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An Athenian came to Jerusalem and found a discarded mortar. He took it and brought it to a tailor. He said to him: ‘Sew this broken mortar for me.’ [The tailor] took out a handful ...
An Athenian came to Jerusalem and encountered a certain child. He gave him coins and said to him: ‘Go and bring me eggs and cheese.’ When [the child] returned, [the Athenian] said ...
A visitor from Athens arrived in Jerusalem with a trick question, certain he could stump the local priests. According to Eikhah Rabbah, a midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentar...
An Athenian came to Jerusalem. He entered a school and found children sitting there but their teacher was not there with them. He was asking them questions and they would respond. ...
An Athenian came to Jerusalem. He devoted three and a half years to learn the language of wisdom,28Scholars would speak in riddles that could not be understood by the average perso...
An Athenian came to Jerusalem, and he greatly mocked the residents of Jerusalem. They said: ‘Who will go and bring him to us?’ One person said to them: ‘I will go and I will bring ...
There was an incident in which Rabbi Yehoshua was walking along the path.49This was a path through a field that was created by people traversing it. A certain person found him walk...
“She weeps bitterly at night and her tears are on her cheeks; she has no comforter from all her lovers. All her allies have betrayed her, have become her enemies” (Lamentations 1:2...
“And her tears are on her cheeks [leḥya],” over her priests, just as it says: “He shall give to the priest the foreleg, the jaw [haleḥayayim], and the maw” (Deuteronomy 18:3). Alte...
“She has no comforter.” Rabbi Levi said: Any place that it is stated: “Has no [ein],” [ultimately] she will have. “Sarai was barren, she had no [ein] child” (Genesis 11:30), but [u...
Even the angels turned against Israel. According to Rabbi Yaakov of Kefar Hanan, quoted in Eikhah Rabbah (a 5th-century CE midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) commentary o...
“The ways of Zion are in mourning, without Festival pilgrims; all her gates are desolate; her priests sigh; her maidens are forlorn, and she is embittered” (Lamentations 1:4).“The ...
“Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and her wretchedness, all her delights that she had from the days of old; with the fall of her people into the hand of the adver...
“Jerusalem has committed a sin, therefore she has become a pariah. All who honored her demean her because they have seen her nakedness. She, too, sighed and turned back” (Lamentati...
“All its people are sighing, seeking bread; they have given their delights for food to restore life. See, Lord, and look, for I have become abject” (Lamentations 1:11).“All its peo...
“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 ...
“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 B...
“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 inter...
“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 for...
“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 J...
“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” ...
“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...
“He stripped His shrine like a garden; He destroyed His place of assembly. The Lord caused festival and Shabbat (the Sabbath) to be forgotten in Zion and He scorned king and priest...
“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 festiva...
“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 l...
“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 d...
“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 e...
“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...
“Arise, cry out at night, at the beginning of the watches, pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the life of your infants, who a...
“See, Lord, and look to whom You have done this. Shall women eat their fruit, the infants of their nurturing? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the Temple of the Lord?” ...
“He brought the contents of His quiver into my kidneys” (Lamentations 3:13).“He brought the contents of His quiver [benei ashpato] into my kidneys” – Rav and Shmuel: Rav said: His ...
“It is the Lord’s kindnesses that have not ceased, for His mercies have not ended” (Lamentations 3:22).“It is the Lord’s kindnesses that have not ceased” – Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish ...
“The Lord is good to those who trust in Him, to the soul that seeks Him” (Lamentations 3:25).“The Lord is good to those who trust in Him” – is it, perhaps, to everyone?55One might ...
“Let us search and examine our ways, and return to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens” (Lamentations 3:40–41).“Let us search and examine our wa...
“The precious sons of Zion, who were valued in gold, how are they considered earthenware jugs, the handiwork of the hands of the potter?” (Lamentations 4:2).“The precious sons of Z...
There was an incident involving a certain man in Jerusalem, who made a feast. He said to a member of his household: ‘Go and bring me my friend, Kamtza.’ He went and brought his ene...
There was an incident involving one of the prominent residents of Jerusalem, who said to his lad: ‘Go and bring me water.’ He was waiting for him on the rooftop. [The lad] came and...
“Even jackals take out a breast, nurse their pups; the daughter of my people has become cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness” (Lamentations 4:3).“Even jackals take out a breast,...
“The iniquity of the daughter of my people exceeded the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands seized it” (Lamentations 4:6).“The iniquity of the daughter of ...
“Those killed by sword were better off than those killed by hunger, for those would bleed, ruptured from the produce of the field” (Lamentations 4:9).“Those killed by sword were be...
“The hands of merciful women cooked their children; they were food for them in the disaster of the daughter of my people” (Lamentations 4:10).“The hands of merciful women cooked th...
“The Lord vented His fury; He poured out His enflamed wrath. He ignited a fire in Zion, and it consumed her foundations” (Lamentations 4:11).“The Lord vented His fury; He poured ou...
“Turn away, impure, they called to them. Turn away, turn away, do not touch, because they were loathsome, and also wandering; they said among the nations: They will not continue to...
“Even now, our eyes fail toward futile help. In our waiting, we awaited a nation that cannot save” (Lamentations 4:17).“Even now, our eyes fail.” What would the Ten Tribes do? They...
“They hunted our steps from walking in our squares; our end approaches, our days are filled, as our end has come” (Lamentations 4:18).“They hunted our steps from walking in our squ...
“Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they pursued us on the mountains, they ambushed us in the wilderness” (Lamentations 4:19).“Our pursuers were swifter than...
“Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners” (Lamentations 5:2).“Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers.” What type of turning? It is “l...
“We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows” (Lamentations 5:3).“We have become orphans, fatherless.” Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Holy O...
