{The Midrash continues along the idea that the destruction came about because of abandonment of learning Torah. In Yirmiyahu 16:9-11f, Hashem tells him to say a prophecy of doom, and that the people will ask what they did to deserve this prophecy, to which Yirmiyahu is supposed to tell them the reason. Again the plain pshat meaning of the text seems to be idolatry, as well as not keeping the mitzvot, but it will be taken midrashic-ly to be abandoning the [study of] Torah.
כִּי כֹה אָמַר ה צְבָאוֹת, אֱלֹקֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, הִנְנִי מַשְׁבִּית מִן-הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה לְעֵינֵיכֶם, וּבִימֵיכֶם--קוֹל שָׂשׂוֹן וְקוֹל שִׂמְחָה, קוֹל חָתָן וְקוֹל כַּלָּה.
וְהָיָה, כִּי תַגִּיד לָעָם הַזֶּה, אֵת כָּל-הַדְּבָרִים, הָאֵלֶּה; וְאָמְרוּ אֵלֶיךָ, עַל-מֶה דִבֶּר ה עָלֵינוּ אֵת כָּל-הָרָעָה הַגְּדוֹלָה הַזֹּאת, וּמֶה עֲוֹנֵנוּ וּמֶה חַטָּאתֵנוּ, אֲשֶׁר חָטָאנוּ לַה אֱלֹקֵינוּ.
וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵיהֶם, עַל אֲשֶׁר-עָזְבוּ אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם אוֹתִי נְאֻם-ה, וַיֵּלְכוּ אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, וַיַּעַבְדוּם וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ לָהֶם; וְאֹתִי עָזָבוּ, וְאֶת-תּוֹרָתִי לֹא שָׁמָרוּ.
וְאַתֶּם הֲרֵעֹתֶם לַעֲשׂוֹת, מֵאֲבוֹתֵיכֶם; וְהִנְּכֶם הֹלְכִים, אִישׁ אַחֲרֵי שְׁרִרוּת לִבּוֹ-הָרָע, לְבִלְתִּי, שְׁמֹעַ אֵלָי.
"For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt tell this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee: 'Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'
then shalt thou say unto them: 'Because your fathers have forsaken Me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law;
and ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto Me;..."
}
R Huna and R Yirmiyahu citing R Chiyya bar Abba: It states וְאֹתִי עָזָבוּ, וְאֶת-תּוֹרָתִי לֹא שָׁמָרוּ - "...and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law."
'If only you abandoned Me yet watched {=studied} my Torah, for if they were involving themselves in it {its study} the enlightenment which is in it would have turned them back to goodness.
רב הונא אמר למוד תורה אע"פ שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה אריב"ל בכל יום ויום בת קול יוצאת מהר חורב ואומרת אוי להם לבריות מעלבונה של תורה
Rav Huna said, 'Learn Torah, even not Lishma {for its own sake}, for out of not Lishma will {eventually} come to be for its own sake.
Rabbi Yeshoshua ben Levi (?) said, 'Every single day a bat kol goes out from Mount Chorev and says, "Woe to the Creations from the insult to Torah."
שמואל תני לה בשם ר' שמואל בר אמי אימתי המלכות גוזרת גזרה וגזירתה מצלחת בשעה שישראל משליכין דברי תורה לארץ הה"ד (דניאל ח)וצבא תנתן על התמיד בפשע אין צבא אלא מלכיות שנאמר (ישעיה כ"ד)יפקוד ה' על צבא המרום במרום וגו' התמיד אלו ישראל דכתיב (יהושע א')והגית בו יומם ולילה בפשע בפשעה של תורה כל זמן שישראל משליכין דברי תורה לארץ המלכות היא גוזרת ומצלחת שנא' (דניאל ח) ותשלך אמת ארצה וגו' ואין אמת אלא תורה שנאמר (משלי כ"ג)אמת קנה ואל תמכור אם השלכת דברי תורה לארץ מיד הצליחה המלכות הה"ד (דניאל ח)ועשתה והצליחה
Shmuel taught in the name of R Shmuel bar Ami, when does the government decree a decree {an evil decree against the Jews} and its decree succeeds? At the hour that the Jews cast off the words of Torah {divrei Torah} to the ground. This is what is stated in Daniel 8:12 -
{where the context is Daniel's vision, in which a he-goat smites a ram, and then waxes exceedingly great unto the host of heaven, and is casting down and trampling stars. Then the psukim state (8:11-14):
וְעַד שַׂר-הַצָּבָא, הִגְדִּיל; וּמִמֶּנּוּ הרים (הוּרַם) הַתָּמִיד, וְהֻשְׁלַךְ מְכוֹן מִקְדָּשׁוֹ.
וְצָבָא תִּנָּתֵן עַל-הַתָּמִיד, בְּפָשַׁע; וְתַשְׁלֵךְ אֱמֶת אַרְצָה, וְעָשְׂתָה וְהִצְלִיחָה.
וָאֶשְׁמְעָה אֶחָד-קָדוֹשׁ, מְדַבֵּר; וַיֹּאמֶר אֶחָד קָדוֹשׁ לַפַּלְמוֹנִי הַמְדַבֵּר, עַד-מָתַי הֶחָזוֹן הַתָּמִיד וְהַפֶּשַׁע שֹׁמֵם--תֵּת וְקֹדֶשׁ וְצָבָא, מִרְמָס.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי--עַד עֶרֶב בֹּקֶר, אַלְפַּיִם וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת; וְנִצְדַּק, קֹדֶשׁ
"Yea, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the host; and from him the continual burnt-offering was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt-offering through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it wrought, and prospered.
Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said unto that certain one who spoke: 'How long shall be the vision concerning the continual burnt-offering, and the transgression that causes appalment, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot?'
And he said unto me: 'Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be victorious.'"
The context thus seems to be about the destroyed Bet Hamikdash. To resume, "this is what is stated in Daniel 8:12,"}
וְצָבָא תִּנָּתֵן עַל-הַתָּמִיד, בְּפָשַׁע, "And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt-offering through transgression;"
{and the verse ends, וְתַשְׁלֵךְ אֱמֶת אַרְצָה, וְעָשְׂתָה וְהִצְלִיחָה - "and it cast down truth to the ground, and it wrought, and prospered."}
צָבָא - And צָבָא, host, only refers to the government, as it states in Yeshayahu 24:21
וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, יִפְקֹד ה עַל-צְבָא הַמָּרוֹם בַּמָּרוֹם; וְעַל-מַלְכֵי הָאֲדָמָה, עַל-הָאֲדָמָה.
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD will punish the צְבָא - host of the high heaven on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth."
{This is strange since it seems that צְבָא here is used for something in heaven, and is not directly connected to the kings, who are of the earth. How does this verse then show that צְבָא refers to the government? Rav Zev Wolf in his perush tries to make צְבָא distributive, and thus the end of the verse would be the kings and צְבָא's of the earth, which would then refer to the whole regime.
I would point out that Biblical poetry works symmetrically, with the first half of the verse parallel the the second. Thus, there is צְבָא in heaven, matching to kings on earth. Thus צְבָא is a synonym of government.}
עַל-הַתָּמִיד - together with {though now taken literally, as "upon." The government upon} the continual burnt-offering. This refers to the Jews, as it states in Yehoshua 1:8, וְהָגִיתָ בּוֹ יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה - "but thou shalt meditate therein day and night..." {Thus, the Jews who should be continuously learning Torah.}
בְּפָשַׁע - in the sinful neglect (בפשעה) of Torah.
Any time that the Jews cast divrei Torah to the ground the government decrees and succeeds in the decree, as it states {further at the end of the aforementioned verse,} in Daniel 8:12
וְתַשְׁלֵךְ אֱמֶת אַרְצָה - "and it cast down truth to the ground, etc. {and it wrought, and prospered.}"
And אֱמֶת only refers to Torah, as it states in Mishlei 23, אֱמֶת קְנֵה, וְאַל-תִּמְכֹּר; - "Buy the truth, and sell it not;"
If you cast divrei Torah to the ground, immediately the goverment will be successful {in its decrees against the Jews}. This is what is written, at the end of the verse in Daniel 8:12, וְעָשְׂתָה וְהִצְלִיחָה, "and it wrought, and prospered." {That is, it made decrees, and was successful in those decrees.}
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