In Midrash Eichoh we are told that there are three
who prophesied using the word "Eichoh": Moshe,
Yeshayahu and Yirmiyohu. Moshe Rabbenu said, "Eichoh esso
levadi -- how can I possibly bear alone . . . "
Yeshayahu said, "Eichoh hoysoh lezonoh -- how like a
sinful woman . . . " and Yirmiyohu said, "Eichoh hoysa
bodod -- how does the city sit solitary . . . "
R' Levi said: This can be compared to a noblewoman who had
three chaperones. One of them saw her in her heyday, another
saw her in her wantonness and the third, in her disgrace.
Thus did Moshe see Israel in serene times and said, "How
shall I bear your tribulations?" Yeshayahu saw her in her
wantonness and headstrong willfulness and said, "How has she
become like a harlot?" Yirmiyohu saw Israel in her disgrace
and downfall and said, "How does the city sit solitary?"
The Mashgiach of Shaar Torah of Grodno, the saintly
R' Shlomo Harcabi Hy'd, explains:
Chazal present us with the character and level of Klal
Yisroel: they are forever extremists. They are
extraordinary in everything they do and therefore, Hashem
treats them in like manner. The word `Eichoh' denotes
astonishment, a strange thing that defies understanding.
How can it be? It is unusual, unnatural, unfathomable! Moshe
saw them in peace time and marveled: so much love and
patience on the part of Hashem Yisborach! Children
come begging before their heavenly Father and they are given
everything they ask for. Just open your mouth . . .
Everything at their service: bread from heaven, meat from
heaven, upon the wings of eagles. And the more they get, the
more they find to complain about and have new requests to
make. And he asks: How can I bear their burden all alone? It
is too much for a single person.
Yeshayahu saw them in their impetuousness and cried
"Eichoh." How can such sins exist? They are beyond
imagination. Jerusalem was once a city filled with justice;
righteousness abided in it -- and now murderers! This
community is filled with Torah and mussar -- how then
could they have turned into such wicked people, destructive
children? Hashem planted a choice grapevine, wholly seed of
truth. How could they have become transformed to such
foreign, alien sour grapes? How? It is beyond comprehension.
It is unnatural, abnormal. Your officers, ministers, all? It
is a supernatural phenomenon!
Chazal instituted a Shabbos Chazon, the Shabbos
preceding Tisha B'Av, as a necessary prelude and preparation
to reading Megillas Eichoh. Before we read the Scroll
of Wrath, we need an introduction to explain what caused
this great wrath.
"Alas for all evil ones who bemoan all that befell them but
do not inquire why it happened, how and why it was brought
about," mourns the liturgical poet in the kinos of
Tisha B'Av. It is human nature for a person to see the
troubles while disregarding their necessary origin, what
caused them. He suffers the pain but ignores the blame, the
failings that resulted in this Destruction.
The purpose in the reading of Megillas Eichoh is to
rouse us to repent, to make us see the extent of Divine
justice and law, to bring us to the inexorable realization
that we have no one upon whom to rely except for our
heavenly Father. But such contemplation can sometimes lead
to the very opposite results, for Megillas Eichoh is
steeped in pain and suffering from beginning to end; agony
and disillusionment drips from every single verse; it
permeates each and every word. The shocking depiction of the
unnatural Destruction, this horrendous churbon, is
liable to make our souls heave; it can evoke thoughts and
sentiments that are unwarranted and incorrect.
What do we encounter first in this chronicle of suffering if
not our own pain? What voice will our ears register if not
the cry of Jerusalem laid waste? The streams of blood, the
flames of fire, the columns of billowing smoke. We see the
dashed brains of innocent Jewish children, the starvation.
But the other side of the national tragedy, the cause of it,
the side of Jerusalem before its holocaust, Zion the sinful
-- we are in danger of failing to contemplate that. The pain
and suffering will throw a pall over the actual sins and
iniquities that brought the destruction about.
Therefore, before we get down to the mourning over what
happened, we must inspect thoroughly what we did to bring
this about, how we caused the destruction through our
own unnatural sins. These were reflected, measure for
measure, in the ensuing punishment. This previous
contemplation must precede any show of mourning evoked by
the reading of the megilla. And only then can we
expect the proper positive results that must follow our
lamentation. Only thus can we hope that at the conclusion of
its recital and study, a cry will issue forth, coupled with
a sincere prayer to the A-mighty, "Restore us to You and we
will return. Renew our days as of yore!"
