She weeps bitterly in the night (Lamentations 1:2) - Let our teacher the priests teach us - is it permitted for them to immerse for their terumah offering on the Ninth of Av? Rabbi Chanina the deputy High Priest said: It would suffice for the House of our God to forgo one immersion. (Beraisa Taanit 13a) Needless to say, we must recall the destruction of the Temple.
God said "If I forget you O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill" (Psalms 137:5). And so too Jeremiah says "Remember and do not forget, my soul, and be bowed down within me" (Lamentations 3:20). As if he saw what was written regarding God's honor "The Lord God of Hosts called on that day to weeping and lamenting" (Isaiah 22:12). And so too it says "Therefore I said: Look away from me, let me weep bitterly" (Isaiah 22:4). As if the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Just as He is bowed below, so too am I bowed above, due to what has reached - as if weeping before me - that I have removed My Presence, as it says "This is My resting place for all time" (Psalms 132:14). And Jerusalem weeps over the removal of the glory of My resting place from within it, and I have removed it. Therefore she weeps. From where do we know it refers to "She weeps bitterly"?
Rabbi Tanhuma opened, saying: This is as the verse says "My eyes will flow with tears night and day, they will not cease" (Jeremiah 14:17). God said: You weep at night, while I weep day and night, for before Me there is no sleep, as it says "Behold, He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps" (Psalms 121:4). And you shall say this matter "My eyes will flow with tears night and day." The verse does not reveal whether the prophet said "My eyes will flow with tears" or not, rather since it says "night and day" which flesh and blood cannot do. And it says "Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I could weep day and night for the slain of my people" (Jeremiah 9:1). This shows it refers to God, before Whom there is no sleep.
Why "weeps bitterly"? With two weepings - weeping for her slain, and weeping for the famine that was there, that they ate the flesh of their sons and daughters, as it says (Lamentations 4:10) "The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children." Rabbi Yochanan said: Just as the children of Zion ate the flesh of their sons and daughters, so too did the women of Samaria eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, as it says (2 Kings 6:24-29) "There was a great famine in Samaria...As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him 'Help, my lord the king!'...Then he asked her 'What is the matter?' She answered 'This woman said to me: Give up your son, and we will eat him today...So we cooked my son and ate him."
Who would have thought, hearing this, that she had hidden her son alive to eat herself later? Rather, Rabbi Yochanan said: [The child] was already slaughtered and cooked. As it says "Give your son and we will eat him" - the verse does not say "and we will slaughter him." This implies he was already slaughtered and cooked. And [the king] said "May God do the same to me and more if the head of Elisha remains on him this day!" (2 Kings 6:31). Rabbi Yochanan said: In both the first and second destructions parents ate the flesh of their sons and daughters, and this is what Jeremiah laments over them "Therefore fathers will eat their sons within you, and sons will eat their fathers" (Ezekiel 5:10).
Another explanation: Why two instances of weeping? Weeping over Jerusalem, and weeping over the rivers of Babylon, as it says "By the rivers of Babylon we sat, also weeping when we remembered Zion" (Psalms 137:1). She weeps bitterly - weeping over herself, and weeping over Jeremiah's separation from them, because he would lighten the burden upon them.
What did he do? He would place a yoke upon his neck, and Nebuzaradan would remove it, saying to him: "You are injuring yourself - lest the king hear and say 'Did I not command you about him not to do him harm?'" (Jeremiah 39:12). He said to him: "I see three things in you - a lying prophet, a murderer, and one who flouts suffering." Jeremiah said: "Not about children." God said: The place needs to be destroyed. Jeremiah said: Through me or through others - yet he placed himself in the yoke.
Those returning [from exile] would pursue them. When they would see Jeremiah with them, they would walk slowly. And how did they pursue them? What did they do? They would take one of them, kill him, cut him into pieces, and throw those pieces before them as they walked - not for their own benefit, like bandits do when herding sheep. As it says "With ropes around our necks we are pursued" (Lamentations 5:5). Therefore: Wail! She weeps bitterly in the night. (29-30)
How lonely sits the city (Lamentations 1:1). It is written "Yet it was not Me you called upon, O Jacob, for you grew weary of Me, O Israel" (Isaiah 43:22). When the priest would come to one of them and say the idol said that you do not want to offer any of your children to it, that man would respond: they are under my control. Doesn't each of them toil in his work? Just wait - I have a young child who is not useful to me since he is in school - I shall offer that one. And he would promptly take him. This is the meaning of "You took your sons...whom you bore for Me" (Ezekiel 16:20).
God said to the nations: You offer children without toil, while with Me you toil, as it says "You have burdened Me with your sins, and wearied Me with your iniquities" (Isaiah 43:24). "You have not honored Me with sacrifices" (Isaiah 43:23) - Did I burden you to bring peace offerings? It does not say "And if you bring a peace offering" (Leviticus 3:1). If one seeks to bring a peace offering, let him bring it. "Nor sated Me with the fat of sacrifices" - I did not burden you to bring meal offerings, as it says "When a person presents an offering of meal" (Leviticus 2:1). "You have not bought Me sweet cane with money" (Isaiah 43:24) - I did not tell you to bring bushels of incense, only a handful, as it says "He shall take a handful of fine flour" (Leviticus 2:2).
"You have bought Me no fragrant reed for silver" (Isaiah 43:24) - I did not tell you to bring bushels of incense, only the morning and afternoon portions. Consider: Micah's idol stood in the west, while the Temple stood in Shiloh. He would offer incense before Micah's idol abundantly, as it says "And they are coming with their cloud of incense" (Ezekiel 8:11). But in Shiloh they would offer only the morning and afternoon portions. The two smokes would intermingle and rise to the heavens, as it says "And the scent intermingled" (Isaiah 9:17). And God would say: To which do we pay heed - this or that?
"But you have burdened Me with your sins" (Isaiah 43:24) - God said: I would call "My servant Moses" (Numbers 12:7), "He chose David His servant" (Psalms 78:70), "Do not fear, My servant Jacob" (Isaiah 44:2). But through your sins you have made Me call the wicked one "My servant," as it says "I will take Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant" (Jeremiah 43:10).
Another explanation: "You have burdened Me" - God said to them: Through your sins you have made Me go into exile in Babylon, as it says "For your sake I will send to Babylon" (Isaiah 43:14). "You have wearied Me with your iniquities" - God said: Your sins have made Me sit weeping and lamenting, as it says "How alone she sits!"
Another explanation: "How alone she sits" - the whole world wonders about her, why the land was ruined, scorched like a desert without inhabitant. And He says: "It is because they abandoned My Torah" (Jeremiah 9:11-12).
A parable: A king who loved his son made him a golden medallion and hung it around his neck. The son did nothing but anger him, so his father removed the medallion and made shackles, placing them on his son's legs. So too God made the letters of the Torah like a medallion and placed them around Israel's neck, as it says "For they are a graceful wreath upon your head, a necklace about your throat" (Proverbs 1:9), "She will set upon your head a graceful wreath, crown you with a glorious diadem" (Proverbs 4:9). But Israel did nothing except abandon the Torah, as it says "They have abandoned My Torah and despised it" (Jeremiah 6:19). [God] wrote their letters as punishments and brought upon them "How alone she sits!"
Another explanation: Why does the scroll mention Jeremiah's name? There are four sons - one who seeks the honor of the father but not the son, one who seeks the honor of the son but not the father, and two who seek the honor of both son and father. Elijah sought the honor of God when he stood accusing. (29-30)
"Comfort, comfort My people" says your God (Isaiah 40:1). This is the meaning of "O that you were a brother to me" (Song of Songs 8:1) - not like Cain to Abel, nor Ishmael to Isaac, nor Esau to Jacob, nor Joseph's brothers to him. Rather, like Joseph to his brothers - despite all the evil they did to him, what is written? "Now do not be distressed or angry at yourselves...I will provide for you and your little ones" (Genesis 50:21). He comforted them and spoke to their hearts. Though ten lamps cannot extinguish one lamp, one lamp cannot extinguish ten. "He reassured them, speaking kindly to them" (Genesis 50:21).
Israel said: "Master of the Universe! Consider Joseph - despite all the evil his brothers did him, he stands and comforts them, speaking to their hearts. We too know we destroyed Your Temple through our sins...Therefore, "O that you were like a brother to me!" The prophet Asaph also said "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock!" (Psalms 80:2) God said to them: You request Joseph? I shall be like Joseph to you. What did Joseph do for his brothers? He comforted them and spoke to their hearts. "Comfort, comfort My people" - speak to the heart of Jerusalem!
Another explanation: "Comfort, comfort My people" - this is what the verse says "How can you console me? Your answers remain treachery" (Job 21:34). Rabbi Abba bar Kahana and the rabbis of the south [differ]: Rabbi Abba bar Kahana says: There remains deceit in them, as it says "And swears falsely" (Leviticus 5:21). The rabbis of the south say: They have no integrity - neither the first nor the last, nor the last as the first.
What is the matter? Since God would send prophets to go comfort Zion. Hosea came and said to her: "Stand and accept a cup of comfort." God sent me to you to comfort you. She said: What do you have? He said: Thus God said: "I will be like dew to Israel" (Hosea 14:6). She said: Hosea - yesterday you said "I will be to them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk beside the way" (Hosea 13:7). And now you say "I will be like dew to Israel"!? Whom shall we believe - the first or the last? Your comforts are worthless. "How can you console me? Your answers remain treachery."
Joel came and said to her: "Stand and accept a cup of comfort." She said: What is in your cup? He said: God said when I redeem you, in the future the mountains will trickle wine and it says "On that day the mountains will drip with wine" (Joel 4:18). She said: Your comforts have been given to you! Yesterday you said to me "Wail, all drinkers of wine, over the new wine cut off" (Joel 1:5), and now you say "the mountains will drip with wine"? Whom shall we believe, the first or the last? "How can you console me? Your answers remain treachery."
Amos came and said: "Stand and accept your cup of comfort." She said: What do you have in your cup? He said: God said I will restore your captivity and rebuild the Temple, as it says "On that day, I will erect the fallen Tabernacle of David" (Amos 9:11). She said: Your comforts have been given to you! Yesterday you said "The Virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again" (Amos 5:2). And now you say you will rebuild the Temple? Whom shall we believe? "How can you console me? Your answers remain treachery."
Obadiah prophesied about Edom, and Jonah about Nineveh. Nahum came and said to her: What do you have? He said: God told me to say to her "Your deliverance is at hand! See, upon the mountains are the footsteps of a herald announcing happiness! Judah, celebrate your festivals, fulfill your vows. For never again shall scoundrel pass through you; he has been utterly cut off." (Nahum 2:1)
She said: Nahum, your comforts have been given to you! Yesterday you said "From you emerged one who plots evil against the Lord, counselor of wickedness" (Nahum 1:11). And now you say "Never again shall scoundrel pass through you." Whom shall we believe? "How can you console me? Your answers remain treachery."
Zephaniah also came and said: "Stand and accept your cup of comfort." She said: What do you have in your cup? He said: "Cry out in gladness, O Daughter Zion! Shout joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has annulled your judgment, He has turned away your enemy; The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst, you have no further fear of misfortune. On that day, [God] will say to Jerusalem: Take courage, Zion! Let not your hands fall slack. The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who brings victory. He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will be silent in His love, He will delight in you with shouts of joy" (Zephaniah 3:14-20).
She said: Yesterday you said "I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth" (Zephaniah 1:2). And now "The Lord your God is in your midst"? Whom shall we believe? Haggai came and said: "Stand and accept your cup." She said: What do you have? He said: "Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Have the vine, fig, pomegranate, and olive trees not borne fruit? From this day on I will bless you" (Haggai 2:19).
She said: Haggai - yesterday you said "I will summon drought against the land and the hills" (Haggai 1:11). And now you say "From this day on I will bless you"? Whom shall we believe? Zechariah came and said: "Stand and accept your cup of comfort." She said: What do you have? He said: "I am extremely angry at the complacent nations" (Zechariah 1:15).
She said: Yesterday you said "I am furious with the carefree nations" (Zechariah 1:15). [Malachi came to comfort...She said: Yesterday you said "I have no desire for you" (Malachi 1:10).] They all came before God and said "We sought to comfort her but she would not accept."
God said to them: Come, I and you, let us go to her and comfort her. "Comfort, comfort My people," says your God! Another explanation: "Comfort, comfort" - Rabbi Berechiah the Priest said: Console Me, console Me, My people! In the way of the world, if a person has a vineyard and marauders come cut it down - whom do they console, the vineyard or the owner? If a person has a house and bandits come burn it down - whom do they console, the house or the owner? You are My vineyard, "For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel" (Isaiah 5:7). Nebuchadnezzar came and destroyed it, exiled you, and burned down My Temple - it is I who requires consoling! Console Me, console Me, My people!
Another explanation: "Comfort, comfort My people" - Everything Jeremiah opened with "rupture", Isaiah came and healed it. Jeremiah ruptured and said "She sits alone...she has become like a widow" (Lamentations 1:1). Isaiah came and healed "As Isaiah came and healed: "As a young man espouses a maiden, Your Builder shall espouse you" (Isaiah 62:5).
Jeremiah ruptured and said "Weep, weep at night" (Lamentations 1:2). Isaiah came and healed "The people that dwells in Zion shall weep no more" (Isaiah 30:19).
Jeremiah ruptured and said "Judah has gone into exile" (Lamentations 1:3). Isaiah came and healed "The scattered ones of Judah He shall gather" (Isaiah 11:12).
Jeremiah ruptured and said "The roads to Zion mourn" (Lamentations 1:4). Isaiah came and healed "A voice rings out: 'Clear in the desert a road for the Lord'" (Isaiah 40:3).
Jeremiah ruptured and said "Her foes have become her leaders" (Lamentations 1:5). Isaiah came and healed "Bowing before you shall come The children of those who tormented you" (Isaiah 60:14).
Jeremiah ruptured and said "Gone is all her majesty" (Lamentations 1:6) - and who is the majesty? The Holy One, blessed be He, of whom it says "Honor and majesty You don" (Psalms 104:1). Isaiah came and healed "Who is this coming from Edom...girded with triumph" (Isaiah 63:1).
Jeremiah ruptured and said "Jerusalem remembers" (Lamentations 1:7). Isaiah came and healed "The former things shall not be remembered" (Isaiah 65:17).
Jeremiah ruptured and said "Jerusalem has gravely sinned" (Lamentations 1:8). Isaiah came and healed "I wipe away your sins like a cloud" (Isaiah 44:22).
Jeremiah ruptured and said "Uncleanness clung to her skirts" (Lamentations 1:9). Isaiah came and healed - Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chanania said: Isaiah said a difficult thing "When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion" (Isaiah 4:4).
Jeremiah ruptured and said "An enemy has laid hands on all her treasures" (Lamentations 1:10). On the spoils of a king that are given over to plunder, there are those who plunder silver and those gold, yet the slave seeks his own vessel. So too when the Temple was destroyed, some plundered silver and some gold. Ammon and Moab sought the Torah to erase from it "No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted into the congregation of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 23:4). So Jeremiah said "Ammon and Moab shall not be admitted into the congregation."
Isaiah came and healed "No more shall the uncircumcised and unclean enter" (Isaiah 52:1). Jeremiah ruptured and said "All her people groan, seeking bread" (Lamentations 1:11) - like Avika ben Geviyat. (When the enemies came to besiege Jerusalem, Avika went up on the wall.) There is no end to telling of their valor. Do you wish to know of Avika ben Geviyat's valor? When the enemies came to besiege Jerusalem, Avika went up on the wall. When they would shoot a stone from a ballista, when Avika would see it coming at the wall, he would immediately become agitated and kick it back at them with his foot.
What did the enemies do? They shot it further inside so it wouldn't strike the wall but land in front of it. Avika thought it was coming powerfully, became agitated to go out and kick it back, and fell between the walls, as Jerusalem had two walls, one inside the other. When the people of Jerusalem saw Avika fall, they were frightened. Avika said to them "Do not worry, it's merely a bruise." They slaughtered an ox for him, roasted it, he ate and went back to the wall and continued fighting as before.
There was an incident with Miriam the daughter of Nakdimon, who was awaiting levirate marriage. She came before Rabbi Tzadok and he ruled she be given 25 litras of silver for spice crates and measures of wine for her stew each Shabbat. She said to him: Do you so rule for your own daughters? When the famine came, her hair fell out from starvation. Rabbi Tzadok saw her circling in the market with her father. He said: Is this not Miriam for whom I ruled this and that for Shabbat - she has cursed you! Rabbi Tzadok said: May it come upon me if I did not see her gathering grains of barley from animal dung, and I recited about her this verse: "If you do not know, O fairest of women, go follow the tracks of the sheep" (Song of Songs 1:8).
God said: In this world you have been exchanged by the famine, but in the future you will be exchanged by plenty. Seeing you today, He says: If only they could see you tomorrow - as Isaiah said "You shall enjoy the wealth of nations, and revel in their riches" (Isaiah 61:6). What is "you shall revel"? Exchange - "If he changes it..." (Leviticus 27:10).
Jeremiah ruptured and said "Is there sorrow like my sorrow?" (Lamentations 1:12) Isaiah came and healed "The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion in gladness" (Isaiah 35:10).
Jeremiah ruptured "He has set fire to my bones" (Lamentations 1:13). Isaiah healed "Till a spirit from on high is poured out on us" (Isaiah 32:15).
Jeremiah ruptured "My sins are bound, wound round my neck" (Lamentations 1:14). Isaiah healed "They who trust in the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31).
Jeremiah ruptured "My heroes are defeated" (Lamentations 1:15). Isaiah healed "I will bring you relief and healing" (Jeremiah 30:17).
Jeremiah ruptured "Over all this I weep" (Lamentations 1:16). Isaiah healed "Eye to eye they behold the return to Zion" (Isaiah 52:8).
Jeremiah ruptured "Zion spreads out her hands, she has no one to comfort her" (Lamentations 1:17). Isaiah healed "Comfort, comfort My people, says your God."
