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Text Excerpt
אמר רבי ירמיה בן אלעזר: נתקללה בבל — נתקללו שכניה. נתקללה שומרון — נתברכו שכניה: נתקללה בבל — נתקללו שכניה, דכתיב: ״ושמתיה למורש קפד ואגמי מים״. נתקללה שומרון נתברכו שכניה — דכתיב: ״ושמתי שמרון לעי השדה למטעי כרם וגו׳״.
With regard to Babylonia, the Talmud cites what R' Yirmeya ben Elazar said: When Babylonia was cursed, its neighbors were cursed along with it. When Samaria was cursed, its neighbors were blessed. When Babylonia was cursed its neighbors were cursed along with it, as it is written: “I will also make it a possession for the bittern, a wading bird, and pools of water” (Isaiah 14:23); not only will it be destroyed, but the site will become a habitat for destructive, environmentally harmful creatures. When Samaria was cursed, however, its neighbors were blessed, as it is written: “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the field, a place for the planting of vineyards” (Micah 1:6); although destroyed, it will serve a beneficial purpose.
ואמר רב המנונא: הרואה אוכלוסי ישראל, אומר: ״ברוך … חכם הרזים״. אוכלוסי גוים, אומר: ״בושה אמכם וגו׳״.
And Rav Hamnuna said: One who sees multitudes of Israel, 600,000 Jews, recites: Blessed…Who knows all secrets. One who sees multitudes of non-Jews recites: “Your mother should be sore ashamed, she that bore you should be confounded; behold, the hindermost of the nations should be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert” (Jeremiah 50:12).
תנו רבנן: הרואה אוכלוסי ישראל, אומר: ״ברוך … חכם הרזים״ — שאין דעתם דומה זה לזה, ואין פרצופיהן דומים זה לזה. בן זומא ראה אוכלוסא על גב מעלה בהר הבית, אמר: ״ברוך … חכם הרזים וברוך … שברא כל אלו לשמשני״.
A baraita states in a Tosefta: One who sees multitudes of Israel recites: Blessed…Who knows all secrets. Why is this? He sees a whole nation whose minds are unlike each other and whose faces are unlike each other, and He Who knows all secrets, God, knows what is in each of their hearts. The Talmud relates: Ben Zoma once saw a multitude [okhlosa] of Israel while standing on a stair on the Temple Mount. He immediately recited: Blessed…Who knows all secrets and Blessed…Who created all these to serve me.