איכה רבה (וילנא) פתיחתות ד"ה כד רבי יוחנן

וכיון שנשרף אמר הקב"ה שוב אין לי מושב בארץ אסלק שכינתי ממנה ואעלה למכוני הראשון, הה"ד (הושע ב') אלכה ואשובה אל מקומי עד אשר יאשמו ובקשו פני, באותה שעה היה הקב"ה בוכה ואומר אוי לי מה עשיתי השריתי שכינתי למטה בשביל ישראל, ועכשיו שחטאו חזרתי למקומי הראשון, ח"ו שהייתי שחוק לגוים ולעג לבריות, באותה שעה בא מטטרון ונפל על פניו, ואמר לפניו רבש"ע אני אבכה ואתה לא תבכה, אמר לו אם אין אתה מניח לי לבכות עכשיו אכנס למקום שאין לך רשות ליכנס ואבכה, שנאמר (ירמיה י"ג) ואם לא תשמעוה במסתרים תבכה נפשי מפני גוה וגו'

When it was burnt, the Holy One, blessed be He, said, ' I no longer have a dwelling-place in this land; I will withdraw My Shechinah from it and ascend to My former habitation; so it is written, I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their guilt, and seek My face’ (Hos. V, 15). At that time the Holy One, blessed be He, wept and said, ‘Woe is Me! What have I done? I caused My Shechinah to dwell below on earth for the sake of Israel; but now that they have sinned, I have returned to My former habitation. Heaven forfend that I become a laughter to the nations and a byword to human beings! ' At that time Metatron came, fell upon his face, and spake before the Holy One, blessed be He: ‘Sovereign of the Universe, let me weep, but do Thou not weep.’ He replied to him, ' If thou lettest Me not weep now, I will repair to a place which thou hast not permission to enter, and will weep there,’ as it is said, But if ye will not hear it, My soul shall weep in secret for pride (Jer. XIII, 17)."

Source for this picture: http://www.othervoices.org/gpeaker/Passagenwerk.php

On Speaking Kindly



Vayikra Rabbah 33:1 (Behar)

Rabban Gamaliel said to Tavi his servant: ' Go and get me good food from the market.’ He went and bought him tongue. He said to him: ‘Go and get me bad food from the market.’ He went and bought him tongue. Said he to him: ‘What is this? When I told you to get good food you bought me tongue, and when I told you to get bad food you also bought me tongue! ' He replied: ' Good comes from it and bad comes from it. When the tongue is good there is nothing better, and when it is bad there is nothing worse.’

Rabi made a feast for his disciples and placed before them tender tongues and hard tongues. They began selecting the tender ones, leaving the hard ones alone. Said he to them: Note what you are doing! As you select the tender and leave the hard, so let your tongues be tender to one another

Accordingly Moshe admonishes Israel by saying: AND IF THOU SELL AUGHT... YE SHALL NOT WRONG ONE ANOTHER. (i.e. Moshe encourages the Israelites to be careful with what they say to each other)

(Translation, based on Judaica classics)

On Trying to Make the Bitter Sweet



Shemot Rabbah 43:3

The rabbis asked, "What does vayachal Moshe mean?" He made that which was bitter, sweet. Vayachal is language of sweetness. How is that? Rabbi Berechya in the name of R. Chiya bar Ada from Yafo in the name of R. Shmuel bar Nachman: when Israel came to Marah what is written there, (Shemot 15:23): "And when they came to Marah" Moshe began to criticize himself saying, "Why were these waters even created? What is their use in the world? It would have been better had they not been created." God knew what he was thinking in his heart, and so the Holy One Blessed be He said, "Don't say this, for are they not the work of my hand? Is there anything in the world that was created for no purpose? Rather, I will teach you what to say instead. Say this: Make the bitter, sweet." And from where do we know that the KBH said this? See what is written there: (Shemot 15:25) "Vayitzak Adonai v'yorayhu Adonai etz." And he cried to God . "Vayorayhu" tree. It is not written "vayAhrayhu," rather it is written "VayOrayhu." The language "VaYOrayhu" is the language of teaching, as it says (Mishlei 4:4) “God instructed me and said to me”—and it is written (Shemot 35:34) “and giving instructions, he put in his heart..”

So Moshe had learned something extremly profound, but he did not use it. And when did he use it? When Israel came to the desert and God wanted to destroy them, Moshe said to him, “Master of the universe, you wish to banish Israel, you want to destroy them from the world. But didn’t you teach me at Marah: that I should pray and say, ‘Make the bitter sweet.’ So now, sweeten the bitterness of Israel and heal them.” That is the meaning of Vayachal Moshe.

Why this text is beautiful: There is something wonderful about God insisting that even the things that seem to have no value in the world have value and that we shouldn't give up on anything. There is also something amazing about the way that Moshe is so upset about the waters-- and the way that the text says that "Moshe began to criticize himself" when the waters seemed bitter. It was as if he was giving up on himself and not just on the waters. God assures Moshe that everything would work out in the end.

And then, Moshe is able to remind God what God had taught him when God wanted to destroy the Israelites in the desert is just amazing. It says a lot about the truth of the goal of Judaism being to help make the world full of sweetness. And it says a lot about God that God would let his will be quieted by this reminder by Moshe.

Finally, it reminds us that trees should be used as a symbol that part of what we need to do in the world is find the good in everything, for it was a tree that Moshe threw into the water to make it drinkable for the Israelites.