Pĕsikta dĕ-Rab Kahăna: R. Kahana's Compilation of Discourses for Sabbaths and Festal Days (JPS Classic Reissues)

PISKA 15

366 PISKA 15 Summary Lament for Jerusalem Even as God lamented the fall of Adam, so He lamented the fall of Jerusalem (Sec. 1), the city which, when touched by God’s hand, was left sitting solitary (Sec. 2). Like a king of flesh-and-blood in mourning , God hung sackcloth over the entrance of His house, extinguished the lamps, kept silent, turned the couches upside down, rent His purple garment, and sat down to lament (Sec. 3). Blaming Himself for Jerusalem’s fall, He refused to be comforted (Sec. 4). Neglect of study of Torah was the ultimate cause for God’s destruction of Jerusalem. Though God tends to be lenient with regard to idolatry , unchastity, or even bloodshed, He refuses to be lenient when Jews forsake the study of Torah because its inner force is such as to bring Jews back to Him. Indeed, when Jewish children study Torah, it provides such strength that no nation is able to take on the Jewish people in battle (Sec. 5). The word How, taken as an outcry, in How is the faithful city become a harlot (Isa. 1:21), is construed by one commentator as a sharp reproach and by another as a lament (Sec. 6). As proof of Jerusalem’s degradation, incidents of murder, dishonesty, and venal behavior of princes and judges are set forth (Secs. 7–9). God promises nevertheless to remain The mighty one of Israel (Isa. 1:24) to deal with Israel’s adversaries, and even to restore to life Moses, Aaron, and David when Zion is redeemed (Secs. 10–11). 367 Piska 15 ’Eylah, “How” (Lam. 1:1).1 1. R. Abbahu, citing R. Jose bar Hanina, began his discourse with the verse But they like man2 have transgressed the covenant; there they have dealt treacherously against Me (Hos. 6:7). They like man—that is, the children of Israel are like the first man of whom the Holy One said: The first man—I brought him into the Garden of Eden, I gave him a command, but he transgressed My command. Thereupon I condemned him to separation, condemned him to banishment, and cried out ’Eylah in lament over him. I had brought him into the Garden of Eden: “The Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden” (Gen. 2:15). And I had commanded him: “The Lord God commanded the man,” etc. (Gen. 2:16). But he transgressed my command: “Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?” (Gen. 3:11). And so I condemned him to separation: “So He separated the man,” etc. (Gen. 3:24). And condemned him to banishment: “Therefore the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden” (Gen. 3:23). And uttered a lament over him, as indicated in the verse “The Lord God called unto the man, and said unto him, ’Aylah (‘Where art thou?’)” (Gen. 3:9). ’Aykah, usually spelled ’ayka, is here spelled 1. Isa. 1:1–27 is the haftarah of rebuke for Debarim, the third of the three Sabbaths preceding the Fast of the Ninth of Ab. Isa. 1:21 reads How (’Eylah) is the faithful city become a harlot. The transliteration of ’Elah as ’Eylah, here and below, departs from the norm to provide the English reader grasp of the play on words in the Hebrew. 2. JV: men. The Hebrew ’Adam, “man,” may be construed as a singular (that is, Adam the first man) or a collective noun. 368 PESIKTA DE-RAB KAHANA with the letter he’ added at the end,3 so that the word has the further significance of “How,” [a howl, if one dare speak thus of God, expressing the ache of His grief, as in Lamentations 1:1]: “How [solitary He has become]!” As with Adam, said God, so with his children: I brought them into the Land of Israel, I gave them commands, but they transgressed My commands. Thereupon I condemned them to separation, condemned them to banishment, and uttered a lament over them. I brought them into the Land of Israel: “I brought you into the Land of fruitful fields” (Jer. 2:7); and gave them commands: “Command the children of Israel” (Lev. 24:2); but they transgressed My command: “Yea, all Israel have transgressed Thy Torah” (Dan. 9:11). And so having condemned them to separation—“I will separate them...