By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari
Shalom, this Shabbat is called Shabbat Hazon because of the Haftara that we read from the book of Yesha’ya. The Midrash in Tehilim 137 says:
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בְּÖ×–Ö¸×›Ö°×¨ÖµÖ—× ×•Ö¼ ×ֶת־צִיּֽוֹן׃
“By the rivers of Babel, there we sat down and we cried when we remembered Zion.â€
The midrash explains why they cried there. Nebuchadnesar knew that if the Jews that were being taken into exile after the destruction of the first Bet Hamikdash more than 2400 years ago would stop and cry, HaShem would accept their teshuva. He commanded Nebuzaradan, his executioner, to force them to keep moving fast and if anyone lingered, they should be killed. This is how they were taken all the way to the Euphrates River.
At that time they were completely outside of the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael and he figured their teshuva would not help. Yirmiyahu Hanavi was with them, and the soldiers were commanded to have the utmost respect for him. As the Jewish nation was finally allowed to stop and cry by the river of Babel, Nebuzaradan asked Yirmiyahu Hanavi if he would come with them to Babel.
Yirmiyahu thought to himself, if I go with them, who will comfort the people left in Eretz Yisrael? It would be better if I return.
The exiled Jews that were crying lifted their eyes and saw Yirmiyahu heading back and leaving them.
They cried out and begged him, “Our father Yirmiyahu, are you leaving us?â€
Yirmiyahu answered, “The heavens and earth are my witnesses that if you cried once when you were still in Eretz Yisrael, you would not have been taken into exile!â€
We see from here the power of crying – even once… Because if they cried they would not have been taken into exile and that included all the exiles, bloodshed, horrific decrees, inquisitions and holocausts that we suffered, all of which would have been avoided by crying once…
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Shabbat Shalom