The Book of Commandments: Introduction

If God will purify His entire people Israel from all impurity and give them a new heart and a new spirit and gather them all to His holy city . . . His House and His Temple, and establish us in His holy courtyards, then we will give thanks there and say [that which was prophesied by Isaiah, as it is written]: In that day, you shall say, “I will give thanks to You, O Lord! For though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You comfort me. Behold God is my salvation! I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song, and He has become mysalvation.” Therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:1–3). Our brethren, Israel! I beseech you, give forth your hand to the Lord, and come to His Temple, which He has sanctified for eternity. For it is a commandment incumbent upon you, as it is written: Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O shameless nation (Zephaniah 2:1), which means: Assemble in the holy city, and gather your brethren, for until now you have been a nation that has not been desirous of the House of their Father in heaven. Now, gather yourselves together, before the decree bring forth the day (Zephaniah 2:2), that is, the troubles that come to the world; they will be like chaff in front of you, as it is written: the day one passes as the chaff (ibid.). And it says further: Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so shall they not be a stumbling block of iniquity for you (Ezekiel 18:30), which means: Repent yourselves, and turn your hearts. And it is written: Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit; for why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 18:30). [ . . . ]

Know, O brethren, that Jerusalem has been heretofore desolate. She was once great among the nations, prince among the regions, mistress of the kingdoms, choice out of all regions, crowned out of all beauties, established out of all places, a crown over all queens—and today she is filthy and burnt amidst the ash, dirty and torn up and dragged around; nations mention her as a byword, like hell. Therefore, I engage in deep mourning for her, and I tremble for her people, and I cry with tears, and speak of my anguish, saying: Help, O Lord! For the faithful are no more (Psalms 12:2).

O brethren! Jerusalem is exposed, shamed, dominated, yearning, and weak, bound by strangers, crying from the hands of oppressors and foes, yearning for her dispersed children, until those that love uprightness show favor to her, and come—one from a city, two from a clan, old and young, to mourn for Zion and Jerusalem, and for the disaster of Judah and Ephraim, and tie sackcloth around their loins; until He looks down with His mercy from the highest heavens, and establishes the Temple for His dwelling place: But of Zion it shall be said, “This man and that was born there,” and Godshall establish it forever. [The Lord will inscribe in the register of peoples that each was born there.] Selah! (Psalms 87:5–6). [ . . . ]

O brethren! Jerusalem and Zion are placed in the hands of two nations: Zion in the hands of Esau [Christians] and Jerusalem in the hands of the children of Hagar [Muslims]. Therefore, He had compassion for His people, to give them hope to serve Him; if it were not so, they would have stopped serving Him, for there is nowhere to pray to Him other than this place, as it is written: For now have I chosen and hallowed this house, that My name may be there for ever (2 Chronicles 7:16) and it is written: Here will be the House of the Lord (1 Chronicles 22:1). [ . . . ]

O brethren! Know that Jerusalem is currently a place where all who flee can take refuge, a place where all mourners can rest, a place of respite for all who are poor and indigent. In it are the Lord’s servants, who assemble there, one from a town and two from a clan (Jeremiah 3:14). In it, women recite laments and dirges, in the holy tongue [Hebrew], Persian, and in Arabic; and they teach their daughters to mourn, and their fellow women to recite lamentation. They say: Alas! Lonely sits the city (Lamentations 1:1). How has the Lord covered with a cloud the daughter of Zion in His anger! (Lamentations 2:1) I am the man who has seen affliction! (Lamentations 3:1) How is the gold become dim! (Lamentations 4:1) Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us! (Lamentations 5:1)—along with dirges composed by the prophets. They also say freshly composed¹ words, each one with her fellow.

And in the months of Tammuz and Av,² there is greater mourning in Jerusalem, as it is written: And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to lamentation, to tonsuring and to girding with sackcloth (Isaiah 22:12). The men and women wallow in the ashes, and they fast and afflict themselves, wearing sackcloth. They go up to the Mount of Olives, with their hearts throbbing, people in pain, sitting in ruins, wiping tears from their eyes because of [the loss of] the population and the Temple. They say, “How long will I be drinking the cup of wrath from the hand of the cruel foreigner? How long, O God, will the foe continue to shame us? How long will I be a prisoner, imprisoned by hope, with my soul sick from extended hoping? My body withers, my flesh wastes away, and impure, uncircumcised people have made me into a curse.”