Eikhah Rabbah Reader

“May it not befall you, all wayfarers. Look and see: Is there any pain like my pain, which has been done to me, with which the Lord has tormented me on the day of His enflamed wrath?” (Lamentations 1:12).“May it not befall you,” the congregation of Israel says to the nations of the world: Let what befell us not befall you. Let what happened to me not happen to you; “all wayfarers [overei derekh],” all violators of [overei] the way [derekh] of Torah.

“Look and see.” We learned there: The sentence of the generation of the Flood lasted twelve months, the sentence of the Egyptians lasted twelve months, the sentence of Job lasted twelve months, the sentence of Gog and Magog lasts twelve months, the sentence of the wicked in Gehenna lasts twelve months.148Mishna Eduyot 2:10. Nebuchadnezzar was three and a half years. Sennacherib was over three and a half years.

Vespasian was three and a half years.149The respective sieges of Nebuchadnezzar, leading to the destruction of the first Temple, and Vespasian, leading to the destruction of the second Temple, lasted three and a half years each. This demonstrates how the suffering of the Jews during that time was unparalleled.“Look and see: Is there any pain like my pain, which has been done [olal] to me.” He was exacting with me and plucked my gleanings [olalti], just as it says: “When you harvest your vineyard [you shall not glean [teolel] behind you]” (Deuteronomy 24:21).150It is forbidden to pluck the grapes in clusters that are not fully formed, which must be left for the poor.

However, the enemies of Jerusalem killed everyone and destroyed everything. “With which the Lord has tormented me on the day of His enflamed wrath.” Rabbi Aḥa said: The enflamed wrath of the Holy One blessed be He was one day. Had Israel repented, they would have cooled it.

“From on high He sent fire into my bones, and He crushed them; He spread a net for my feet, He turned me back. He rendered me desolate, suffering all day” (Lamentations 1:13).“From on high He sent fire into my bones.” Rabbi Ami asked Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani, he said to him: ‘Because I heard about you, that you are a master of aggada, what is [the meaning of] that which is written: “For Your righteousness [vetzikatekha], God, reaches on high”?’ (Psalms 71:19).

He said to him: ‘Just as those below are required to perform charity [tzedaka] with one another, so those on high are required to perform charity with one another.’Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: Any place where it is stated: “He said, he said,”151Wherever the term “he said” appears twice in the introduction to a single statement. it is stated only to be expounded. That is what is written: “He said to the man clothed in linen, and He said: Come to between the galgal [beneath the cherub, and fill your hands with smoldering coals from between the cherubs, and cast them upon the city]” (Ezekiel 10:2).

What is “He said,” “He said,” twice? It is that the Holy One blessed be He spoke to the angel, and the angel [then] said to the cherub: ‘Even though the Holy One blessed be He decreed upon me to take the coals, I am not allowed to enter behind your partition. Rather, perform an act of kindness and give me two of your coals so I will not be burned.’ That is what is written: “He carried it and placed it into the cupped hands of the one clothed in linen” (Ezekiel 10:7).

What is “he carried it and he placed it”? Rabbi Yitzḥak said: He cooled them and placed them in his hand.Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin [said] in the name of Rabbi Levi: For six years the coals were dimly smoldering in Gabriel’s hand, and he believed that Israel would repent. When they did not repent, he sought to cast them upon them in rage. The Holy One blessed be He summoned him and said to him: ‘Gabriel, Gabriel!

Slowly, slowly, for there are among them those who perform charity with one another.’ That is what is written: “On the cherubs the form of a man’s hand was seen beneath their wings” (Ezekiel 10:8).152The hand represents the Holy One blessed be He preventing Gabriel from casting the coals on them.Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said in the name of Rabbi Levi: What holds up the supernal and the earthly? It is the charity that Israel performs with the hand.

That is what is written: “For Your righteousness, God, reaches on high” (Psalms 71:19).153The verse is interpreted to mean that the merit of the charity that God commanded Israel to perform “reaches on high,” in that it supports even the heavens.Similarly, “The man of God approached and said to the king of Israel, and said: So said the Lord: [Because Aram said: The Lord is a God of mountains and not a God of lowlands, I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you will know that I am the Lord]” (I Kings 20:28).

What is “and said” twice? It is that in the first statement he said to him: ‘If ben Hadad comes under your control, have no pity on him.’ In the second statement, he said to him: ‘How many traps have I laid, how many signals have I sent, how many conquests did I perform before I subdued him before you, and now you have freed him in peace?’ Therefore, “your life shall be in place of his life, and your people instead of his people” (I Kings 20:42).Similarly, “King Aḥashverosh said and he said to Queen Esther” (Esther 7:5).

What is “he said,” “he said,” twice? Rav said in the name of Rabbi Elazar: Before he sensed that she was Jewish, he would speak to her directly. Once he sensed that she was Jewish, King Aḥashverosh spoke to the translator and the translator spoke to Queen Esther.Similarly, “The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, sons of Aaron, and say to them” (Leviticus 21:1). Why do I need these two sayings?

It is that in the first saying, He said to him: “He shall not become impure from a corpse among his people” (Leviticus 21:1). In the second, He said to him: ‘If you come upon a corpse that it is a mitzva to bury, impurify yourself for it.’154Although a priest is forbidden from becoming impure from a corpse, if there is a corpse that has no one to bury it, it is a mitzva for anyone, even a priest, to see to the burial.

Since in this world you impurify yourself for a corpse that it is a mitzva to bury, in the future you will not become impure from any corpse, for there will be no death in the future, as it is stated: “He will eliminate death forever” (Isaiah 25:8).Alternatively, “for Your righteousness, God, reaches on high, [for the great deeds You have done]” these are the two luminaries.155This refers to the sun and the moon.

“God, who is comparable to You” (Psalms 71:19), in that You suppress the attribute of justice. At that moment, the accuser leapt before the Throne of Glory and said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, will this wicked one arrogantly say: I destroyed the house of the Lord and burned His Temple? If it is so,156If the Temple must be destroyed. let fire descend from on high and burn it.’ Immediately, what is written: “From on high He sent fire into my bones.”

Rabbi Yehoshua said: That is why the prophet rebukes Babylon and says to it: “Take a millstone and grind flour” (Isaiah 47:2). Everyone grinds wheat, yet it says “grind flour”? Rather, Jerusalem said to the daughter of Babylon: Had war not been waged against me from on high, could you have waged war against me? Had fire not been sent against me from on high, could you have overcome me?

Rather, you killed a dead lion. You ground already ground flour. You set fire to a burned city. That is why it says: “From on high He sent fire into my bones and He crushed them [vayirdena].”

What is “and He crushed them [vayirdena]”? Moved them, just as you say: “He scooped [vayirdehu] it into his hands” (Judges 14:9).157The midrash is interpreting the word vayirdena to mean “he moved them” rather than “He crushed them.” Thus, the verse is interpreted to mean that God sent fire from on high against the Temple, and the enemy merely moved the burned bones.Alternatively, vayirdena [means] ruled, just as it says: “He will rule [veyerd] from sea to sea” (Psalms 72:8).

Alternatively, vayirdena [means] subjugated, just as it says: “For he subjugated [rodeh] the entire region beyond the River” (I Kings 5:4). Alternatively, vayirdena [means] plowing [radya], as it is taught: Rufus plowed the Sanctuary. Rabbi Beiva of Rangaya said: Vayirdena, he saw [vayar] the attribute of justice [din] harming it.“He spread a net for my feet.” Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: If you see benches filled with Babylonians situated in the Land of Israel, anticipate the footsteps of the Messiah.

What is the source? “He spread [paras] a net for my feet.”158This is expounded as a reference to Persia [paras]. When the Persians, whose empire included Babylon, spread their net in the Land of Israel, it will be a harbinger of the Messiah. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai taught: If you see a Persian horse tied in the Land of Israel, anticipate the footsteps of the Messiah.

What is the source? “This will be peace: When Assyria [will come into our land and when it will tread in our palaces, we will raise against it seven shepherds, and eight princes of men]” (Micah 5:4). “He turned me back,” away from the priesthood, away from the kingdom. “He rendered me desolate,” set for destruction; “suffering all day,” [sent] to the gallows.

“The yoke of my transgressions is preserved in His hand, becoming entangled, coming upon my neck, sapping my strength. The Lord delivered me into the hands of those against whom I cannot stand” (Lamentations 1:14).“The yoke of my transgressions is preserved [niskad] in His hand,” I was calm [seduka] regarding my iniquities. I believed that He would pardon me for all my iniquities when I heard that my promissory note was ripped on high.159When God said to Moses that He pardoned the people for the sin of the Golden Calf, they thought they were entirely pardoned, but in fact God had merely agreed not to annihilate them completely, but rather to punish them incrementally.Another matter, niskad is written with a shin.160The word niskad is written with a sin rather than a samech.

A sin can also be read as a shin when it is not vocalized, as it is the same letter. Thus, the word can be read nishkad. The Holy One blessed be He strove [shakad] to find how to bring the calamity upon me. He said: If I exile them during the season of Tevet,161Winter. they will suffer from cold and die.

Rather, I will exile them during the season of Tamuz,162Summer. as even if they sleep in the streets and squares, not one of them will be harmed.Another matter, niskad, He strove [shakad] to find how to bring the calamity upon me. He said: If I exile them during the season of Tevet, there are no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree. Rather, I will exile them during the season of Tamuz, when there are grapes on the vine, figs on the fig tree, and even the leaves do not wither.Another matter, niskad, He strove [shakad] to find how to bring evil upon me.

He said: If I exile them through the wilderness, they will die of starvation. Rather, I will exile them through Armenis, where there are cities and districts, and food and drink are found there.Another matter, niskad, I was calm [sekuda] regarding my iniquities. I believed that He would pardon me for all my iniquities. However, “becoming entangled [yistargu],” He brought alternating [serigot] rulers upon me].

He brought them upon me in pairs: Babylon and the Chaldeans, Media and Persia, Greece and Macedonia, Edom and Ishmael. He brought them upon me, alternating: Babylon was harsh, Media was moderate; Greece was harsh, Edom was moderate; the Chaldeans were harsh, Persia was moderate; Macedonia was harsh, and Ishmael was moderate. Likewise, “some of the kingdom will be strong, and some of it will be brittle” (Daniel 2:42).

Despite all these I did not deny my God; rather, “coming [alu] upon my neck.”163This is expounded as though it were written ulo, His yoke, such that the verse would read: “His yoke is upon my neck.” And [Israel] declares the unity of His name twice daily and says: “Hear Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

“Sapping my strength,” Rabbi Tanḥum ben Rabbi Yirmeya said: There are four matters that exhaust a person’s strength, and they are: Fasting, the road, iniquity, and the kingdom of Babylon. Fasting, as it is written: “My knees are weak from fasting” (Psalms 109:24). The road, as it is written: “Along the way He has weakened my strength” (Psalms 102:24). Iniquity, as it is written: “In my iniquity, my strength has failed” (Psalms 31:11).

Kingdom, as it is written: “Judah said: The strength of the bearer is failing, and the dirt is abundant; we cannot build the wall” (Nehemiah 4:4).164They could not rebuild the walls of Jerusalem due to their enemies. The kingdom of Babylon is representative of oppressive enemies.“The Lord delivered me into the hands of those against whom I cannot stand.” The Rabbis say: This is a bad wife who has a costly marriage contract.Rav Huna said: “The man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).

He rendered him a slave bound to himself. If he does not exert himself, he does not eat. That is the opinion of Rabbi Ḥanina, as Rabbi Ḥanina said: “The Lord delivered me into the hands of those against whom I cannot stand.” “Into the hands of those against whom I cannot stand”—if I do not exert myself during the day, at night, “I cannot stand.”

“The Lord trampled all my mighty in my midst; He proclaimed a festival against me to break my young men; the Lord has trodden the maiden daughter of Judah in a winepress” (Lamentations 1:15).“The Lord trampled [sila] all my mighty,” they were made to be bowed, like a stalk of grain before [the enemies]. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: In bar Gamza they call a stalk of grain, comb [sarakei]. Rabbi Levi said: In Arabia they call a comb, curler [mesalsela].165Thus, the word sila in the verse implies something that is curled or bent over.

“He proclaimed a festival against me to break my young men.” We find that the expulsion of the young men is as calamitous as the destruction of the Temple, as it is written: “the Lord has trodden the maiden daughter of Judah in a winepress.”166The midrash interprets this phrase as a reference to the destruction of the Temple; see, similarly, Sanhedrin 96b. Likewise, He proclaimed a festival against me to break my young men.”

“For these I weep, my eye, my eye sheds water; for a comforter, restorer of my soul, has grown distant from me; my children have become desolate, because the enemy has prevailed” (Lamentations 1:16).“For these I weep.” Vespasian filled three ships with the prominent ones of Jerusalem, in order to place them in the brothels of Rome. They stood and said: ‘Is it not enough that we angered Him in His Temple, that [we shall do so] even outside of Israel?’

They said to the women: ‘Do you consent to this?’167The Jewish men, who were being brought to Rome for Roman men to engage with them in homosexual relations, asked the Jewish women, who were being transported to Rome for Roman men to engage with them in heterosexual relations. They said to them: ‘No.’ They said: ‘If those for whom it is the natural way are unwilling, for us, all the more so. Would you say that if we cast ourselves into the sea, we will come to life in the World to Come?’

Immediately, the Holy One blessed be He enlightened their eyes to this verse: “The Lord said: I will return them from Bashan; I will return them from the depths of the sea” (Psalms 68:23). “I will return them from Bashan,” from between the teeth of lions.168Bashan is a portmanteau of bein shinei—between the teeth. “I will return them from the depths of the sea,” in its plain sense.The first group stood and said: “Had we forgotten the name of our God and stretched out our palms to a strange god” (Psalms 44:21), and they cast themselves into the sea.

The second group stood and said: “For we are killed all day long for You” (Psalms 44:23), and they cast themselves into the sea. The third group stood and said: “Would not God have discovered it, as He knows the secrets of the heart” (Psalms 44:22), and they cast themselves into the sea. The Divine Presence was crying out and saying: “For these I weep.”Hadrian, may his bones be crushed, deployed three garrisons, one in Ḥamat, one in Kefar Lekitaya, and one in Beit El of Judah.

He said: ‘One who flees from here will be apprehended there, and one who flees from there will be apprehended here.’ He would dispatch heralds who would proclaim and say: ‘Wherever there are Jews, let them come, as the king wishes to give them his word.’ The heralds would announce it to them and they would capture the Jews. That is what is written: “Ephraim was like a foolish dove, without understanding…” (Hosea 7:11).

To one who questioned, they would respond: ‘Come and request that you not be taken.’169The heralds told the Jews to request of Hadrian that they be allowed to stay in the Land of Israel and not be taken into captivity (Matnot Kehuna). Those who were discerning and observed, did not go out. And those who did not observe, they all entered into the Beit Rimon Valley. He said to the captain of his guard: ‘Until I eat the edge of this loaf and this thigh of a rooster, I will seek one of them and will not find.’170He commanded his officer to immediately kill them all.

Immediately, he surrounded them with his legions and killed them, and their blood was bursting forth like a river until it reached Cypress. The Divine Presence was crying out and saying: “For these I weep.”Those who remained in hiding, some of them would eat the flesh of those who had been slain. Each day, one of them would go out and bring [a corpse] to them and they would eat. One day, one said: ‘Let one of the people from among us go.

If he finds something, he will bring it and we will eat.’ When he went out he found his father, who had been slain. He took him, concealed him, and placed a marker over him. He came back and said to them: ‘I did not find anything.’

They said: ‘Let another person go, if he finds something, he will bring it and we will eat.’ When that person went out, he followed the odor and found the one who was slain. He brought him and they ate him. Once they ate, [the first man] said to him: ‘From where did you bring this slain person?’

He said to him: ‘From such and such corner.’ He said to him: ‘And what marker was placed upon it?’ He said to him: ‘Such and such marker.’ His son responded and said: ‘Woe is it for this man, who ate of the flesh of his father,’ to realize what is stated: “Therefore, fathers will eat sons in your midst, [and sons will eat their fathers]” (Ezekiel 5:10).The wife of Trajan, may his bones be crushed, gave birth on the night of the Ninth of Av and all Israel was mourning.

The baby died on Hanukkah. The Israelites said: ‘Shall we kindle or shall we not kindle?’ They said: ‘We shall kindle, and anything that he seeks to inflict upon us, let him inflict.’ They kindled.[People] went and slandered them to Trajan’s wife: ‘These Jews, when you gave birth they were mourning, and when the baby died they kindled lights.’

She sent a letter to her husband: ‘Instead of subduing the barbarians, come and subdue these Jews who have rebelled against you.’ He boarded the ship and calculated that he would arrive in ten days, but the wind brought him in five days. He arrived and found them, that they were engaged in this verse: “The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle will swoop” (Deuteronomy 28:49).

He said to them: ‘I am the eagle, as I calculated that I would arrive in ten days and the wind brought me in five days.’ His legions surrounded them and killed them.He said to the women: ‘Submit to my legions, and if not, I will do to you just what I did to the men.’171He threatened to have them killed if they would not submit to intercourse with his legions. They said to him: ‘Do to the inferiors what you did to the superiors.’172Do to us what you did to the men.

Immediately, his legions surrounded them and killed them and the blood of these and the blood of those intermingled, and their blood was bursting forth like a river until it reached Cyprus. The Divine Presence was crying out and saying: “For these I weep.”

There was an incident involving the two children of Tzadok the priest, who were taken captive, one male and one female. This one fell to a certain officer and that one fell to a certain officer. This one went to a prostitute and gave her the male, and this one went to a storekeeper and gave him the female in exchange for wine, to realize what is written: “They gave the boy for the prostitute and sold the girl for wine, and drank” (Joel 4:3).Days later, that prostitute brought that lad to the storekeeper.

She said to him: ‘Since I have a lad who resembles that young woman, do you not wish to marry one to the other and what emerges from them will be divided between us?’ He said to her: ‘Yes.’ Immediately, they took them and placed them in a room. The young woman began weeping.

He said to her: ‘Young woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to him: ‘How shall I not weep, when the daughter of the High Priest is going to marry a slave?’ He said to her: ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said to him: ‘I am the daughter of Tzadok the priest.’

He said to her: ‘Where are you residing?’ She said to him: ‘In the upper marketplace.’ He said to her: ‘What mark is there on your residence?’ She said to him: ‘Such and such mark.’

He said to her: ‘Do you have a brother or a sister?’ She said: ‘I have one brother and he has a certain mole on his shoulder. When he would come from school, I would bare it and kiss it.’ He said to her: ‘If you would see him would you be able to identify him?’

She said to him: ‘Yes.’ He revealed himself and they recognized each other. They were hugging each other and kissing each other until their souls departed. The Divine Presence was crying out and saying: “For these I weep.”

There was an incident involving Miriam bat Baitus, whom Yehoshua ben Gamla betrothed [to him], and the king appointed him to be the High Priest.173He was appointed to this position because his wealthy wife paid an exorbitant sum to bribe the king to make the appointment. One time, she entered [the Temple] to observe, saying: ‘I will go and see him when he reads the Torah on Yom Kippur in the Temple.’ [Her servants] laid out carpets for her from the entrance of her house to the entrance of the Temple so that her feet would not become irritated.

Nevertheless, her feet became irritated. When Yehoshua, her husband, died, the Sages alloted two se’a of wine each day for her.174This was part of her allotment from her husband’s estate. But did we not learn: One does not apportion wine to a woman? Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: [Because] it leads to licentiousness, just as it says: “Licentiousness, wine, and new wine will have captured the heart” (Hosea 4:11).

Rabbi Yeḥizkiya and Rabbi Abahu said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: For her cooked dishes.175It is permitted to allot wine for cooking, it is prohibited for drinking. They allotted this significant amount of wine daily for the cooked dishes of her household, which demonstrates her immense wealth. Moreover, we learned: If she was nursing, one diminishes her handiwork and adds to her sustenance. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: What does one add?

Wine, because wine increases the milk.176This is another reason it is permitted to allot wine to a woman, and may have been the reason Miriam bat Baitus was allotted wine. Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Tzadok said: I will see the consolation,177This was an expression of an oath, short for ‘may I not see the consolation of Jerusalem if I did not see such-and-such.’ if I did not see that they tied her hair to the tails of Arabian horses, and they had them pull her from Jerusalem to Lod. I read in her regard: “The tender and delicate woman among you…” (Deuteronomy 28:56).

There was an incident involving Miriam daughter of Nakdimon for whom the Sages alloted five hundred gold dinars for a basket of perfume each day. She nonetheless stood and cursed them and said to them: ‘Allot that to your daughters!’178She viewed this huge sum as insufficient. Rabbi Aḥa said: ‘We, too, answered amen after her.’179From the perspective of the Sages it was a huge sum. Rabbi Elazar said: I will see the consolation if I did not see her gathering barley under the hooves of horses in Akko. I read in her regard this verse: “If you do not know, the fairest among women, go you out in the footsteps of the sheep and herd your kids [gediyotayikh]” (Song of Songs 1:8). Do not read gediyotayikh, but rather, your corpses [geviyotayikh].

There was an incident involving Miriam bat Baitus, the baker, who was taken captive and redeemed in Akko. They purchased a mantle for her.180The local Jewish community ransomed her from captivity and bought her a garment. She went to wash it in the sea and a wave came and swept it away. They purchased her another. She went to wash it in the sea and a wave came and swept it away. They sought to purchase her another. She said to them: ‘Allow the Collector to collect His debt.’ Since she accepted her judgment, the Holy One blessed be He motioned to the sea and it produced her garments for her.

There was an incident involving Miriam daughter of the baker, who was taken captive with her seven sons. The emperor took them and placed them behind seven partitions. He brought the first and said to him: ‘Prostrate yourself to the idol.’ He said to him: ‘God forbid, I will not prostrate myself to the idol.’

He said to him: ‘Why?’ [He responded:] ‘Because so it is written in our Torah: “I am the Lord your God”’ (Exodus 20:2). Immediately, he took him out and executed him.He took out the second and said to him: ‘Prostrate yourself to the idol.’ He said to him: ‘God forbid, my brother did not prostrate himself and I will not prostrate myself.’ He said to him: ‘Why?’

He said to him: ‘Because so it is written in our Torah: “You shall have no other gods before Me”’ (Exodus 20:3). Immediately, he issued a decree against him and they executed him. He took out the third and said to him: ‘Prostrate yourself to the idol.’ He said to him: ‘I will not prostrate myself.’

He said to him: ‘Why?’ He said to him: ‘Because so it is written in our Torah: “For you shall not prostrate yourself to another god”’ (Exodus 34:14). Immediately, he issued a decree against him and they executed him. He took out the fourth and [the son] recited his verse: “One who sacrifices to gods shall be destroyed” (Exodus 22:19).

He issued a decree against him and they executed him. He took out the fifth and he, too, recited his verse: “Hear Israel, the Lord is our God the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Immediately, he issued a decree against him and they executed him. He took out the sixth and he, too, recited his verse: “For the Lord your God is in your midst, a God great and awesome” (Deuteronomy 7:21).

Immediately, he issued a decree against him and they executed him.He took out the seventh, who was the youngest of them all. He said: ‘My son, prostrate yourself to the idol.’ He said to him: ‘God forbid.’ He said to him: ‘Why?’

He said to him: ‘Because so it is written in our Torah: “You shall know this day, and restore to your heart, that the Lord, He is the God in the heavens above and upon the earth below, there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:39). Moreover, we took an oath to our God that we will not exchange Him for another God, as it is stated: “You have exalted the Lord today [to be your God]” (Deuteronomy 26:17). And just as we took an oath to Him, so He took an oath that He would not exchange us for a different nation, as it is stated: “The Lord has exalted you today [to be a people of distinction for Him]”’ (Deuteronomy 26:18).The emperor said to him: ‘Your brothers had full days, full lives, and experienced goodness, but you are young, you have not had full days, you have not had a full life, and you have never experienced goodness.

Prostrate yourself to the idol and I will do good things for you.’ He said to him: ‘It is written in our Torah: “The Lord will reign forever” (Exodus 15:18). And it says: “The Lord is king forever, nations have been eliminated from His land” (Psalms 10:16). You will cease and His enemies will cease.

Flesh and blood lives today and dies tomorrow, is wealthy today and poor tomorrow; but the Holy One blessed be He lives and persists forever and for all time.’ The emperor said to him: ‘See your brothers slain before you. I am casting my ring to the ground before the idol, lift it so everyone will know that you heeded my voice.’ He said to him: ‘It is a shame for you, emperor; if you fear people, who are your equivalent, will I not fear the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He, the eternal God?’

He said to him: ‘Is there a God in the world?’ He said to him: ‘Woe are you, emperor, have you seen a world without a master?’He said to him: ‘Does your God have a mouth?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have a mouth but cannot speak” (Psalms 115:5). Regarding our God it is written: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made; [by the breath of His mouth, all their hosts]”’ (Psalms 33:6).He said to him: ‘Does your God have eyes?’

He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have eyes but cannot see” (Psalms 115:5). Regarding our God it is written: “They are the eyes of the Lord ranging throughout the land”’ (Zechariah 4:10).He said to him: ‘Does your God have ears?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have ears but cannot hear” (Psalms 115:6). Regarding our God it is written: “The Lord listened and heard”’ (Malachi 3:16).He said to him: ‘Does your God have a nose?’

He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have a nose but cannot smell” (Psalms 115:6). Regarding our God it is written: “The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma”’ (Genesis 8:21).He said to him: ‘Does your God have hands?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have hands but cannot feel” (Psalms 115:7). Regarding our God it is written: “My hand, too, laid the foundation”’ (Isaiah 48:13).He said to him: ‘Does your God have feet?’

He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have feet but cannot walk” (Psalms 115:7). Regarding our God it is written: “His feet will stand that day on the Mount of Olives”’ (Zechariah 14:4).He said to him: ‘Does your God have a throat?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They cannot produce sound with their throats” (Psalms 115:7). Regarding our God it is written: “Sound emerges from His mouth”’ (Job 37:2).He said to him: ‘If there are all these attributes in your God, why does He not rescue you from my hand, like He rescued Ḥananya, Mishael, and Azarya from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar?’

He said to him: ‘Ḥananya, Mishael, and Azarya were upright, and Nebuchadnezzar was a king worthy of having a miracle performed through him. But you are not worthy, and we have been condemned to death at the hand of Heaven. If you do not execute us, there are many executioners for the Omnipresent, many wolves, lions, snakes, leopards, and scorpions to attack us and kill us. But ultimately, the Holy One blessed be He is destined to exact retribution from you for our blood.’

Immediately, he issued a decree against him to execute him.His mother said to him: ‘By the life of your head, emperor, give me my son and I will hug him and kiss him.’ He gave him to her, and she bared her breasts and nursed him with her milk. She said to him: ‘By the life of your head, emperor, execute me first and then execute him.’ The emperor said to her: ‘I will not heed you because it is written in your Torah: “An ox or a sheep, it and its offspring you shall not slaughter on one day”’ (Leviticus 22:28).

She said to him: ‘You absolute fool, have you already fulfilled all the mitzvot and only this one remains?’ Immediately, he commanded to execute [the son]. His mother fell upon him and was hugging him and kissing him. She said to him: ‘My son, go to Abraham your patriarch and say to him: So said my mother: Do not be overly impressed with yourself and say: I built an altar and sacrificed Isaac, my son.

My mother built seven altars and sacrificed seven sons on one day. Yours was an ordeal, mine was an action.’181Your was a test to see if you were willing to sacrifice your son, but you did not actually sacrifice him. My sons were actually killed. While she was hugging him and kissing him, he issued a decree against him and they executed him upon her.

When he was executed, the Sages calculated the age of that child and it was discovered that he was two years, six months, and six and one half hours. At that moment, all the nations of the world screamed out and said: ‘What is the God of these people doing to them that they are killed on His behalf all the time?’ In their regard it is written: “For we are killed all day long for You” (Psalms 44:23).Sometime later, that woman went mad and she fell from the roof and died, to realize what is stated: “She who bore seven is miserable” (Jeremiah 15:9).

A Divine Voice was calling out, saying: “The mother of the children is joyful” (Psalms 113:9). The Divine Spirit was crying out and saying: “For these I weep.”

There was an incident involving Doeg ben Yosef who died and left a young son to his mother. She would measure him in handbreadths and donate his weight in gold to the Temple182Literally, to Heaven. each and every year. When the siege encircled Jerusalem, his mother slaughterd him with her own hands and ate him: Jeremiah was lamenting before the Omnipresent and saying: “Shall women eat their fruit, the infants of their nurturing?” (Lamentations 2:20).

The Divine Spirit responded to him: “Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the Temple of the Lord?” (Lamentations 2:20). This is Zekharya ben Yehoyada.183See Eikha Rabba, Prologue, 23.Another matter, “for these I weep,” Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya, Rabbi Yehuda says: For the departure of intelligence and for the departure of the Divine Presence. Is it possible that Zedekiah saw others plucking out his eyes and he did not have the intelligence to smash his head against the wall until his soul departed, but he rather caused his sons to be slaughtered before his eyes?184Nebuchadnezzar had Zedekiah’s sons slaughtered before his eyes, and then had Zedekiah’s eyes blinded (II Kings 25:7).

According to the Sages, they first inserted iron rods into his eyes but had not yet blinded him; they finished blinding him only after he saw his sons slaughtered (Tanḥuma, Vaetḥanan 1). The midrash here asks why Zedekiah did not kill himself to spare himself this torture. Rather, regarding that moment it is stated: “The heart of the king and the heart of the princes will fail…” (Jeremiah 4:9). Rabbi Neḥemya said: For the departure of priesthood and kingship.

That is what is written: “These are the two anointed men who attend the Lord of all the land” (Zechariah 4:14); these are Aaron and David. Aaron is demanding his priesthood and David is demanding his kingdom.Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: For dereliction in the study of Torah.185This opinions interprets the verse “for these I weep” to mean due to these sins, namely the dereliction in the study of Torah.

That is what is written: “These are the statutes and the ordinances” (Deuteronomy 12:1).186This verse is stated regarding the Torah. The word “these” in Lamentations is thus connected to the words of Torah, referred to as “these” in Deuteronomy. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: For idol worship. That is what is written: “These are your gods, Israel” (Exodus 32:4).

Zavdi ben Levi said: For the abrogation of the offerings. That is what is written: “These you shall perform to the Lord on your appointed days” (Numbers 29:39). The Rabbis said: For the abrogation of the [non-priestly] watches.187The reference is to the groups of Israelites, corresponding to the twenty-four priestly watches, who would spend the week in prayer and Torah study so that the Temple service would be pleasing to God; see Taanit 26a. What benefit does the world have from the watches?

On Monday they would fast on behalf of the seafarers. On Tuesday they would fast on behalf of the wayfarers. On Wednesday they would fast on behalf of the children, so that diphtheria would not afflict their mouths and cause them to die. On Thursday they would fast on behalf of the pregnant women, that they would not miscarry, and on behalf of the nursing women, that their children should not die.

But is it not so that one may not fast on behalf of two matters simultaneously, as it is written: “We fasted and we requested from our God about this”? (Ezra 8:23). And a verse in Daniel says: “For them to request mercy from before the God of heaven regarding this secret” (Daniel 2:18), and not regarding two.188Both verses mention requesting from God regarding “this,” in singular. Rather, it is like that which Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: For drought and exile one fasts for both of them simultaneously.189They are related, because due to famine people wander from their homes in search of food.

Similarly, miscarriage and the death of infants are closely enough related that one can pray regarding both simultaneously. However, one does not fast on the day before Shabbat or on the day following Shabbat, in deference to Shabbat.“My eye, my eye sheds water.” Rabbi Levi said: This is analogous to a doctor who had pain in one eye. He said: ‘Let my eye weep for my eye.’

So too, Israel is called the eye of the Holy One blessed be He. That is what is written: “For the eye of man and all the tribes of Israel is toward the Lord” (Zechariah 9:1). As it were, the Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Let My eye weep for My eye.’“For a comforter, restorer of my soul, has grown distant from me.” What is the name of the messianic king?

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: The Lord is his name, as it is stated: “This is his name that they will call him: The Lord is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6). As Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: It is good for a province when its name is like that of its king, and the name of its king is like that of its God. It is good for a province when its name is like that of its king, as it is written: “The name of the city from that day shall be: The Lord is there” (Ezekiel 48:35).

The name of its king like the name of its God, as it is stated: “This is his name that they will call him: The Lord is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6).Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: His name is Tzemaḥ, as it is stated: “Behold a man, Tzemaḥ is his name, and he will sprout [yitzmaḥ]” (Zechariah 6:12). Rabbi Yudan said: Menaḥem is his name, as it is stated: “For a comforter [menaḥem]…has grown distant from me.”

Rabbi Ḥanina said: And they do not disagree; the numerical value of this equals the numerical value of that, Menaḥem equals Tzemaḥ.190Menaḥem: mem – 40, nun – 50, ḥet – 8, mem – 40 = 138. Tzemaḥ: tzadi – 90, mem – 40, ḥet – 8 = 138. The following supports that [statement] of Rabbi Yudan in the name of Rabbi Aivu: There was an incident involving a certain person who was plowing. One of his oxen lowed.

A certain Arab passed near him and said to him: ‘What are you?’ He said to him: ‘I am a Jew.’ He said to him: ‘Unharness your ox, untie your plow.’ He said to him: ‘Why?’

He said to him: ‘The Temple of the Jews is destroyed.’191Therefore, you should mourn rather than work your field. He said to him: ‘How do you know?’ He said to him: ‘I know it from the lowing of your ox.’ While he was still conversing with him, it lowed again.

He said to him: ‘Harness your ox, tie your plow, as the redeemer of the Jews was born.’ He said to him: ‘What is his name?’ He said to him: ‘His name is Menaḥem.’ ‘What is his father’s name?’ He said to him: ‘Hezekiah.’

He said to him: ‘Where do they live?’ He said to him: ‘In Birat Arva, that is in Bethlehem of Judah.’ That man sold his oxen, sold his plow, and became a seller of felt garments for children. He would enter a city and leave a city, enter a province and leave a province, until he arrived there.All of the women of the village came to purchase from him, but the mother of a certain child did not purchase from him.

He said to her: ‘Why are you not purchasing children’s garments of felt?’ She said to him: ‘Because my child has a harsh fate.’ He said to her: ‘Why?’ She said to him: ‘Because upon his arrival, the Temple was destroyed.’192The Temple was destroyed on the day he was born.

He said to her: ‘We rely on the Master of the universe that upon his arrival it was destroyed and upon his arrival it will be rebuilt.’ He said to her: ‘Take one of these felt garments for your child, I will come some time later to your house and collect your payment.’ She took it and she went. Some time later that man said: ‘I will go and see how that child is doing.’

He came to her, he said to her: ‘How is the child doing?’ She said to him: ‘Did I not say to you that he has a harsh fate? Even upon his arrival there was a foreboding omen. Since that time, winds and storms carried him away.’

He said to her: ‘Did I not tell you that upon his arrival it was destroyed and upon his arrival it will be rebuilt?’193He was carried away by the wind because he is destined to serve a purpose in a supernatural manner, and bring about the building of the Temple.Rabbi Avun said: Why must I learn this from Arabs, is it not an explicit verse? As it is written: “The Lebanon will fall by a mighty one” (Isaiah 10:34), and it is written immediately thereafter: “A branch will emerge from the trunk of Yishai and a shoot will sprout from his roots” (Isaiah 11:1).The school of Rabbi Sheila said: Shilo is the name of Messiah, as it is stated: “Until Shilo will come” (Genesis 49:10); Sheila is written.194The word Shilo in the verse is spelled with a heh at the end rather than a vav, such that it can also be read Sheila.

This was stated by Rabbi Sheila’s students, who felt that if their generation was worthy, their mentor would be the messiah (Etz Yosef). The school of Rabbi Ḥanina said: Ḥanina is his name, as it is stated: “As I will not grant you clemency [ḥanina]” (Jeremiah 16:13). The school of Rabbi Yanai said: Yinon is his name, as it is written: “May his name be praised [yinon] as long as the sun shines” (Psalms 72:17).

Rabbi Beivai of Sanegurya said: His name is Nehira, as it is stated: “Light [nehora] rests with Him” (Daniel 2:22), nehira is written. Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel ben Rabbi Yitzḥak: If the messianic king is from the living, his name is David, and if he is from the dead, his name is David. Rabbi Tanḥuma said: I will say his source: “He increases deliverance to His king, shows kindness to His anointed, [to David and to his descendants, eternally]” (Psalms 18:51).

“And to David” is not written here, but rather “to David and his descendants.”195The verse says: To His anointed [meshiḥo], to David, identifying David as the messiah.“My children have become desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.” Rabbi Aivu said: Like that shell of the gourd; the more [the shell] grows, the smaller [the fruit] is.196The greater the percentage of the total fruit is shell, the smaller the edible fruit is (Arukh).

The point is that the greater the success of the enemy, the greater the desolation of Israel. Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said: Like this pig; the more that its offspring grow, the smaller it gets.197Its energy is sapped by nursing its young (Matnot Kehuna).

“Zion spread her hands, there was no comforter for her; the Lord has commanded for Jacob that her adversaries surround her. Jerusalem has become like a pariah among them” (Lamentations 1:17).“Zion spread her hands.” It is written: “Would that my head was water and my eyes a source of tears, [and I would weep day and night]” (Jeremiah 8:23). Who said this verse?

If you say it was Jeremiah, would it be possible for him not to eat? Would it be possible for him not to sleep? Rather, who said it? One before whom there is neither eating nor sleeping, as it is written: “Behold, the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalms 121:4).

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said in the name of Rabbi Levi: It is written: “God said: Let the water…pool [yikavu]” (Genesis 1:9). The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Let the water hope [yekavu] to participate in what I am destined to do with them.’ Rabbi Ḥagai said in the name of Rabbi Yitzḥak: This is analogous to a king who built palaces, and he settled mute residents in them. Each day they would rise early and inquire after the wellbeing of the king, lauding him with gestures with their fingers.

The king said: ‘If these people, who are mute, laud me in this manner, if they were able to speak, all the more so.’ What did he do? He settled residents who could speak in [the palaces]. They arose and took possession of the king’s palace and said: ‘This palace is only ours.’

At that moment, the king said: ‘Let the world be restored to the way that it was.’ So too, at the beginning of the creation of the world, [God’s] praises would ascend only from the water. That is what is written: “It is from the sound of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea” (Psalms 93:4). What would they say?

“The Lord is mighty on high” (Psalms 93:4). At that time, the Holy One blessed be He said: ‘If those who do not have a mouth, a tongue, speech, or articulation, laud me in this way, when I create people, all the more so.’ When He created people, the generation of Enosh and the generation of the Flood stood and rebelled against Him. At that time, the Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Let the world be restored to the way that it was, as it was stated: “The rain was upon the earth”’ (Genesis 7:12).198God brought the Flood in order to return the world to a state in which water covered the face of the earth.Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said: [This is analogous] to one who had a staff and a wicker basket.199He was poor.

He garnered wealth and purchased a flock. Wolves entered and mauled them. That shepherd said: ‘I will return to that staff and to that wicker basket.’ So too, the shepherd is the Holy One blessed be He, as it is stated: “Shepherd of Israel, listen!

Appear to us, You who led Joseph like a flock, You who sit enthroned above the cherubs” (Psalms 80:2). The flock is Israel, as it is stated: “You are my flock, the flock of My pasture” (Ezekiel 34:31). The wolves who entered His flock and mauled them are the enemies who entered the Temple. At that moment the Holy One blessed be He said: “Would that my head was water and my eyes a source of tears [and I would weep day and night]” (Jeremiah 8:23).It is written: “These I remember, and pour out my soul: [When I used to go with a throng of people in a procession [edadem] to the House of God, a celebrating multitude with voice of song and thanksgiving]” (Psalms 42:5).

The congregation of Israel was saying before the Holy One blessed be He: In the past, I would ascend to Jerusalem and the roads were smoothed, and now they are overgrown, as it is stated: “Therefore, behold, I am hedging your way with thorns” (Hosea 2:8).Another matter, “these I remember,” in the past I would ascend and the trees would provide shade over my head, and now it is exposed to the sun.“These I remember,” in the past I would ascend in the shadow of the Holy One blessed be He, and now in the shadow of the kingdoms.“These I remember.”

The emperor Vespasian deployed sentries eighteen mil from Pumim. They would question the pilgrims and say to them: ‘With whom are your loyalties?’ They would say to them: ‘We are loyal to Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian.’ Rabbi Berekhya said: The congregation of Israel said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘In the past I would ascend with baskets of first fruits on my head early in the morning, as they would say: “Arise and let us ascend to Zion” (Jeremiah 31:6).

On the roads, they would say: “Our feet were standing at your gates, Jerusalem” (Psalms 122:2). On the Temple Mount, what would they say? “Halleluya. Praise the Almighty in His holy place” (Psalms 150:1).

In the Temple courtyard, what would they say? “Let all who breathe praise the Lord” (Psalms 150:6). But now, we are silent [edadem]; we ascend in silence and we descend in silence.’“These I remember.” In the past, I would ascend with songs and psalms before the Holy One blessed be He, just as it says: “With voice of song and thanksgiving” (Psalms 42:5).

But now, I ascend with weeping and I descend with weeping.“These I remember.” In the past, I would ascend with many multitudes in celebration, just as it says: “A celebrating multitude” (Psalms 42:5). Rabbi Levi said: Like this flowing spring that does not cease during the day and at night. But now, I ascend clandestinely and descend clandestinely.

“These I remember, and pour out my soul…”Another matter, “Zion spread her hands.” Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: [This is analogous] to a king who had a son. He was striking him and [the son] said: ‘I sinned.’ He [continued] striking him and [the son] said: ‘I sinned and I have been foolish.’

He continued striking him until [the son] extended his ten fingers before him.200He did this as a sign of contrition, as though to say I have sinned and cannot even express my guilt, or I have sinned and can no longer bear the suffering of my beating. So too, the Holy One blessed be He was afflicting Jerusalem, and she said: ‘I sinned,’ until, “Zion spread her hands.”“There was no [ein] comforter for her,” Rabbi Levi said: Any place that it is stated: “Has no [ein],” ultimately it will have.

“Sarai was barren, she had no [ein] child” (Genesis 11:30), but ultimately she had, as it is stated: “The Lord remembered Sarah” (Genesis 21:1). Similarly, “Hannah had no [ein] children” (I Samuel 1:2), and ultimately she had, as it is stated: “For the Lord remembered Hannah” (I Samuel 2:21). Similarly, “she is Zion, she has no one [ein] seeking her” (Jeremiah 30:17), and ultimately she had, as it is stated: “A redeemer will come to Zion” (Isaiah 59:20).

So, too, it says: “She has no [ein] comforter,” and ultimately she has, as it is stated: “I, it is I, who am your Comforter” (Isaiah 51:12).“The Lord has commanded for Jacob that her adversaries surround her,” such as Ḥalmish for Naveh, Kistera for Haifa, Susita for Tiberias, Jericho for Neve’eden, Lod for Ono.201In Roman times, the first of each of these pairs of cities was populated by gentiles, who would persecute the Jews living in the adjacent city. “Jerusalem has become like a pariah among them,” she became distanced.

“The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word. Hear now all you peoples, and see my pain: My young women and young men have gone into captivity” (Lamentations 1:18).“The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word.” Who said this verse? Yoshiyahu said it.

That is what is written: “After all this, when Yoshiyahu had established the House, Nekho king of Egypt came up to wage war at Karkemish on the Euphrates,” (II Chronicles 35:20), Karkasyon on the Euphrates. “[Yoshiyahu went out toward him.] He sent emissaries to him, saying: What is there between me and you, king of Judah? It is not against you today, but against the house with which I have war, and God has said that I should make haste” (II Chronicles 35:20–21).

It is by the word of the Holy One blessed be He that I am ascending. “Restrain yourself from god who is with me” (II Chronicles 35:21), this is an expression of idol worship. “Yoshiyahu did not turn his face from him…and did not heed the words of Nekho from the mouth of God” (II Chronicles 35:22), this [alludes to] Jeremiah, who said to Yoshiyahu: ‘So I received from my teacher Isaiah: “I will provoke Egypt against Egypt”’ (Isaiah 19:2).

He did not heed him. Rather, he said to him: ‘Did Moses, the teacher of your teacher, not say this: “A sword will not pass in the land” (Leviticus 26:6)? And the sword of that wicked one is passing in my land and my borders.’ But he did not realize that his entire generation was idol worshippers.

He would send a pair of students to eradicate idol worship from their houses, but they would enter and not find anything. When they would go out [the residents] would say: ‘Close the doors,’ and when they would close the doors they would see it.202There were double doors leading into the house. Half the idol was on one door and half on the other. The halves did not look like anything separately, but when the doors were closed, the idol was visible.

They would say of them: The one who came to repair is the one who came and ruined.203Although they divided the idol when they opened the doors, they put it back together when they closed the doors. Therefore: “The archers shot King Yoshiyahu” (II Chronicles 35:23). Rabbi Manei said: They fired three hundred arrows into him until his body became like a sieve. Jeremiah was listening to him to ascertain what he was saying:204He was listening to what Yoshiyahu was saying as he died. What was he saying? “The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word,” His mouth and the mouth of his agent.

“I called to my lovers, they deceived me; my priests and my elders perished in the city while they sought food for themselves to restore their souls” (Lamentations 1:19).“I called to my lovers, they deceived me.” The Rabbis interpreted the verse regarding false prophets, who would cause their idol worship to be beloved to me.205The rabbis interpret the term me’ahavai, generally translated “my lovers” to mean “those who made [idols] beloved to me.”

The verse is written from the perspective of Zion. “They deceived me,” they, too, deceived me. They did not cease prophesying falsely about me until they caused me to be exiled from my place, as it is stated: “They envisioned for you prophecies of futility and deviance [umaduḥim]” (Lamentations 2:14); it is written madiḥam.206The word maduḥim is written without a yod, such that it can be read madiḥam, meaning those who have pushed them into exile.Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai interpreted the verse regarding the true prophets, who would cause me to be beloved to the Holy One blessed be He.

“They deceived me,” as they would deceive me and say to me: Separate teruma and tithes. But are there teruma and tithes in Babylon? Rather, it was in order to cause me to be beloved to the Holy One blessed be He. That is what Jeremiah says: “Establish signposts [tziyunim] for you” (Jeremiah 31:20).

Distinguish yourself via mitzvot with which Israel was distinguished.207Therefore, separate teruma and tithes even in Babylon despite the fact that these mitzvot apply by Torah law only in the Land of Israel.“Place landmarks for you” (Jeremiah 31:20), this is the destruction of the Temple.208A landmark serves as a marker or reminder of something. This is understood as an allusion to the destruction of the Temple, which must be remembered.

Likewise it says: “If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand lose its power” (Psalms 137:5). “Note the highway, the path that you walked [halakht]” (Jeremiah 31:20). Rabbi Ḥiyya said: “I walked [halakhti]” is written.209The verse in Jeremiah is written “the path that I walked,” but it is traditionally read as though it says “the path that you walked.” You find that when Israel was exiled to Babylon, what is written?

“For your sake, I sent to Babylon” (Isaiah 43:14).210The midrash interprets this to mean that God sent His own Divine Presence with them into exile. Alternatively, the term “I sent [shilaḥti]” can be read shulaḥti, meaning I was sent. They were exiled to Eilam; the Divine Presence was with them, as it is written: “I will place My throne in Eilam” (Jeremiah 49:38). They were exiled to Greece; the Divine Presence was with them, as it is written: “I will rouse your children, Zion, against your children, Greece” (Zechariah 9:13), and it is written thereafter: “The Lord will appear over them…” (Zechariah 9:14).

That is why it is written: “The path that I walked.”Another matter, “Note the highway, the path that you walked.” Jeremiah said to them: ‘See the paths on which you have walked, and repent, as it is written: “Return, maiden of Israel” (Jeremiah 31:20), and you will immediately return to your cities, as it is written: “Return to these, your cities” (Jeremiah 31:20).

“See, Lord, for I am in distress, my innards burn, my heart overturned within me, for I have been defiant. Outside the sword bereaves; in the house, it is like death” (Lamentations 1:20).“See, Lord, for I am in distress, my innards burn [ḥamarmaru],” Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Ḥanina said: He rendered them filled with parasitic worms [morot]. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: He rendered them filled with clumps.211The term ḥamarim can mean piles or clumps (see Exodus 8:10). “My heart overturned within me.” Why? “For I have been defiant.” “Outside the sword bereaves; in the house, it is like death.” This is what Moses said: “Outside, the sword will bereave, and terror within” (Deuteronomy 32:25).

“They heard that I sigh; there is no comforter for me; all my enemies heard of my misfortune, were glad because You acted. May You bring the day that You proclaimed, and they will be like me” (Lamentations 1:21).“They heard that I sigh.” Rabbi Yehoshua interpreted the verse regarding Aaron. You find that when Aaron died, the clouds of glory were dispersed and all Israel gathered to eulogize him.

They said: ‘Moses is mourning, Elazar is mourning; who will not mourn?’ Immediately, what is written there? “The Canaanite king of Arad…heard” (Numbers 21:1). And it is written: “He waged war with Israel and he took captive from them” (Numbers 21:1).The Rabbis interpret the verse regarding the destruction of the Temple.

You find that wherever Israel sought to flee, [the local population] would turn them in. They sought to flee northward, but they did not allow them to do so. That is what is written: “For three transgressions of Gaza, but for the fourth, I will not relent: For their exiling of an entire exile, to deliver to Edom” (Amos 1:6). They sought to flee eastward, but they did not allow them to do so.

That is what is written: “For three transgressions of Tyre, but for the fourth, I will not relent: For their delivering of an entire exile to Edom, and they did not remember the covenant of brothers” (Amos 1:9). They sought to flee westward, but they did not allow them to do so, as it is written: “A prophecy of Arabia: In the forest in Arabia you will stay the night, caravans [of Dedanites]” (Isaiah 21:13).212The implication is that the fleeing exiles were stuck in the forest.

The following verses describe how the local population should have greeted them with bread and water, but failed to do so.“Because You acted,” this is analogous to a king who married a noblewoman. He said to her: ‘Do not speak to your friends. Do not borrow from them and do not lend to them.’ Sometime later the king grew angry at her and expelled her from the palace.

She circulated among all her neighbors, but they did not receive her, so she returned to the palace. The king said to her: ‘You have been impudent!’213It was impudent of you to return to the palace. The noblewoman said to the king: ‘My lord, had I lent them or borrowed from them a vessel, and I would have grown friendly with them, would they not have received me?’ So too, the Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘You have been impudent!’

They said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, did you not write in Your Torah: “You shall not marry them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, and his daughter you shall not take for your son” (Deuteronomy 7:3)? Had we lent them and taken from them and them from us, and his daughter would be with me or my daughter with him, would they not have received me?’ That is: “Because You acted.”214We are in this predicament because of what You did in issuing these commands.

“May You bring the day that You proclaimed, and they will be like me,” in distress, and not like me in relief.215Israel’s distress will ultimately end with redemption.

“Let all their wickedness come before You, and do to them as You did to me for all my transgressions, for my sighs are many and my heart is suffering” (Lamentations 1:22).“Let all their wickedness come before You, and do to them,” bring upon them what You brought upon me. Be exacting with them as You were exacting with me. “And do [veolel] to them,” pluck their infants [olelateihon] as You plucked my infants.“For my sighs are many and my heart is suffering.”

You find that in the matter that Israel sinned, with that they were punished, and with that they were comforted. They sinned with rosh, they were punished with rosh, and they were comforted with rosh. They sinned with rosh, as it is written: “Let us appoint a leader [rosh] and return to Egypt” (Numbers 14:4). They were punished with rosh, as it is written: “Every head [rosh] is ill” (Isaiah 1:5).

And they are comforted with rosh, as it is written: “Their king passed before them, and the Lord is at their head [berosham]” (Micah 2:13).They sinned with the ear, as it is written: “They made their ears hard of hearing” (Zechariah 7:11). They were punished with the ear, as it is written: “That anyone who hears it, both his ears will ring” (I Samuel 3:11). They are comforted with the ear, as it is written: “Your ears will hear a matter from behind you, saying: [This is the way, walk in it, when you go right and when you go left]” (Isaiah 30:21).They sinned with the eye, as it is written: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and they walk with outstretched necks and painted eyes” (Isaiah 3:16).

They were punished with the eye, as it is written: “My eye, my eye sheds water” (Lamentations 1:16). They are comforted with the eye, as it is written: “For with their own eyes they will see the return of the Lord to Zion” (Isaiah 52:8).They sinned with af, as it is written: “Behold, they extend the branch to their nose [af]” (Ezekiel 8:17). They were punished with af, as it is written: “I, too [af], will walk with them indifferently” (Leviticus 26:41).

They are comforted with af, as it is written: “And despite [ve’af gam] this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not have spurned them and will not have rejected them, to destroy them, to violate My covenant with them” (Leviticus 26:44).They sinned with the mouth, as it is written: “Every mouth speaks depravity” (Isaiah 9:16). They were punished with the mouth, as it is written: “They consumed Israel with every mouth” (Isaiah 9:11).

They are comforted with the mouth, as it is written: “Then will our mouths be filled with laughter” (Psalms 126:2).They sinned with the tongue, as it is written: “They drew their tongues, their bow of falsehood” (Jeremiah 9:2). They were punished with the tongue, as it is written: “The tongue of the suckling cleaved [to the roof of his mouth in thirst]” (Lamentations 4:4). They are comforted with the tongue, as it is written: “And our tongues with song; [then will they say among the nations: The Lord has done great things for them]” (Psalms 126:2).They sinned with the heart, as it is written: “They made their hearts as adamant, not to hear” (Zechariah 7:12).

They were punished with the heart, as it is written: “Every heart is suffering” (Isaiah 1:5). They are comforted with the heart, as it is written: “speak to the heart of Jerusalem” (Isaiah 40:2).They sinned with the hand, as it is written: “Your hands are filled with blood” (Isaiah 1:15). They were punished with the hand, as it is written: “The hands of merciful women cooked their children” (Lamentations 4:10).

They are comforted with the hand, as it is written: “The Lord will continue setting His hand again, a second time [to recover the remnant of His people…]” (Isaiah 11:11).They sinned with the foot, as it is written: “For their feet run to evil” (Proverbs 1:16). They were punished with the foot, as it is written: “Before your feet stumble on the mountains of the night (Jeremiah 13:16). They are comforted with the foot, as it is written: “How pleasant are the feet of the herald upon the mountains” (Isaiah 52:7).They sinned with hu, as it is written: “They denied the Lord and said: He [hu] is not” (Jeremiah 5:12).

They were punished with hu, as it is written: “He was transformed into their enemy, He [hu] waged war against them” (Isaiah 63:10). They are comforted with hu, as it is written: “I, it is I, who [hu] am your Comforter” (Isaiah 51:12).They sinned with zeh, as it is written: “For this [zeh] man Moses” (Exodus 32:1). They were punished with zeh, as it is written: “For this [zeh] [our heart] is suffering” (Lamentations 5:17).

They are comforted with zeh, as it is written: “Behold, this [zeh] is our God, we hoped to Him [that He would save us; this is the Lord to whom we hoped, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation]” (Isaiah 25:9).They sinned with fire, as it is written: “The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire...[in order to anger Me]” (Jeremiah 7:18). They were punished with fire, as it is written: “From on high He sent fire into my bones” (Lamentations 1:13).

They are comforted with fire, as it is written: “I will be for it,216Jerusalem. the utterance of the Lord, a wall of fire all around” (Zechariah 2:9).They sinned with yesh, as it is written: “Is [hayesh] the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7). They were punished with yesh, as it is written: “Is there any [yesh] pain like my pain?” (Lamentations 1:12). They are comforted with yesh, as it is written: “To bequeath substance [yesh] to those who love me, and I will fill their storehouses” (Proverbs 8:21).They sinned doubly, as it is written: “Jerusalem has committed a sin [ḥet ḥata]” (Lamentations 1:8).217The Hebrew verse employs the word sin [ḥet] twice, such that a literal translation would be “Jerusalem has sinned a sin.”

They were punished doubly, as it is written: “For it has received from the hand of the Lord double for all its sins” (Isaiah 40:2). They are comforted doubly, as it is written: “Comfort, comfort [naḥamu naḥamu] My people” (Isaiah 40:1).End of the First Alphabetical Acrostic

“How the Lord has clouded the daughter of Zion in His wrath. He cast the splendor of Israel from the heavens to the earth, and did not remember His footstool on the day of His wrath” (Lamentations 2:1).“Terror [balahot] overwhelms me” (Job 30:15). Rabbi Ḥanina said: The congregation of Israel said before the Holy One blessed be He: In the past, it was I [Israel] who would terrify others, just as it says: “They hastened [vayavhilu] to bring Haman” (Esther 6:14).

And another verse says: “I will render you a terror and you will be no more” (Ezekiel 26:21).1This verse is directed to Tyre, as punishment to their actions toward Israel. And it says: “Then the chieftains of Edom were terrified” (Exodus 15:15). Now it has been reversed against me. Rabbi Aḥa said: [This is analogous] to a segment of a pillar that was rolling through a plaza, and it collided with a rock and remained adjacent to it.

So, “Your wrath weighs upon me” (Psalms 88:8).2The point is that when God’s wrath, which inflicts terror, came upon Israel, it remained with Israel. “It pursues my virtue [nedivati] like the wind” (Job 30:15), people who are noble minded [nedivim] and are worthy to have redemption come through them, You scatter them like the wind. “And like a cloud, my salvation passes” (Job 30:15), people who are noble minded and are worthy to have salvation come through them, You divert them and cause them to pass like clouds, as it is stated: “How the Lord has clouded the daughter of Zion in His wrath.”

And it is written: “Like the nations that the Lord is eliminating from before you [so you will be eliminated]” (Deuteronomy 8:20). Say that just as those were with a priest and a prophet, so, too, these were with a priest and a prophet.3The elimination of the Canaanite nations began with the destruction of Jericho in a process led by priests and by Joshua, a prophet (see Joshua chapter 6). Similarly, Israel’s exile was foretold by Jeremiah, who was both a prophet and a priest (Etz Yosef).

Just like those, it was with a shofar and shouting, so, too, these were with a shofar and shouting. And just as these were fourteen, as it is stated: “The Dinites, and the Afaresatekhites, the Tarpelites, the Afaresites, the Arkevites, the Babylonians, the Shushankhites, the Dehites, the Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and honored Asenapar exiled” (Ezra 4:9–10),4The phrase “the rest of the nations” refers to an additional five nations mentioned in II Kings 17:24.

These fourteen nations were exiled from their homelands and resettled in Samaria by Sennacherib of Assyria. They were all who remained of the nations that he conquered. say that these, too, were fourteen, as it is written: “On that day, his fortified cities will be like the abandoned forest and the treetop [haamir] that they abandoned” (Isaiah 17:9). What is haamir? It is as stated.5The midrash interprets the word haamir to mean “as stated [haamur],” meaning that the remnant will be as stated earlier in that passage: “There shall be left in it gleanings, as at the beating of an olive tree, two or three berries in the uppermost bough, four or five in the branches of the fruitful tree” (Isaiah 17:6).

The verse mentions two, three, four, and five, which equal a total of fourteen. This is an expression of the fact that the remnant will be small in number (Etz Yosef). Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said: As it is stated in the Torah: “Like the nations that the Lord is eliminating from before you [so you will be eliminated]” (Deuteronomy 8:20). Say that just as these were with the collapse of the wall, as it is written: “The wall collapsed in its place” (Joshua 6:20), these, too, were with the collapse of the wall.6See Eikha Rabba, Prologue, 30, where it is asserted that during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem the wall around the city sank two and a half handbreadths per day until the enemies were able to enter the city.

Just as these were with thickets [avim], as it is written: “They go into thickets [be’avim]…and into the rocks” (Jeremiah 4:29),7In the context of the midrash, this is referring to the destruction of other nations. However, the verse in Jeremiah is actually stated regarding the destruction of Israel. Some suggest that since it has been established that the destruction of each is parallel, this verse implies that the destruction of the nations of the world will also be in this manner (Maharzu).

Some suggest that the text be emended such that the citation is from Isaiah 19:1 rather than from Jeremiah 4:29 (Etz Yosef). these, too, were with avim, “how the Lord has clouded [ya’iv]…in His wrath.”

“How the Lord has clouded [ya’iv] the daughter of Zion in His wrath.” Rabbi Ḥama bar Rabbi Ḥanina said: How did the Lord condemn in His wrath the daughter of Zion?8Rabbi Ḥama interprets the word ya’iv as to condemn rather than clouded. There are places where they call one who is liable [ḥayava], ayava. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: How did the Lord cause pain [kayev] in His wrath?

There are places that call pain [keiva], eiva. The Rabbis say: How did the Lord cloud in His wrath the vision of the daughter of Zion?“He cast the splendor of Israel from the heavens to the earth.” Rabbi Huna and Rabbi Aḥa, in the name of Rabbi Ḥanina son of Rabbi Abahu: This is analogous to a king who had a son. [The son] wept and he placed him on his knees. He wept and he placed him in his arms.

He wept and he placed him on his shoulders. He made a mess upon him and he immediately cast him to the ground. His descent was not like his ascent. His ascent was in increments, but his descent was all at once.

So too, “I have coddled [tirgalti]9This is from the root reish gimmel lamed, and is an allusion to placing the child on his knees, as the Hebrew word for leg is regel. Ephraim, taking them by their arms” (Hosea 11:3). Then, “I have elevated10This is an allusion to placing the child on his shoulders. Ephraim; Judah has plowed, Jacob has harrowed for him” (Hosea 10:11).

Then, “He cast the splendor of Israel from the heavens to the earth.”Another matter, “He cast the splendor of Israel from the heavens to the earth.” Rabbi Yehoshua ben Rabbi Naḥman said: This is analogous to residents of a province who crafted a crown for the king. They provoked him and he tolerated them. They provoked him and he tolerated them.

Then the king said to them: ‘Are you not provoking me only due to the crown with which you crowned me? Here it is, thrown in your faces.’ So too, the Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘Are you not provoking Me only due to the image of Jacob that is engraved on My throne? Here it is, thrown in your faces.’

That is: “He cast [the splendor of Israel]11According to this interpretation, “the splendor of Israel” is a reference to that image of Jacob, who was also called Israel. from the heavens to the earth.”

“And did not remember His footstool [hadom raglav],” Rabbi Ḥanina bar Yitzḥak said: The Holy One blessed be He does not remember that blood [hadam] that was between the legs of the elder, as it is stated: “Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised on the flesh of his foreskin” (Genesis 17:24). Rabbi Yudan said: [This is analogous] to a king who seized his enemies and killed them, and the residents of his province were dipping their feet in the blood of his enemies.

One time, they provoked him and he expelled them from his palace. They said: ‘The king does not remember to our credit that blood in which we dipped our feet, the blood of his enemies.’ So too, Israel said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘You do not remember to our credit that blood that was in Egypt, as it is stated: “You shall take from the blood and you shall place it on the doorposts and on the lintel”’ (Exodus 12:7).Alternatively, “and did not remember His footstool,” footstool is nothing other than the Temple.

That is what is written: “Exalt the Lord our God and prostrate yourselves to His footstool; He is holy” (Psalms 99:5). “On the day of His wrath,” Rabbi Aḥa said: The wrath of the Holy One blessed be He was one day. Had Israel repented, they would have moderated it. “He called in my ears with a loud voice, saying: Those appointed over the city, approach, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand” (Ezekiel 9:1).

Until when is the sin of the calf in existence?12Until when will Israel be punished for the sin of the Golden Calf? Rabbi Berekhya, and some say Rabbi Neḥemya ben Elazar, [said]: Until the calves of Yerovam ben Nevat.13Until Yerovam constructed his calves (see I Kings 12:28). That is what is written: “When I will heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim and the evildoing of Samaria will be revealed” (Hosea 7:1).

The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘I came to heal Israel of the sin of the calf, and the evils of Samaria were revealed.’ Rabbi Yishmael bar Naḥmani said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: Until the destruction of the Temple, as it is written: “Those appointed over the city [pekudot] approach, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand” (Ezekiel 9:1), and it is written: “And on the day of My reckoning, I will reckon [pakadti] their sin upon them” (Exodus 32:34).It is written: “And behold, six men were coming from the way of the Upper Gate, which faces northward, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand, and one man in their midst was clad in linen, with a scribe's inkwell at his waist.

They came and they stood beside the bronze altar” (Ezekiel 9:2). It says six here, but were there not five decrees? As it is written: “And to those He said in my earshot: Pass through the city behind him and smite; let your eye not pity and do not have compassion” (Ezekiel 9:5). And it is written: “Slay utterly the elderly, the youth, the young woman and the child, and the women” (Ezekiel 9:6).14The men referred to in Ezekiel 9:2 are angels of destruction, yet there are only five groups of people mentioned in the verse as slated for destruction, so five angels should have sufficed.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: He spoke to the most severe angel in their midst, this is Gavriel, as it is stated: “And one man in their midst was clad in linen, with a scribe's inkwell at his waist” (Ezekiel 9:2).15This angel was one of the six, but it did not actually carry out the destruction.That angel served in three capacities: Scribe, executioner, and a High Priest. A scribe as it is written: “With a scribe's inkwell at his waist.”

An executioner, as it is stated: “He destroyed them, delivered them to slaughter.” (Isaiah 34:2).16The verse ascribes this destruction and slaughter to “rage [ketzef],” which is identified as Gavriel (see Shabbat 55a). This destruction took place at a different time than that described in Ezekiel chap. 9. High Priest, as it is stated: “And one man in their midst was clad in linen,” and it is written regarding a priest: “He shall don a sacred linen tunic” (Leviticus 16:4).“Each with his weapon of destruction [mapatzo] in his hand” (Ezekiel 9:1), his weapons, his razing equipment, and his equipment for causing exile.

His weapons, “each with his weapon of destruction in his hand,” his razing equipment, “As he renders all the altar stones like shattered limestone” (Isaiah 27:9), his equipment for causing exile, as it is written: “You are a weapon of destruction [mapetz]17This word is related to the word lehafitz, which connotes scattering and dispersal. for Me, weapons of war” (Jeremiah 51:20).And it is written: “They came and they stood beside the bronze altar” (Ezekiel 9:2).

Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said: Until the place of its boundary.18The altar in the courtyard of the Temple was stone, not bronze (see Shabbat 55a and Rashi ad loc.), but it served the same functions as the bronze altar in the courtyard of the Tabernacle. One of its functions was to serve as a boundary beyond which non-priests were not permitted to go. The angels described in this verse were also not permitted to go past this demarcation point.

The Rabbis say: They stand and call attention the sins of Aḥaz, in whose regard it is written: “The bronze altar will be for me to visit” (II Kings 16:15). What is to visit [levaker]? Rabbi Pinḥas said: He disqualified it and rendered it blemished,19It was as though all the animals sacrificed on it were blemished. just as it says: “The priest shall not deem impure [yevaker]” (Leviticus 13:36). “The Lord said to him [elav]: Pass through the midst of the city…Jerusalem” (Ezekiel 9:4).

Elo is written.20The word elav is written without a yod, such that it can be read elo, which means his powerful one. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: to the most severe angel among them,.“You shall set a mark [tav] [upon the foreheads of the men…]” (Ezekiel 9:4). Rav Naḥman said: These are the people who fulfilled the Torah from alef through tav.21The tav was made on the foreheads of the righteous. The Rabbis say: [It connoted] disintegration and dissolution.22The tav was made on the heads of the wicked.

Rav said: A tav was placed because it connotes either side: Desolation, desolation [tihi] and live, live [teḥi].23A tav was marked on the foreheads of both the righteous and the wicked, but it connoted different things for different people. Rabbi Ḥanina bar Yitzḥak said: The merit of their ancestors has concluded [tama].Rabbi Hoshaya sent [a message] to Rabbi Simon, saying: ‘Since you are situated in the household of the Exilarch, why do you not rebuke them?’

He said to him: ‘If only we may be among those of whom it is written, “[the men] that sigh and that cry [for all the abominations that are done in its midst”’ (Ezekiel 9:4).24It is enough for us to be pained at the sin of others, even if we do not rebuke them, and then we will be like those mentioned in the verse in Ezekiel, who were marked for life while the sinners were marked for death. He said to him: ‘But was it not from them that the calamity began?

As it is written: “And to those He said in my earshot: [Pass through the city behind him and smite; let your eye not pity and do not have compassion]”’ (Ezekiel 9:5).Rabbi Elazar said: The Holy One blessed be He never associates His name with evil, but rather with good. That is what is written [in this verse]. And to those God said in my earshot is not written here, but rather: “And to those He said in my earshot: Pass through the city behind him and smite; let your eye not pity and do not have compassion.”25The verse uses the pronoun rather than explicitly mentioning God so that His name not be directly associated with destruction.

“The elderly, the youth and the maiden, the children and the women you shall kill for destruction, but do not approach any man upon whom is the sign; begin from My Temple” (Ezekiel 9:6). How is it so?26The verse states that the angels were not to kill any man with a sign, indicating that the righteous would be spared, but then states that the destruction was to begin at the Temple, where there were presumably righteous individuals.

At that moment, prosecution sprung before the Throne of Glory. It said before Him: ‘Master of the universe: Which of them was killed for the sake of Your name? Which of them had his brain pierced for the sake of Your name? Which of them gave his life for the sake of Your name?’27The heavenly prosecutor argued that the people had not suffered in God’s name and therefore were not really righteous.

He said: ‘They do not warrant a writ of condemnation.’ Rabbi Aivu said: The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Let My Temple be destroyed but let no hand touch the righteous.’28The righteous were to be spared but the Temple itself was to be destroyed. Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said: It and they warrant a writ of condemnation.29According to this view, God accepted the argument of the prosecutor and ruled that both the Temple and the righteous would be destroyed.Rabbi Tanḥuma and Rabbi Abba [said] in the name of Rabbi Abba:30The reference is to two different scholars by the name of Rabbi Abba.

The Holy One blessed be He never said a positive statement and recanted, but here He recanted. That is what is written: “Begin with My Temple” (Ezekiel 9:6). Do not read it as My Temple [mikdashi], but rather as My holy ones [mekudashai]: “Begin with My holy ones.” Immediately, what is written: “It was as they were smiting, and I remained and I fell upon my face, and I cried out and said: Alas, Lord God, are You destroying the entire remnant of Israel?” (Ezekiel 9:8).

“Remnant” is nothing other than the righteous; therefore he comes and says: “The Lord demolished and had no compassion.”

“The Lord demolished and had no compassion for all the abodes of Jacob; He destroyed, in His ire, the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He brought them to the ground; He profaned a kingdom and its princes” (Lamentations 2:2).“The Lord demolished and had no compassion for all the abodes of Jacob.” Rabbi Pinḥas said in the name of Rabbi Hoshaya: There were four hundred and eighty synagogues in Jerusalem.

From where [is that derived]? “Filled with [mele’ati] justice” (Isaiah 1:21), meleti31The word is written without the alef, such that its numerical value is 480: mem–40, lamed–30, tav–400, yod–ten = 480. However, it should be noted that the word does appear with an alef in extant versions of the book of Isaiah. It is possible that the Sages of the midrash had the word without an alef in their editions (Yefe Anaf).

Alternatively, since the alef is not pronounced, it is as though it was written without the alef (Midrash HaMevoar). is written. Each one of them had a school and an academy, a school for Bible and an academy for Mishna.Another matter, “the Lord demolished and had no compassion for all the abodes [neot] of Jacob,” all the pleasant ones [neotav] of Jacob, like Rabbi Yishmael, Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Yeshevav, Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, Rabbi Ḥutzpit the disseminator, Rabbi Yehuda the baker, Rabbi Ḥananya ben Teradyon, Rabbi Akiva, ben Azai, and Rabbi Tarfon.

Some remove Rabbi Tarfon and insert Rabbi Elazar Ḥarsena.Rabbi Yoḥanan would expound sixty aspects of “the Lord demolished and had no compassion.” Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] would expound twenty-four aspects. It is not that Rabbi Yoḥanan was superior to Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi], but rather, since Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] was close to the destruction of the Temple, he would remember, expound, cry, and be consoled.32He would mourn the destruction of the Temple in a more personal way, and the elder Sages with him had personal memories of the Temple and they would all cry.

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi would then cease expounding the ways in which God did not have compassion, and would share words of consolation (Etz Yosef).Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] would expound: “A star will arise from Jacob” (Numbers 24:17), do not read it as star [kokhav], but rather as fraudulent [kozav]. Rabbi Akiva, when he would look at that bar Koziva,33Shimon bar Kokhva. he would say: ‘This is the messianic king.’

Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Torata said to him: ‘Akiva, grass will grow in your cheeks and he still will not have come.’ Rabbi Yoḥanan said: “The voice is the voice of Jacob [and the hands are the hands of Esau]” (Genesis 27:22), “the voice”—the emperor Hadrian killed eight hundred million people in Beitar.34Thus, “the voice of Jacob” cried out due to the massacre committed by “the hands of Esau” in Beitar (Etz Yosef).

Eighty thousand sounders of horns were laying siege to Beitar. Bar Koziva was there, and he had two hundred thousand men with severed fingers.35He would test the courage and commitment of prospective recruits by having them bite off a finger. The Sages sent to him: ‘Until when will you cause Israel to be blemished?’ He said to them: ‘How then can they be tested?’

They said to him: ‘Anyone who does not uproot a Lebanese cedar, let him not be written on your military roster.’36Their strength could be tested by whether or not they could uproot a cedar with their bare hands. He had two hundred thousand of these and two hundred thousand of those. When they would go out to war they would say:37To God. ‘Do not help and do not hinder.’ That is what is written: “Is it not You, God, who had abandoned us, You, God, who would not go out with our armies?” (Psalms 60:12).

What would ben Koziva do? He would catch a catapult stone on one of his knees and propel it and kill several of their people.38When the enemy would catapult stones, he would kick them with his knee back to them, and not only would he not be injured, but he would kill several enemy soldiers. This was a demonstration of his incredible strength. It was due to this that Rabbi Akiva said that.39That is why Rabbi Akiva thought he would be the messianic king.For three and a half years, the emperor Hadrian surrounded Beitar.

Rabbi Elazar Hamoda'i was there, engaged in his sackcloth and his fasting. Each and every day, he would pray and say: ‘Master of the universe, do not sit in judgment today.’ Ultimately, [Hadrian] made up his mind to return.40Hadrian decided to return to Rome. A certain Cuthite came and found him and said to him: ‘My lord, every day that this chicken wallows in the ashes,41As long as Rabbi Elazar Hamoda’i continues fasting and wearing sackcloth, which is generally also be accompanied by placing ashes on oneself. you will not conquer it.

But wait for me, as I will arrange for you to conquer it today.’ Immediately, he entered through the sewer system of the city. He found Rabbi Elazar, who was standing and praying. He made himself look as though he was whispering into the ear of Rabbi Elazar Hamoda'i. They went and told bar Koziva: ‘Your uncle, Rabbi Elazar, seeks to yield the city to Hadrian.’42The Cuthites were enemies of the Jews, and therefore it looked suspicious for the Cuthite to be whispering into Rabbi Elazar’s ear.

He sent and had that Cuthite brought [to him]. He said to him: ‘What did you say to him?’ He said to him: ‘If I tell you, the emperor will kill me.43Literally, “that man.” If I do not tell you, you will kill me.

But it is preferable that I have myself killed than having the secrets of the empire revealed.’Ben Koziva thought that he44Rabbi Elazar Hamoda’i. wanted to yield the city. When Rabbi Elazar concluded his prayer, he sent and had him brought. He said to him: ‘What did that Cuthite say to you?’ He said to him: ‘I do not know what he whispered in my ear, and I did not hear anything from him, as I was standing in prayer and I do not know what he was saying.’

Ben Koziva was filled with rage. He gave him one kick with his foot and killed him. A Divine Voice emerged and said: “Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock; a sword upon his arm and upon his right eye” (Zechariah 11:17). It said to him: ‘You paralyzed the arm of Israel and blinded their right eye; therefore, the arm of this man “will wither and his right eye will go blind”’ (Zechariah 11:17).

Immediately, the iniquities caused Beitar to be captured. Ben Koziva was killed and they brought his head to Hadrian. He said: ‘Who killed this one?’ A certain Gontite45According to most commentaries, this is another name for the Cuthites.

Some interpret the word to mean soldier. said: ‘I killed this one.’ He said: ‘Go and bring him to me.’46Hadrian asked for the rest of ben Koziva’s body to be brought to him. He went to bring him, and he found a serpent wrapped around his neck. [Hadrian] said to him: ‘Had his God not killed him, who could have overcome him?’ He applied to him the verse: “If not that their Rock had sold them” (Deuteronomy 32:30).They were killing them until the horse was submerged in blood until its nostrils.

The blood would roll boulders [weighing] forty se’a and would flow four mil into the sea. And lest you say it is proximate to the sea, it is a distance of four mil from the sea. Hadrian had a large vineyard eighteen mil by eighteen mil, like the distance between Tiberias and Tzippori. He surrounded it with a fence of the slain of Beitar.47This was to fertilize the vineyard with the flesh and blood.

He did not issue a decree [allowing the dead] to be buried, until a certain [new] emperor arose and issued a decree in their regard, and they buried them. Rabbi Huna said: The day that the slain of Beitar were brought to burial, [the blessing]: Who is good and does good, was instituted.48The Sages added this blessing to Grace after Meals. Who is good, because they did not decompose, Who does good, because they were brought to burial.Beitar existed for fifty-two years after the destruction of the Temple.

Why was it destroyed? Because they kindled lamps over the destruction of the Temple.49Kindling lamps was a sign of celebration. Why did they kindle them? They said: The ruling aristocracy of Jerusalem would sit in the center of the city, and when one of them would ascend to pray,50When a resident of Beitar would ascend to Jerusalem to pray at the Temple. one of them would say to him: ‘Do you wish to become a member of the ruling aristocracy?’

He would say: ‘No.’ ‘Do you wish to become a local governor?’ He would say to him: ‘No.’ [The aristocrat] would say to him: ‘I heard that you have an estate; do you wish to sell it to me?’ He would say to him: ‘I do not intend to do so.’ He would write and send his bill of sale to a member of his household: ‘If so and so comes, do not allow him to enter the estate because he sold it to me.’51After offering the resident of Beitar an elevated status or a position of authority so that he would agree to sell his estate, and being rebuffed nevertheless, the corrupt aristocrats would take matters into their own hands and write false documents of sale on behalf of the Beitar resident.

That man would say: ‘If only that man’s leg would have been broken and he would not have ascended to that corner.’52The resident of Beitar whose estate was taken would say: ‘If only I had not come to pray at the Temple.’ That is what is written: “They hunted [tzadu] our steps [from walking in our squares]” (Lamentations 4:18); may the roads be desolate [tzadya] of [people] walking to those plazas.53The people of Beitar hoped that people would stop traveling to the Temple.

“Our end approaches” (Lamentations 4:18); the end of that Temple,54They hoped that the Temple would be destroyed. “our days are filled” (Lamentations 4:18); the days of that Temple. They, too, their good did not last, as it is written: “One who rejoices at calamity will not be absolved” (Proverbs 17:5).Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Three hundred babies’ brains were found on a single rock, and three hundred baskets of phylacteries boxes were found in Beitar, each and every one of them holding three se’a. When you arrive at a tally, you find that there were three hundred se’a.55Each basket held three hundred se’a, for a total of nine hundred se’a.Rabban Gamliel said: There were five hundred elementary schools in Beitar, and the smallest among them had no fewer than three hundred children.

They would say: ‘If our enemies come against us, we will emerge and stab them with these quills.’ When the iniquities were the cause and the enemies came, they wrapped each and every one of them in his scroll and they burned them, and I am the only one of them who survived. He applied to himself the verse: “My eye distressed my soul…” (Lamentations 3:51).There were two brothers in Kefar Ḥaruva and they would not allow a Roman to pass there whom they did not kill.

They said: ‘The entire objective of the matter is to take Hadrian’s crown and place it on Shimon’s head.’56The reference is to Shimon bar Kokhva. The Romans came, and when they went out [to fight them], a certain elder encountered them and said to them: ‘May the Creator come to your aid against them.’ They said to him: ‘Let Him not help and let Him not hinder.’ Immediately, their iniquities were the cause and they were killed. [The Roman soldiers] brought their heads to Hadrian.

He said: ‘Who killed these?’ A certain Gontite57According to most commentaries, this is another name for the Cuthites. Some interpret the word to mean soldier. said to him: ‘I killed them.’ He said to him: ‘Go bring me their bodies.’

He went and found a serpent wrapped around their necks. [Hadrian] said: ‘Had their God not killed them, who could have overcome them?’ He applied to them the verse: “If not that their Rock had sold them” (Deuteronomy 32:30).There were two cedars on the Mount of Olives, and beneath one of them there were four stores of sellers of ritually pure items. From one [store], they would take out forty se’a of fledglings each month, which would supply pairs of birds for Israel.58In some instances, one who is ritually impure must sacrifice a pair of birds as part of his purification process; see, e.g., Leviticus 15:29.

Mount Shimon would produce three hundred barrels.59Many commentaries suggest that the text should read: Three hundred barrels of wine (see, e.g., Yefe Enayim). Why were they destroyed? If you say it was because of the prostitutes, but was there not only one young woman there and they expelled her? Rabbi Huna said: It is because they would play ball on Shabbat.There were ten thousand towns on the King’s Mountain.

Rabbi Elazar ben Ḥarsom owned one thousand of them. Corresponding to them, he had one thousand ships at sea. Three of those towns, Kavul, Shiḥin, and Magdela, their taxes would be taken up to Jerusalem.60Many commentaries assert that the text should read: Taken up to Jerusalem in a wagon (see, e.g., Yefe Enayim). This is an indication that the load was heavy.

Why were they destroyed? Kavul, due to strife; Shiḥin, due to sorcery; Magdela, due to prostitution.There were three towns in the south that would produce twice the number of those who departed from Egypt, and they were: Kefar Bish, Kefar Shaḥalayim, and Kefar Dikhrin. Kefar Bish, why was its name called Kefar Bish?61This name literally means “bad village.” Because they did not receive guests.

Kefar Shaḥalayim, why was its name called Kefar Shaḥalayim?62Shaḥalayim means cress. Because they would produce numerous children, like cress.63Cress is an edible herb that grows quickly. Kefar Dikhrin, why was its name called Kefar Dikhrin?64Dikhrin means males in Aramaic. Because every woman there would give birth to male [dikhrin] children.

Any woman who wished to bear a female would go outside the town and bear a female. Any other woman who wished to bear a male son, would go there and bear a male. But now, when you attempt to plant six hundred thousand reeds there, the space will not suffice.65How could there have been twice that number of people in these towns? Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Land of Israel has contracted.Rav Huna said: There were three hundred stores of sellers of ritually pure items in Magdela of the Dyers, and three hundred stores of weavers of curtains in Kefar Nimra.

Rabbi Yirmeya said in the name of Rabbi Ḥiya bar Abba: There were eighty brothers who were priests, who married eighty sisters who were daughters of priests on one night in Gufna, not including brothers not to sisters, not including sisters not to brothers, not including Levites, and not including Israelites.66Eighty pairs of brothers who were priests married eighty pairs of sisters who were the daughters of priests on one night, and this tally did not include marriages between priestly families in which a single son married a single daughter, and did not include weddings of those who were not priests.

The fact that so many weddings occurred on one night indicates how large the population must have been.Eighty thousand young priests were killed over the blood of Zekharya.67Zekharya was a priest and prophet who rebuked the Judean aristocracy for their idolatrous practices and was killed on the Temple Mount; see II Chronicles 24:20–22. Rabbi Yudan asked Rabbi Aḥa: ‘Where did they kill Zekharya, in the Israelite courtyard or the women’s courtyard?’

He said to him: ‘Neither in the Israelite courtyard nor in the women’s courtyard, but rather in the priestly courtyard.’ They did not treat his blood like the blood of a gazelle nor like the blood of a deer. There it is written: “Any man from the children of Israel, or from the strangers who resides among them, who shall hunt game of a beast…he shall [pour out its blood and] cover it with dirt” (Leviticus 17:13).

However, here it is written: “For its blood was within it; on a bare rock it placed it. It did not pour it on the ground to cover it with dirt” (Ezekiel 24:7). Why to that extent? “To arouse fury to take vengeance, I placed its blood upon the bare rock that it not be covered” (Ezekiel 24:8).Israel performed seven transgressions on that day: They killed a priest, a prophet, and a judge, they spilled innocent blood, they desecrated the Name, they impurified the Temple courtyard, and it was Shabbat and Yom Kippur.

When Nevuzaradan ascended, he saw that the blood of Zekharya was boiling. He said to them: ‘What is this?’ They said to him: ‘It is the blood of bulls and sheep.’ He brought bulls and sheep but [their blood] was not similar.

He said to them: ‘If you tell me, fine. But if not, I will comb the flesh of these people with a comb of iron,’ but they did not tell him. When he said this to them,68When he continued to threaten them after realizing that the blood was clearly not the blood of bulls and sheep. they said to him: ‘Why should we conceal it from you? We had a prophet, a priest, who would reprimand us in the name of Heaven, [saying] ‘Accept [my words],’ but we did not accept it from him.

Rather, we rose against him and killed him.’ He said to them: ‘I will assuage it.’ He brought the Great Sanhedrin and slaughtered them onto it, but it did not rest.69He slaughtered the members of the Great Sanhedrin over the blood of Zekharya but the blood continued to boil. He slaughtered the lesser Sanhedrin onto it, but it did not rest.

He brought young priests and slaughtered them onto it, but it did not rest. He slaughtered schoolchildren onto it, but it did not rest. He said to it: ‘Zekharya, I have eliminated the best of your people. Is it your will that all of them will be eliminated?’

Immediately, it rested. That wicked one contemplated repentance, and said: ‘One who eliminates a single Israelite soul, it is written in his regard: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, his blood will be spilled by man” (Genesis 9:6), this man who eliminated many souls, all the more so.’ Immediately, the Holy One blessed be He became filled with mercy for them, and He intimated to the blood, and it was absorbed in its place.Eighty thousand young priests breached the armies of Nebuchadnezzar with gold shields in their hands.70They escaped the siege imposed by the Babylonian army.

They went to the Ishmaelites, who took out salty foods and inflated wineskins. They said to [the Ishmaelites]: ‘Let us drink first.’ They said to them: ‘Eat first and then you will drink.’ After they ate, each and every one of them took the wineskin, placed it in his mouth, and the wind entered his stomach and burst it.

That is what is written: “A prophecy of Arabia: In the forest in Arabia you will stay the night, caravans of Dedanites. Bring water to the thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Teima greeted the wanderer with his bread [for they wandered due to swords, due to the drawn sword and to the bent bow]” (Isaiah 21:13–15). The one who is located “in the forest” of Lebanon “will stay the night.”71The Israelites, particularly the priests, who ordinarily spend time in the “forest of Lebanon,” i.e. the Temple, would stay the night amongst the Arabs.

But “caravans of the Dedanites,” is it the way of cousins to act this way?72The Dedanites are identified as the Ishmaelites, who are cousins [benei Dedanaya] of the Israelites. Is this what their Father73God. did to your ancestor? What is written regarding your ancestor? “God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.

She went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad to drink” (Genesis 21:19). But you did not fulfill: “Bring water to the thirsty.” Was it because it was good for them that they came to you? “For they wandered due to swords” (Isaiah 21:15), it is due to the sword of Nebuchadnezzar that they wandered.“Due to a drawn [netusha] sword” (Isaiah 21:15), it is because they did not observe their Sabbatical Years properly, just as it is said: “But the seventh, you shall leave it fallow and relinquish it [untashtah]” (Exodus 23:11).

“And to the bent [derukha] bow” (Isaiah 21:15), it is because they did not observe Shabbat properly, just as it is said: “In those days I saw in Judah some treading [dorekhim] winepresses on the Shabbat” (Nehemiah 13:15). “And due to the rigor of the war” (Isaiah 21:15), because they did not engage in the give and take of the war of Torah, of which it is written: “Therefore, it is said in the book of the Wars of the Lord” (Numbers 21:14).Rabbi Yoḥanan said: From Giveton to Antipatris there were six hundred thousand cities, the smallest of which was Beit Shemesh.

That is what is written: “He smote among the men of Beit Shemesh…[and He smote of the people seventy men and fifty thousand men]” (I Samuel 6:19).74This demonstrates that this area was very well populated. Now, there are not even one hundred reeds there. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Its priestly watch was the smallest of the priestly watches and would produce eighty thousand young priests.How many attacks did Hadrian launch?

Two amora’im, one said fifty-two and one said fifty-four. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Happy is he who saw the downfall of Tadmor. Why? Because it played a role in two destructions.75The destructions of the two Temples.

Rabbi Yudan said: In the first destruction it provided eighty thousand archers and in the second it provided forty thousand archers. Rav Huna said: In the latter destruction they were like the first.

"He has thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah" (Lamentations 2:2). Rabbi Yudan said: Every fortress that was in Jerusalem was not fit to be conquered in less than forty days. Rabbi Pinhas said: in less than fifty days. But when the iniquities caused it, "He has thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah," He brought them to the ground. "He has profaned the kingdom and its princes" (Lamentations 2:2). "He has profaned the kingdom" these are Israel, as you say: "And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6). "And its princes" these are the princes above. You find that before the enemies came, Jeremiah would say to them, Do repentance, that you not go into exile. They said to him, If the enemies come, what can they do to us? One said: I will surround it with a wall of water. Another said: I will surround it with a wall of fire. And another said: I will surround it with a wall of iron. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: It is with what is Mine that you are making use. The Holy One, blessed be He, arose and changed the names of the angels: the one over water He set over fire, and the one over fire He set over iron. And they would mention their names from below and they would not answer them. This is what is written: "And I have profaned the holy princes" (Isaiah 43:28). And once the iniquities caused it and the enemies came, they began to mention, Prince so-and-so, come, do for us such-and-such a thing. He said to him: It is not in my power to lift anything from it. Another interpretation: "He has profaned the kingdom and its princes." "He has profaned the kingdom" this is Zedekiah king of Judah; "and its princes" these are the princes above.

“He destroyed, in His ire, the strongholds of the daughter of Judah.” Rabbi Yudan said: Each and every castle that was in Jerusalem was not fit to be conquered in any less than forty days. Rabbi Pinḥas said: In any less than fifty days. But since iniquity caused [their downfall], “He destroyed, in His ire, the strongholds of the daughter of Judah, He brought them to the ground.”“He profaned a kingdom and its princes.”

“He profaned a kingdom,” this is Israel, just as it says: “You will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). “And its princes,” these are the guardian angels On High. You find that until the enemies came, Jeremiah would say to them: ‘Repent so you will not go into exile.’ They said to him: ‘If the enemies will come, what can they do to us?’

One [Israelite] said: ‘I will surround it with a wall of water.’ Another said: ‘I will surround it with a wall of fire.’ Another said: ‘I will surround it with a wall of iron.’76Each of them boasted that they could accomplish this by invoking the name of an angel (Matnot Kehuna). The Holy One blessed be He said to them: You are using that which is Mine.

The Holy One blessed be He rose and changed the names of the angels. The one appointed over water, He tasked over fire; the one appointed over fire, He tasked over iron. They would invoke their names below, but they did not respond to them. That is what is written: “I profaned the sacred princes” (Isaiah 43:28).

When the iniquities were the cause and the enemies came, they began invoking: So and so angel, come and perform such and such matter. [The angel] would say to him: ‘It is not within my ability, as I am excluded from it.’Another matter, “He profaned a kingdom and its princes.” “He profaned a kingdom,” this is Zedekiah king of Judah. “And its princes,” these are the guardian angels On High.

“He severed in his enflamed wrath all the horn of Israel; He retracted His right hand from before the enemy. He burned in Jacob like flaming fire, consuming all around” (Lamentations 2:3).“He severed in his enflamed wrath all the horn of Israel.” There are ten horns: the horn of Abraham, the horn of Isaac, the horn of Joseph, the horn of Moses, the horn of Torah, the horn of priesthood, the horn of Levites, the horn of prophecy, the horn of the Temple, the horn of Israel, and some say, the horn of the Messiah.The horn [keren] of Abraham, as it is stated: “My beloved had a vineyard in a fruitful corner [keren]” (Isaiah 5:1).77The Sages identify the term “beloved” in the verse as referring to Abraham.

See, similarly, Eikha Rabba Prologue 24; Eikha Rabba 1:1. The horn of Isaac, as it is stated: “Caught in the thicket by its horns” (Genesis 22:13). The horn of Joseph, as it is stated: “His horns are the horns of aurochs” (Deuteronomy 33:17). The horn of Moses, as it is written: “The skin of his face was radiant [karan]” (Exodus 34:29).

The horn of Torah, as it is written: “Rays [karnayim] from His hand to him” (Habakkuk 3:4). The horn of priesthood, as it is written: “His horn is raised high in honor” (Psalms 112:9).78This verse refers to honor [kavod], a term used particularly in regard to priests; see, e.g., Exodus 28:2, 40 (Maharzu). The horn of the Levites, as it is stated: “All of these were sons of Heiman, the king's seer in matters of God, to raise the horn” (I Chronicles 25:5).79The reference is to a family of Levites.

The horn of prophecy, as it is written: “My horn is exalted in the Lord” (I Samuel 2:1). The horn of the Temple, as it is written: “From the horns of the aurochs; answer me (Psalms 22:22).80The midrash elsewhere (Midrash Tehillim 102) relates that David prayed to God that He save him from an auroch, and promised to build the Temple in return (Maharzu). The horn of Israel, as it is stated: “He raised a horn for His people” (Psalms 148:14).

And some say the horn of the Messiah, as it is stated: “Exalt the horn of His anointed one” (I Samuel 2:10).81The word Messiah [mashiaḥ] literally means “anointed one.”All of them were placed on the heads of the Israelites, and when they sinned they were taken from them. That is what is written: “He severed in His enflamed wrath all the horn of Israel.” They were given to the nations of the world.

That is what is written: “Concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other that arose, and before which three fell” (Daniel 7:20), and it is written thereafter: “And the ten horns: From this kingdom, ten kings will arise, and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the earlier ones, and he will subdue three kings” (Daniel 7:24). When Israel repents, the Holy One blessed be He will restore them to their place.

That is what is written: “All the horns of the wicked I will sever, while the horns of the righteous shall be raised” (Psalms 75:11). The horns that the Righteous One of the world severed, when will He restore them to their place? When the Holy One blessed be He exalts the horn of His anointed one, as it is written: “He will give strength to His king and exalt the glory of His anointed one” (I Samuel 2:10).“He retracted His right hand from before the enemy.”

Rabbi Azarya said in the name of Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon: When iniquities were the cause and the enemies entered Jerusalem, they took the mighty of Israel and bound their hands behind them. The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘I wrote in the Torah: “I will be with him in distress” (Psalms 91:15), and now My children are wallowing in distress and I am in comfort?’ As it were, “He retracted His right hand.”82The Hebrew phrase in the verse, usually translated “He retracted His right hand,” can also be translated “He put His right hand behind Him.”

God does not respond to the atrocities and indignities committed by the enemy to His people, as though His hands are tied behind His back.Ultimately He revealed it to Daniel. That is what is written: “But you, go to the end” (Daniel 12:13). [Daniel] said to Him: ‘To give an accounting?’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: “And rest” (Daniel 12:13). He said to Him: ‘Will I rest forever?’

He said to him: “You will stand” (Daniel 12:13). He said to Him: ‘With whom, with the righteous or with the wicked?’ He said: “To your fate” (Daniel 12:13), with the righteous. He said to Him: ‘“At the end of days [hayamim]” (Daniel 12:13),83This is when all the dead, righteous and wicked, will arise for judgment. or at the end of the right hand [hayamin]?’84This is when God will reveal His right hand and bring salvation to the righteous.

He said to him: ‘To the end of the right hand; that right hand that is subjugated. I put an end to My right hand.85I put an end to the restrictions on My right hand. When I redeem My children, I will have redeemed My right hand.’ That is what David said: “So that Your beloved ones be saved, deliver Your right hand and answer me” (Psalms 60:7).

“He burned in Jacob like flaming fire, consuming all around.” Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: When calamity comes, it is only Jacob who senses it. What is the source? “He burned in Jacob like flaming fire.” When good comes, it is only Jacob who senses it. That is what is written: “Jacob will be gladdened and Israel will rejoice” (Psalms 14:7).

“He drew His bow like an enemy; His right hand stood as an adversary, and he killed all delights of the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion, He poured out His fury like fire” (Lamentations 2:4).“He drew His bow like an enemy.” Rabbi Aivu said: They did not go to extremes vis-à-vis the attribute of justice, and the attribute of justice, too, did not go to extremes in their regard.86They did not sin in an extreme fashion and they were not punished in an extreme fashion (Etz Yosef).

They did not go to extremes vis-à-vis the attribute of justice, as it is stated: “The people were like complainers” (Numbers 11:1). “Complainers” is not written here, but rather, “like complainers.” “The princes of Judah were like those who move boundaries” (Hosea 5:10). “Those who move boundaries” is not written here, but rather, “like those who move boundaries.”

“For like a wayward cow [Israel has strayed]” (Hosea 4:16), “For a wayward cow” is not written here, but rather, “like a wayward cow.” The attribute of justice, too, did not go to extremes in their regard. “He drew His bow like an enemy.” “An enemy” is not written here, but rather, “like an enemy.”Another matter, “He drew His bow like an enemy.”

This is Pharaoh,87When the verse states that God drew His bow like an enemy, the enemy referenced is Pharaoh. as it is stated: “The enemy said” (Exodus 15:9). “His right hand stood as an adversary,” this is Haman, as it is stated: “A man who is an adversary and an enemy” (Esther 7:6).Another matter, “He drew His bow like an enemy.” This is Esau, as it is written: “Because the enemy said against you” (Ezekiel 36:2).88This chapter in Ezekiel is a continuation of chapter 35, which is directed to Se’ir, which is identified with the offspring of Esau; see, e.g., Genesis 36:8.

“And he killed all delights of the eye,” these are children who are as dear to their parents as their eyeball. The Rabbis say: These are the [members of the] Sanhedrin, who are as dear to Israel as the eyeball.“In the tent of the daughter of Zion, He poured out His fury like fire.” There are four instances of pouring that are for good and four instances of pouring that are for bad. Four instances of pouring that are for good, as it is stated: “Upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, I will pour a spirit of grace and supplication” (Zechariah 12:10).

“It will be, thereafter, that I will pour My spirit upon all flesh…. Also upon the slaves and upon the maidservants in those days I will pour My spirit” (Joel 3:1–2). “I will no longer conceal My face from them, as I have poured My spirit upon the house of Israel, the utterance of the Lord God” (Ezekiel 39:29). And four instances of pouring that are for bad, as it is stated: “He poured His fiery wrath upon him” (Isaiah 42:25).

In Ezekiel it is written: “As You pour Your fury upon Jerusalem” (Ezekiel 9:8). It is written: “The Lord vented His fury, He poured out His enflamed wrath” (Lamentations 4:11). And this: “He poured out His fury like fire.”

“The Lord was like an enemy. He demolished Israel, demolished all its palaces, destroyed its strongholds. He multiplied mourning and moaning in the daughter of Judah” (Lamentations 2:5).“The Lord was like an enemy.” Rabbi Aivu said: They did not go to extremes vis-à-vis the attribute of justice, and the attribute of justice, too, did not go to extremes in their regard.

They did not go to extremes vis-à-vis the attribute of justice, as it is stated: The people were like complainers” (Numbers 11:1). “Complainers” is not written here, but rather, “like complainers.” “The princes of Judah were like those who move boundaries” (Hosea 5:10). “Those who move boundaries” is not written here, but rather, “like those who move boundaries.”

“For like a wayward cow [Israel has strayed]” (Hosea 4:16), “For a wayward cow” is not written here, but rather, “like a wayward cow.” The attribute of justice, too, did not go to extremes in their regard. “He drew His bow like an enemy.” “An enemy” is not written here, but rather, “like an enemy.”“He demolished Israel, demolished all its palaces.”

Rabbi Berekhya in the name of Rabbi Ḥelbo in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman: Israel89The Ten Tribes. was exiled to three places. One was on this side of the Sambatyon River,90A river described as carrying stones in its current, so that it was unpassable, except for on Shabbat (see Bereishit Rabba 11:5). as it is written: “To say to the prisoners: Emerge, to those in darkness: Reveal yourselves” (Isaiah 49:9).

One, beyond the Sambatyon River: “They will graze along the ways” (Isaiah 49:9); those upon whom a cloud descended and enveloped them. “And on all the bare hills will be their pasture” (Isaiah 49:9), those who were exiled to Daphne in Antioch.91Some suggest an alternate version of the text, based on the Jerusalem Talmud (Sanhedrin 11:5): Israel was exiled to three places: One beyond the Sambatyon River, one to Daphne in Antioch, and one that the cloud descended and covered them… “To say to the prisoners: Emerge,” this is to those who were exiled beyond the Sambatyon River.

“To those in darkness: Reveal yourselves,” these are the ones upon whom the cloud descended and covered them. “They will graze along the ways and on all the bare hills will be their pasture,” these are those who were exiled to Daphne in Antioch (Etz Yosef). “He multiplied mourning and moaning in the daughter of Judah;” [the people were] tormented with afflictions.

“He stripped His shrine like a garden; He destroyed His place of assembly. The Lord caused festival and Shabbat to be forgotten in Zion and He scorned king and priest in His furious wrath” (Lamentations 2:6).“He stripped His shrine [suko] like a garden.” Rabbi Ḥama ben Rabbi Ḥanina said: Like a garden whose spring was removed and its greenery turned white. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: Like Adam the first man, just as it says: “He banished the man…” (Genesis 3:24).92Just as Adam was banished from the Garden of Eden, Israel was banished from the Temple (Yefe Anaf).

Rabbi Abahu said: Suko is written with the letter sin;93A left dotted shin is found in the text, rather than a samekh. Thus, the word suko is similar to the word assuaged [shakhakha]. once Israel was exiled, the fury of the Holy One blessed be He was assuaged.“The Lord caused festival and Shabbat to be forgotten in Zion.” Is it possible that the Holy One blessed be He caused the festivals and Shabbatot of Israel to be forgotten?

Rather, it is the festivals and sabbaths of Yerovam ben Nevat, that he fabricated for them. That is what is written: “In the month that he fabricated from his heart [milibo]” (I Kings 12:33). Milevad is written,94The word in the verse in Kings is written milevad but pronounced milibo. just as it says: “Beside the [milevad] Sabbaths of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:38). “He scorned king and priest in His furious wrath.”

“King,” this is Zedekiah. “And priest,” this is Seraya ben Maḥsaya.95Zedekiah and Seraya were the king and High Priest, respectively, at the time of the destruction of the Temple. The destruction took place despite their personal piety (Yefe Anaf).

“The Lord forsook His altar, cursed His Temple; He gave into the hand of the enemy the walls of its palaces. They raised their voice in the House of the Lord, like a day of festival” (Lamentations 2:7)“The Lord forsook His altar.” Rabbi Ḥagai said in the name of Rabbi Yitzḥak: [This is analogous] to the residents of a province who set tables for the king. They provoked him and he tolerated them.

The king said to them: ‘Are you not provoking me only due to the table that you set for me? Here it is thrown in your faces.’ So too, the Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘Are you not angering Me only due to the offerings that you sacrificed to Me? Here it is thrown in your faces.’

That is what is written: “The Lord forsook His altar, cursed His Temple.”Rabbi Berekhya, Rabbi Ḥelbo, and Rabbi Aivu said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani: You find that at the moment that the gentiles entered the Temple they placed their hands under the nape of their necks, turned their faces upward, and cursed and blasphemed. They crafted an enclosure [masger] of spears with their tips in the ground.96This was in order to imprison the priests that they captured, and to express their contempt for the Temple by sticking their spears into its floor (Midrash HaMevoar).

That is what is written: “He gave [hisgir] into the hand of the enemy the walls of its palaces. They raised their voice in the House of the Lord, like a day of festival.” Rabbi Ḥanina, Rabbi Aḥa, and Rabbi Meyasha said in the name of Rabbi Yanai: It was due to that voice that Babylon fell, as it is written: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the statues of its gods are broken to the ground” (Isaiah 21:9).97A previous verse in the passage states “he will listen very attentively” (Isaiah 21:7), an allusion to the blasphemous statements of the Babylonians (Maharzu).Rabbi Berekhya, Rabbi Ḥelbo, and Rabbi Aivu said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani: This kingdom,98Rome. too, did likewise.

That is what is written: “They raised their voice in the House of the Lord, like a day of festival.” Rabbi Huna, Rabbi Aḥa, and Rabbi Meyasha [said] in the name of Rabbi Yanai: It too is supposed to fall only due to that voice. That is what is written: “From the sound of Babylon being seized” (Jeremiah 50:46).99The midrash interprets the verse to mean: Due to the sound, Babylon was seized. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: The sound of troubles, disturbances, and darkness ascends to the great city of Tyre.100Tyre is used here as a reference to Rome.

See, in this regard, Bereishit Rabba 61:7. Why? Because the voice of Esau is prosecuting.101There is prosecution against it in heaven due to the ‘voice of Esau,’ the blasphemy of Rome. That is what is written: “The sound of tumult comes from the city, a sound from the Sanctuary: the sound of the Lord exacting retribution upon His enemies” (Isaiah 66:6).

“The Lord resolved to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He drew a line, did not withdraw His hand from demolishing. He caused the rampart and wall to mourn, together they languish” (Lamentations 2:8).“The Lord resolved to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion.” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It was not from the proclamation.102God had decided to destroy Jerusalem long before the destruction was announced by the prophets (Matnot Kehuna).

That is what is written: “For this city [has been a cause of My wrath and of My anger from the day that they built it until this day, to remove it from My presence]” (Jeremiah 32:31). Rabbi Eilam said: Like a person who is passing in a disgusting place and wrinkles his nose.103The Hebrew word for “My anger” [api] can also be translated “my nose” (Matnot Kehuna).“He drew a line.” There is a line for good and there is a line for bad.

For good, “And a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem” (Zechariah 1:16). A line for bad, this one: “He drew a line.”“Did not withdraw His hand from demolishing. He caused the rampart and wall to mourn, together they languish,” like that which Rabbi Huna son of Rabbi Aḥa said: A wall and a secondary wall.

“Its gates sank into the ground; He eradicated and broke its bars. Its king and its princes are among the nations; there is no Torah; its prophets, too, could not find a vision from the Lord” (Lamentations 2:9).“Its gates sank into the ground,” Rabbi Huna said in the name of Rabbi Yosei: Gates accorded honor to the Ark; therefore, the enemy did not take control of them. That is what is written: “Lift your heads, gates, [and be lifted up, everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in]” (Psalms 24:7).104The Gemara (Shabbat 30a) relates that when Solomon sought to bring the Ark into the Temple, the gates would not open until he recited this verse.

That is why “its gates sank into the ground; He eradicated and broke its bars.”“Its king and its princes are among the nations; there is no Torah.” If a person will say to you: ‘There is wisdom among the nations,’ believe it. That is what is written: “I will eliminate the wise from Edom, and understanding from the mountain of Esau” (Obadiah 1:8). [If a person will say:] ‘There is Torah among the nations,’ do not believe it, as it is written: “Its king and its princes are among the nations; there is no Torah.”“Its prophets,” these are the false prophets.

“Its prophets, too,” these are the true prophets.105The extraneous word “too” indicates that even the real prophets were no longer granted prophecy. These and those “could not find a vision from the Lord.”

“The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, are silent. They have placed dust on their heads, have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem have lowered their heads to the ground” (Lamentations 2:10).“The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, are silent.” Rabbi Elazar said: Let the portion of vows not be insignificant in your eyes, as it is on account of the portion of vows that the Great Sanhedrin of Zedekiah were killed.

When Yekhonya was exiled, King Nebuchadnezzar appointed him106Zedekiah. over five kings. That is what is written: “Send to the king of Edom, to the king of Moav, to the king of the children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon, in the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah, king of Judah” (Jeremiah 27:3). He would enter and exit before him without permission.107Zedekiah had unfettered access to Nebuchadnezzar.

One day, he entered before him and saw that he was ripping the flesh of a hare and eating it raw. [Nebuchadnezzar] said to him: ‘Take an oath to me that you will not publicize this about me,’ and he took an oath to him. On what did he administer the oath to [Zedekiah]? Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Ḥanina said: On the inner altar. The five kings were sitting and maligning Nebuchadnezzar before Zedekiah and saying to him: ‘The kingdom is not suitable for Nebuchadnezzar, but rather it is suitable for you, as you are from the offspring of David.’

He, too, maligned Nebuchadnezzar and said: ‘I saw that he was ripping the flesh of a hare and eating it.’ Immediately, they sent [a message] to the king, saying: ‘This Jew who enters and exits before you without permission said about you: I saw that Nebuchadnezzar was ripping the flesh of a hare and eating it.’ That is what is written: “Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon” (II Kings 24:20).Immediately, he108Nebuchadnezzar. came and settled in Daphne of Antioch and the Great Sanhedrin went to greet him.

When he saw that they were all men of noble form, he issued a command and had seats of honor brought for them, and he seated them. He said to them: ‘Teach me the Torah.’ Immediately they began reading each and every portion and translating it before him. When they reached the portion of vows: “A man who takes a vow” (Numbers 30:3), he said to them: ‘If he wishes to renege on it, can he or can he not do so?’

They said to him: ‘He can go to a Sage and [the Sage] can nullify his vow for him.’ He said to them: ‘It seems to me that you nullified for Zedekiah the oath that he took to me.’ Immediately, he decreed and had them placed down on the ground. That is what is written: “The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, are silent.”

“They have placed dust [on their heads],” they began mentioning the merit of Abraham, as it is written: “I am dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27). “Have girded themselves with sackcloth,” they began mentioning the merit of Jacob, as it is written: “He placed sackcloth on his loins” (Genesis 37:34).109The Sages began to pray to God for mercy in the merit of Abraham and Jacob, both of whom took oaths and were careful to fulfill them (Etz Yosef; see Genesis 14:22, 28:20).

What did they do to them? They tied their hair to horses’ tails and had them run from Jerusalem to Lod. That is what is written: “The virgins of Jerusalem have lowered their heads to the ground.”110They did so in mourning for the Sages. Alternatively, the Sages are alluded to with the term virgins because of their purity.

“My eyes fail from tears; my innards burn; my liver is poured on the earth over the disaster of the daughter of my people, as the infants and the sucklings faint in the city squares” (Lamentations 2:11).“My eyes fail from tears.” Rabbi Elazar said: Limitations were imposed on the eye.111There is a limit to the functional abilities of the eye; if one cries too much, it will affect his vision (Etz Yosef). [There are tears that are beneficial:] The tear caused by a drug, the tear caused by mustard, and the tear caused by eye balm; and the tear of laughter is the best of all.

There are three harmful tears: The tear caused by smoke, the tear caused by weeping, and the tear caused by the lavatory;112This is when one suffers from an intestinal malady. and the tear over a young person is the worst of all. There was an incident involving a certain woman who had a young son who died. She cried over him at nights until her eyelashes fell out. She went to a doctor.

He said to her: ‘Apply some of this eye paste and you will feel relief.’“My liver is poured on the earth.” There was an incident involving a certain man who had a young son who died. He cried over him at nights until his liver dropped. He said: ‘The liver of this man has already dropped, who will cry over him?

But it was to no avail for me.’113The man said: I am going to die because of the medical damage caused by my crying, but my crying did not accomplish anything. Similarly, the verse bemoans the effects of the crying in the aftermath of the destruction, which did not accomplish anything, as salvation did not arrive and the Temple remained destroyed.

“To their mothers they say: Where is grain and wine? While fainting like corpses in the city squares, while their souls are poured into their mothers' bosoms” (Lamentations 2:12).“To their mothers they say: Where is grain and wine?” Rabbi Ḥanina said: Five loaves and spiced wine. Rabbi Simon said: Fine loaves and aged wine.114They asked for fine foods, to which they had been accustomed.

This fact caused them to suffer even more when even simple foods were no longer available. “While fainting like the wounded in the city squares,” there was a woman who said to her husband: ‘Take a bracelet or an earring and ascend to the marketplace so that if you find something we will eat.’ He went to the marketplace and looked but did not find anything, and he was writhing and he died. She said to her son: ‘See what your father is doing.’

He ascended to the marketplace and saw his father dead, and he was writhing, and he died alongside him. That is what is written: “While fainting like corpses in the city squares,” this is her husband and her eldest son. “While their souls are poured into their mothers' bosoms,” a young son would seek to suckle but would not find milk, and would writhe and die.

“What shall I attest to you, to what shall I liken you, daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I equate you, and comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is as vast as the sea; who can heal you?” (Lamentations 2:13).“What shall I attest to you [a’idekh], to what shall I liken you?” How many prophets have I sent to warn [he’adti] you!

Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] and Rabbi Natan, Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] said: One prophet in the morning and one prophet at dusk. That is what is written: “The Lord warned Israel and Judah by means of every prophet and every seer” (II Kings 17:13). Rabbi Natan said: Two prophets in the morning and two prophets in the evening. That is what is written: “I sent to you all My servants the prophets daily, time and again” (Jeremiah 7:25); “time,” in the morning, “and again,” in the evening.Another matter, “what shall I attest to you [a’idekh]?”

How many plunders have I given you? The plunder of Egypt, the plunder at the sea, the plunder of Siḥon and Og, the plunder of the thirty-one kings. In Arabia they call plunder adita.Another matter, “what shall I attest to you [a’idekh]?” How many communions [viudin] have I communed with you: the Tent of Meeting, Gilgal, Shilo, Nov, Givon, and the two Temples.Another matter, “what shall I attest to you [a’idekh]?”

Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] says: With how many ornaments have I adorned you! Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Six hundred thousand ministering angels descended with the Holy One blessed be He at Sinai, and there was a crown in the hand of each and every one of them, to crown each and every one of Israel. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: One million two hundred thousand descended; one adorned [an Israelite], and one placed a crown on him.

Rabbi Huna of Tzippori said: A weapon belt, just as it says: “He removes the restraints of kings and binds a belt on their waists” (Job 12:18). “To what shall I liken you?” To what nation did I liken you? Which nation did I redeem with a mighty arm and bring upon its enemies ten plagues?

For what nation did I split the sea, rain manna, swarm quails, and raise a well of water? Which nation did I envelop with the clouds of glory, bring near Mount Sinai, and give them My Torah? “Daughter of Jerusalem [Yerushalayim], the daughter who fears [yere’a] and is complete [umushlemet] for Me.“To what shall I equate you, and comfort you?” Rabbi Yaakov of Kefar Ḥanan said: When I will equate them to you, I will comfort you.

When the day of which it is written: “The Lord will be exalted” (Isaiah 2:11) arrives, then I will comfort you.“Virgin daughter of Zion [tziyon],” children who are distinguished [metzuyanim] through circumcision, through haircuts, and through ritual fringes.“For your breach is as vast as the sea; [who can heal you?]” Rabbi Ḥolfai said: He who is destined to heal the breach in the sea, He will heal you.

Rabbi Avin said: He, before whom you recited song at the sea: “This is my God and I will exalt Him” (Exodus 15:2), He will heal you. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: He will heal your prophets for you.115He will cause the prophets to give real prophecies, rather than the false prophecies that led Israel astray, as indicated in the upcoming section. Alternatively, the meaning is: Who should heal you? Your prophets (see Etz Yosef).

“Your prophets envisioned futility and impropriety for you and did not reveal your iniquity to bring about your rehabilitation. They envisioned for you prophecies of futility and deviance” (Lamentations 2:14).“Your prophets envisioned futility and impropriety for you,” Rabbi Elazar said: Impropriety is stated regarding the prophets of Samaria, as it is stated: “Among the prophets of Samaria I have seen impropriety” (Jeremiah 23:13).

Impropriety is stated regarding the prophets of Jerusalem. That is what is written: “Futility and impropriety.” Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: Scandal is stated regarding the prophets of Jerusalem, as it is stated: “Among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen scandal” (Jeremiah 23:14). Scandal is stated regarding the house of Israel, as it is written: “The virgin of Israel has often performed scandal” (Jeremiah 18:13).

“And did not reveal your iniquity to bring about your rehabilitation,” they would cure your wounds superficially. “They envisioned for you prophecies of futility and deviance [umaduḥim], it is written madiḥam.116The word maduḥim is written without a yod, such that it can be read madiḥam, meaning those who have pushed them into exile.

“All wayfarers clapped their hands over you; they whistled and shook their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: Is this the city that was said to be perfect beauty, the joy of the entire earth?” (Lamentations 2:15).They “clapped their hands over you.” Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai: There was a dome of inventory outside of Jerusalem, and anyone who sought to take inventory would run and take inventory there,117Anyone who wanted to take an accounting of his expenditures or business activity could stop under this dome and make his calculations. so that he would not emerge from Jerusalem upset,118Some commentaries assert that the text should read: So that they would not take inventory in Jerusalem and be upset.

This is the version of the text found in Shemot Rabba 52:5 (Etz Yosef). to realize what is written: “The joy of the entire earth.” But now, they “clapped their hands over you; they whistled and shook their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem.”The cities of the nations sing their praise with their mouths. That is what is written: “[Tyre], you said: I am perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 27:3). But Jerusalem, others recite its praise with their mouths.

That is what is written: “Is this the city that was said to be perfect beauty, the joy of the entire earth?”Rabbi Natan said: A merchant ascended to sell wool. He fell asleep and did not sell. He said: Is this [the city] about which you say that it is “the joy of the entire earth”? He awoke and sold it. He said, you spoke well: “The joy of the entire earth.”

“All your enemies opened their mouths wide against you; they whistled and gnashed teeth, they said: We have demolished! Indeed, this is the day for which we hoped; we found, we saw” (Lamentations 2:16).They “opened their mouths wide against you.” Why does peh come before ayin?119The verses in chapter 2 of Lamentations form an alphabetical acrostic, except the verse that begins with peh (verse 16) comes before the verse that begins with ayin (verse 17), despite the fact that ayin precedes peh in the alphabet. Because they would say with their mouths what they had not seen with their eyes.120The word for mouth is peh, whereas the word for eye is ayin. The enemies rejoiced over their projected victory before it even happened.

“The Lord accomplished what He devised: He implemented His statement that He commanded from the days of old; He destroyed and had no compassion. He caused the enemy to rejoice over you, raised the horn of your antagonists” (Lamentations 2:17).“Their heart cried to the Lord: Wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears fall like a stream, day and night; do not give yourself respite, let the apple of your eye not cease” (Lamentations 2:18).“The Lord accomplished what He devised.”

Rabbi Ahava son of Rabbi Ze’eira said: From the moment that the Holy One blessed be He said: “If despite this you do not heed Me…I, too, will walk with you casually” (Leviticus 26:18, 24), did He, Heaven forbid, do so? Rather, “the Lord accomplished [what He devised: He implemented [bitza] His statement that He commanded from the days of old].” He compromised.121The term bitzua also means compromise.

Rabbi Yaakov of Kefar Ḥanan said: He rent [beza] His raiment.“He caused the enemy to rejoice over you.” Rabbi Aḥa said: In good times, He rejoiced with them, as it is written: “For the Lord will return to rejoice over you for good, as He rejoiced over your fathers” (Deuteronomy 30:9). But in bad times, He causes others to rejoice. That is what is written: “He caused the enemy to rejoice over you, raised the horn of your antagonists.”

In that regard it is said: “Their heart cried to the Lord: Wall of the daughter of Zion, [let tears] fall…”122God caused the enemies to rejoice but He did not rejoice with them.