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Lamentations: Third Kinah -Stanza 4 Line 1



“…and the luminaries”: Rav Nachman reported that Samuel said in the name of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: The Holy One, Blessed be He, summoned the ministering angels and said to them: ‘If a human king had a son who died and mourns for him, what is customary for him to do?’ They replied, ‘He hangs sackcloth over his door.’ He said to them, ‘I will do likewise.’ That is what is written, ‘I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.’ (Isaiah 50:3) He asked again, ‘What does a human king do?’ They replied, ‘He extinguishes the lights.’ He said to them, ‘I will do likewise.’ As it is said, ‘sun and the moon are become black, and the stars withdraw their shining.’ (Joel 4:15) ‘What does a human king do?’ They replied, ‘He overturns his couch.’ He said to them, ‘I will do likewise.’ As it is stated, ‘Till thrones were cast down, and One that was ancient of days did sit.’ (Daniel 7:9)

The luminaries turned dark because God extinguished the lights of heaven in mourning. 1) God is mourning with us.

2) The light that we have now is a weaker light than if the Temple was standing. Esther Rabbah 7:13 “God said to Satan, ‘Bring Me a scroll and I will write on it the doom of extermination.’ Satan went and brought Him a scroll on which He wrote the doom. Straightway the Torah went forth in garments of widowhood and lifted up her voice in weeping before the Holy One Blessed be He, and the ministering angels cried aloud at the sound of her weeping and said before the Holy One Blessed be He, ‘Sovereign of the Universe, if Israel disappear from the world, what is the use of us in the world?’ As it says, ‘Behold, their valiant ones cry without; the angels of peace weep bitterly.’ (Isaiah 33:7) When the sun and the moon heard this, they gathered in their light, as it says, ‘I will clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering.’ (Isaiah 50:3)

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