Book review: Meaning and destruction of the Temples

The Book of Lamentations – known as Eicha after the first word of the book – is traditionally read on the night of Tisha Be’av, commemorating the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.

One suspects that most synagogue-goers do not study the Book of Eicha in depth, either due to its exceptionally depressing and gloomy content, or perhaps because the darkened atmosphere in the synagogue on the eve of this day of national mourning makes reading difficult.

Lamentations – Faith in a Turbulent World, by Dr. Yael Ziegler, remedies our overall reluctance to better understand Lamentations and conveys the book’s complex concepts and ideas clearly and cogently.

The author, a lecturer in Bible at Herzog College and the newly appointed rosh batei midrash and academic director of Matan Women’s Institute for Torah Studies, sets the stage in the introduction, explaining the title of the book (the word “eicha” is an elongated form of the Hebrew word “eich” or “how”), its authorship (most authorities contend that the prophet Jeremiah composed the book) and the book’s structure.

Ziegler explains that some scholars suggest that Eicha is comprised of five independent laments, with an absence of logical development. Others say that the book can be examined as an entire unit that weaves together different ideas and concepts.

She then provides a fascinating exposition on the historical background of Lamentations. She explains the historical background of the book, set against the destruction of the First Temple and Jerusalem in 586 BCE.

Three events greatly influenced the Book of Eicha and the events described therein – the exile of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BCE, the Assyrian King Sennacherib’s failed attempt to conquer Jerusalem in 701 BCE, and the tragic death of King Josiah in 609 BCE.

The exile of the Northern Kingdom presaged the exile of the Kingdom of Judah.

“If God exiled one part of His nation as a result of their sins,” writes Ziegler, “why should a sinful Judah feel immune to this same punishment?”

And while the nation’s miraculous deliverance from Sennacherib saved Jerusalem, she adds, it left the city weakened and lent the false impression that the destruction of the capital would be theologically inconceivable.

Finally, the untimely death of Josiah, who had united the Kingdom of Judah with the remnants of the Northern Kingdom, set the impending destruction in motion.

ZIEGLER THEN progresses to a more difficult subject within the context of Eicha – theology and suffering.

“The nation grapples with God in the book of Eikha,” she writes. Eicha deals with the national suffering of the Jewish people, and, Ziegler explains, there are several approaches to the problem of how a just God could permit human suffering.

Ziegler presents three approaches to the theology of Eicha.

The first approach suggests that Eicha is not really a theological work but rather a book that focuses on human ordeals. According to this approach, the book portrays an emotional experience, suggesting that the human response to suffering is itself a religious affair that builds character.

The second approach presents Eicha as a book of theological reflection. In that context, God is alternately viewed as righteous, angry, and wronged by the people who have rejected Him. It is a complex way of looking at things, and, as Ziegler writes, “this ability to navigate an inscrutable world depends upon one’s willingness to live with complexity, as well as faith in God.”

The third approach to the book posits that Eicha could not leave these theological issues unanswered. Ziegler writes that Eicha contains numerous linguistic parallels to Deuteronomy 28, known as the Tocheha, or “rebuke,” which establishes a covenant between God and the Jewish people, listing the rewards they will receive if they obey His word and the calamities that will befall them if they are disobedient. According to this point of view, the people of Israel were well aware of the consequences of their sins.

 

THE AUTHOR then embarks on an analysis of the full text of Eicha. Each chapter is presented in several sections. A selection of several verses in Hebrew and English is shown, followed by an analysis of the meaning and significance of each verse.

An example of her creativity is illustrated by Ziegler’s interpretation of the first verse, “Eicha yashva vadad,” “How has the city sat alone?”

Ziegler points out that the word “vadad” or “alone” can simultaneously point to the cause of Israel’s loneliness as well as its solution.

“If only Israel had appreciated its singularity among the family of nations! Israel’s desire to blend into the community of nations, her refusal to maintain her divinely mandated uniqueness, has turned a blessing of singularity into a curse of isolation,” writes Ziegler.

The experience of loneliness may be the very thing that can facilitate Israel’s return to the ideal, she adds.

Despite the depressing message of Eicha, Ziegler points to the optimistic possibilities present in many verses, using “an intertextual approach,” by examining the relationship between Eicha and other books of Tanach.

For example, chapter one, verse four reads, “Her maidens grieve and she is very bitter.” Ziegler points out that bitterness is associated with several women in the Bible – Hannah, the Shunemite woman, Rachel and Naomi. “Common to all these women,” she writes, “is the absence or loss of their children. Jerusalem’s role as a mother figure in the Book of Eicha is first hinted at here.”

She then adds that although it is a negative portrayal, midrashim find a ray of hope in associating Jerusalem with the bitter, childless woman. All of these women eventually obtained children, she notes, and their bitterness is replaced with joy.

AT 531 pages, Lamentations – Faith in a Turbulent World is not a quick read. But it is so well written that serious – and even casual – students of the Bible will find it a valuable resource.

Though the subject matter is tragic, the connections that Ziegler makes with other, more positive prophecies from other books of the Bible lend a sense of encouragement and hope.

The Hebrew text is clear and readable, but I wish the publishers had included the cantillation marks with the text. Parallel passages from other books of the Tanach are displayed in English translation only, but these are minor cosmetic criticisms.

This year, those who want to better understand Eicha would be well served to read the book before Tisha Be’av or on the evening itself by the light of their cellphones. It indeed sheds new light and understanding on a book that few of us take the time to understand.

In an unsettled year that has been marked with confusion, its title, Faith in a Turbulent World, underscores the book’s ability to help us better grapple with tragic and cataclysmic events.