Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Commentary for Berakhot 5:14

ואמר לי בני מה קול שמעת בחורבה זו ואמרתי לו שמעתי בת קול שמנהמת כיונה ואומרת אוי לבנים שבעונותיהם החרבתי את ביתי ושרפתי את היכלי והגליתים לבין האומות ואמר לי חייך וחיי ראשך לא שעה זו בלבד אומרת כך אלא בכל יום ויום שלש פעמים אומרת כך ולא זו בלבד אלא בשעה שישראל נכנסין לבתי כנסיות ולבתי מדרשות ועונין יהא שמיה הגדול מבורך הקדוש ברוך הוא מנענע ראשו ואומר אשרי המלך שמקלסין אותו בביתו כך מה לו לאב שהגלה את בניו ואוי להם לבנים שגלו מעל שולחן אביהם:

Then he said to me, "My son, what sound didst thou hear in that ruin ?" I answered, "I heard a Bat Kol moaning like a dove, crying, 'Alas for My children for whose iniquities I destroyed My house, burnt My Temple, and exiled them among the nations ! '" He said to me, "By thy life and the life of thy head, not only at this hour does it so cry, but thrice daily it exclaims thus. Moreover, whenever the Children of Israel enter their Synagogues and Houses of Study and respond 'Let His great Name be blessed,' the Holy One, blessed be He, shakes His head and exclaims, 'Happy the King Who is so praised in His house ! Alas for the Father Who has banished His children ! And alas for the children who have been banished from their Father's table ! '"

Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot

For the bearing of this passage on Matt. iii. 16, see Abrahams, Studies in Pharisaism (First Series), p. 47.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot

The original reading was probably, "Woe to Me that I have destroyed," etc. See D. S. ad loc. The alteration was made for the purpose of euphemism.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot

This is the response in the important feature of the Synagogue Service, known as the Kaddish. Cf., e.g., Singer, p. 37, and p. 86 for the form used in the House of Study. On the Kaddish, see J. E. VII. pp. 401 ff.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot

To denote regret or meditation; cf. T. A. III. p. 245 n. 65.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot

Reading אוי ; see D. S. ad loc. The text has מה which means "What is there for the Father?"
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