Does G-d Regret the Exile?
The Talmudic sages teach that there are entities that G-d regrets having creating. They include, the evil inclination within man, and the Chaldean and Ishmaelite peoples who oppressed the Jewish people throughout history.
There, however, seems to be a disagreement regarding a fourth phenomenon, the exile, about which we read in this week’s Torah portion. The Babylonian Talmud lists the exile as one of the circumstances that G-d regrets having created:
Rav Chana bar Acha said that the Sages in the school of Rav say: There are four things that the Holy One, Blessed be He, regrets creating, And these are they: Exile, Chaldeans, and Ishmaelites, and the evil inclination. (Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 55b)
Whereas the Jerusalem Talmud omits the exile from the list of G-d’s regrets:
Rabbi Joshua Ben Yair in the name of Rabbi Phineas ben Yair {stated}: Three {things} the Holy One, praise to Him, created, and was wondering {regretting} why He created them. These are the Chaldeans, the Ishamalites, and the evil inclination. (Jerusalem Talmud, Taanit 3:4)
A careful analysis of both texts, reveal that this disagreement represents a profound philosophical difference in the way we view negativity and challenging circumstances in our world.
In the Bablylonian Talmud the expression is “regrets creating”, highlighting the regret; whereas the expression employed by the Jerusalem Talmud is “created, and was wondering {regretting} why He created them”. The Jerusalem Talmud emphasizes, not only the regret (“wondering {regretting} why He created them”), but also that these were created by G-d (“The Holy One, praise to Him, created”). In other words, while the Babylonian Talmud focuses solely on the negative aspect of these creations, the Jerusalem Talmud, emphasizes not only the negative aspect (“wondering {regretting} why He created them”), but also the positive aspect (“The Holy One, praise to Him, created”).
The Babylonian Talmud, was authored in the diaspora, in a state of relative spiritual darkness. Indeed, the Babylonian Talmud states that the Biblical verse in Lamentations, “He (G-d) placed me in darkness”, refers to the Babylonian Talmud, where there are far more questions and debates than in the Jerusalem Talmud. In a state of spiritual darkness the focus is not on what may happen in the future, but rather the focus is primarily on the present. Therefore, when the sages look at the negative state of affairs of exile they proclaim that the negativity within the experience of the exile, is something that G-d regrets, and therefore it will not endure.
The Jerusalem Talmud, by contrast, was authored in the land of Israel, in a state of relative holiness and spiritual enlightenment and clarity. Therefore, as a rule, the Jerusalem Talmud takes into account not just the current state of affairs but also the future. In the future, the practical aspect of exile will cease to exist, and therefore the Jerusalem Talmud does not mention exile. The Jerusalem Talmud focuses on the future, where two things will happen, the negative aspect of reality will no longer exist, (“wondering {regretting} why He created them”), and more interesting and more novel than that,the energy of evil itself, the passion of the evil inclination and the wicked nations, which was created by G-d, will be transformed into positivity.
The Jerusalem Talmud teaches us to view reality by incorporating not only its current negative form, but to actually perceive the future transformation within the current state of darkness.
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Lekutei Sichos 24 Ki Savo 2
