For the source text click/tap here: Chagigah 14
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The discussion of ma’aseh bereshit – the secrets of creation – continues with a description of the heavens.
The Gemara records that Rabbi Yehuda recognizes two heavens, while Reish Lakish enumerates seven heavens.
Back in daf 5 we had already learned: Rav Shmuel bar Inya said in the name of Rav: The Holy One, Blessed be He, has a place where He cries, and its name is Mistarim.
The Gemara asks: But is there crying before the Holy One, Blessed be He? Didn’t Rav Pappa say: There is no sadness before the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is stated: “Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and gladness are in His place” (I Chronicles 16:27)? The Gemara responds: This is not difficult. This statement, that God cries, is referring to the innermost chambers, where He can cry in secret, whereas this statement, that He does not cry, is referring to the outer chambers.
On our daf, the Gemara asks: "And is there darkness before Heaven, i.e., before God? But isn’t it written: “He reveals deep and secret things, He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him” (Daniel 2:22), demonstrating that only light, not darkness, is found with God?"
The Gemara answers: This is not difficult. This verse, which states that only light dwells with Him, is referring to the inner chamber/ houses, where there is only light; that source, according to which He is surrounded by darkness, is referring to the outer chamber/houses.
We explore the difference between the inner and outer chamber with the help of Eicha Rabba (Petichta 24) where Jeremiah and Metatron try to console the divine, whereupon He threatens to withdraw to the inner chamber and cry alone.
The Piacetzna Rebbe, in a startling sermon (Shabbes Parshe hachodesh 1942, Warsaw Ghetto) uses this midrash to forge a new theodicy...