ספר דברים

“And Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me." (Is. 49:14) The language of abandonment is applicable to one whose love from the start was unconnected to any favor done them and now no longer recalls their original love. This is what abandonment means – why have you abandoned your love? The language of forgetting is applicable to one who received a favor but does not recall what was done. This is when the word forgetting is relevant – why do you forget the good I did for you? No particular characteristic is related to the four-letter name of Gd, blessed be He and blessed be His name, ‘because He and His Name are one’ (Zohar haKadosh I 7b), while the Name of mastery (adonay) indicates the attribute of kingship (Zohar haKadosh III 11a). The attribute of kingship comes to be through Israel who accepted the Torah and accepted the yoke of His kingship upon themselves, because there is no king without a people. So we find that through Israel’s acceptance of the yoke of His kingship they are the cause, so to speak, for His name of adonay which indicates kingship. Therefore the language of forgetting is rightly connected to this name (in the verse) – why do you not recall the good I did when I crowned you upon me king? But the four-lettered name indicates His essence, blessed be He, and in truth He created all the worlds out of a love for Israel. Therefore the language of abandonment is rightly connected this name (in the verse) – why do you abandon your love of old? This is why it is written ‘And Zion said that HaShem abandoned me’ as if to ask the four-lettered name, who loves Israel, why have you abandoned your love? And the name adonay indicates the attribute of kingship, which I caused when I accepted the yoke of your kingship. Why have You forgotten the good which I did, because through my hands You are addressed in the attribute of kingship, because there is no king without a people. This is why it is written ‘adonay forgot me,’ why do you forget the good I have done?