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Cast Their Seed Among the Nations
566. Cast Their Seed Among the Nations
“‘Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried,’ as the writing says, ‘She raised her voice against me; therefore, I hate her.’ That voice that you cried caused you to be hated … at that time it was decreed that the Temple would be ruined so that Israel would be exiled among the nations, for so the writing says, ‘Therefore, He raised His hand to cast them down in the desert, and that He would cast their seed among the nations and scatter them in the lands.’ Raising a hand against raising a voice” (Midrash Rabbah, Shlach, 16).
To understand all the above in the work, we should interpret the meaning of the Temple. When a person is rewarded with a temporary illumination of Kedusha [holiness], it is considered that he has entered the Temple.
The ruin of the Temple is when the illumination is taken away from him. The ruin comes when the person sins, meaning when he uses this illumination in order to enjoy it in his heart, or when he receives from it support in the mind. At that time, it departs from him.
There is the voice of the Creator and there is the voice of the lower one, called “her voice” or “their voice.” “The voice of the Creator” is when he speaks only so as to thereby bring contentment above. The voice of the lower one is when the speaking is in order to bring contentment to man, as it is written, “And they raised their voice.” Also, “She raised her voice against me,” which caused all the ruin.
During the ruin, the Temple does not remain intact, as in the state he had prior to being rewarded with the Temple. Rather, it gets worse, for there is a rule that if a person does not rise, he falls.
Hence, due to the sin, besides taking from him what he was given, he is also punished. This is called being exiled among the nations, when they fall under lusts and desires of the nations of the world. This is the meaning of “He raised his hands to cast them down in the desert,” where there is no settlement of the mind of Kedusha.
“To cast their seeds among the nations” means that the forces called “their seeds” are for the lusts of the nations, so he cannot do any work unless it gives pleasure to the body, regarded as the nations.
“To scatter them in the lands” means that all their thoughts are scattered, thinking what the uneducated think. This is the meaning of saying, “Raising a hand against raising the voice,” that they sinned only in the voice, having a thought about their own benefit, but their desire was to be in Kedusha, but against that, the raising of the hand was that they fell lower down, meaning desired only corporeal things.
However, this is so for the purpose of correction. Otherwise, they would not feel the lack, that they must correct their actions. Rather, they would settle for little, meaning for the state they had prior to being rewarded with illumination; they agreed to remain that way.
However, when they fall lower down, there is hope that finally, the living will place it to his heart to make repentance and rebuild the Temple.