“A song of Ascents. God has not made my heart haughty… like a child weaned from its mother’s breast, so with me is my soul weaned.” (Tehilim, 131) David haMelech said before God that regardless of all the sins of Israel they were never separated from God. They were rather like a baby separated from his mother’s breast, where even when he turns his face from his mother to take something, he then returns his face to his mother so she should not go away from him. So it is with Israel, in every place where they seek good, their eyes are on God so He should not turn away from them. This is as it is written in the Gemara (Beitsa, 11a), “when a young bird falls, it never falls far from the nest.” Kenneset Yisrael, the entire community of Israel, is compared to a young bird, as is known (Shabbat, 49a).
שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת ה' לֹא גָבַהּ לִבִּי וְכוּ' כְּגָמֻל עֲלֵי אִמּוֹ כַּגָּמֻל עָלַי נַפְשִׁי. הַיְינוּ שֶׁדָּוִד הַמֶּלֶךְ עָלָיו הַשָּׁלוֹם אָמַר לִפְנֵי הַש"י כִּי בְּכָל חֶטְאֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא נֶעְתְּקוּ מֵהַש"י, וְרַק כְּתִינוֹק הַנֶּעְתָּק מִשְּׁדֵי אִמּוֹ, אַף שֶׁמֵּסֵיב פָּנָיו מֵאִמּוֹ לִיקַּח דְּבַר מָה, מַחְזִיר פָּנָיו לְאִמּוֹ שֶׁלֹּא תֵּלֵךְ מִמֶּנּוּ, כֵּן בְּכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁיִּשְׂרָאֵל יִרְצוּ בְּטוֹבָה יַבִּיטוּ אִם הַש"י לֹא יָסוֹב מֵהֶם כִּדְאִיתָא בַּגְּמָרָא (ביצה י"א.) גַּבֵּי יוֹנָה כֹּל דִּמְדַדָּה כוּ' וּכְנֶסֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל נִמְשָׁלִין לְיוֹנָה כַּיָּדוּעַ (שבת מ"ט.)
“A song of Ascents. God has not made my heart haughty… like a child weaned from its mother’s breast, so with me is my soul weaned.” (Tehilim, 131)
David haMelech said before God that regardless of all the sins of Israel they were never separated from God. They were rather like a baby separated from his mother’s breast, where even when he turns his face from his mother to take something, he then returns his face to his mother so she should not go away from him. So it is with Israel, in every place where they seek good, their eyes are on God so He should not turn away from them. This is as it is written in the Gemara (Beitsa, 11a), “when a young bird falls, it never falls far from the nest.” Kenneset Yisrael, the entire community of Israel, is compared to a young bird, as is known (Shabbat, 49a).