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When Jerusalem Wept Until God Remembered Exile

Enemies become the head, prophets lie, elders sit silent, Nebuchadnezzar's men strip the Temple, and Jerusalem teaches exiled Israel how to speak back to God.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Enemies Became the Head
  2. The Tears Would Not Stop Falling
  3. False Prophets Spoke and Priests Deceived
  4. The Temple Was Stripped by the Hand God Allowed
  5. Jerusalem Prays After the Destruction

The Enemies Became the Head

Lamentations says Jerusalem's adversaries became the head. Eikhah Rabbah does not let that phrase stay abstract. Oppressors rose. Cities that had stood in Jerusalem's shadow became powerful. Nebuchadnezzar and Nevuzaradan and Vespasian and Titus became names in the same bitter pattern, conquerors who grew larger precisely because the city that named God's dwelling had fallen.

The humiliation is not only military. It is structural. When Jerusalem stands, the world knows where the center of sacred significance is. When Jerusalem burns, the edges of the world are briefly free to pretend they were always the center. Eikhah Rabbah makes power itself feel like part of the punishment: enemies do not simply win the battle. They become important. They get to be the head. And Jerusalem sits at the foot of her own reduced position watching them rise.

The Tears Would Not Stop Falling

Lamentations says: for these things I weep, my eye runs down with water. Eikhah Rabbah hears a specific inventory behind the weeping. Not general grief but particular losses, each one named, each one grieved separately. The comforter is far. The children are in captivity. The enemy has prevailed. Jerusalem weeps because she can name what she has lost and the naming does not provide relief. It only proves the loss is real.

This is not performing mourning for an audience. The text in Lamentations is addressed to no one in particular. Jerusalem speaks to herself, or to the air, or to God who seems to have joined the enemies in abandoning her. The tears that run down in the text are the tears of a city doing the accounting of destruction without knowing yet whether anyone is listening.

False Prophets Spoke and Priests Deceived

Eikhah Rabbah does not protect the religious establishment of Jerusalem from its share of the blame. The prophets spoke falsehoods. The priests walked in blood. They cried peace, peace, when there was no peace. They told the city what it wanted to hear while the Babylonian army organized itself outside the walls. Jerusalem's lovers deceived her; her priests and her elders perished in the city while seeking bread to revive their souls.

That indictment is part of what makes the exile bearable to tell. If it came from nowhere, if the disaster was simply random, then there is no lesson and no recovery. But Eikhah Rabbah names the mechanism: false prophecy, corrupt priesthood, prophets who served comfort rather than truth. The exile arrived because the city's own guardians of truth chose not to perform their function. That explanation is painful, but it also means the exile had a cause, and causes can be addressed.

The Temple Was Stripped by the Hand God Allowed

The Lord forsook His altar. He cursed His Temple. He gave the walls of the palaces into the hand of the enemy. Eikhah Rabbah reads this directly: God is not absent from the destruction. He is present in it as the one who opened the door. The Temple does not fall because God was defeated. It falls because God withdrew His protection from a city whose leaders had withdrawn their faithfulness from Him.

Jehoiachin was exiled and Zedekiah appointed in his place. The sequence matters. The exile of the legitimate king begins before the Temple falls. Leadership has already been compromised. The elders of Jerusalem sit on the ground and keep silent, which is the silence of people who have lost the authority to speak because they forfeited the authority that would have given their speech weight.

Jerusalem Prays After the Destruction

Remember, Lord, what has befallen us. Look, and see our disgrace. Lamentations ends as a prayer, and Eikhah Rabbah holds that turn seriously. After the enemies became the head, after the tears fell, after the false prophets were exposed and the Temple stripped, after the elders sat silent in the dust, the city still turns toward God. Not with triumph. Not with certainty of answer. With the words: you have not forgotten us entirely, because we are still speaking your name.

That turn is the most important thing Eikhah Rabbah preserves. Lamentations is not a book of defeat. It is a book of exile learning how to speak. Jerusalem teaches the scattered people that the right response to catastrophe is not silence and not pretense that nothing happened but the difficult act of turning toward God with an accurate account of everything that went wrong and asking Him to look at it clearly.

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Eikhah Rabbah 1:31Eikhah Rabbah

“Her adversaries have become the head, her enemies are tranquil, for the Lord has tormented her for her abundant transgressions; her infants are led into captivity before the adversary (Lamentations 1:5).“Her adversaries have become the head.” Rabbi Hillel ben Rabbi Berekhya said: Anyone who comes to oppress Israel becomes a leader. What is the source? “Her adversaries have become the head.” You find that until Jerusalem was destroyed, there was no province that was at all significant.99No city inhabited by non-Jews in the Land of Israel was significant. When Jerusalem was destroyed, Caesarea became a metropolis and a fortified city.Another matter, “Her adversaries have become the head,” this is Nebuchadnezzar. “Her enemies are tranquil,” this is Nevuzaradan. Alternatively, “Her adversaries have become the head,” this is Vespasian. “Her enemies are tranquil,” this is Titus. For three-and-a-half years, Vespasian surrounded Jerusalem. There were four governors with him: The governor of Arabia, the governor of Africa, the governor of Alexandria, and the governor of Palestine. Regarding the governor of Arabia, there are two amora’im, one says that his name was Kilus and one said that his name was Pangar. There were four noblemen in Jerusalem: Ben Tzitzit (ritual fringes worn on garments), ben Guryon, ben Nakdimon, and ben Kalba Savua. Each and every one was capable of providing sustenance for the city for ten years. There was also ben Batiaḥ,100Ben Batiaḥ was the leader of the zealots. the son of the sister of Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai, who was appointed over the storehouses, and he burned all the storehouses.101The zealots wanted to confront the Romans militarily, and burned the storehouses so that the people would be so desperate that they would have to fight. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai heard and said ‘woe [vai].’ They went and told ben Batiaḥ: ‘Your uncle said woe.’ He sent and had him brought and said to him: ‘Why did you say woe?’ He said to him: ‘I did not say woe. Rather, I said va.’102This is an exclamation of joy. He said to him: ‘You said va; why did you say va?’ He said: ‘Because you burned all the storehouses, and I said: As long as the storehouses are intact, they will not risk their lives to engage in battle.’ Between vai and va Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai escaped.103He would have been killed if he had been known to have criticized the zealots. They applied to him the verse: “The advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its possessors” (Ecclesiastes 7:12).Three days later, Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai went out to walk in the marketplace. He saw that they were boiling straw and drinking its broth. He said: ‘Are people who boil straw and drink its broth capable of standing against Vespasian’s troops?’ He said: ‘The priority is to get me out of here.’ He sent [a message] to ben Batiaḥ saying: ‘Get me out of here.’ [Ben Batiaḥ] said to him: ‘We have agreed among us that no person may emerge from here unless he is dead.’ He said: ‘Get me out in the guise of one who died.’ Rabbi Eliezer carried his [bier] from the head and Rabbi Yehoshua from the feet, and ben Batiaḥ walked before them. When they arrived they sought to stab him.104When they arrived at the gate of the city, the zealots standing guard sought to stab him to ensure that he was, in fact, dead. Ben Batiaḥ said to them: ‘Is that what you want, that they will say that their rabbi died and they stabbed him?’ When he said that to them, they let him go. When they went out of the gate of the wall, they carried him and placed him in a certain tomb and they returned to the city. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai went to walk among Vespasian’s troops. He said to them: ‘Where is the king?’ They went and said to Vespasian: ‘A certain Jew wishes to inquire after your wellbeing.’ He said to them: ‘Let him come.’ When he came he said: ‘Long live my lord, the emperor.’ He said to him: ‘You greeted me with the greeting of a king, but I do not reign [as king], and if the king will hear of it, he will kill me.’105Literally, “he will kill that man.” Vespasian was referring to himself, as it was considered an act of rebellion to allow oneself to be treated as a king. [Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai] said to him: ‘If you are not [yet] the king, ultimately you will reign, as this Temple will be destroyed only by a king, as it is stated: “The Lebanon will fall by a mighty one”’ (Isaiah 10:34). They took him and placed him behind seven partitions.106They placed him in detention in a place where there was no daylight. They would ask him: ‘What hour of the night is it?’ He would tell them. ‘What hour of the day is it?’ He would tell them. How did Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai know? It was from his studies.107Based on the amount of material that he covered, he was able to calculate the time that elapsed (Etz Yosef).Three days later, Vespasian went to bathe in the Gafna spring. After he bathed and put on one of his shoes, tidings reached him informing him that Nero had died and that the citizens of Rome had crowned him king. He sought to put on his other shoe, but it did not fit. He sent and had Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai brought and he said to him: ‘Are you not able to tell me? All these days I would wear two shoes and they would fit me, now one fits and one does not fit.’ He said to him: ‘You received good tidings, as it is written: “Good tidings fatten the bone”’ (Proverbs 15:30). He said to him: ‘What shall I do so it will fit?’ He said to him: ‘Is there a person whom you hate or who wronged you? Let him pass before you and your flesh will recede, as it is written: “A depressed spirit dries bones”’ (Proverbs 17:22).They began telling parables before him: ‘What should one do to a barrel in which a snake has nested?’108Their point was to trap him into admitting that he should have fought against the zealots of Jerusalem. He said to them: ‘One brings a snake charmer, charms the snake, and leaves the barrel intact.’ Pangar said: ‘One kills the snake and breaks the barrel.’ ‘What should one do to a cabinet in which a snake has nested?’ He said to them: ‘One brings a snake charmer, charms the snake, and leaves the cabinet intact.’ Pangar said: ‘One kills the snake and burns the cabinet.’ Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai said to Pangar: ‘All neighbors who perform evil perform it in their own neighborhood. Not only do you fail to plea in our favor, you speak to our detriment.’109Pangar was the governor of Arabia, which is near the Land of Israel. By inciting Vespasian to deal harshly with the Jews, Pangar made it more likely that Vespasian would also deal harshly with Arabia. He said to him: ‘I want only what is best for you. As long as that Temple is intact, the kingdoms will confront you; if that Temple is destroyed, the kingdoms will not confront you.’ Rabban Yoḥanan said to him: ‘The heart knows whether it is constructive [laakal]110Literally, a woven basket. A play on words; literally, for a basket. or crooked [laakalkalot].’111This phrase literally means “whether it is for a woven basket [laakal] or crooked [laakalkalot].” This was a common expression based on the play of words, and simply means the heart knows its real intent.Vespasian said to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai: ‘Make a request and I will grant it.’ He said to him: ‘I request that you leave this city and go on your way.’ He said to him: ‘Did the citizens of Rome crown me so I would leave this city? Make a [different] request and I will grant it.’ He said to him: ‘I request that you leave the gate of the western gate, which points toward Lod, so that anyone who emerges for four hours will be saved.’ After [Vespasian] conquered it, he said to him: ‘If you have someone who is beloved to you or someone with whom you are close, send and bring him before the soldiers enter.’ He sent to Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua to take out Rabbi Tzadok. They went and found him at the city gate. When he came, Rabban Yoḥanan stood before him. Vespasian said to him: ‘You stand before this repulsive old man?’ He said to him: ‘By your life, if there was another like him, and you had double the [number of your] soldiers, you would not be able to conquer [the city.’ He said to him: ‘What is his strength?’ He said to him: ‘He eats one gamzuz112A fruit similar to a fig (Arukh). and from it studies one hundred chapters.’ He said to him: ‘Why is he so emaciated?’ He said to him: ‘It is due to the effects of fasts and abstinences.’ [Vespasian] sent and brought physicians and they would feed him a little at a time and would give him to drink a little at a time, until his body was restored [to good health]. Elazar, his son,113The son of Rabbi Tzadok. said to him: ‘Father, give them their reward in this world, so that they will have no merit with you in the World to Come.’ He gave them [a method for] mathematical calculations with fingers114This was a method of using the fingers to aid in easy computations of multiplication tables from six to nine (Yefei Anaf). and scales.115He introduced to them a new type of scale for weighing.After he conquered it, he distributed the four sides to the four governors. The western gate was in the portion of Pangar. It was decreed from Heaven that it would never be destroyed. Why? Because the Divine Presence is in the west. They destroyed theirs, he did not destroy his. [Vespasian] sent and had him brought and said to him: ‘Why did you not destroy yours?’ He said to him: ‘By your life, I did so for the glory of the kingdom. Had I destroyed it, people would not know what you destroyed. When the people will see [the remaining wall], they will say: Look at the power of Vespasian, what he destroyed.’ He said to him: ‘By your life, you have spoken well; however, because you violated my command, that man116The reference is to Pangar himself. will ascend to the roof and cast himself from it. If he lives, he lives; if he dies, he dies.’ He ascended, cast himself, and died. The curse of Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai came upon him.117Rabban Yoḥanan had implied that if Pangar’s intentions were malicious toward the Jews, he should be cursed.

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Eikhah Rabbah 1:45Eikhah Rabbah

“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.”

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Eikhah Rabbah 1:54Eikhah Rabbah

“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 (commandments) 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 (rabbinic interpretive commentary) 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).

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Eikhah Rabbah 2:11Eikhah Rabbah

“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).

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Eikhah Rabbah 2:14Eikhah Rabbah

“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 (the supreme rabbinic court) 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.

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Eikhah Rabbah 4:16Eikhah Rabbah

“It was due to the sins of her prophets, the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst” (Lamentations 4:13).“It was due to the sins of her prophets.” Rabbi Yudan asked Rabbi Aḥa: ‘Where did they kill Zekharya, in the Israelite courtyard or the women’s courtyard?’36The midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) interprets the verse as referring not to the sins of prophets and priests, but rather to the great sin of the murder of Zekharya, who was a prophet and a priest. 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: “And any man from the children of Israel…who shall hunt game of a beast or a bird…[he shall pour out its blood], and cover it with dirt” (Leviticus 17:13). However, here it is written: “For her blood was within her; on a bare rock she placed it. She 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 her blood upon the bare rock…” (Ezekiel 24:8).37God brought about that Zekharya’s blood would not be covered in order to motivate the Babylonians to take vengeance upon the Israelites in order to assuage Zekharya’s blood.Israel committed seven transgressions on that day. They killed a priest, a prophet, and a judge, spilled innocent blood, desecrated the Name, brought impurity to the Temple courtyard, and it was Shabbat (the Sabbath) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).38Shabbat and Yom Kippur are considered one, as both are described as a day of sabbatical rest [Shabbat shabbaton] (see, e.g., (Exodus 31:15) and (Leviticus 16:3)1) (Etz Yosef). 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 the blood of offerings but it did not resemble it. He brought all kinds of blood but it did not resemble it. He said to them: ‘If you tell me, fine, but if not, I will comb the flesh of these people with iron combs.’39The meaning is: I will comb your flesh with iron combs. It is common in rabbinic literature for people to address others in third person, or to refer to themselves in third person. They did not tell him, but once he said that to them, they said to him: ‘What can we hide from you? We had a prophet-priest who would reprimand us in the name of Heaven, but we did not accept it. We rose against him and killed him.’ He said to them: ‘I will assuage him.’ He brought the Great Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court) and slaughtered them onto it, but it did not rest. 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 bent over it and said: ‘Zekharya, I have eliminated the best of your people, do you wish me to eradicate all of them?’ It immediately rested. At that moment he contemplated repenting and said: ‘If for one who eliminates the life of one person of Israel it is so, this man,40Nevuzaradan was referring to himself. who eliminated many lives, all the more so.’ The Holy One blessed be He became filled with mercy and He intimated to the blood, and it was absorbed in its place. Regarding that moment, it says: “It was due to the sins of its prophets, the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in its midst.”

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Eikhah Rabbah 5:1Eikhah Rabbah

“Remember, Lord, what befell us; look, and see our disgrace” (Lamentations 5:1).“Remember, Lord, what befell us.” Rabbi Yitzḥak began: “The greyhound, or the goat” (Proverbs 30:31). The way of the world is that if a person raises two greyhounds in his house, one large and one small, he restrains the large one before the small one in order to spare his property.1He ensures that the large one does not kill the small one. Rabbi Berekhya said: Israel said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, You wrote for us in the Torah: “Remember what Amalek did to you” (Deuteronomy 25:17). He did to us, but did not do to You? Did he not destroy Your Temple?’2The Romans, who destroyed the Second Temple, are identified as descendants of Edom, who descended from Esau. Amalek also descended from Esau, and therefore the Romans were viewed as descendants or relatives of Amalek. The Rabbis say: Israel said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘We are Yours and the nations of the world are Yours; why do You not have mercy upon Your nation?’ “And the king, against whom no one rises” (Proverbs 30:31). Rabbi Yitzḥak said: Israel said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘We are subject to forgetfulness but You are not subject to forgetfulness. There is no forgetfulness before You; therefore, “remember….”’“Remember, Lord, the day of Jerusalem for the sons of Edom, who said: Tear her down, tear her down [aru aru], to her foundation” (Psalms 137:7). Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: Destroy, destroy. Rabbi Levi said: Empty, empty.3These sages are offering interpretations of the phrase aru aru. The one who said: Destroy, destroy, that is what is written: “The broad walls of Babylon will be destroyed [arer titarar]” (Jeremiah 51:58). According to the one who said: Empty empty, that is what is written: “To her foundation,” they reached even her foundations.4And they cleared them away.“Look, and see our disgrace.” Rabbi Yudan said: Looking is from near and seeing is from afar. Looking is from near, as it is stated: “He looked and, behold, there was beside his head a cake baked on coals” (I Kings 19:6). Seeing is from afar, as it is stated: “He saw the place from afar” (Genesis 22:4). Rabbi Pinḥas said: Looking is from afar, as it is stated: “Look from Heaven and see” (Psalms 80:15). Seeing is from near, as it is stated: “He saw that he could not overcome him and he touched his hip socket” (Genesis 32:26).

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