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Cedars of Lebanon:
Mystic Drama of Jerusalem
- Abstract
One day the friends were walking with Rabbi Simeon. He said: “I see all other nations raised and Israel humiliated. Why so? Because the King, God, has sent away the Queen, Israel, and has put the handmaid, the alien Crown, in her place.” He wept and continued: “A king without a queen is no king; if the king is attached to the handmaid of the queen, where is his glory? The handmaid rules over Zion as the Queen once ruled over it. But one day the Holy One will restore the Queen to her rightful place; who shall then rejoice like the King and the Queen?—the King because he has returned to her, and has separated from the handmaid, and the Queen because she is reunited to the King. Hence it is written: Rejoice exceedingly, O daughter of Zion (Zech. 9:9).
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The souls of the Lower Paradise at times go forth and roam about the world. They behold those suffering who have been afflicted for the sake of their belief in the unity of God. The souls return, and report to the Messiah what they have seen. The Messiah weeps aloud; he enters the Hall of the Afflicted, and there takes upon himself entirely the pain and the sufferings of Israel. So long as Israel was in the Holy Land, the service in the Sanctuary and the offerings averted afflictions from the world; now it is the Messiah who spares mankind.
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