At that time, the blessed Holy One ‘cries out’, and He says: (Is. 48:11) For My sake, for My sake, I shall act... (Ez. 20:14)... and I shall act for the sake of My Name... and through this, mercy is aroused upon His Shekhinah, and upon His children in exile.
Rabbi Elazar arose and said: ‘But before Israel and the Shekhinah were exiled, why would they have fulfilled ‘the sending of the nest’?’
Rabbi Shim’on said to him: ‘My son, so as to arouse mercy, over those souls, and spirits and animating-souls, which went into exile in reincarnation, driven from their bodies which were destroyed, about whom it is stated: that ‘the blessed Holy One builds worlds and destroys∞ma-ḥariv them’,xxivMidrash Rabbah, Qohelet, 3:14 for their bodies remained destroyed for them.