This Kinah plays on the word, “Eichah,” and used, “Ei Ko,”: Where is the ‘Ko,’ or So, as in, “So said God?”

It is commonly understood that when God uses the term ‘Ko,’ He demonstrates an intense degree of Hashgacha Pratit – Individual Divine Providence, and reveals manifest love for Israel.

Therein, lies the problem. Most of us are confused by the system of Hashgacha. Many of us believe that everything is “Ko,” or exact, just so. We are confused when things don’t make sense, and we wonder, “Where is “Ko,” – where is a world that works ‘just so’?

Rabbeinu Yonah (Berachot 19b in the Rif) describes Israel as challenging God: “We do not experience You as compassionate, but cruel. We do not see justice, but suffering. You must restore justice to the world before we can return to You.” Rabbeinu Yonah is describing a cry of “Ei Ko?”

We are confused by the lack of “Ko,” just so, in the world. We are confused by the absence of “Ko,” just so, in the teachings of our leaders, who do not agree on basic concepts of Hashkafa, Jewish Philosophy.

The prophet, Jeremiah, cries out to us, “Eichah!” We respond, “Ei Ko?”

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“Would that I could soar to the sphere of the heaven.” This phrase is usually understood to be based on: “Behold, like an eagle the enemy – Babylon – will swoop down and spread its wings against Moab.” (Jeremiah 48:40) Moab, an ancient enemy of Israel, was confident that, because there were no indications that the Babylonians were planning to attack them, rejoiced at the vulnerability of Jerusalem. The prophet, in a vision in which he saw the future great achievements of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians (Vayikra Rabbah 13:5), envisioned their armies swooping down on Moab in a shock attack, much as an eagle swoops down on its prey.

This vision of Babylon’s great future is part of the idea that God will only allow a great nation to conquer Israel. God wants people to have the opportunity to understand that the success of the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans against Israel was a gift from God. They were being used as God’s tool.

The Babylonian’s military successes were almost otherworldly. They were as swift as eagles.

The author of this lamentation is describing how he would need such miraculous assistance from God to be able to express the full extent of his lament over the destruction and exile.

The Talmud (Sanhedrin) describes the scene of the Babylonians successful breach of Jerusalem’s walls as one in which the army had almost given up on successfully breaking into the holy city. Rabha said: Three hundred mules loaded with iron saws which cut iron were given to Nebusaradan by Nebuchadnezzar while going to attack Jerusalem. And all of them were broken at one gate of Jerusalem, as it reads [Ps. lxxiv. 6]: “And now they hew in pieces the carver work thereof altogether with hatchets and hammers.” Seeing this he thought to return, but a heavenly voice was heard: “Jumper, the son of a jumper, O Nebusaradan, jump now, and thou wilst succeed, as the time for the destruction of the sanctuary and for the burning of the Temple has arrived.” And one saw remained with him, and with it he struck the gate, and it opened, as it reads [ibid., ibid. 5]: “(The enemy) is known as one that lifteth up high axes against the thickets of a forest.” Then he slew every one coming under his hand till he reached the Temple and kindled it. However, the Temple wanted to fly away, but it was prevented by Heaven and was trodden down, as it reads [Lamentations, i. 15]: “A winepress hath the Lord trodden over the virgin, the daughter of Judah.” Nebusaradan became proud of all this, and a heavenly voice was heard saying: “You slew a killed nation, a burnt temple have you burned, grind flour have you grind.”

The walls, miraculously fell without resistance only at the final moment so that all would know that the Babylonians were simply God’s tools.

The Talmud (Gittin 56a) describes a similar situation during the Roman attack in Jerusalem: He [the Emperor] sent against them Nero the Caesar. As he was coming he shot an arrow towards the east, and it fell in Jerusalem. He then shot one towards the west, and it again fell in Jerusalem. He shot towards all four points of the compass, and each time it fell in Jerusalem. He said to a certain boy: Repeat to me [the last] verse of Scripture you have learnt. He said: And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel. He said: The Holy One, blessed be He, desires to lay waste his House and to lay the blame on me. So he ran away and became a proselyte, and R. Meir was descended from him.

Whomever the Nero , described in the story, was (we know that Nero never traveled to Jerusalem), he did not want to be God’s agent of destruction, only to be punished.

The Kabbalists associate wings with Din – God’s Attribute of Judgment. The eagle mentioned above, does not fly, as Din, when expressed as destruction, does not come from Above: It is the result of the destructive influences created by human beings, on earth.

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I experience a different feeling in my gut when I see an empty space where a synagogue once stood than when I see a synagogue that stands empty.

There used to be a synagogue on Rivington near Ludlow, on the Lower East Side. I first saw the building when it was abandoned. I passed by today and it is no longer there. The street corner is named for the congregation’s long-time rabbi, but the sign is rarely noticed and it serves as no more than a plaque proclaiming that a synagogue once stood here.

When I saw the empty building, I could imagine filling it again with the sounds of Jewish life. I began picturing a vibrant center with constant classes and social programs. Even an empty building holds promise.

There is currently an empty lot where once hundreds of families would join for prayer, holidays, weddings, classes, and great events. The now empty lot is nowhere near large enough to contain all the tears that were shed on that spot. That valuable piece of real-estate cannot begin to approach the priceless prayers that were offered in that place. If all the souls that found succor in the synagogue were piled one atop the other in that now empty lot, the pile would reach the heavens, far higher than any building that will be erected. A library probably could not contain all the sermons, classes and words of Torah that were spoken in that place. The synagogue was far larger than the space on which it stood. The vacuum is far greater than the physical building that once stood there and any building that will eventually replace it.

The empty synagogue building seemed far larger than its physical measurements. The ruins of a once vibrant congregation at least offered a connection to the great achievements of the synagogue’s founders, members, and rabbis. But now, there is nothing left. A small apartment building just next to the empty lot has a stone arch with “Talmud Torah” engraved on it. The arch does not strike with as much violence at my gut as does the empty lot.

Abandoned; hurts. Demolished; hurts more. What about the synagogues that have been turned into churches? We need not travel to Poland to find such places. They are all over New York. You can find them in Harlem and the Bronx. My sister-in-law lives across the street from an apartment building in Montreal which has stained glass windows from the time it was a synagogue gracing bathrooms and bedrooms.

Which is Worse? Spiritual Greatness That Has Disappeared

Once again they ( Rabban Gamaliel, R. Eleazar b. ‘Azariah, R. Joshua and R. Akiba) were coming up to Jerusalem together, and just as they came to Mount Scopus they saw a fox emerging from the Holy of Holies. They fell a-weeping and R. Akiba seemed merry. Wherefore, said they to him, are you merry? Said he: Wherefore are you weeping? Said they to him: A place of which it was once said, And the common man that draweth nigh shall be put to death, is now become the haunt of foxes, and should we not weep? Said he to them: Therefore am I merry; for it is written, ‘And I will take to Me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the Son of Jeberechiah.’

Now what connection has this Uriah the priest with Zechariah? Uriah lived during the times of the first Temple, while [the other,] Zechariah lived [and prophesied] during the second Temple; but Holy-Writ linked the [later] prophecy of Zechariah with the [earlier] prophecy of Uriah, In the [earlier] prophecy [in the days] of Uriah it is written, ‘Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field.’ In Zechariah it is written, ‘Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, There shall yet old men and old women sit in the broad places of Jerusalem,’ so long as Uriah’s [threatening] prophecy had not had its fulfilment, I had misgivings lest Zechariah’s prophecy might not be fulfilled; now that Uriah’s prophecy has been [literally] fulfilled, it is quite certain that Zechariah’s prophecy also is to find its literal fulfilment. Said they to him: Akiba, you have comforted us! Akiba, you have comforted us! – (Makkot 24b)

The fox running through the area of the Holy of Holies bothered the rabbis more than the ruins of the Temple. They witnessed the disappearance of the sanctity of the Temple: “A place of which it was once said, ‘And the common man that draweth nigh shall be put to death,’ is now become the haunt of foxes, and should we not weep?” This place was once so holy that anyone who entered improperly, even the Cohen Gadol on Yom Kippur, would immediately die, and yet now, even a wild animal can run there without fear. The holiest place on earth has lost its sanctity. How can such sanctity disappear? What happened to all the offerings made there? Did the service of the Cohen Gadol leave no mark? Is it possible that all those prayers are gone?

The rabbis saw the empty lot and they wept.

Rabbi Akiva saw the same empty lot and saw life. He perceived the seeds of redemption in the emptiness – the lost sanctity. He read Zechariah’s prophecy and found a promise that what once existed in that place was gathered up on high, treasured and protected. The countless offerings and prayers still existed as they did even when the Temple stood; free of physical boundaries and limitations. The physical loss would be restored. The spiritual accomplishments lived in the words of the prophets and in the Hand of God. The empty space of the Holy of Holies is not empty. It is transparent.

We weep and mourn on Tisha B’Av over the terrible physical and spiritual devastation that took place on this tragic day, but we never lose sight that the prayers and Torah and spiritual achievements of the countless victims of pogroms, crusades and the Holocaust, live on even today. We weep because we desire a world that is great enough to contain them.

Each time we pray the same words as those millions of Jews across the centuries and around the world, we declare that their prayers live.

Each time we study the same words of Torah as those millions of Jews across the centuries and around the world, we declare that their Torah lives.

Each time we observe the same Mitzvot as those millions of Jews across the centuries and around the world, we declare that their Mitzvot live.

Each time we chant the same Lamentations as those millions of Jews across the centuries and around the world, we declare our determination to build a world that can contain and reflect all those prayers, words of Torah, and Mitzvot.

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“He cut down the towering stature of Adam, the creature He had fashioned with His own hands,

He had just stepped into the treasure house of Eden when he was evicted. Thus God demonstrated to him that the couch is too short.”

We cannot think of all the death and destruction of Tisha B’Av without going back to the first sin and the first exile that soon followed; Adam in the Garden.

We cannot think of Adam’s sin, so soon after being fashioned by God, without wondering whose fault was it that Adam sinned? Is it possible for us to live without sin? Were we always destined to live in exile? The first “Eichah,” – “Ayekah,” is a question to one who has lost his place: “Where are you?”

We think of the spectacular failures that led to Israel wandering the desert for forty years, and the destruction of the two Batei Mikdash and Beitar and automatically think back to that first day, so soon after God fashioned Adam, and reread the question and respond to God’s, “Where are You?” with our own question of “Eichah?” – “How could this be?” Or, “Could it be otherwise?”

Tisha B’Av takes us to the core of the human struggle to soar and create, to master ourselves, to “conquer” the world, which inevitably confronts us with the possibility of sin. We begin by remembering the tragic events of Tisha B’Av, but soon go to reflecting on the failures that have haunted humanity since the Garden.

It is easy for one who is mourning to think back on humanity’s slips and weep, “Eichah,” “Alas!” However, we too can reread the “Eichah” to “Ayekah,” a simple question that has more than one answer, “Where are you?” We can respond as Adam did not, “We sinned, but are prepared to repair.”

The true tragedy is when we are stuck in the “Eichah” mode, focusing on failures and the difficulties of a creative life. The solution is a simple rereading of the word as “Ayekah,” to take time to reflect and ask ourselves, “Are we where we want to be?”

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“Everything came to a standstill”. “Shavat” – This is based on Lamentation 5:15: “Gone –Shavat – is the joy of our hearts, our dancing has turned into mourning”. The Ibn Ezra explains that the “joy of our hearts” refers to the Offerings brought in the Temple, as in Ezekiel 24:25: “And you, Son of Man, behold, on the day that I take their stronghold from them, the joy of their glory, the darling of their eyes, and the exaltation of their soul, their sons and their daughters.”

The imagery of this prophecy begins with the death of Ezekiel’s wife: (Ezekiel 24:15-27)

One moment Ezekiel’s wife is there and the next moment she is gone. The ‘darling of his eyes” was taken away in an instant. His life was shattered. “Won’t you tell us what these acts that you are doing mean for us?” (Ezekiel 24:19) People did not understand Ezekiel’s response to such a tragedy. They could only understand that the prophet was sending a message to them.

Our lives can change in a moment. Our world can stop. There is nothing we can do but watch. We all remember exactly what we were doing and where we were at the moment we heard of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center on 9-11. Time seemed to stop at that moment. Ezekiel was telling his people that they were functioning in Babylon with the assumption that the Temple was still standing and that sacrifices were still being offered. They still relied on that protection. Ezekiel was warning them that their world would change in one moment; a moment they knew, but refused to believe was coming. Nothing would be the same afterward.

Our lives can change in a single moment. The world is entirely different from one minute to the next. It can happen for good, as with the “Az”! of the Splitting of the Sea, or, it can happen in a negative way, as with the loss of the Altar and sacrifices.

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I have heard people explain the Holocaust as the expression of God’s anger with Reform Judaism, which began in Germany. That would not explain why the Germans massacred so many more traditional Jews, or why Poland and Hungary were burned by the fires of the concentration camps.

People are desperate for answers and will accept anything that will allow them, with a few dashes of cognitive dissonance, to understand our suffering over the ages.

“A world that can be explained even with bad reasons is a familiar world. But, on the other hand, in a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, man feels an alien, a stranger. His exile is without remedy since he is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land. This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity.” (The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus)

David Klinghoffer made the unforgivable, horrible, and hateful mistake of suggesting that the Bible actually warns us what will happen if we do not serve God with joy and abundance. How could he? I am under the impression that he was fired from First Things (I cancelled my subscription in protest) for arguing the Bible’s point of view.

How strange! We prefer bad reasons and explanations to reading the Bible as reality!

I wonder what would happen if, as Klinghoffer suggested, we listen to the Bible’s warnings and demands: “Because you did not serve God, your Lord, amid gladness and goodness of heart, when everything was abundant.” (Deuteronomy 28:47)

We are quite skilled at mourning and crying. We even manage to mangle happy verses and chant them as lamentations: “My help is from God, Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:2) I don’t know about you, but the verse makes me sing, not mourn. “God will protect you from every evil. He will guard your soul.” Sounds good to me. I don’t want to cry over that verse. I want to yell it out with joy and confidence.

I would like to suggest that when the Talmud teaches that “We lessen our joy when the Hebrew month Menachem Av begins”, means exactly that: lessen, not eradicate. Perhaps a little joy is in order.

We can celebrate the fact that the Temple is still so real to us that we continue to mourn more than two thousand years after its destruction. We can rejoice in the fact that, although his own generation ignored him, we listen to Jeremiah 2400 years later as if he was still alive. We can serve with confidence that all the murder, pogroms, crusades, wars, suffering, poverty, torture and more have not been able to destroy our faith. We continue to serve God and to strive to rebuild His Temple.

Perhaps a little more joy in our service will make our mourning more meaningful and potent.

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Question 1:

Genesis 3:9: “God, the Lord, called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

How did Adam hear the question?

“They heard the Voice of God, the Lord, walking in the garden toward evening.” (Genesis 3:8) What did they hear? Was the Voice saying something? Or, did they just hear a “Voice”?

Moses could hear God’s Voice, speaking to God, from between the two Cherubim. (Numbers 7:89: See Rashi)

The Children of Israel saw God’s Voice, in their highest moments when standing at Sinai and receiving the Ten Statements.

Adam and Eve were able to hear God’s Voice even after they sinned.

Let us rephrase our question: How did two people, so elevated that they could hear “God’s Voice walking in the Garden” hear God’s question: “Ayeka/Eicha – Where are you?

Did these two elevated beings hear “I don’t know where you are”? “I am no longer connected to you? “

Or

Where did your action get you?

Adam’s answer indicates that he chose to hear the former: “I was afraid because I am naked, so I hid.”

What if he had chosen to hear the latter and simply admit and confront what he had done?

The way we hear a question determines our response: How do we hear the Eicha?Ayeka of Tisha B’Av?

As victims, and we sit in mourning because there is nothing we can do?

Or

As people able to change the situation?

Question 2:

Deuteronomy 1:12: “Eicha, How can I alone carry your contentiousness, your burdens, and your quarrels?” We chant this to the lament of Eicha.

How does this follow the previous verse: May God, the Lord of your ancestors, add to you a thousand times yourselves, and bless you as He has spoken of you”?

It is almost a cry of feeling too limited to handle the reborn and grown nation.

“You answered me and said: “The thing that you have proposed to do is good.” : You decided this based on your personal enjoyment! You should have said ‘We prefer to learn directly from you, the master, who has suffered so much for us.” (Deuteronomy 1:14: Rashi)

Moshe’s question, “Eicha” – “How” – comes after rejection, frustration and a sense of limitation.

When we ask Eicha – How can we handle the challenges of life and exile? – Are we asking with a sense of rejection by God? Do we ask as people who feel limited?

Question 3:

Isaiah 1:21; “Eicha, How has she become a harlot!”

Isaiah speaks of the greatness and devotion of Israel even as he rebukes them. Isaiah had seen and heard the highest Angels in heaven praise God. He understood passion and real love of God.

Isaiah challenged his generation with his version of the Eicha question:

Are you going through the motions of intimacy by bringing offerings, praying, visiting the Temple, and celebrating Shabbat, without a relationship that will manifest itself in everything you do, especially how you relate to others?

Are you having a relationship or are you a harlot?

Question 4:

Lamentations 1:1: “Eicha, Alas, she sits in solitude.”

Jeremiah gives Voice to God’s cry and asks the fourth question of Tisha B’Av:

What are you doing with the potential God has given you?

Do not be as Adam and Eve, so elevated that they could hear God’s Voice, but did not properly understand His question of “Ayeka”.

Do not ask “How” with a sense of limitation.

Do not serve God, with all the potential of each and every blessing, prayer, Mitzvah, and word of Torah, without a sense of the relationship imbued in each.

Jeremiah’s question of Eicha – Alas! What potential has been wasted! – can be transformed into the first “Ayeka” and we can answer by acknowledging our mistakes and understanding that God is only asking us “Do you know where you stand and who you are capable of being?”

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The popular conception of genius is that it is an inborn gift, yet an increasingly large body of research suggests the opposite – that genius is always the product of sustained effort. A case in point – Mozart:

“Standing above all other giftedness legends, of course, [is] that of the mystifying boy genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, alleged to be an instant master performer at age three and a brilliant composer at age five. His breath-taking musical gifts were said to have sprouted from nowhere, and his own father promoted him as the ‘miracle which God let be born in Salzburg.’

“The reality about Mozart turns out to be far more interesting and far less mysterious. His early achievements – while very impressive, to be sure – actually make good sense considering his extraordinary upbringing. And his later undeniable genius turns out to be a wonderful advertisement for the power of process. Mozart was bathed in music from well before his birth, and his childhood was quite unlike any other. His father, Leopold Mozart, was an intensely ambitious Austrian musician, composer, and teacher who had gained wide acclaim with the publication of the instruction book A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing. For a while, Leopold had dreamed of being a great composer himself. But on becoming a father, he began to shift his ambitions away from his own unsatisfying career and onto his children – perhaps, in part, because his career had already hit a ceiling: he was vice-kapellmeister (assistant music director); the top spot would be unavailable for the foreseeable future.

“Uniquely situated, and desperate to make some sort of lasting mark on music, Leopold began his family musical enterprise even before Wolfgang’s birth, focusing first on his daughter Nannerl. Leopold’s elaborate teaching method derived in part from the Italian instructor Giuseppe Tartini and included highly nuanced techniques …

“Then came Wolfgang. Four and a half years younger than his sister, the tiny boy got everything Nannerl got – only much earlier and even more intensively. Literally from his infancy, he was the classic younger sibling soaking up his big sister’s singular passion. As soon as he was able, he sat beside her at the harpsichord and mimicked notes that she played. Wolfgang’s first pings and plucks were just that. But with a fast-developing ear, deep curiosity and a tidal wave of family know-how, he was able to click into an accelerated process of development.

“As Wolfgang became fascinated with playing music, his father became fascinated with his toddler son’s fascination – and was soon instructing him with an intensity that far eclipsed his efforts with Nannerl. Not only did Leopold openly give preferred attention to Wolfgang over his daughter; he also made a career-altering decision to more or less shrug off his official duties in order to build an even more promising career for his son. This was not a quixotic adventure. Leopold’s calculated decision made reasonable financial sense, … Wolfgang’s youth made him a potentially lucrative attraction. …

From the age of three, then, Wolfgang had an entire family driving him to excel with a powerful blend of instruction, encouragement, and constant practice. He was expected to be the pride and financial engine of the family, and he did not disappoint. In his performances from London to Mannheim between the ages of six and eight, he drew good receipts and high praise from noble patrons. …

“Still, like his sister, the young Mozart was never a truly great adult-level instrumentalist. He was highly advanced for his age, but not compared with skillful adult performers. The tiny Mozart dazzled royalty and was at the time unusual for his early abilities. But today many young children exposed to Suzuki and other rigorous musical programs play as well as the young Mozart did – and some play even better. Inside the world of these intensive, child-centered programs, such achievements are now straightforwardly regarded by parents and teachers for what they are: the combined consequence of early exposure, exceptional instruction, constant practice, family nurturance, and a child’s intense will to learn. Like a brilliant souffle, all of these ingredients must be present in just the right quantity and mixed with just the right timing and flair. Almost anything can go wrong. The process is far from predictable and never in anyone’s complete control.”

David Shenk – The Genius in All of Us

Quick Question: People often speak of the Genius of the Jewish People that allowed us to survive, even thrive in, two thousand years of exile. Is our “Genius” an inborn gift or the result of sustained effort, nurtured through the environment we create?

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There is another chapter written for someone else. Josiah was a little kid when he became king. He decided to be a good guy. He undertook a complete remodeling of the Beit Hamikdash. He removed the idols that literally filled the walls. One day they were cleaning the tiles on the Temple floor, when one of them came loose. They lift it up and lo and behold, they find a sefer Torah. Not just any sefer Torah, but the one written by Moses. At that point, it is the only Torah to be found anywhere in Israel. It would seem to be a good sign. They are all excited. And you can trace this out today in the City of David. Archeologists found the seal of one of the scribes of the king. They ran to the room of that particular scribe. They open the Torah, but immediately they see that it opens to the section of the curses. Not a good sign. Talk about mixed messages!

They don’t know what to do. They go up to Hulda. She confirms that the Temple is going to be destroyed. There is nothing Josiah can do to stop it. However, because he is a tzaddik, it won’t happen while he is alive. King Josiah hears about this and hires policemen who go to every single house to search and destroy every idol they can find. He brings everybody to Jerusalem to do Teshuva, has them reaccept the Torah, and bring the korban Pesach. He founds the first Baal Teshuva movement in history, and a massive one at that. He threatens people with death if they don’t do teshuva. He digs up the graves of idol worshippers, burns the bones of their priests, and smashes the altar to Baal that was built. He was just told that there is nothing he could do, yet he refuses to go lying down. When he died (and he died because he didn’t listen to the navi)…On one hand, you have Josiah who decides he has to do what he has to do. On the other hand there were kings who didn’t do anything even when everything was falling apart around them.

The third chapter is directed to those who just don’t want to change and are unwilling to hear that anything needs to change. You find this echoed in verse 8: Even when I cry out and plead, He has shut off my prayer. Or, in 44: You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.

That is what Jeremiah was trying to address. Stagnation means that all avenues for change have closed. And the Josiah approach is that the worst situation of all can be changed to its direct opposite.

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Last year, my father died, and of course it was devastating. But then, there were positive things that came out of it. While a parent is alive, it’s much easier to feel like a kid. But when a parent dies, especially one whom one relies on very much, I and my siblings began to feel much more like adults. We started to take responsibility for things none of us wanted to do so before. It was a terrible passage, but within it, we were rising to a new level where something good could come out of it. The worst thing to do however, when coming into that kind of advantage, is to stagger.

We had this situation in Jerusalem with the First Temple; Jeremiah was going around telling everybody, “You guys are in big trouble. There’s going to be an invasion, the ten tribes will be exiled, and then the Temple itself will be destroyed. You have to change.” People knew there was instability, that there threat of war from Egypt, Babylon, Sancheriv, and the Assyrians. The people didn’t want to hear it. Rabbi ________ wrote it up in the daily newspaper, but they burnt it. So Jeremiah took Eicha and rewrote it. He added the third chapter. The third chapter was added for people who are staggering. They want to protect the status quo, even it is miserable. And because they are tense, they are not able to take advantage of passage.

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