88. "And he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept; and Benjamin wept on his neck ..." Rabbi Yitzchak said, It has been already explained that he wept for the first Temple and for the second Temple - THAT WILL BE BUILT ON BENJAMIN'S PORTION AND BE DESTROYED.

89. He opened the discussion with the verse, "Your neck is like the Tower of David built with turrets, on which there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men" (Shir Hashirim 4:4). HE ASKS, What is the "Tower of David?" It is the Tower of David IN JERUSALEM that was built by David, NAMELY, THAT STANDS inside Jerusalem. Yet "the Tower of David" IN THE SCRIPTURE IS NOT THIS "TOWER OF DAVID," BUT is the celestial Jerusalem - NAMELY, THE NUKVA - about which it is written, "The name of Hashem is a strong tower: the righteous run into it, and is set up on high" (Mishlei 18:10). HE ASKS, Who "is set up on high" - THE RIGHTEOUS OR THE TOWER? HE ANSWERS, the tower is, for into it the Righteous, YESOD, run.

90. "Your neck" is the Lower Temple, WHICH RESEMBLES THE TOWER OF DAVID, WHICH IS THE NUKVA AND IS SO CALLED because it is beautifully built, like the neck. As the neck symbolizes the beauty of the whole body, so the Temple symbolizes the beauty of the whole world.

91. The phrase, "built with turrets (Heb. talpiot)" means a hill on which all the children of the world look TO PRAISE AND TO PRAY. It has been explained that the word 'talpiot' consists of the letters Tel-Piot (lit. 'a mound of mouths'). It is a mound which all the mouths of the world praise and pray.

92. The phrase, "on which there hang a thousand bucklers" (ibid.), refers to the thousand reconstructions fixed upon it, THAT IS, ON THE ILLUMINATION OF CHOCHMAH ALLUDED TO BY THE NUMBER ONE THOUSAND. AND "all shields of mighty men" are called thus because they come from the side of harsh Judgment.

93. As all a woman's jewels hang round her neck, so do all ornaments of the world hang about and dwell within the Temple. It has already been explained that the verse, "We are pursued to our necks" (Eichah 5:5) alludes to the Temple, which is the neck and beauty of the world. "We are pursued to our necks; we labor, AND HAVE NO REST--" we who labored building it twice - THE FIRST TEMPLE AND THE SECOND TEMPLE - "and have no rest," for we were not allowed any. The Temples were destroyed and not rebuilt.

94. As when the neck is destroyed the whole body perishes, so, when the Temple was destroyed and darkened, the whole world became dark too, and the sun, heaven, earth, and stars did not shine.

95. For that reason - FOR THE TWO TEMPLES THAT WERE DESTROYED - Joseph cried. After he wept for this, he wept for the tribes that went into exile. For shortly after the Temple was destroyed, all the tribes were sent into exile and dispersed among the nations, as it is written, "And he kissed all his brethren, and wept on them," meaning, on account of their GOING INTO EXILE.

96. He wept for everything - for the Temple that was twice destroyed and for his brothers, the ten tribes, who went into exile and were scattered among the nations. " ...And after that his brethren talked with him," not 'wept.' He wept because the Holy Spirit come upon him AND HE SAW ALL THAT; but they did not weep, because the Holy Spirit did not dwell upon them - THEY DID NOT SEE IT.