" - that you should make the name of Heaven beloved among the creatures: that you should know words of Torah and read and learn words of Torah, and that your dealings with people should be in good faith, so that people who see you will say: Happy is so-and-so who learned Torah; how pleasant are his deeds, how fine are his ways! Woe to the one who did not learn Torah. By the Temple service, we too shall learn Torah and teach our children Torah, and the name of Heaven is found sanctified through him; and of him Scripture says (Isaiah 49): "And He said to me, You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." But when a person reads and learns words of Torah and his dealings are not gentle with people and his business is not in good faith, they say of him: See so-and-so who learned Torah; how evil are his deeds, how repulsive are his ways! By the Temple service, we will not learn Torah nor teach our children Torah; and the name of Heaven is found profaned through him; and of him Scripture says (Ezekiel 36): "And they profaned My holy name when it was said of them, These are the people of the LORD, yet they had to leave His land." The Torah was given only in order to sanctify His great name. From here they said: let a person keep himself far from robbery, whether from a Jew or from an idolater; and moreover, because whoever steals from an idolater will in the end steal from a Jew, and if he swears falsely to an idolater he will in the end swear falsely to a Jew, and if he deceives an idolater he will in the end deceive a Jew, and if he sheds blood of an idolater he will in the end shed blood of a Jew. And the Torah was given only to sanctify His great name, as it says (Isaiah 66): "And I will set a sign among them and send from them survivors... and they shall declare My glory among the nations." What is the difference between one who serves the Holy One out of love and one who serves out of fear? They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who had to go overseas and sought to entrust his son to a wicked guardian. His friends and attendants said to him: Do not entrust him to his hand. But the king disregarded the words of his friends and attendants and entrusted his son to the wicked guardian. The guardian had two servants: one of them loved the king and feared the king, and one of them feared the king but did not love the king. The one who loved the king and feared him went and planted gardens and orchards and all kinds of delicacies; but the one who feared the king and did not love him did nothing. In time a letter came to them from the king by the hand of a messenger, that the king would come within a short while to see their work and their labor. When the one who loved entered his house and saw the figs and grapes and all kinds of delicacies, his mind was at ease toward the joy of the king, that the king would rejoice with him over his good work. But the one who feared the king and did nothing, when he entered his house and saw all kinds of ruin, was shaken before the sorrow and anger of the king against him. Therefore it says (Psalms 111): "He has given food to those who fear Him" - this is the attribute of justice; but of the one who fears and does Torah and commandments out of fear it says (Psalms 111): "He remembers His covenant forever" - this is the world to come, with Torah; and what is written before it? "He has made a memorial for His wonders; gracious and merciful is the LORD" - this is this world, with Torah; this is the reward of the one who fears. But the reward of the one who loves, whence? Scripture says, "You shall have no other gods..." (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). From this you learn that the reward of the one who loves is two portions, and the reward of the one who fears is one portion. Therefore the idolaters did not merit to enjoy anything but this world alone, but Israel merited to enjoy two worlds, this world and the world to come. But the sages taught in the Mishnah: Rabbi Elazar of Modiin says: One who profanes the holy things, and despises the festivals, and shames his fellow in public, and breaks the covenant of Abraham our father, and reveals faces of Torah not according to the law - even though he has Torah and good deeds, he has no portion in the world to come. Master of the world, I am the atonement of Israel in all their dwelling places. It is revealed and known before You that Israel circumcise their sons and read and learn and enter the covenant only because of their love for their Father in Heaven; therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Even if all the idolaters stood and gave all their silver and gold and all their good treasures and said, Give us the crown of the house of Aaron and the crown of the house of David, I would not give them even one thing from the spoil of the Torah, as it says (Song of Songs 8): "Many waters cannot quench love... if a man gave all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned." And the sages taught in the Mishnah: every love that depends on a thing, when the thing ceases the love ceases; and one that does not depend on a thing never ceases. Which is the love that depends on a thing? This is the love of Balaam and Balak. And which is the love that does not depend on a thing? Such as the love of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who love the Holy One, and the Holy One loves them and their children and their children's children until the end of all generations. When Noah and his sons came into the world, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Shem son of Noah: Shem My beloved, had My Torah been among the first ten generations, you would say I had already destroyed My world because of them; now that all the nations have been created, I will see whether they accept My Torah upon themselves; go and prophesy to them. Then Shem son of Noah prophesied to the nations four hundred years, and the nations did not accept from him. From then on there prophesied to the nations Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, Job from the land of Uz, Beor the father of Balaam, and Balaam, who was the last of them all. And the Holy One, blessed be He, left nothing in the world that He did not reveal to Balaam. And why? Because it was revealed and known before Him, may His name be blessed, that all the nations who deny the Torah would one day say before Him, may His name be blessed, on the day of judgment: Master of the world, had You given us a prophet like Moses, we would have accepted Your Torah. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them Balaam, who was loftier in wisdom than Moses. Moses exceeded Balaam in one matter, and Balaam exceeded Moses in one matter. Moses exceeded Balaam in one matter: of Moses it says (Leviticus 1), "And He called to Moses," but of Balaam it is written (Numbers 23), "And God chanced upon Balaam"; of Moses it says (Deuteronomy 5), "And you, stand here with Me," but of Balaam it says (Numbers 24), "fallen down, with eyes uncovered." And Balaam exceeded Moses in one matter: of Moses it says (Exodus 33), "Show me now Your ways," but of Balaam it says (Numbers 24), "and knows the knowledge of the Most High"; of Moses it says (Exodus 33), "Show me now Your glory," but of Balaam it says, "who sees the vision of the Almighty." See what is written concerning Balaam (Micah 6): "My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam son of Beor answered him." Balaam came to Balak only to curse Israel. Go and learn from his first words that Balaam spoke when Balak sent messengers to Balaam, as it says (Numbers 22): "And he sent messengers to Balaam... and now come, curse for me this people." Balaam should have said to Balak's messengers that he did not wish to curse Israel; but he did not do so. Rather, he rejoiced greatly to curse Israel more than Balak sought, and sleep did not come upon him all that night, as it says (Numbers 22): "And he said to them, Lodge here tonight... and God came to Balaam." And when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Balaam that he should go with them, as it says (Numbers 22), "If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them," he should have said: Master of the world, You are not a man that You should lie, nor a son of man that You should loathe the work of Your hands; these beloved ones, the children of Your beloved, are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who did Your will in Your Torah. But he did not do so; rather, he rejoiced greatly and rose early to go at once, as it says (Numbers 22), "And Balaam rose in the morning." What is written afterward? "And the anger of God was kindled because he was going." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to His retinue: See this one who knows that I recognize all the thoughts in the heart of each and every one, and now he goes to curse Israel; therefore it says, "And the anger of God was kindled." When Balaam came to Balak, Balaam should have said to Balak: Why do you concern yourself with these matters, to make war with Israel, that you may find through them great blows and perish from the world? But he did not do so; rather he said to Balak: Shem son of Noah prophesied four hundred years to all the nations and they did not accept from him; from then on prophesied Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, Job from the land of Uz, my father Beor, and I, the last of them all; and I tell you what their fathers did. Each one of them arose and built an altar and offered upon it three times each year, each a bull and each a ram. But you, "build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams" (Numbers 23). At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, sat and laughed at him; therefore it says, "My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam son of Beor answered him." What is written afterward? "With what shall I come before the LORD and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams?... He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: only to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." And if you should say, such is the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He, that if He asks for food and drink none can stand before Him - is it not said (Numbers 28), "The one lamb you shall offer in the morning"? And is there hunger before Him? Is it not already said (Psalms 50): "Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, and your burnt offerings are continually before Me; I will take no bull from your house... If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine and its fullness. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving." If so, why did the Holy One, blessed be He, ordain two lambs, one in the morning and one toward evening? Only so that they would set a remembrance of us and a remembrance of our fathers before Him. And thus the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: My beloved children, have I lacked anything that I should ask of you? And what do I ask of you? Only that you love one another and honor one another and fear one another, and that there be found in you no transgression and robbery and repulsive matter, so that you never come to disqualification. Therefore it says, "He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: only to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." Do not read "and to walk humbly with your God" but "and walk humbly, your God is with you": as long as you walk with Him in modesty, He too will be with you in modesty. Therefore it says, "and to walk humbly with your God."

Scripture says, "Do not gaze at me because I am swarthy, because the sun has scorched me; my mother's sons were angry with me" (Song of Songs 1:6). The Congregation of Israel said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, no creature has sinned against me except my own mother's sons. Know that this is so, for a tree is uprooted only by one of its own kind, and meat goes foul only from within itself. Rabbi Ishmael would offer a parable. To what may the matter be compared? To a king's daughter whose brothers grew angry with her and drove her into the field to gather grain. The sun seized her and her face was blackened like the bottom of a pot, and her companions mocked her, saying, "Is this the king's daughter you call lovely and praiseworthy?" She answered, "Because my brothers grew angry with me and sent me into the field to gather grain, the sun seized me and my face was blackened like the bottom of a pot." So the Congregation of Israel said: Master of all worlds, who brought me to this state? The sons of my own nation caused it. Therefore it says, "my mother's sons were angry with me" - do not read "my mother's sons" [benei immi] but "the sons of my nation" [benei ummati]. From within mercy, how so? Just as the Holy One, blessed be He - may His great Name be blessed forever and ever - shows His mercy to Israel in all their dwellings, and His mercy to the poor and the needy and the lowly and the destitute, to orphans in their season and to widows everywhere, so should a person be merciful to Israel and to all these, so that his own wife not become a widow and his children orphans, as it says, "You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict them..." and "your wives shall become widows and your children orphans" (Exodus 22:21-23). From here they said: let a person perform the commandments of the Torah with joy, and it will be reckoned to him as charity, as it says, "For I said, the world is built on lovingkindness; in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness" (Psalms 89:3) - just as the world grows and is built only through charity, as it says, "In righteousness you shall be established" (Isaiah 54:14). Of these David, king of Israel, peace be upon him, said, "I beseech You, O LORD, deliver my soul" (Psalms 116:4); and it says, "For the LORD your God is a merciful God" (Deuteronomy 4:31); and it says, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger" (Exodus 34:6). Moses asked before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said before Him: Master of the universe, by what standard do You judge the world? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: With long patience. Moses said to Him: But they eat and drink and kick against You and Your Torah out of their well-being. The Holy One, blessed be He, was silent and said nothing to him, until a great matter came upon Israel through the spies. The Holy One said, "How long will this people spurn Me, and how long will they refuse to believe in Me? I will strike them with pestilence and dispossess them, and make of you a nation greater and mightier than they" (Numbers 14:11-12). Moses said before the Holy One, blessed be He, "The Egyptians will hear... and now, let the power of my Lord be great, as You have spoken, saying, the LORD is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness" (Numbers 14:13, 17). The Holy One said to Moses: Now you have recourse to the very words I spoke to you at first. Moses said: It is true, I have recourse to Your first words - "and now let the power of the LORD be great... pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, and as You have forgiven this people from Egypt until now." At once, "the LORD said, I have pardoned according to your word" (Numbers 14:19-20). What is "according to your word"? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Even though I have pardoned, nonetheless the decree still stands in its place. From here they said: anyone who recognizes words of Torah and transgresses them is a complete wicked person, for Israel should have said to their leaders, "We will not listen to you, for from Egypt He brought us up in peace; He gave us the silver and gold and all the good treasures of the Egyptians, and He even killed their firstborn while we lay down in peace." But they did not do so. Rather, once they came up from the Sea they pressed Moses with words, and afterward they said, "Let us send men ahead of us to spy out [the land]" (Deuteronomy 1:22). Moses was afraid before the LORD and said: Perhaps it is not the will of the Holy One in this matter, for He Himself in His own glory goes before them, as it says, "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way, and by night in a pillar of fire" (Exodus 13:21). Were Scripture not written it would be impossible to say it. And they sought to send spies to search out the land, as it says, "And you all approached me and said, Let us send men ahead of us to search out the land for us" (Deuteronomy 1:22). At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Send for yourself men, that they may scout the land of Canaan" (Numbers 13:2). What is "Send for yourself"? Send by your own knowledge and not by Mine. Another interpretation: "Send for yourself" - you need to send and I do not need to send; you need to scout and I do not need to scout. Moses sent ten of their princes, with Joshua and Caleb among them. Moses said to them: Do not enter like thieves. If they ask you, "Why have you come upon us?" tell them, "We have come for five figs and five pomegranates and one cluster of grapes." And if they say, "Perhaps you have come to cut down the trees of idolatry and to chop down the sacred tree," tell them, "No." They entered as messengers and went out as donkeys. They reached Hebron and took from there five figs and five pomegranates and one cluster of grapes. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of the giant [Anak], heard of them and came out toward them. Sheshai let out a single shout at them and they fell on their faces to the ground, and the giants began blowing into their nostrils and fanning their faces until their minds were settled again. Afterward they said to them, "Why have you come upon us? Perhaps to cut down our trees and the sacred tree of idolatry? But the whole world belongs to your God; to whom He wishes He gives it." They answered, "No." [The giants] sent them off in peace and did not kill them, for the Holy One left over some of the Canaanites until the destruction of the latter Temple. Some say, until that very hour - and there is no need to speak of the Gibeonites who remained there. When Moses and Israel heard that the spies had come, he entered and sat in his great study hall, and all Israel sat before him over twelve mil, and on every side Israel heard the voice of Moses up to the boundary of twelve mil. When the spies came they made room for them and they sat among them. Israel said to the spies, "Why are you sitting? Tell us what you have in hand." At once they opened their mouths and said, "The land through which we passed to scout it is a land that devours its inhabitants... and there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak" (Numbers 13:32-33). Immediately, "the whole community raised their voices and the people wept that night" (Numbers 14:1) and complained against Moses and Aaron, and they said one to another, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt" (Numbers 14:4).

Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, before whom there is no favoritism. Because of that needless weeping that Israel wept, weeping was fixed for them for the generations. And throughout all those thirty-eight years - I call heaven and earth to witness against me - it was not in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, to put to death those ten princes of Israel, except that they ran after Moses and Aaron to stone them with stones, until they were drawn in and entered beneath the clouds of glory, beneath the wings of the Divine Presence, as it says, "And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembled congregation of the children of Israel... and Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of those who scouted the land, tore their garments and said... the land through which we passed to scout it is exceedingly, exceedingly good... and the whole congregation said to pelt them with stones" (Numbers 14:5-10). Come and see what Israel did and what they brought forth from their lips, and afterward they sought to go up to the land, as it says, "They rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, Here we are, we will go up to the place of which the LORD spoke, for we have sinned" (Numbers 14:40). What is written after it? "Moses said, Why do you transgress the mouth of the LORD? It will not succeed... yet they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain... and the Amalekite and the Canaanite who dwelt on that mountain came down and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah" (Numbers 14:41-45). At once they returned and sat in mourning as at first, as it says, "the people mourned greatly" (Numbers 14:39). From here they said: anyone placed under a ban below for one day, even though they release him, has no release above until three days; and anyone banned below for three days, even though they release him, has no release above until seven days; and anyone banned for seven days, no release above until thirty days; and anyone banned for thirty days, even though they release him, has no release above forever and ever. Therefore it says, "the people mourned greatly." At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Go and appease those poor ones whose hearts have already gone out of them. Moses said before Him: Master of the universe, with what shall I appease them? The Holy One said to Moses: Go and appease them with words of Torah, as it says, "And you shall say to them, When you come into the land of your dwellings... and you make a fire-offering to the LORD, a burnt-offering or a sacrifice" (Numbers 15:2-3). At that moment there was a great quarrel between Israel and the proselytes. The Holy One said to Moses: Why have they made a quarrel one with another? Moses said before Him: Master of the universe, You know. The Holy One said to Moses: Did I not say to you, "And when a proselyte sojourns among you... one statute for you and for the proselyte who sojourns... as you are, so shall the proselyte be before the LORD" (Numbers 15:14-15)? From here they said: there are three qualities among proselytes. There is a proselyte like Abraham our father, and there is a proselyte likened to a donkey, and there is a proselyte like an idolater in every respect. How is there a proselyte like an idolater in every respect? If he has carrion and torn flesh, abominable creatures and creeping things in his house, he says in his heart, "When will I convert and be among Israel, whose food is good and who have festivals and Sabbaths? When these are used up in my house, I will force myself and convert." And if in the end he reverts to his old ways, sufferings come upon him for his own good and to save him; and as soon as he repents, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Just as I have loved you, so shall you love him, as it says, "You shall love the proselyte, for you were proselytes in the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 10:19). And how is there a proselyte likened to a donkey? Such as one who goes to marry a woman of Israel, and they tell him, "We will not accept you until you convert." He says in his heart, "I will force myself and convert." And if in the end he reverts to his old ways, sufferings come upon him for his own good and to save him; and as soon as he repents, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Just as he sought rest from you, so give him rest, as it says, "You shall not wrong a proselyte nor oppress him, for you were proselytes in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 22:20). And how is there a proselyte who is like Abraham our father? If he went and searched among all the nations, and once he sees that all the nations tell of the goodness of Israel, he says in his heart, "When will I convert and be like them and come beneath the wings of the Divine Presence?" Of him it says, "Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, The LORD will surely separate me from His people... and the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to serve Him and to love the Name of the LORD, to be His servants... I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar" (Isaiah 56:3, 6-7). Scripture says, "You shall not utter a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a corrupt witness... you shall not follow the many to do evil" (Exodus 23:1-2). This is a warning to those who receive slander. Another interpretation: this is a warning to a judge, that he not hear one litigant until his fellow litigant is with him, as it says, "the matter of both of them shall come before the judges" (Exodus 22:8); and likewise it is a warning to a litigant, that he not let the judge hear his words until his opponent is with him, as it says, "the two men who have the dispute shall stand before the LORD" (Deuteronomy 19:17). And likewise, if a man says to his fellow, "So-and-so my friend owes me two hundred zuz, and I have one witness; join with him and you take a maneh," he should answer, "Thus I make known to you: even if you give me all the silver and gold in the whole world in a single hour, I will not testify falsely; how can you say such a thing to me?" And all the people of Jerusalem would do this: they would not enter a banquet house until they knew who would enter with them, and they would not sign a deed until they knew who would sign with them. Rabbi Nathan said: but is not such a one a scheming witness, and is not such a one a wicked witness, as it says, "you shall do to him as he schemed to do to his fellow" (Deuteronomy 19:19)? Rather, it comes to teach you about robbers and the violent, that they are disqualified as witnesses. Similarly you may say, it is written, "and he was not an enemy to him, nor sought his harm" (Numbers 35:23) - "not an enemy to him nor seeking his harm" shall judge him, as it says, "and the congregation shall judge" (Numbers 35:24) - to disqualify enemies from sitting in judgment. I have here only enemies; from where do we learn that relatives are disqualified from sitting in judgment? Scripture teaches, "and the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood" (Numbers 35:24). Now you may reason: since the Torah said they are put to death by the mouth of two witnesses, and the Torah said they are put to death by the mouth of judges - just as with witnesses relatives are disqualified, so with judges relatives are disqualified. And further, it is an a fortiori argument: if with witnesses, by whose mouth the matters are not concluded, relatives are disqualified, then with judges, by whose mouth the matters are concluded, is it not right that relatives be disqualified? I have here only the murderer; from where do we learn the others liable to death? Scripture teaches, "upon these ordinances" (Numbers 35:24). One might think that just as capital cases require twenty-three, so monetary cases require twenty-three; Scripture teaches, "upon these ordinances" - these require twenty-three, but monetary cases do not require twenty-three. And further, it says, "the matter of both of them shall come before the judges" (Exodus 22:8). And from where do we learn that capital cases require twenty-three? Scripture teaches, "and the congregation shall judge" - that is ten; "and the congregation shall rescue" - that is another ten; here we have twenty. And from where the other three? You may reason: since the Torah said execute by the mouth of witnesses, and the Torah said execute by the mouth of judges - just as witnesses are two, so judges are two; and since a court may not be evenly balanced, they add one more, so here we have twenty-three men. But originally they used to say that capital cases require thirty, as it says, "and the congregation shall judge," "and the congregation shall rescue," "and the congregation shall restore him" (Numbers 35:24-25) - to teach you that capital cases require thirty.

"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."

Another interpretation: "my children have gone out from me and are no more" (Jeremiah 10:20) - and therefore the festivals are not as they should be. The Congregation of Israel said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, when I was on my own soil I would keep the festivals one day, and that was as it should be; now I keep them two days, and not one of them is as it should be. Master of the universe, who brought me to this state? These false prophets among my people, as it says, "my mother's sons were angry with me" (Song of Songs 1:6) - do not read "my mother's sons" but "the sons of my nation," and these are the sons of my nation, such as Hananiah son of Azzur and Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesied falsehood about me; therefore it says, "my mother's sons were angry with me." Another interpretation of "My tent is ravaged": Once Rabbi Zadok entered the Temple and saw it in ruins. He said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, my Father in heaven, You have laid waste Your city and burned Your temple, and You sit at ease and quiet and still. At once Rabbi Zadok dozed off and saw the Holy One, blessed be He, standing in mourning, and the ministering angels lamenting after Him and saying, "Alas, O faithful Jerusalem." And once again, Rabbi Nathan entered the Temple and found it in ruins with one wall standing. He said, "What is the nature of this wall?" One said to him, "I will show you." At once he took a ring and fixed it in that wall, and the ring kept going and coming until he saw the Holy One, blessed be He, bending down and straightening up, standing and wailing over the destruction of the Temple and over Israel who were exiled, as it says, "Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, because the mighty are ravaged" (Zechariah 11:2). And "cypress" means none other than the Holy One, blessed be He - may His Name be blessed and exalted forever and ever - as it says, "Their king passed before them, and the LORD at their head" (Micah 2:13). And what is "because the mighty are ravaged"? These are the mighty ones of Israel whom the plunderer ravaged, as it says, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, we also wept" (Psalms 137:1). What is "we also wept"? It does not say "there we sat and wept" but "we also wept" - this teaches that they wept, and afterward fell silent, and afterward wept again. What does "when we remembered Zion" teach? Once they remembered Zion they wept and let out a single bellow, and afterward "on the willows in its midst we hung up our harps; for there our captors asked of us words of song, and our tormentors asked for joy, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the song of the LORD on foreign soil?" (Psalms 137:2-4). There they bellowed a second time. This teaches that the Chaldeans piled up among them heaps upon heaps of slain because they had said to them, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion," and they answered, "How shall we sing the song of the LORD on foreign soil?" And they said to them, "Fools of the world, had we sung a song to the Holy One, blessed be He, we would not have been exiled from our land; so how shall we sing the song of the LORD on foreign soil?" They told a parable. To what may the matter be compared? To a king's daughter who married a king's son, and the prince her husband said to her, "Mix me the cup, and if not I will divorce you." She did not mix it for him; he arose and divorced her. In the end, after he divorced her, she went and married another man, stricken with boils, and he said to her, "Mix me the cup." She said to him, "Fool of the world, I was divorced from the king's son only because I did not mix him the cup; and you, who are not even like one of the slaves of his slaves, you tell me to mix you the cup?" So Israel, when the Chaldeans said to them, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion," said to them, "Fools of the world, how shall we sing?" Of that moment it says, "Can a woman forget her nursing child... even these may forget, yet I will not forget you" (Isaiah 49:14-15); and it says, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget" (Psalms 137:5) - My right hand, in which I gave Torah to Israel, as it is written, "from His right hand a fiery law for them" (Deuteronomy 33:2). And what is "may my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember you" (Psalms 137:6)? Measure for measure, because it is written of Israel, "the tongue of the suckling cleaves to its palate for thirst" (Lamentations 4:4); therefore He says, "may my tongue cleave to my palate." At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to destroy the entire world, and not the whole world alone but even the Throne of Glory He sought to overturn. At that moment the Holy One said: I will bring the heavens and clap them one against the other and destroy the whole world before them, as it says, "And I too will strike My hand against My hand" (Ezekiel 21:22). At that moment Nebuchadnezzar took counsel in his heart and said: I know that this nation returns in repentance, and the hand of their God is stretched out to those who repent; perhaps they will repent and He will accept them, and I will be found shamed. At once he set guards over them and they would press them at night so they could not repent, as it says, "Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky" (Lamentations 4:19); therefore it says, "My tent is ravaged... there is no one to pitch my tent again." Another interpretation of "My tent is ravaged": as it were, the Temple is built not by human hand but by the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, alone, as it says, "the sanctuary, O Lord, that Your hands established" (Exodus 15:17), and it says, "Awesome is God from Your sanctuaries" (Psalms 68:36). Another interpretation: "O God, nations have entered Your inheritance." Rabbi Yose the Galilean said: they told a parable. To what may the matter be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who had to go off to a country across the sea, and the king sought to hand his son into the care of a wicked guardian. His friends and servants said to him, "Our lord the king, do not hand your son into the care of the wicked guardian." The king disregarded the words of his friends and servants and handed his son into the care of the wicked guardian. What did the wicked guardian do? He destroyed the king's city and burned his house with fire and killed his son with the sword. In time the king came, and when he saw his city in ruins and desolate, and his house burned with fire, and his son slain by the sword, at once he tore at his hair and his beard and wept a great weeping. He said, "Woe is me, what folly I have done in my world, that I handed my son into the care of the wicked guardian." So too the Holy One, blessed be He: the ministering angels and the prophets said before Him, "Master of the universe, do not give Your people and Your inheritance into the hands of the nations, and do not hand Your children into the hand of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, Your enemies." The Holy One disregarded the words of the ministering angels and the prophets and handed His children into the hand of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar. What did the wicked Nebuchadnezzar do? He arose and destroyed Jerusalem and burned the Temple and exiled Israel to Babylon and slew the good ones with the sword. The Holy One said: I did not command that wicked one to do so much evil; only a little evil was he to do to Israel, because they had transgressed the words of the Torah, but he dealt with them beyond the strict measure of justice, as it says, "These are the nations that the LORD left to test Israel by them" (Judges 3:1), and it says, "And now, what have I here, says the LORD, for My people are taken away for nothing; their rulers howl, says the LORD, and continually all day long My Name is reviled" (Isaiah 52:5).

Another interpretation: "A psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have entered Your inheritance" (Psalms 79:1). But should it not have said "a weeping and a wailing and a lament of Asaph"? What does "a psalm of Asaph" teach? Rather, Asaph was a prophet and rejoiced in the matter. They told a parable. To what may the matter be compared? To a poor man's daughter who went to draw water from the well, and her earthenware bucket broke off and fell into the well, and the poor man's daughter was weeping and crying out. Afterward the king's daughter came to draw water with a golden bucket, and her golden bucket broke off and fell into the well; and the poor man's daughter began rejoicing and dancing and said, "He who will bring up the king's daughter's golden bucket will bring up my earthenware bucket." So Asaph rejoiced in the matter: since he saw in prophecy that the gates of Jerusalem would sink, as it says, "her gates have sunk into the ground" (Lamentations 2:9), and he also saw in prophecy that in the future the gates would rise up from the ground, at once Asaph said "a psalm." He said, "He who is destined to rebuild Jerusalem and raise up its gates will raise up Korah, my grandfather, from the earth." Rabbi Eliezer the Great says: "A psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have entered Your inheritance... they have poured out their blood like water" (Psalms 79:1, 3). Hadrian Caesar came and seized Alexandria of Egypt, in which there were twelve myriads of people, and he enticed them with words and said to them, "Go out and stand in the Valley of Hands, so that this nation may not rule over you." When they went out and stood in the Valley of Hands, he set over them fifty thousand men gripping swords and slew them, until not even one of them was left. Therefore it says, "O God, nations have entered Your inheritance... they have poured out their blood like water." The sages said: three streams of blood flowed out of the Valley of Hands and went to the Great Sea; and the sages estimated for the Great Sea and found three parts blood and one part water. Some say: for seven years the nations harvested their vineyards from the blood of Israel. And Rabbi Eliezer further said: "A psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have entered." The kingdom of Rome came and slew of the men of Betar forty thousand people, until the blood went out from all the doorways and from all the gutters; and there were found in Betar three hundred baskets of severed phylacteries from the heads of the slain of Betar, and each and every basket held three se'ah; and when you come to reckon it you find nine hundred se'ah of phylacteries. And the sages said: "A psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have entered." Hadrian Caesar came and seized a widow with her seven sons. He said to her, "What are you?" She said to him, "I am a widow woman." He said to her, "And these children, from where are they to you?" She said to him, "They are my sons." At once he brought the first and said to him, "Bow to this god." That child said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah, 'Know this day and take it to heart that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is no other' (Deuteronomy 4:39)." At once they took a sword and slew him. He brought back the second and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah, 'For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, who shows no favoritism and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow' (Deuteronomy 10:17-18)." At once he commanded and they slew him. He brought back the third and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah, 'You shall not bow to another god, for the LORD whose Name is Jealous is a jealous God' (Exodus 34:14)." And at once he commanded and they slew him. He brought back the fourth and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah" [a verse he cited is missing here]. At once he commanded and they slew him. He brought back the fifth and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah, 'One who sacrifices to the gods shall be utterly destroyed, save to the LORD alone' (Exodus 22:19)." At once he commanded and they slew him. He brought back the sixth and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah, 'The LORD shall reign forever and ever' (Exodus 15:18)." At once he commanded and they slew him. He brought back the seventh, the youngest of them all, and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands. We have sworn to the Holy One, blessed be He, that we will not serve another god, and the Holy One, blessed be He, has sworn to us that He will not exchange us for another people, as it says, 'You have affirmed this day that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes and His commandments and His ordinances and obey His voice; and the LORD has affirmed this day that you are His treasured people, as He spoke to you, to keep all His commandments, and to set you high above all the nations He has made, for praise and for fame and for glory, and that you may be a people holy to the LORD your God, as He spoke' (Deuteronomy 26:17-19)." Caesar said to him, "If you will not bow to this god, behold I will throw down my ring before it, so that those standing before me may say you obeyed the words of Caesar and bowed to this god." The child said to him, "Woe to you, Caesar, for the words you say to me. If you, who are flesh and blood, are ashamed before flesh and blood like yourself, how shall I not be ashamed before the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He?" Caesar said to him, "And does the world have a god?" He said to him, "And have you ever seen an ownerless world?" He said to him, "Does your God have a head?" He said to him, "Has it not already been said, 'His head is finest gold' (Song of Songs 5:11)?" He said to him, "Does your God have ears?" He said to him, "Has it not already been said, 'Then those who feared the LORD spoke one to another, and the LORD listened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and esteem His Name' (Malachi 3:16)?" He said to him, "Does your God have eyes?" He said to him, "Has it not already been said, 'And God saw the children of Israel, and God knew' (Exodus 2:25)?" He said to him, "Does your God have feet?" He said to him, "Has it not already been said, 'And His feet shall stand on that day on the Mount of Olives' (Zechariah 14:4)?" He said to him, "Does your God have hands?" He said to him, "Has it not already been said, 'Behold, the hand of the LORD is not too short to save' (Isaiah 59:1)?" He said to him, "If your God has power, why did He not save you from my hand?" He said to him, "Fool of the world, you are not worthy that miracles be done through you, and we have become liable to death before the Holy One, blessed be He; and if you do not slay us, the Omnipresent has many slayers, many bears and leopards and snakes and scorpions and many lions to come upon us." At once he commanded that he be slain. At once their mother came and said to that Caesar, "By your life, Caesar, give me my son and let me kiss him first." At once they gave him to her, and she embraced him and hugged him and kissed him, and she put her breast into his mouth, and honey and milk dripped to the ground, fulfilling what is said, "honey and milk are under your tongue" (Song of Songs 4:11). She further said to him, "By your life, Caesar, set the sword on my neck and on my son's neck together." Caesar said to her, "God forbid, I will not do so, for thus it is written in your Torah, 'And an ox or a sheep, you shall not slaughter it and its young on one day' (Leviticus 22:28)." That child said to him, "Fool of the world, have you then kept the entire Torah except for this one verse?" At once they cut off his head, and the sages reckoned the years of that child and found him to be two years and six months and seven hours and a half.

At that moment the nations of the world were tearing at their hair and their beards and weeping a great weeping, and they said, "What is the deed of these people's Father, and what is His praise, that they are slain for Him?" Of that moment it says, "What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you so adjure us?" (Song of Songs 5:9). At that moment their mother said to them, "My sons, go and say to Abraham our father: Let not your mind be lifted up over you, that you say, I built an altar and offered up Isaac my son. For I have built seven altars and offered up my seven sons in a single day; and yours was but a test and not in deed, while mine was in deed." She further said to them, "My sons, happy are you that you did the will of your Father in heaven, and you came into the world for no purpose but to sanctify His great Name through you, as it says, 'Through those near to Me I will be sanctified' (Leviticus 10:3)." At once she went up to a roof and fell and died. A heavenly voice went out and said, "A joyful mother of children" (Psalms 113:9). And when they seized Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and Rabbi Ishmael the High Priest for execution, Rabban Shimon was weeping and said to Rabbi Ishmael, "Why are we slain like idolaters and Sabbath-desecrators and eaters of carrion and torn flesh and abominable things and creeping things? Shall such be our death?" Rabbi Ishmael said to him, "I will reason before you. Sometimes we had to judge a case and did not judge it truly; and sometimes false witnesses came and testified before us, and we did not investigate and examine well, and we transgressed what is written in the Torah, 'And the judges shall investigate well, and behold, the witness is a false witness, he has testified falsely against his brother' (Deuteronomy 19:18); therefore we have become liable to death. Or sometimes we entered the bathhouse, or sometimes we turned aside to eat and drink, and at that time orphans and widows came to claim their sustenance, and our attendant said to them, 'The hour is not free for us,' and the widow and the orphan were found afflicted. Come and see how great is the punishment of the matter, as it says, 'You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict them... if they cry out to Me, I will surely hear their cry, and My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword' (Exodus 22:21-23)." Come and see: even though they were going out to execution, they honored one another. This one said, "I am not greater than my fellow; rather, my fellow is greater than I; therefore slay me first, so that I not see the death of my fellow." And that one said, "Slay me first, that I not see the death of my fellow." They cast lots, and the lot fell upon Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel. First Rabbi Ishmael the High Priest took the head of Rabban Shimon and set it in his bosom, and he embraced him and hugged him and kissed him, and said to him, "My master, how is it that your tongue is buried in the dust, and how is it that your mouth is filled with stones and dust, like idolaters and Sabbath-desecrators?" He had not finished saying these words before they took the sword and cut off his head. At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, said: I will bring the heavens and clap them one against the other and destroy My world before them, as it says, "And I too will strike My hand against My hand and lay My fury to rest" (Ezekiel 21:22). And not this alone, but when the wicked Nebuchadnezzar came to encircle Jerusalem, all Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah and Benjamin gathered to him and sat within Jerusalem in groups upon groups, as it says, "Why do we sit? Assemble, and let us enter the fortified cities" (Jeremiah 8:14). And when Nebuchadnezzar afterward exiled them and they reached the waters of the Euphrates and drank of them, the waters killed more of them than the Chaldeans killed. And when they walked on the road they would say, "O God, do not be silent" (Psalms 83:2). The Holy Spirit answered them and said, "Fools of the world, when you served idolatry on the mountains and on the hills, did you not say, Who is the god who dwells in the world? And now you say, O God, do not be silent." And even so, at once the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, was stirred, and He roused over them the sons of Korah, who had already died, and they wrapped themselves in their garments and sat before them and recited a lament over them. And not only that, but the Holy One Himself, in His glory, came down from the highest heaven of heavens, from the place of His greatness and His splendor and the holiness of His great Name, and He Himself took up a lament over them, as it says, "The oracle of the Valley of Vision... and the Lord, the LORD of hosts, called on that day for weeping and for lamentation and for baldness and for girding with sackcloth" (Isaiah 22:1, 12). Come and see how abundant is the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, over Israel forever. Even if all their days they served idolatry, once they perform a light repentance He weeps over them at once. By the same reasoning you learn that in every generation, when the Holy One, blessed be He, finds righteous and pious people, He claps His two hands one upon the other and places them against His heart and weeps over them, whether in secret or in the open. And why does He weep over them in secret? Because it is a disgrace for a lion to weep before a fox, and a disgrace for a king to weep before his servants, and a disgrace for a householder to weep before his laborers, as it says, "And if you will not hear it, in secret places My soul shall weep because of pride, and my eye shall surely weep and run down with tears, because the flock of the LORD is taken captive" (Jeremiah 13:17). And what does "because of pride" teach? That the angels who stand over the Holy One above not be lifted up and say, "What benefit does the Holy One derive from flesh and blood, that He gave the Torah to Israel?" Another interpretation: "weep, you shall surely weep in the night" (Lamentations 1:2) - but is it in the night that one weeps and in the day one does not weep? Rather, from that hour the boughs of Israel were shattered, when a decree was issued upon Rabbi Akiva for execution. They told a parable. To what may the matter be compared? To a king of flesh and blood whose wife and children sinned against him; he arose and thrust them out and drove them from his house, and every single year he goes to the place where he thrust them and bows his full height to the ground and weeps - were Scripture not written it would be impossible to say it - like a father who says in weeping, "Alas, my son," and like a hen that clucks over her chicks, as it says, "For it is a day of tumult and trampling and confusion for the Lord, the LORD of hosts, in the Valley of Vision, breaking down walls" (Isaiah 22:5). And when Israel went into exile, the offense of Israel was hidden from every creature, until the Holy One came and said to them: only in reward for the two tears that Esau shed before his father have I come to do the will of Seir, as it says, "The oracle concerning Dumah. One calls to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, Morning comes, and also night; if you would inquire, inquire; come back again" (Isaiah 21:11-12). Why is it said, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" Because all the good of Israel is only by day, and all the evil of Israel is only by night; and even those seventy years between the first Temple and the second are nothing but night; therefore it says, "Watchman, what of the night?"

Another interpretation: why is it said, "Watchman, what of the night?" (Isaiah 21:11)? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and watches over whoever has words of Torah truly in him, such as Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore it says, "Watchman, what of the night?" From here they said: if a person does two or three good deeds, they hand over to him one angel to guard him, as it says, "Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way" (Exodus 23:20). And if a person reads Torah, Prophets, and Writings, they hand over to him two angels to guard him, as it says, "For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways" (Psalms 91:11). But if a person reads Torah, Prophets, and Writings, and studies Mishnah, and learns laws and aggadot, and serves Torah scholars, then the Holy One, blessed be He, guards him Himself. They told a parable. To what may the matter be compared? To a king who was walking on a road in the wilderness, and his son was with him. When the heat reached him, his father stood on the side of the heat and made shade for his son, so that the heat and the scorching sun would not reach him. And so the Holy One, blessed be He, does for Israel, as it says, "The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand" (Psalms 121:5). And what does "the watchman said, Morning comes" (Isaiah 21:12) teach? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: My children, did I not tell you at the first that even though you weep and grieve now over the latter Temple, which lies in ruins through your sins, in the future you will come and rejoice with Me in complete joy, just as I rejoice in you, as it says, "As when fire kindles brushwood and fire makes water boil, to make Your Name known to Your foes, that the nations might tremble at Your presence, when You do awesome things we did not expect" (Isaiah 64:1-2)? And what is "and also night"? These are the evil and harsh years in which you dwell among the nations. And what is "if you would inquire, inquire; come back again"? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, gives the Torah only to one who grieves over it, as it says, "The oracle in the steppe: in the thicket in the steppe you shall lodge, O caravans of Dedanites; bring water to meet the thirsty" (Isaiah 21:13-14). "In the evening" [ba-erev] means none other than an expression of evening, and "Jacob" means none other than an expression of grief, and "water" means none other than words of Torah; therefore it says, "in the thicket in the steppe... bring water to meet the thirsty." To what is Israel likened in this world before their Father in heaven? To a king of flesh and blood who had two servants, and he gives them two pieces of wood and says to them, "Bring me the fire." The one who troubles his body before the king brings the fire before the king; the one who does not trouble his body before the king does not bring it. Another interpretation: a parable of a king sitting on his throne, with his servant serving before him; and the king sees his servant hastening eagerly before him, and at once the king rises from his throne and takes his servant by the hand and seats him before him. And thus the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: My children, do the will of your children and your servants, just as I do the will of My son and My servant, as it says, "Who among you fears the LORD, who obeys the voice of His servant, who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the Name of the LORD and lean upon his God" (Isaiah 50:10).

From within peace, how so? Just as the Holy One, blessed be He - may His great Name be blessed forever and ever - aims and makes peace among the four hundred ninety-six thousand myriads of ministering angels who stand before Him continually and sanctify His Name continually - from sunrise to sunset they say, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3), and from sunset to sunrise they say, "Blessed is the glory of the LORD from His place" (Ezekiel 3:12) - and so He aims and makes peace among the seventy tongues and among all who come into the world that He created in His world, as it says, "He makes peace in His heights" (Job 25:2). So should a person make peace between every person and his fellow, and between a man and his wife. And thus Aaron the priest would do: he would aim and make peace between Israel and their Father in heaven, and between Israel and the sages, and between one sage and his fellow, and between one Israelite and his fellow, and between a man and his wife. Of him it says, "Say of the righteous that it shall go well, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds" (Isaiah 3:10), and of him it says, "Thus says the LORD: Keep justice and do righteousness" (Isaiah 56:1). The Holy One, blessed be He, who tests hearts and innermost parts, said to Aaron: You aimed for good and made peace between Me and the children of Israel; I will bring forth from you sons who atone for Israel every single year, and peace is proclaimed over them every single day, and they shall say to them, "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His face to you and grant you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26). By the same token you may say: Ahithophel the Gilonite was a sage and a master of Torah, and because of the arrogance that was in him he was uprooted from this world and from the world to come; and of him it says, "Woe to the wicked, it shall go ill, for the recompense of his hands shall be done to him" (Isaiah 3:11). What was the beginning of Ahithophel's evil deeds? When all Israel gathered with David, the masters of Judah, to bring up the Ark of the LORD from the house of Abinadab on the hill, the law was forgotten by them. At once they all said, "Just as the Ark of the LORD came from the field of the Philistines only on a cart, so on a cart let it come to the house of David, king of Israel." But the Holy One, blessed be He, had sworn by His great Name, on the day Amram married Jochebed his aunt as a wife for the sake of Heaven, that the Ark with the Torah would be taken up and given into the arm of Amram's seed, as it says, "But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the holy things was upon them; they were to carry it on the shoulder" (Numbers 7:9). At once they took the Ark and loaded it onto the cart, and immediately the Ark hung in the air between heaven and earth, neither rising up to heaven nor descending to earth. Uzzah was standing there; at once Uzzah stretched out his hand and seized the Ark. At that moment the transgressors of Israel said, "Had Uzzah not stretched out his hand and seized the Ark, the Ark would already have fallen to the ground." What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do at that moment? At once He put Uzzah to death, and his hand was torn away from the Ark, and the matter became known, that the Ark hangs in the air between earth and heaven, neither rising up to heaven nor descending to earth. Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, before whom there is no favoritism: just as Ahithophel held back the law in his throat and did not tell it to the public, therefore he was strangled in his throat and died by strangling, which is one of the four deaths handed to the court, as it says, "And Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not taken, and he saddled his donkey and arose and went to his house, to his city, and gave charge to his household and strangled himself" (2 Samuel 17:23). And what was the charge he gave to his household? He charged them, "Never be in dispute," and he said to them, "Never rebel against the kingdom of the house of David." When David heard these words, at once David came before the Divine Presence and bowed his full height to the ground and said, "My Father in heaven, may Your great Name be blessed forever and ever, and may You have contentment from Israel Your servants in all their dwellings, for You have made us great and sanctified us and praised us and exalted us and bound for us a crown in the Torah from one end of the world to the other, as it says, 'Therefore You are great, O LORD God, for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears' (2 Samuel 7:22); but the deeds we do are not fitting before You, such as the deed of Doeg the Edomite and the deed of Ahithophel the Gilonite." And not this alone, but they said: anyone in whom there is arrogance is uprooted from the world. So too the generation of the Flood: arrogance was in them, and by it they were uprooted from the world, as it says, "They said to God, Depart from us; we do not desire knowledge of Your ways. What is the Almighty that we should serve Him, and what profit shall we have if we entreat Him?" (Job 21:14-15). And what did they do? They would strip off their garments and lay them on the ground and walk naked in the marketplace, as it says, "naked they go about without clothing" (Job 24:10). And what was their punishment in this world? The Holy One floated them on the face of the waters like skins, as it says, "He is swift on the face of the waters" (Job 24:18); and it says, "Be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is judgment" (Job 19:29) - do not read "a judgment" [shadun] but "there is judgment" [she-din], that there is judgment on high. So too the men of the Tower: arrogance was in them, and by it they were uprooted from the world, as it says, "And the whole earth was of one language... and they said, Come, let us build us a city, with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:1, 4). Come and see the great kindness the Holy One did with them, with which they rebelled against Him. A parable of a man exiled from province to province: when he sees his fellow speaking with him in his own tongue, his mind is set at ease. And they rebelled with it, as it says, "And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks... and they said, Come, let us build us a city." Corresponding to their saying "Come," the Holy One also said "Come" against them, as it says, "Come, let us go down" (Genesis 11:7). At once the Holy One came down from the highest heaven of heavens and confounded their tongue and scattered them to the four winds of the world, as it says, "And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower... and the LORD scattered them from there... therefore its name was called Babel, for there the LORD confounded the language of all the earth" (Genesis 11:5, 8-9). So too the men of Sodom: arrogance was in them, and by it they were uprooted from the world, as it says, "And the men of Sodom were wicked and great sinners against the LORD" (Genesis 13:13) - "wicked" in robbery, and "sinners" in sexual immorality, "against the LORD" in the profaning of the Name. So too Sennacherib: arrogance was in him, and by it he was uprooted from the world. And so too Nebuchadnezzar: arrogance was in him, and by it he was uprooted from the world, as it says, "But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit" (Isaiah 14:15). They said of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar that he was short in stature, and when he went from province to province and from city to city, all the people of the city gathered and went out toward him and made sport with one another and said to one another, "Is this the one who will rule from one end of the world to the other?" as it says, "Those who see you stare at you, they ponder over you: Is this the man who shook the earth, who made kingdoms tremble?" (Isaiah 14:16). So too Pharaoh: arrogance was in him, and by it he was uprooted from the world, as it says, "And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?" (Exodus 5:2). So too the generation of the wilderness: arrogance was in them, therefore they died in the wilderness and did not enter the land of Israel, as it says, "And the people spoke against God and against Moses, Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness?" (Numbers 21:5), and the like in four or five places. So too King Saul: arrogance was in him, therefore he was slain and the kingship was uprooted from him, as it says, "And Samuel said, What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears?... And Saul said, They brought them from the Amalekites" (1 Samuel 15:14-15). They told a parable. To what may the matter be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who said to his son, "My son, why did you not do all that I charged you?" The son said, "And what is the thing you charged me with that I did not do?" At once the son brazens his face against his father and says to his father, "But I did all that you charged me." So too King Saul, to whom Samuel the prophet said, "Why did you not obey the voice of the LORD?" and Saul answered Samuel, "Not so; rather, I obeyed the voice of the LORD," as it says, "And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you to the LORD, I have fulfilled the word of the LORD. And Samuel said, What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears?... And he said, They brought them from the Amalekites, which the people spared... And Samuel said... Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but swooped on the spoil and did evil in the eyes of the LORD? And Saul said to Samuel, I did obey the voice of the LORD and went on the way the LORD sent me... And Samuel said... Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you from being king" (1 Samuel 15:13-23). And not only that, but Saul kept jealousy and vengeance in his heart against Israel in all their dwellings on account of David. In what he was commanded to do, he did not do; for Samuel told him that the Holy One said, "Now go and strike Amalek... and put to death man and woman, child and infant" (1 Samuel 15:3), and he did not do so, but kept alive Agag king of Amalek and the best of the sheep and cattle. And what he was not commanded to do, he did: Nob, the city of priests, he struck down, as it says, "And Nob the city of priests he struck with the edge of the sword, man and woman, child and infant, ox and donkey and sheep, with the edge of the sword" (1 Samuel 22:19). And he made light of forbidden unions, in that he gave Michal his daughter, the wife of David, to Palti son of Laish, and he inquired of a medium and a familiar spirit, and he did many abominations in Israel; therefore he was slain and the kingship of the house of Israel was uprooted from him. So too the children of Israel: I [the Holy One] atoned for them in all their dwellings. When they were in the land of Israel arrogance was in them, and by it they were exiled from their land; and even after they were exiled from their land, Israel asked Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest: A priest who buys a slave, may the slave eat of the heave-offering? He said to them, "Yes, he is permitted to eat of the heave-offering." They said to him, "But if his master sold him to others, may he eat of the heave-offering?" He said to them, "He is not permitted to eat heave-offering." They said to him, "So too with us: when we were in the city and the temple of the Holy One, blessed be He, we served the Holy One, blessed be He; now that we have been exiled among the nations, let us be like the nations and like the families of the earth." Ezekiel said to them: Even if your bones are broken and your eyes are gouged out and the blood of your mouth flows to the ground, you must accept upon yourselves the kingship of the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, because thus you accepted Him upon yourselves at the first and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do and we will hear" (Exodus 24:7), and the Holy One, blessed be He, made His kingship reign over you, as it says, "You have affirmed this day that the LORD is your God, to walk in His ways and keep His statutes and His commandments... and to obey His voice; and the LORD has affirmed this day that you are His treasured people, as He spoke" (Deuteronomy 26:17-18). And he said to them, "And what comes into your mind shall never come to be, that you say, We will be like the nations and like the families of the lands, serving wood and stone. As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and outpoured wrath I will reign over you" (Ezekiel 20:32-33). Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, before whom there is no favoritism. If it says "shall be," why does it say "shall never be"? Rather, what you say - "We will be like the nations and like the families of the lands, to serve wood and stone" - this shall never be; and what you say - "Nebuchadnezzar shall not come and conquer Jerusalem" - this shall surely be. After all these matters, "abomination" is said of idolatry, as it says, "And you shall not bring an abomination into your house" (Deuteronomy 7:26), and "abominations" is said of arrogance, as it says, "Everyone proud of heart is an abomination to the LORD" (Proverbs 16:5). And even the Holy One, blessed be He, to whom all belongs and all is the work of His hands, cannot bear the arrogant, as it says, "The haughty of eye and proud of heart, him I cannot endure" (Psalms 101:5); for it says, "Whom did He consult that He might give Him understanding and teach Him the path of justice, and teach Him knowledge and show Him the way of understanding?" (Isaiah 40:14). And from whom did the Holy One take counsel when He created the world? You must say He took counsel only with the Torah, as it says, "Then I was beside Him as a nursling [amon], and I was His delight day by day" (Proverbs 8:30) - do not read "nursling" [amon] but "craftsman" [uman], like a craftsman engaged in his craft.

A parable of a king of flesh and blood who builds a palace. Before he reaches the boards and prepares the beams, he first brings a scroll and ink and sketches the chamber by itself, the upper room by itself, and the privy by itself, and only afterward builds according to what he had sketched. So the Holy One, blessed be He, gazed into the Torah and created the world. But a king of flesh and blood builds each part one at a time, which is not so with the work of heaven and earth, for the Holy One, blessed be He, created them all at once, as it is said, "My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has spanned the heavens; when I call to them, they stand up together" (Isaiah 48:13). How did the Holy One, blessed be He, sit and create His world? In five eras. In the first era the Holy One, blessed be He, created two thousand myriads of cherubim and two thousand myriads of ophanim, and all the seraphim and erelim, and likewise the other ministering angels without number. Above them are the holy living creatures, and above them a firmament like the awesome ice, and above it the throne of glory, and above it the Holy One, blessed be He, sits in the highest heaven of heavens. Were it not written in Scripture it would be impossible to say it, as it is said, "And I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north... and a brightness was about it, and out of its midst as the color of electrum, out of the midst of the fire... and out of its midst came the likeness of four living creatures... and there was a likeness over the heads of the living creature, a firmament like the awesome ice... and above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone, and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above" (Ezekiel 1). But the Sages said that seven things preceded the world: the Torah, repentance, Gehinnom, the Garden of Eden, the throne of glory, the name of the son of David, and the Temple. The Torah, from where? As it is said, "The LORD made me the beginning of His way, the first of His works of old" (Proverbs 8:22). Repentance, from where? As it is said, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth" (Psalms 90:2), and after it is written, "You turn man to contrition, and say, Return, O children of men" (Psalms 90:3). Gehinnom, from where? As it is said, "For Tophet has been ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared, He has made it deep and large; its pile is fire and much wood, the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it" (Isaiah 30:33). And Tophet is nothing but Gehinnom, which is a creation that preceded all. And when the Holy One, blessed be He, created Gehinnom, He stood and praised all the works of His hands, as it is said, "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). What is "yea, for the king it is prepared"? The king is nothing but the evil inclination, as it is said, "Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king" (Ecclesiastes 4:13). This is the evil inclination, which is called an old and foolish king. Another interpretation: "Better is a poor and wise child," this is Rabbi Akiva; "than an old and foolish king," this is the wicked Tineius Rufus. And what is "He has made it deep and large"? That the angel of death has deepened and widened it so that it should hold his full height, and in it a pile of fire and wood. The Garden of Eden, from where? As it is said, "And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden" (Genesis 2:8). The throne of glory, from where? As it is said, "Your throne is established of old" (Psalms 93:2). The Temple, from where? As it is said, "A throne of glory, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary" (Jeremiah 17:12). The name of the son of David, from where? As it is said, "Before the sun his name shall be continued [Yinnon]" (Psalms 72:17). And afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and He completed them and flattened them and founded them and spanned them and contracted them and stretched them and set them in place. "Completed and flattened them," from where? As it is said, "And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their host" (Genesis 2:1). "Founded and spanned and contracted them," from where? As it is written, "My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has spanned the heavens; when I call to them, they stand up together" (Isaiah 48:13). "Stretched and set them," from where? As it is said, "It is He who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in" (Isaiah 40:22). And after all the creatures of the world were created, they were all in great joy, as if they were eating and drinking and satisfied and rejoicing with great joy. And the matter is an argument from minor to major: if those standing outside, who do not see the face of the Divine Presence within, were in such joy as if they were eating and drinking and satisfied and rejoicing with great joy, how much more so the angels and the host of heaven, whom the Holy One, blessed be He, brought inside beneath the throne of glory, who were in great joy as if they were eating and drinking and satisfied and rejoicing with great joy. And when the Holy One, blessed be He, had created the whole world, He stood and thrust them and brought them outside, and they were all crying and wailing and weeping a great weeping, and they said before Him: Master of the universe, why have You brought us out from a measure of contentment? What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do to appease them? Of all four kinds that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world, He brought them and fixed their form in His throne of glory: the face of a man from among humankind, the face of a lion from among the wild beasts, the face of an ox from among the cattle, and the face of an eagle from among the birds. At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said: I have taken My reward from all that I created in My world. I have taken My reward, the face of the man on the chariot, because I created all the humans on the earth; and I have taken as reward the face of the ox on the chariot, because I created all the cattle on the earth; and I have taken as reward the face of the lion on the chariot, because I created all the wild beasts on the earth; and I have taken as reward the face of the eagle on the chariot, because I created all the birds on the earth. Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, wrote the matter and sealed the matter, that it should be so forever. But when Israel sinned with the calf, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought the face of the cherub and set it in place of the face of the ox. For one time it is said, "As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man, and the four had the face of a lion on the right side, and the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle" (Ezekiel 1:10), and another time it is said, "And each one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle" (Ezekiel 10:14). But this was before Israel sinned with the calf, and that was after Israel sinned with the calf. And the Sages taught: to whom does one transmit the work of the chariot? If you have seen a man who masters his impulse and loves his neighbors and speaks gently with people and conducts all his affairs with law and justice, his eyes downward and his heart upward, and even in his youth no evil report came out against him, and he never sinned before God all his days, to such a one they transmit the headings of the chapters. And from when the first man was formed until the Flood was one thousand six hundred and fifty-six years, and all who came into the world kept provoking before Him until He brought upon them the waters of the Flood. And then the Holy One, blessed be He, ceased from reading and from repeating and from doing any work. And what work did the Holy One, blessed be He, do from the day He created the world until that hour? I wonder! Rather, from the day the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world until that hour, each and every day He sat upon His throne of glory: a third of the day He read and repeated, a third of the day He judged judgment, and a third of the day He did charity and nourished and sustained and provided for all who came into the world and all the works of His hands that He had created in the world. And when He brought the Flood to the world, then the Holy One, blessed be He, ceased from reading and from repeating and from doing all those works, and that measure was before Him like the measure of a mourner. And when Noah came into the world and did the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Come, you and all your household, into the ark, you and your sons alone, and your wife and your sons' wives alone" (compare Genesis 7:1). And when the Flood departed from the world, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Noah, "Go forth from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you" (Genesis 8:16). At that hour the ministering angels took counsel and were lodging a complaint before the Holy One, blessed be He, just as they had made accusation when the Holy One, blessed be He, created the first man, when they were saying before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You take note of him?" (Psalms 8:5). At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the ministering angels: Set your eyes upon the chariot, and it is enough for you, accuse it no more; for even if I had of them nothing but one of the four kinds that I fixed in My throne of glory, I have already decreed concerning them that they shall consume this world.

From the creation of the world until the generation of the Flood, thus far the first era. From the generation of the Flood until the generation of Manasseh, the second era. The generation of Manasseh, to what may it be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who arose and gathered all his servants and gave authority into the hands of them all, and went out with them to the field. And when they went to the field they found a certain man buried in a rock. They seized him by his feet and drew him out of the rock, and his face was scorched. They began to blow into his nostrils and to rub his face, and they kept blowing into his nostrils and rubbing his face until he spoke many words before them. And when he had multiplied his words before them, immediately they threw down the staffs of authority from their hands to the ground and said: From the place where they fell, let them never rise from there again, as it is said, "And they shall go into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the earth, before the terror of the LORD and before the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily. In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made for him to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks and into the crevices of the cliffs, before the terror of the LORD and before the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily. Cease from man, in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?" (Isaiah 2:19-22). And from the generation of Manasseh until the Second Temple was built, the third era; thus three thousand four hundred and eight years. And from when the last Temple was built until it was destroyed, four hundred and twenty years. And from when the last Temple was destroyed until now, behold, nine hundred years. And from when the last Temple is rebuilt until the days of the son of David, when the Temple will be built that shall not be destroyed forever, this is the fourth era. And from the days of the son of David until the world is destroyed and abolished, and "the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2:11), the day that is wholly Sabbath, this is the fifth era. My Father who is in heaven, it is revealed and known that You sit and wait for Israel, when the days of the son of David will arrive, and You find among Israel some who are masters of Scripture and some who are masters of Mishnah, some who are masters of honest business dealing. I call heaven and earth to witness concerning me that the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and waits for Israel more than a father waits for his son and a wife for her husband, that they should repent so that He may redeem them and build for them the Temple that shall never be destroyed, and that there may again stand before Him two rows of ministering angels who stand before Him and recite song before Him. The one row that stands before Him sanctifies His name every day continually, from the rising of the sun until its setting, and says, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3). The second row that stands before Him sanctifies His name every day continually, from the setting of the sun until its rising, and says, "Blessed be the glory of the LORD from His place" (Ezekiel 3:12). And what does "from His place" teach? Only that the creatures do not see Him, for even the ministering angels do not see Him, for even the holy living creatures who bear His throne of glory do not see His glory. House of Israel, I have atoned for them in all their dwelling places. From when Israel went out of Egypt until they entered the land was forty years; how much did the Holy One, blessed be He, embrace them, and how much hug them, and how much kiss them. And from when they entered the land until the First Temple was built, four hundred and forty years, the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, was stretched out over them to save them from every foe and enemy. And likewise from when the First Temple was destroyed until the last Temple was built, seventy years, His hand was stretched out over them to save them from every foe and enemy. And likewise from when the last Temple was destroyed until now, nine hundred years, how much He embraces them, how much He hugs them, how much He kisses them. From here onward, even if we and our children and our children's children should stand, and we had a mouth full of song like the sea, and our tongue full of glad cry like the multitude of its waves, and our lips full of praise like the breadth of the firmament, and our hands spread out like the eagles of the sky, and our feet swift like the hinds, we would not be able to thank You, O LORD our God and God of our fathers, and to bless Your name, for even one of the thousand thousand thousands and myriad myriads of the miracles and good things that You did with us. And in the time to come, how greatly will the Holy One, blessed be He, light up the faces of the righteous, that they shall be like the first era. A parable, to what may the matter be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who sent to his servants and members of his household that he was coming to them with horses and horsemen and many troops, that they should prepare for him a fine and pleasant tent so that he might come and dwell with them in their quarter. When his servants and the members of his household heard this, immediately they too went out to meet him with horses and horsemen and many troops with them, and they said to him that they had already prepared for him a fine and pleasant tent so that he might come and dwell with them in their quarter. But if they did not do so, that they did not go out to meet him with joy and did not prepare for him a fine tent, immediately the king drives them out. Therefore it is said, "And He drove out the man" (Genesis 3:24). And why is it not said, "And He drove out the cattle, and He drove out the beast and the birds"? Rather, I call heaven and earth to witness concerning me that the cattle, beast, and bird do not speak and do not read and do not repeat, and therefore Scripture made it depend on the man; therefore it is said, "And He drove out the man." What does it say above it? "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, until you return to the ground, for out of it were you taken; for dust you are, and to dust shall you return" (Genesis 3:18-19). When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Adam, "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field," all his limbs trembled. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Since your limbs have trembled, you shall eat bread, as it is said, "In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread," until "and to dust shall you return." It does not say "to dust shall you go," but rather "and to dust shall you return." From here is a hint to the resurrection of the dead from the Torah; therefore it is said, "and to dust shall you return." And how is the letter bet different from all the twenty-two letters, that with it the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world, as it is said, "In the beginning [Bereshit] God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1)? Was it not fitting to say only "God created in the beginning"? What then does "In the beginning God created" teach? Rather, go and learn from this child whom today they open with and say to him alef, bet, and tomorrow they say to him bet, alef. And from whom do you learn? Learn from the blessings and curses stated in Deuteronomy; therefore the Torah was first stated with a bet, bet and alef, alef, as it is said, "In the beginning God created [the heavens]" (bet, then alef). And another reason: the Torah is stated first with bet, which is a word of blessing [berakhah], and not stated first with alef, which is a word of the curse of "cursed" [arur]. And if you say, is it not written with a bet, "She weeps sorely [bakhoh tivkeh]" (Lamentations 1:2)? It is also stated with an alef, "How [eikhah] she sits solitary" (Lamentations 1:1), and the curse of "cursed." And all the righteous who stand at the resurrection of the dead in the days of the son of David shall never again return to their dust forever, as it is said, "And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and he who remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy, everyone who is written for life in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 4:3). And where do they go? Rather, at the hour when the Holy One, blessed be He, receives the face of the righteous in the time to come, they shall come before Him like sons before a father, and like servants before their master, and like disciples before their teacher, as it is said, "Behold, a day comes for the LORD... And the LORD shall go forth and fight against those nations... And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in its midst toward the east and toward the west... And you shall flee as you fled before the earthquake... And the LORD my God shall come, and all the holy ones with You. And it shall come to pass in that day that there shall not be light, but cold and frost; and it shall be one day which is known to the LORD, not day and not night, but it shall come to pass that at evening time there shall be light. And it shall come to pass in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter shall it be. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD shall be one and His name one" (Zechariah 14:1-9). And so may it be Your will before You, O LORD our God and God of our fathers, that You show us the rebuilding of Jerusalem speedily in our days. Amen.

A Psalm (Psalms 79:1-2): "O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy Temple; they have made Jerusalem into heaps; they have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the heavens," and so forth. Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, for He remembers Jerusalem at every time and at every hour, yet before Him there is no injustice, nor forgetfulness, nor favoritism. And so it is explained in tradition by David, king of Israel, as it is said (Psalms 68:36): "You are awesome, O God, from Your sanctuaries; the God of Israel, He gives strength and might to the people," and so forth. And so it is explained in tradition by Jeremiah the prophet (Jeremiah 10:20): "My tent is despoiled, and all my cords are snapped; my children have gone forth from me and are no more; there is none to spread my tent again, and to set up my curtains." As it were, He made Himself as though He had no power to save, Heaven forbid. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: These despoilers came and despoiled My city, and My house, and My Temple. And since Israel had been exiled, it was in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, not to restore Israel to their place again, 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 did not insist upon my own grievance, and moreover, that my husband labored for me seven years, and at the hour of my entering the wedding canopy they substituted my sister Leah, and I said nothing to Jacob, so that he would not distinguish between my voice and my sister's voice. Immediately the mercies of the Holy One, blessed be He, were stirred, and He swore to her, to Rachel, to restore her children to their place, as it is said (Jeremiah 31:15): "A voice is heard in Ramah," and so forth, "Rachel weeping for her children." Once Rabbi Tzadok entered the Temple and saw it in ruins. He said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, my Father who is in Heaven, You have destroyed Your city and burned Your Temple, and You sit at ease, tranquil and quiet! Immediately Rabbi Tzadok dozed off, and he saw the Holy One, blessed be He, standing in mourning, and the ministering angels lamenting after Him and saying: Woe for the faithful one, Jerusalem. And once again, Rabbi Nathan entered the Temple and found it in ruins, with one wall standing. He said: What is the nature of this wall? One said to him: I will show you. Immediately he took a ring and fixed it into that wall, and the ring kept going and coming, until he saw the Holy One, blessed be He, who was bowing down and rising up and standing and wailing over the destruction of the Temple and over Israel who had been exiled, as it is said (Zechariah 11:2): "Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the mighty are despoiled." And "cypress" here means none other than the Holy One, blessed be He, may His name be blessed and exalted forever and to all eternity. Come and see how abundant are the mercies of the Holy One, blessed be He, toward Israel forever. Even if all their days they had worshiped idols, yet when they perform even a slight repentance, He weeps over them at once. According to your own way you learn that in every generation, when the Holy One, blessed be He, finds righteous and pious people, He claps His two hands one against the other and places them against His heart and weeps over them, whether in secret or in the open. And why does He weep over them in secret? Because it is a disgrace for the lion to weep before the fox, and a disgrace for the king to weep before his servants, and a disgrace for the householder to weep before his laborers, as it is said (Jeremiah 13:17): "But if you will not hear it, My soul shall weep in secret places because of your pride, and my eye shall weep sorely, and run down with tears, because the flock of the LORD is taken captive." And moreover, the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, in His glory, came down from the uppermost heaven of heavens, from the place of His greatness and His splendor and from the holiness of His great name, and He Himself raised a lament over them, as it is said (Isaiah 22:1, 12): "The burden of the Valley of Vision," and so forth, "And on that day the Lord, the LORD of hosts, called for weeping, and for mourning, and for baldness, and for girding with sackcloth." Another interpretation: "You shall surely weep in the night." A parable: to what may this be likened? To a king of flesh and blood whose wife and children sinned against him; he arose and thrust them out and expelled them from his house. And every single year he goes to the place where he had thrust them out, and bows down his full stature to the ground, and weeps. And were it not that Scripture is written, it would be impossible to say it, like a father who says in weeping, "Alas, my son," and like a hen that clucks over her chicks, as it is said (Isaiah 22:5): "For it is a day of trouble, and of trampling, and of perplexity to the Lord, the LORD of hosts, in the Valley of Vision, breaking down the wall," and so forth.