Page 7 - HaMizrachi # 21 Tisha B'Av 2020 USA

MIZRACHI EDUCATORS TORAT MIZRACHI

Rabbi Reuven Taragin Rabbanit Shani Taragin

Tears and Teshuva

This is what the L-rd says: narrative and referring consistently to return of their beloved children to
“A voice is heard in Ramah, Yosef and Binyamin, the children of their Land!
Mourning and great weeping, Rachel.
Rachel weeping for her children Just as Ya’akov was eventually
Refusing to be comforted, Furthermore, the exact terminol- reunited with Yosef, and Rachel’s
Because her children are no more. ogy of this prophecy resonates children did return to Eretz Yisrael,
This is what the L-rd says: with Ya’akov’s response to the dis- we have returned too. However, our
Restrain your voice from weeping, appearance of Yosef: “Ya’akov rent Father in Heaven is still crying (see
And your eyes from tears, his clothes, put on sackcloth, and Berachot 3a) for the loss of His chil-
For your work will be mourned his son for a long time. His dren and banishment from His home,
rewarded, says the L-rd. sons and daughters tried to comfort hopeful for return to the Beit HaMik-
They will return from the him, but he refused to be comforted. dash. Yirmiyahu continues his proph-
land of the enemy. He said, ‘I will go down to the grave ecy, employing parallel terminology:
So there is hope for your mourning for my son’ (Bereishit “I have surely heard Ephraim
future, declares the L-rd, 37:34–35). bemoaning himself… return you me,
Your children will return and I shall be returned, for You are
to their own Land.” Yirmiyahu intentionally weaves the the L-rd my G-d… Surely after that,
(Yirmiyahu 31:14–16) loss of Yosef to his father with the I was returned, I repented… I was
loss of Yosef, the firstborn of Rachel, ashamed, even confounded, because
his beautiful prophecy of to his mother, both of whom may not I did bear the reproach of my youth…
consolation is presented as be consoled! The Midrash connects Is Ephraim a darling son to Me? Is he
Ta dialogue between G-d and these narratives and explains the a child that is dandled? For as often as
Rachel. In response to the cries of refusal to be consoled: “One can be
Rachel (a voice weeping), G-d answers comforted for one who is dead, but I speak of him, I do earnestly remem-
ber him still; therefore My heart
– “Restrain your voice from weep- not for one who is still living.” Ya’akov
ing,” and in response to “Because refused to be comforted because he yearns for him, I will surely have
her children are no more,” G-d had not yet given up hope that Yosef compassion upon him, said the L-rd”
assures Rachel: “Your work will be was still alive. (Yirmiyahu 31:17-19).
rewarded… there is hope for your Yirmiyahu teaches us that it is not
future.” The only source of conso- Yirmiyahu reminds us that just as the enough to remember the cries of
lation for Rachel is the assurance of tears of Yosef’s father attested to his Rachel and Ya’akov, the merits of our
survival and the return of her chil- survival and ultimate reunion, so too, patriarchs and matriarchs, their lack
dren to their Land. the tears of Yosef’s mother, refusing of consolation that will inspire and
to be comforted, refusing to give up direct us to return to the Land. There
But why does Yirmiyahu particu-
larly depict Rachel as crying for her hope, will assure the return of Yosef’s is another return of children to par-
children at a time of exile to express descendants, the people of Israel. ents – a repentance we must initiate...
the tearful longings of our national Rachel’s tears remind us of Ya’akov’s and only the two actions combined
ancestors? tears of the past – a father’s loss over will assure the return to our Father’s
Home.
As we examine the verses carefully, his beloved child, and direct us for the
we note numerous references to the future. Rachel’s tears teach us never
story of Rachel’s son, Yosef, who was to be consoled, and never to give up
also exiled from his family and his hope for what is most precious to
homeland. Rachel refuses to be con- us. Rav Chanan Porat explains that
soled for “her children (plural) who Rachel’s tears are therefore described Rabbanit Shani Taragin is Educational
is (singular) no more,” which is remi- as a “הלועפ” – a creative and func- Director of Mizrachi and the Director of
niscent of the word ונניא (is no more), tional action, a constant, restless state the Mizrachi Matan Lapidot Educators'
mentioned seven times in the Yosef for fathers and mothers seeking the Program

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