Lamentations: Putting the Mouth Before the Eye1

or over 40 years preceding the destruction of the First Temple (627-586 B.C.E.), Jeremiah Rabbi Hayyim Angel Fincessantly warned his people that Faculty, Isaac Breuer College Jerusalem, the Temple, and their lives were in the gravest jeopardy. The people mocked, threatened, and physically mistreated the prophet. Jerusalem as a woman whose husband God for help, but conclude with Most scorned his message, thereby has abandoned her. While this initial disappointment and uncertainty as to sealing their own doom. imagery evokes pity, the chapter what the future will bring. then adds that she took lovers and Finally, Jeremiah’s nightmarish visions therefore deserved this abandonment. Reflections on the Tragedy2 became a reality. The Babylonians Israel admits that she has sinned and breached the walls of Jerusalem, asks for mercy and for God to punish Chapter 1 acknowledges that the killing and plundering, and burning her enemies. destruction of Jerusalem is God’s work the city to the ground. Other nations, (1:12-15). While the main theme including spurious allies, mocked Chapter 2 asks: how could God be so harsh? The tone shifts from one of of chapter 1 is mourning, the author Israel, looted its wealth, and even repeatedly vindicates God for the turned Jewish captives over to shame and despair to one of anger. There also is a shift of emphasis from disaster, blaming it squarely on Israel’s the Babylonians. The Temple was sins (see 1:5, 8, 14, 18, 20, 22). destroyed, and most of the humiliated Jerusalem as a victim to God as the survivors were dragged into captivity, Aggressor. At the end of the chapter, Throughout chapter 1, the author wondering if they would ever see their there is another plea for God to help. adopts a rational, transcendent homeland again. Chapter 3 presents the voice of the perspective. Reflecting an ordered sense of the world, the aleph-bet The Book of Lamentations describes individual who begins in a state of despair but who then regains hope. He order is intact, poetically showing a this calamity from the perspective calculated sense of misery. of an eyewitness. It contains five expresses a desire to restore order and chapters. Chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 return to the pre-destruction state. While chapter 1 acquits God, contain 22 verses each, and chapter 3 Chapter 4 is a painful step-by-step chapter 2 adopts a different outlook. contains 66 verses (three verses per reliving of the destruction. It also Suddenly, the author lashes out at letter). Chapters 1-4 are arranged in contains lamenting over how the God: אֵ יכָ ה יָעִ יב ְבאַ פֹו ה' אֶ ת בַת צִ ּיֹון הִ ְ שלִ יְך aleph-bet acrostics. There is meaning destruction could have happened, and מִ שָמַ יִם אֶרֶ ץ ִ תפְאֶרֶ ת יִשְ ֹרָאֵ ל וְ לֹא זָכַר הֲ דֹם .in the content of Lamentations, and it curses Israel’s enemies in its structure. Both make the book רַ גְלָ יו ְביֹום אַ פֹו ... דָרַ ְך קַ ְש ֹו ּכְת אֹויֵב בנִּצָ יְמִ ינֹו Chapter 5 depicts the people left particularly poignant. ּכְצָרוַּיַהֲ רֹג ּכֹל מַחֲ מַ ֵ די עָ יִן ְ באֹהֶ ל ַת בצִ ּיֹון ָ שפַ ְך ,behind as looking at the ruins ּכָ אֵ שחֲ ת מָ ֹו . Chapter 1 casts the destroyed absolutely miserable. They call on

Adapted from Hayyim Angel, Vision from the Prophet and Counsel from the Elders: A Survey of Nevi’im and Ketuvim (New York: OU Press, 2013), pp. 283-287.

12 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Tisha B’av 5776 How has the Lord covered the daughter that emerge spontaneously and reflect not willfully bring grief or affliction to of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and his raw emotions. man…Let us search and examine our cast down from heaven to the earth the In the first section of chapter 3, the ways, and turn back to the Lord; Let beauty of Israel, and remembered not author sinks further into his sorrow us lift up our hearts with our hands to His footstool in the day of his anger!...He and despairs of his relationship with God in heaven: We have transgressed has bent His bow like an enemy...He has God (verses 1-20). However, in and rebelled, and You have not forgiven. poured out His fury like fire... the midst of his deepest sorrow, he You have clothed Yourself in anger and Lamentations 2:1-4 suddenly fills with hope in God’s pursued us, You have slain without pity. Chapter 1 gave the author a chance ultimate fairness (3:21-41). The Lamentations 3:28-43 to reflect on the magnitude of this sudden switch in tone is fascinating: In chapter 4, there are further details of the destruction. Horrors are וָ אֹמַר דאָבַ ינִצְחִ וְ תֹוחַ ְל מִֵי ת ה'. זְכָר עָ נְיִיּומְ רּודִ י ,tragedy: death, isolation, exile described in starker terms, climaxing לַעֲ נָה וָ רֹא .ש זָכֹור ִ תזְּכֹור וְ תָ שֹוחַ עָלַי נַפְ ִ שי. זֹאת desolation, humiliation. In this with a description of compassionate אָ ִ שיב אֶ ל לִ ִי ב עַלּכֵן אֹוחִ יל. חַ סְ ֵ יד ה' ּכִ י לֹא context, the point of chapter 2 mothers who ate their own children תָמְנּו יּכִ לֹא כָלּו רַחֲמָ יו. חֲ דָ ִשים לַ בְקָרִ ים רַ ָ בה is clear: although Israel may be because of the dreadful famine אֱ מּונָתֶָך. חֶ לְקִי ה' אָמְרָ ה נַפְ ִי שעַל ּכֵןאֹוחִ יל לֹו. guilty of sin, the punishment seems disproportionate to the crimes. preceding the destruction (4:9- And I said, My strength and my should have to suffer the way 10). The author blames God for the Nobody hope are perished from the Lord; Israel has. The deeper emotions of destruction (4:11), blames Israel Remembering my affliction and my the author have shattered his initial for her sins (4:13), and expresses misery, the wormwood and the gall. theological and philosophical serenity. anger at Israel’s enemies (4:21-22). My soul remembers them, and is bowed In both chapters 3 and 4, the poetic This emotional shift is reflected in the down inside me. This I recall to my order remains with the peh before aleph-bet order of chapter 2. While the mind, therefore have I hope. The grace the , reflecting the author’s chapter maintains the poetic acrostic of the Lord has not ceased, and His ayin unprocessed painful feelings. The order, the verse beginning with the compassion does not fail. They are new author’s conflicting emotions create letterpeh precedes the verse beginning every morning; great is Your faithfulness. choppiness in the thematic order and with ayin. Why would Lamentations The Lord is my portion, says my soul; logic: deviate from the usual alphabetical therefore will I hope in Him. טֹובִים הָיּו חַלְלֵי ֶח רֶ ב מֵ חַלְלֵי רָ ָע ב ׁשֶ הֵ ם יָזֻבּו order? At the level of peshat, one Lamentations 3:18-24 מְ דֻ ּקָ רִ ים מִּתְנּובֹות שָ ֹדָ י י ְדֵ י נָׁשִ ים רַ חֲמָנִּיֹות might appeal to the fluidity of the The final section of chapter 3 then . ּבִּשְׁלּו י ַלְ דֵ יהֶ ן הָיּו לְבָרֹות לָמֹו ּבְ ׁשֶ בֶ ר ּבַת ancient Hebrew aleph-bet, where the vacillates between despair, hope in עַ ּמִ י ּכִּלָה ה אֶ ת חֲ מָ תֹו ׁשָ פַ ְך חֲרֹון אַ ּפֹו וַּיַּצֶת order of ayin and peh was not yet fixed God, and a call to repentance: ' . אֵ ׁש ּבְצִּיֹון ו ַ ּת ֹא כַ ל י ְס ֹד ֹתֶ י הָ. ֹלא הֶ אֱ מִ ינּו מַ לְכֵי in the biblical period. If this is the אֶ רֶ ץ ּכ ֹל י ֹׁשְ בֵ י תֵ בֵ ל ּכִי י ָב ֹא צַר וְאֹויֵב ּב ְ ׁשַ ֲ ע רֵ י י ֵׁשֵ ב ּבָ דָ ד ו יְ ִּד ֹם ּכִי נָטַ ל עָלָיו. י ִּתֵ ן ּבֶעָפָר ּפִיהּו case, then there is nothing unusual יְרּוׁשָלָים. מֵ חַ ּט ֹא ת נְבִיאֶ יהָ עֲ ֹו נ ֹת ּכ ֹהֲנֶיהָ אּולַי יֵׁש ּתִ קְ וָ ה. י ִּתֵ ן לְמַ ּכֵהּו לֶחִ י י ִשְ ֹּבַ ע ּבְ ֶח רְ ָּפ ה. or meaningful about having different הַּשׁ ֹפְכִים ּבְקִרְ ּבָּה ּדַ ם צַּדִיקִים. ּכִי ֹלא יִזְנַח לְעֹולָם ה'. ּכִי אִ ם הֹוגָה ְו רִ ַח ם orders since each reflects a legitimate Those who were slain with the sword ּכְ ר ֹב חֲ סָ דָ יו. ּכִי ֹלא עִּנָה מִ ּלִ ּבֹו וַּיַּגֶה ּבְנֵי אִ יׁש. order at that time.3 נ ַ חְ ּפְ שָ ֹה דְרָ כֵינּו ְו נַ ְח ק ֹרָ ה וְנָׁשּובָה עַד ה'. נִשָ א On a more homiletical level, the are better than those who are slain with לְבָבֵנּו אֶ ל ּכַּפָיִם אֶ ל אֵ-ל ּבַ ּשָׁ מָ י ִם. נַחְ נּו פָׁשַ עְנּו Talmud ( 104b) offers a hunger; for these pine away, stricken by ּומָרִ ינּו אַ ּתָ ה ֹלא סָ לָ חְ ּתָ. סַ ּכ ֹתָ ה בַָאף וַּתִ רְ ּדְ פֵ נּו Sanhedrin penetrating insight. The Hebrew word want of the fruits of the field. The hands הָרַ גְּתָ ֹלא חָ מָ לְ ּתָ: means “mouth,” and means of compassionate women have boiled peh ayin Let him sit alone and be patient, when “eye.” The author here put his mouth, their own children; they were their food He has laid it upon him. Let him put that is, words, before what he saw. In in the destruction of the daughter of my his mouth to the dust—there may chapter 1, the author evaluates the people. The Lord has accomplished His yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to crisis with his eyes, in that he reflects fury; He has poured out His fierce anger, the smiter; let him be surfeited with silently, and then calculates his words and has kindled a fire in Zion, which has mockery. For the Lord does not reject of response. But in chapter 2, the devoured its foundations...It was for the forever, but first afflicts, then pardons author responds first with words ( ) sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of peh in His abundant kindness. For He does

13 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Tisha B’av 5776 her priests, who have shed the blood of for three chapters. The last chapter about how God operates. At the same the just in the midst of her. does not follow the controlled time, we must not negate our human Lamentations 4:9-13 aleph-bet order at all, signifying a perspective. We must not ignore our emotions and anxieties. In the end, Chapter 5 opens with a desperate complete emotional outburst by we are humbled by our smallness appeal to God, a profound hope that the community. The book ends on a and helplessness —and our lack of He will restore His relationship with troubling note, questioning whether understanding of the larger picture. Israel. After further descriptions of the or not it is too late for Israel to renew Through this process, the painful sufferings, the book ends wondering her relationship with God. realities of life should lead to a higher whether the Israelites would ever love and awe of God. renew their relationship with God: Conclusion Notes Although Lamentations attempts אַ ּתָ ה ה' לְעֹולָם ּתֵ ׁשֵ ב ּכִ סְ אֲ ָך לְ ד ֹר וָדֹור. לָ ּמָ ה to make sense of the catastrophe 1 Adapted from Hayyim Angel, Vision from the לָנֶצַח ּתִ ׁשְ ּכָ חֵ נּו ּתַ עַזְבֵנּו לְ א ֹרֶ ְך י ָמִ ים. הֲׁשִ יבֵנּו ה' Prophet and Counsel from the Elders: A Survey אֵ לֶ יָך וְנָׁשּובָה חַ ּדֵ ׁש יָמֵינּו ּכְ קֶ דֶ ם. ּכִי אִ ם מָ א ֹס of the destruction, powerful and of Nevi’im and Ketuvim (New York: OU Press, .often conflicting emotions break the 2013), pp. 283-287 מְַאסְּתָנּו קָ צַפְּתָ עָלֵינּו עַד מְ א ֹד. You, O Lord, are enthroned forever; Your ordered poetic patterns. This sacred throne is from generation to generation. 2 The remainder of this essay was adapted work captures the religious struggle to from Hayyim Angel, “Confronting Tragedy: A Why do You forget us forever, and make sense of the world in a time of Perspective from Jewish Tradition,” in Angel, forsake us for so long? Turn us to You, tragedy and God’s ways and the effort Through an Opaque Lens (NY: Sephardic O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew to rebuild damaged relationships with Publication Foundation, 2006), pp. 279-295. This essay is predicated on the assumption our days as of old. But You have utterly God following a crisis. rejected us; You are very angry against that the Book of Lamentations is a unified poem that should be treated as a literary us. Our emotional state in the aftermath of tragedy often follows the pattern unit. For a scholarly defense of this position, Lamentations 5:19-22 see Elie Assis, “The Unity of the Book of of Lamentations — we begin with Lamentations,” CBQ 71 (2009), pp. 306-329. Such a painful confusion leaves the an effort to make sense of the 3 See Aaron Demsky, “A Proto-Canaanite reader uneasy. The author does not misfortune, but then our mouths propose any solutions or resolution Abecedary Dating from the Period of the come before what we see — that Judges and its Implications for the History of to the state of destruction. Reflecting is, our deeper turbulent emotions the Alphabet,” Tel Aviv 4:1-2 (1977), pp. 14- this passionate plea, chapter 5 has no express themselves. Ideally, we come 27; Mitchell First, “Using the Pe-Ayin Order aleph-bet acrostic at all. With no clear full circle until we again turn to God. of the Abecedaries of Ancient Israel to Date the Book of Psalms,” JSOT 38:4 (2014), pp. end of the exile in sight, the author Our expression of persistent hope has loses all sense of order. Perhaps the 471-485. First notes that in the Dead Sea text kept us alive as a people. of Lamentations, the peh verse precedes the fact that chapter 5 still contains 22 In the wake of catastrophe, people ayin verse in chapter 1 as well. For an attempt verses suggests a vestige of hope and to explain the intentional deviation of the order amidst the breakdown of the have the choice to abandon faith, acrostics based on word patterns, see Ronald destruction and exile. or hide behind shallow expressions Benun, “Evil and the Disruption of Order: of faith, but even while emotionally A Structural Analysis of the Acrostics in To review: the aleph-bet pattern goes understandable, both are incomplete Ekha,” at http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/ from being completely ordered in responses. We must maturely accept article_55.pdf. chapter 1, to a break in that order that we do not understand everything

Find more shiurim and articles from Rabbi Hayyim Angel at http://www.yutorah.org/Rabbi-Hayyim-Angel

14 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Tisha B’av 5776