Introduction to Megillas Eicha, Part 3: The First Rashi
Often times, the first Rashi in a Sefer functions as a type of mini-introduction. That certainly seems the case in Megillas Esther. In this article, we explore that Rashi and its deeper meaning.
Anyone familiar with Megillas Eicha (The Book of Lamentations) knows that stylistically speaking it mirrors the alefbeis (the Hebrew alphabet).
The alefbeis has twenty-two letters and four of the five chapters of the Megilla are twenty-two verses. What's more, three of those four chapters are in alphabetical order.
For example, the first verse of the first chapter starts with the letter Alef, the second verse begins with Beis, and so on. The same is true for the second and fourth chapters of the Megillah.
And then there is the third chapter. It has sixty-six verses. Now, sixty-six is three times twenty-two. So one might expect to find three alphabet's within that chapter. And, indeed, we do. The first three verses start with Alef, the next three with Beis, and so on.
Isn't that interesting.
There are three chapters that fully mirror the alefbeis and one chapter which mirrors it three times. Is there, perhaps, some connection between the third chapter and those other three?
According to Rashi, there is.
Rashi refers us to a story that took place in Sefer Yirmiyahu (The Book of Jeremiah). There G-d commands Yirmiyahu to write down a certain scroll and read it publicly:
ויהי בשנה הרבעית ליהויקים בן־יאשיהו מלך יהודה היה הדבר הזה אל־ירמיהו מאת יהוה לאמר קח־לך מגלת־ספר וכתבת אליה את כל־הדברים אשר־דברתי אליך על־ישראל ועל־יהודה ועל־כל־הגוים מיום דברתי אליך מימי יאשיהו ועד היום הזה אולי ישמעו בית יהודה את כל־הרעה אשר אנכי חשב לעשות להם למען ישובו איש מדרכו הרעה וסלחתי לעונם ולחטאתם
In the fourth year of the reign of King Yehoyakim, the L-rd's word came to Yirymeyahu. "Take a scroll and write upon it everything that I've said to you concerning Yisrael, Yehuda and all the nations... Perhaps, upon hearing about the destruction that I plan to bring, the people of Yehuda will repent and change their ways. If they do, I will forgive all the wrong that they have done and the sins that they have committed.
Paraphrased translation of Sefer Yirmiyahu, Chapter 36: 1 - 4
And so Yirmiyahu does. He dictates the scroll to his scribe (Baruch ben Neriah) and then sends him out to publicize it. Eventually, word gets to the king and the scroll is read before him. His reaction (to put it mildly) was not favorable:
ויקראה יהודי באזני המלך ובאזני כל־השרים העמדים מעל המלך והמלך יושב בית החרף בחדש התשיעי ואת־האח לפניו מבערת ויהי כקרוא יהודי שלש דלתות וארבעה יקרעה בתער הספר והשלך אל־האש אשר אל־האח עד־תם כל־המגלה על־האש אשר על־האח… ויצוה המלך את־ירחמאל בן־המלך ואת־שריהו בן־עזריאל ואת־שלמיהו בן־עבדאל לקחת את־ברוך הספר ואת ירמיהו הנביא ויסתרם יהוה
And Yehudi read the scroll to the King while the King sat in his winter house, with the fireplace burning in front of him. He read three or four columns at which point the king cut those columns off and threw them into the fire. Thus would the King do time after time. Yehudi would read three or four columns and the king would cut them off and throw them into the fire. He did this until the scroll was completely destroyed.
The King then commanded his ministers to arrest Yirmiyahu and Baruch his scribe. But G-d hid them and they were not arrested.
Paraphrased translation of Sefer Yirmiyahu, Chapter 36: 21-26
Now, we can wonder, why did the King burn up the scroll. One possibility (the one I want to explore) is that the King was attempting to censor the scroll. He did not want the message to get out. As such, he burnt the scroll and ordered those who authored and publicized it arrested.
But it didn't work. He wasn't able to arrest Yirmiyahu or Baruch and he wasn't able to stop them from writing up another scroll:
ויהי דבר־יהוה אל־ירמיהו אחרי שרף המלך את־המגלה ואת־הדברים אשר כתב ברוך מפי ירמיהו לאמר שוב קח־לך מגלה אחרת וכתב עליה את כל־הדברים הראשנים אשר היו על־המגלה הראשונה… וירמיהו לקח מגלה אחרת ויתנה אל־ברוך בן־נריהו הספר ויכתב עליה מפי ירמיהו את כל־דברי הספר אשר שרף יהויקים מלך־יהודה באש ועוד נוסף עליהם דברים רבים כהמה
G-d’s word came to Yirmiyahu again, after the king burned up the scroll. “Get another scroll and write on it everything that you wrote on the first scroll…
And that is what Yirmiyahu did.
He procured another scroll, handed it over to Baruch and directed him to rewrite the original scroll. However, he also added other passages like those.
Paraphrased translation of Sefer Yirmiyahu, Chapter 36: 27-32
In short, Yirmiyahu and Baruch were not intimidated. They set out at G-d's directive to reproduce the original scroll. But they also did something quite interesting, they added "additional passages" that were "like those".
What were those additional passages? And what were they like. I.e., what does 'those' refer to in the phrase 'like those' and how were they like them?
According to Rashi, the additional passages are none other than the third chapter of Megillas Eicha. And the verses of this third chapter are like the other three chapters that Yirmiyahu originally wrote.
In other words, Megillas Eicha started out as a three-chapter scroll read to the Jewish people in order to influence them to fundamentally change their ways. But the King wanted to censor this scroll so he had it destroyed and its authors arrested.
But that didn't work. Yirmiyahu and Baruch were not arrested and they rewrote the scroll.
But when they did, they added "additional passages" (chapter three) which were "like those" (chapters one, two and four).
Put otherwise, Yirmiyahu didn’t only rewrite the original scroll, but he also composed a new one - and that new scroll is what ended up being the third chapter of Megillas Eicha.
Now, let’s remember that the original three chapters that Yirmiyahu wrote add up to sixty-six verses in total. And let us also remember that within those sixty-six verses, three of them begin with an alef, three with them with a beis, and so on.
And that is exactly what we find in the third chapter of our Megillah. Sixty six verses, three of which start with alef, three of which start with beis, and so on.
So here we have a remarkable turn of events. The King thought that he was suppressing the Megillah, but what he was actually doing was inspiring Yirmiyahu to write an entirely new one.
And not just any new Megillah, but one that is directly related to the original one. We are still on the same topic, still trying to convey the same message. But now, there is an additional perspective and additional insights to add.
That is the fruit of King Yehokim's effort to censor the original scroll. He thought he was censoring G-d's word and preventing it from becoming widely known. Instead, he helped broaden our understanding of G-d’s word and ensure that they were known throughout all of Am Yisrael for all generations.
The moral of the message - G-d’s word is going to make it through, one way or the other. And any attempt to suppress that word will only end up strengthening it.
A Modern Day Version
I’d like to connect the above to what has been going on for the last year. We, the Jewish people, have not just been physically attacked, but also socially, politically, legally and more. We have been attacked in universities, on the streets, in the press, the UN and beyond.
All-in-all, the anti-semites smelled blood and they came out to kill.
And yet, let’s look at what they have “accomplished”. We, the Jewish people, are more united than we have been in years. Yes, there are still protests, but they are much smaller and have much less effect. Yes, there are fights and disagreements, but they are much weaker than they have been in years.
And we aren’t just more united, we are also more connected. I remember reading about a certain Israeli who refused to identify himself as a Jew. He was just an Israeli.
But no more. Now he openly identifies as a Jew.
I remember another story about a young man who wanted to “thank” the anti-semites:
You have reconnected us with our Judaism. We were on our way out. We had no interested in being Jewish and what Judaism was about or had to offer. But now that has all changed. Now you have woken us up and we care and are more involved and connected than ever before.
After all is said and down, this year we pray more than last year, we love more than last year, we connect more than last year - and we stand up for ourselves more than last year.
The score?
Jews: 100
Anti-semites: who cares?
In short, we can think of the Jewish people like a spring. You can push a spring down, but all that does is transfer energy to the spring. When you eventually let go, the spring will come flying up.
That is the Jewish people. When the tyrant or anti-semite tries to hold us down, all they are doing is transferring to us the energy and inspiration we need to fly higher than ever before.