Gates of Tears

"The Israelites were groaning.." On this verse, my grandfather and teacher commented that before the king died, they were so sunk in exile that they didn’t even feel the exile. But now began, a little bit, the process of redemption, now that they became aware of their exile and groaned [because of it]… This is also the meaning of: "I will bring you forth from beneath the sufferings of Egypt" (Exodus 6:6), meaning that [Israel] will no longer be able to put up with the ways of Egypt.

And YHVH said, “I have marked well the plight of My people in Egypt and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters; yes, I am mindful of their sufferings.

On the subject of prayer, Rabbi Elazar also said: Since the day the Temple was destroyed the gates of prayer were locked and prayer is not accepted as it once was, as it is said in lamentation of the Temple’s destruction: “Though I plead and call out, God shuts out my prayer” (Lamentations 3:8). Yet, despite the fact that the gates of prayer were locked with the destruction of the Temple, the gates of tears were not locked, as it is stated: “Hear my prayer, YHVH, and give ear to my pleading, keep not silence at my tears” (Psalms 39:13).