Hashem’s Love for the Jewish People

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We are now in Pesukim of the Rosh Hashanah prayers. We're on our 7th pasuk of Zichronot/Remembrances, Yirmiah 2,2 הָלֹ֡ךְ וְֽקָרָ֩אתָ֩ בְאׇזְנֵ֨י יְרוּשָׁלַ֜͏ִם לֵאמֹ֗ר כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֔ה זָכַ֤רְתִּי לָךְ֙ חֶ֣סֶד נְעוּרַ֔יִךְ אַהֲבַ֖ת כְּלוּלֹתָ֑יִךְ לֶכְתֵּ֤ךְ אַֽחֲרַי֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר בְּאֶ֖רֶץ לֹ֥א זְרוּעָֽה/Go and call out in the ears of Jerusalem and tell them This is what God says, I remember the kindness of your youth, the love of your wedding. You followed Me in the desert, in the land that wasn't planted.

Before we try to understand what was said (obviously, it's a very positive pasuk-God is remembering all the kindness and the love of our youth) we should understand when this was said. The Midrash Raba in Bamidbar 2,15 points out that this is in Yirmiyah chapter two, following chapter one, where God tells Yirmiyah, What do you see? And he says, 'I see an almond tree. He says, well, almond trees bloom fast-The punishment's coming fast. I see a bubbling pot coming from the north-The evil is going to come from the north.'

And after that we have this beautiful pasuk? To explain, the midrash gives the mashal of a man who says about his wife, 'There is no one more beautiful than her. There's no one more praise worthy than her, there's no one's the more collected than her!'

Then his friend comes into his house and sees the house is a mess, the wife is unkempt, and the beds are not made. He tells her, "If only you heard what your husband says about you in the street!"

The friend wonders, "If this is the way he talks about her when she looks like this, imagine what he'd say if she made herself up and tidied her house up!"

That was the generation of Yirmiyah. They were sinning, and Yirmiyah says, If only the Jewish people would hear what God is saying about you. If this is the way God talks about us when we're sinning, imagine how God talks about us when we're on the program!

This is obviously a great pasuk of remembrance, because we want Hashem to look back and remember all our good deeds.

And Rashi says there, If you return to Me, I desire to have mercy on you. Just come back. I'll remember all the good days…The good days when we followed Hashem in the desert, in a land that was not developed, with no food. And we believed Him. We relied on Him.

We ask God to remember all the way back. The Abudarham invokes this pasuk in two places in our prayers. In YaAleh Veyavo, we say Zichron Kol Amecha Bet Yisrael/Remember the whole nation. And in our morning prayers/ Shaharit, we say Let us understand Torah because of our forefathers. Who are our forefathers that relied on You? The generation of the desert when they followed Hashem.

The Tomar Devorah, when discussing the 13 attributes, says Attribute 13 is MeYemei Kedem. God remembers the deeds of a long time ago, the ancient deeds. And this, says the Tomar Devorah, means that even when the merit of the Avot run out, when we aren't deserving, what does God say?. I'll go back to the early days, to the love of old. He remembers everything we did from the day we were born. Hashem looks all the way back and arouses all kinds of Middot. And that's why He has mercy.

Of course, anytime we want Hashem to arouse a middah, we have to arouse that middah toward others. The Tomar Devorah says, Look at a person and say, There was a time he didn't sin; in the old days, he was kosher. Remember the good things he did when he was a little boy in third grade and fourth grade; Remember when he was a little nursing baby, how cute he was!

There is nobody that is not befitting of you giving them good and praying for their success and having mercy on them. And this is ultimately the trait of God. This is how God looks at us. We're His little baby. That's how far back God goes, for the Jewish people at large, and for every individual, and that is what this beautiful pasuk says. And the next few words are, Anybody that destroys them will be consumed. God is telling us that even when we're punished, He still loves us and He's going to punish the ones that oppress us, because there's no punishment that's comes out of hate. Even when Hashem is seemingly upset with us, His love is deeper. And again, this is one of the extremely love-arousing pesukim. And when we see the tremendous love Hashem has for us, we can only feel a need to reciprocate.