58. Each and every night, a sound of bitterness from the pain of Zion is heard from the top of the firmament to the bottom, and from the bottom to the top of the firmament, as it is written, “The Lord will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; he will roar mightily against His fold.”
59. At the beginning of the night, the Shechina aims with weeping and roars from the top of the firmament above. She goes down to the place of the external altar and sees her place ruined, defiled with impurity, and there is not a single pure place in it. She howls and wails and cries out with a bitter voice and says, “My altar, my altar, my sustenance, which you have satiated me with oils, with pure and holy offerings.
60. “All the holy people, the ministers and appointees, were being satiated and happy through you, eating delicacies and dispensing their portions at the top of the firmament. Now, they have placed in you the carcasses of the holy followers, my sons, who were slaughtered on you, woe to me from their blood. And all the people, ministers, and appointees, have fallen from their place at the sound of their outcry.
61. “The angels who sit outside are shouting and crying, and they are the holy Erelim, that a letter from His holy name was crowned on them, the letter Yod, and in which they delighted and stood.
“And at the sound of their weeping, that Yod has fled from them and rose to the very top, and they remained as a female that cries and wails, as it is written, “Behold, their heroes [Erelam] cry in the streets.” That is, Erelam without a Yod, shouted outside. Erelim should have been written with a Yod, but she fled from them because of their mourning.”
62. The Shechina laments and says, “My altar, my altar, after you have saturated me with carcasses of holy, pious children, who have given their souls and bodies for you, you have been concealed. Where will I find you? Where is the fire that is on you?” This is how she howled and wailed with a sad voice.
63. Six thousand holy men on each side of the four directions of the world who were eating the offering each day, went down with the Shechina. They wail and cry over the altar that goes up. They were more than six thousand, but they have dwindled.
64. Even those who stand outside, on the other side, who would saturate on those organs and fats of the offering that remained from the day and were eaten on the altar all night, at the beginning of the night, they shout and howl and wail over this altar. Woe to the donkey that lost its trough, the place that satiated it. Who saw the growling of the holy people in the queen, from below upward and from above downward?
65. At midnight, the Shechina enters the point of Zion, the place of the Holy of Holies, and sees it ruined, and her dwelling place and bed defiled. She howls and wails, rising from below upward and from above downward, looks at the place of the Cherubim, cries out with a bitter voice, and raises her voice and says, “My bed, my bed, my dwelling place!”
66. It is written about that place, “On my bed at night.” “My bed” means the queen’s bed.” She howls in weeping and says, “My bed, the place of my Temple, the place of the good gems, the place of the curtain and the covering of the ark, that 60,000 myriad gemstones were relying on it, orders by orders, line by line, looking at each other, orders of pomegranates spread over you to the four directions, the world stood for you.
67. “The Master of the world, my husband, ZA, would come to me and lie in my arms, and did all that I wanted from Him and all my requests, at the time when He would come to me and place His tabernacle in me, and entertain Himself between my breasts.
68. “My bed, my bed, the Holy of Holies, do you not remember how I would come to you joyful and glad, and the children, those youths, the Cherubim, would come out toward me and flap their wings joyfully to greet me?
69. “The dust that is from you, the dust of the bed, would rise from its place and see how the ark of the Torah that was here has been forgotten, as from here, food went out to the whole world, and light, and blessings to all.
70. “I look to my husband; he is not here. I look to every side. At that time, when my husband would come to me, and around him several pious sons, the souls, and all the maidens were ready to greet him, who are the seven maidens.
71. “We would hear from afar the sound of the chimes ringing between his legs, the screens that unite right and left together, so I would hear His voice before He comes to me. And all my maidens praised and thanked the Creator, and then each one would go to her dwelling place and hug him with their kisses with love.
72. “My husband, my husband, where have you turned? Now is the time when I would look at you. I looked to every side, and you are gone. Where have I seen you that I did not seek you there?
73. “This is your place at this time to come to me; here I am, ready here. But you have been forgotten from me; you do not remember the days of love when I would lie in your bosom, engraved in your form, and my form was engraved in you. Like the seal that places its form in the engraving of the text, I placed my form in you, so you would entertain yourself with my form while I am among my armies.”
74. She howled in weeping and shouted “My husband! My husband! The light of my eyes has become dark. Do you not remember how when you would stretch your left arm under my head, and I would delight on the plentiful peace, and your right hand embraced with brotherhood and kisses? You swore to me that you would never leave my love. You swore to me, ‘If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. And yet, I have been forgotten from you.
75. “Do you not remember how when I stood at your place on Mount Sinai, and sixty myriads [ten thousand] assumed you upon them, and I was crowned for you in them more than all the nations, and we followed you to all Your wishes? And that handmaid, the evil shell, killed thousands and myriads of them, but we did not look.
“They are all lost in the desert; you left them there. We admitted their little children to stand before you in this land, and we separated them from those who were more than twenty when they came out of Egypt, to stand before you for your wish.
76. “My husband, remember with how many holy sons I stood before you in each and every generation, in the days of David, and Solomon his son. Do you not remember how many good deeds they did before you? Does it suit you to remember iniquities, and not remember merits? Where has it been inverted for you to remember the iniquities and not the merits? You should remember the merits, and not the iniquities, as this is the quality of mercy.
77. “I seek you, and you are gone. I seek my children, and they are gone. I seek the holiness that is in this place, and behold, it is all defiled. The whole world was at peace thanks to this place, the Temple: Dogs did not bark at that time; everyone was at peace.”
She howls and wails, and all those battalions of above, and the dogs, are shouting below at the beginning of the third watch.
78. She comes out and stand son the place of the altar of the incense. She howls and wails and rises up, and finds one of the two Cherubim who were with her, since from the time of the ruin of the Temple, she has only had one Cherub, and that youth-child, the remaining Cherub, suckles weeping and wailing from the Shechina.
79. At that time, the Creator visits her. He comes down to her and speaks with her. It is written about that, “Thus said the Lord, ‘Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work.’” We learn about it that in the third watch, an infant suckles from its mother’s breasts, and a woman speaks with her husband, the Shechina with ZA her husband. Thus far is the prelude to the book Eicha [Lamentations]. From here on is the beginning of the book Eicha.