Tishah b'Av 5775: Woe Unto Us!

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Artwork by Bud Cook

Tishah b'Av 5775: Woe Unto Us!

I am writing this on Tishah b'Av, after reciting kinnos in shul. This year I focused on Kinnah #17. Here is Artscroll's translation, with a few changes here and there. Warning: this kinnah is not for the faint of heart - especially those who have children of their own.

If women ate the fruit of their own [womb], 

the babes of their care -

     woe unto me! 

If compassionate women cooked [their own] children

whom they had so carefully measured handbreadth by heandbreadth -

     woe unto me!

If the locks of their hair were torn from their heads 

when they were tied to fleet horses -

     woe unto me! 

If the tongue of the nursing babe 

would adhere to its palate through unmitigated thirst -

     woe unto me! 

If one [mother] cried out to another, 

"Come, let us cook our screeching children!" -

     woe unto me! 

If [after devouring one of their babes] the two met 

[and the mother of the eaten child said], 

"Give your son!" but he was already cut to pieces 

and hidden away [for his mother to enjoy alone] -

     woe unto me! 

If fathers' flesh was waiting for [their] sons 

[to eat] in caves and ditches -

     woe unto me! 

If daughters were condemned to die 

in their mother's bosom, swollen [with hunger] -

     woe unto me! 

If the spirits of infants soared from their swollen corpses 

[which were lying] in the city's streets -

     woe unto me! 

If women were weighed down by miscarriage of womb 

and dryness of breast, and that mother 

[lamented] over dying sons -

     woe unto me! 

If eight hundred [young Kohanim who bore decorative gold] shields 

were trapped; in Arabia [they fell to] foul decay -

     woe unto me! 

If their breath was set on fire with a variety of salty foods 

and [they died while trying to drink from] wineskins 

[deviously] inflated with [hot, stale] air -

     woe unto me! 

If they were decimated from one thousand to one hundred, 

from one hundred to ten, until but one [remained

 - a source of terrible sorrow -

     woe unto me! 

If eighty thousand fledgling Kohanim 

fled to the sheltering Sanctuary

     woe unto me! 

If all those souls were burned there 

like dry thorn cuttings -

     woe unto me! 

If the souls [of the starving defenders] were swollen 

and stricken by the [tantalizing] aroma of the fruits of the field 

[that they could not attain] -

     woe unto me! 

If heaped on one stone 

were nine kab-measures of children's brains -

     woe unto me! 

If three hundred suckling babes were hung [to die], 

stretched out on a single branch -

     woe unto me! 

If delicate, pampered women were seen in iron chains, 

under the hand of the chief butcher -

     woe unto me! 

If the daughters of distinguished royalty 

took their rest on the open roadsides -

     woe unto me! 

If young maidens and young men fainted 

from the dehydrating thirst -

     woe unto me! 

But the Holy Spirit raged back at them:

     "Woe unto all my wicked neighbors!

Those [tragedies] which befell them, they publicize,

     but that [evil] which they perpetrated, they do not publicize.

If women ate the fruit of their own [womb],

     they let it be heard,

but if they murdered a Kohen-Navi in God's Sanctuary,

     they did not let that be heard!"

It is difficult to read this kinnah without recoiling at the horrific atrocities described therein. When we read about starving mothers eating their own children and Kohanim being murdered in cold blood, we cannot help but join in with the kinnah's refrain: "woe unto me!" With each and every stanza, the intensity of the tragedy increases, as does our rage against the enemies who brought this suffering upon us.

But then, in the final stanza, the paytan (author of the poem) throws us a curve-ball: 

But the Holy Spirit raged back at them:

     "Woe unto all My wicked neighbors!

Those [tragedies] which befell them, they publicize,

     but that [evil] which they perpetrated, they do not publicize.

If women ate the fruit of their own [womb],

     they let it be heard,

but if they murdered a Kohen-Navi in God's Sanctuary,

     they did not let that be heard!"

When the Holy Spirit (i.e. the voice of God, as depicted in this kinnah) speaks up, we expect a condemnation of our wicked enemies. Instead, the Holy Spirit turns around and points an accusatory finger at us - the victims of these barbaric acts. We are referred to as "wicked neighbors." We are criticized for focusing on publicizing the evil which befell us (e.g. women eating the fruit of their own womb), and concealing the evil which we perpetrated (e.g. murdering Zechariah in the Beis ha'Mikdash instead of heeding his call for teshuvah). 

In light of this conclusion, we reflect back on the source of the phrase "woe unto me!" and realize its source in Torah she'bi'Chsav. That source is none other than Iyov, who said:

If I have sinned and You scrutinize me, then do not cleanse me of my transgression. If I have been wicked, woe unto me! And if I am innocent, I should not raise my head, [for I am] satiated with disgrace, and see my misery. It has become important [to You]: You hunt me as if I were a lion's whelp, and You repeatedly judge me severely. You always bring new witnesses against me, and You magnify Your anger against me. The legion takes turns with me (Iyov 10:14-17).

We see from its context that the phrase "woe unto me!" is not a reaction of sorrow over the tragedies that befell us. Rather, it is a reaction to the cause of those tragedies - namely, our own sinfulness and wickedness. Were it not for our own corruption, these terrible misfortunes never have happened. Thus, the "woe" truly is "unto me," as Yirmiyahu ha'Navi lamented: "Of what shall a living man bemoan? Each man for his own sins" (Eichah 3:39). We are our own worst enemies.

The recognition that we are to blame for the catastrophes that have befallen us is the very reason why these catastrophes continue to befall us, as the Rambam writes at the beginning of Hilchos Taaniyos:

1:1 - It is a positive mitzvah of the Torah to cry out and to sound the trumpets on every tzarah (catastrophe) that befalls the community, as it is stated, “[When you wage war in your land] against the afflicter who afflicts you, you shall sound the trumpets, [and you shall be remembered before Hashem, your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies]” (Bamidbar 10:9), meaning to say: anything that afflicts you - such as drought, epidemic, locusts, and the like - cry out on them and sound [the trumpets]. 

1:2 - This principle is one of the darchei teshuvah (ways of repentance), that at a time of the onset of an affliction, and [people] cry out and sound the trumpets, everyone will know that it was because of their evil conduct that this bad occurrence befell them, as it is written, “Your iniquities have turned away these things [to you], and your sins have withheld good from you” (Yirmiyahu 5:25), and this will cause them to remove the affliction from upon them. 

1:3 - But if they do not cry out and do not sound the trumpets, but instead say, “This is a natural event which befell us, and this affliction is a chance occurrence” - behold, this is a derech achzarius (way of cruelty), and will cause them to cling to their evil conduct, and [this] affliction and others will increase. This is what is written in the Torah, “[And if, with this, you do not listen to Me,] and you walk with me with chance, then I will walk with you in the fury of chance, [and I will also chastise you, seven times for your sins]” (Vayikra 26:26-28), meaning to say, when I bring an affliction upon you to cause you to do teshuvah, if you say that it is chance, then I will increase upon you the fury of that “chance.”

The Rambam writes that the purpose of our communal fast days is to bring us to this same recognition:

5:1 - There are days on which all of Israel fasts because of the catastrophes that occurred on them, in order to awaken the hearts [of the people] and to open the paths of teshuvah. This will be a remembrance of our corrupt actions and the corrupt actions of our fathers that were like our actions today, which ultimately reached the point that [these corrupt actions] caused these catastrophes for them and for us. Through the remembrance of these things we will return to do good, as it stated, “they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers” (Vayikra 26:40).

Six years ago I wrote a blog post about Yom ha'Shoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) (which I have yet to re-post on this blog). After citing these same halachos from the Rambam, I stated my objection to the institution of a secular Holocaust Memorial Day:

According to the Torah, the proper response to tzarah (catastrophe) is zaakah (i.e. tefilah) and teshuvah. Chazal reinforced this idea by setting up specific zmanim (times of the year) to reflect upon the national tzaros which have occurred throughout our history. These zmanim were established as ymei taanis - days of reflection, introspection, and teshuvah. They are structured with specific halachic institutions designed to remind us that the tragedies that befell our fathers were caused by foundational cheit (i.e. the distorted notion of the Good which pervades the entire Jewish community). Through their observance, we are meant to realize that we are still locked into the same trends of cheit and that we will be subject to the same tzaros unless we engage in foundational teshuvah. If we observe these memorial days properly, in accordance with the halachos and teachings of the Torah, then we will merit to remove these tragedies from our midst. 

To establish a secular memorial day for a national tragedy such as the Holocaust, outside of the system of Torah and its mitzvos of zaakah, teshuvah, and ymei taanis, is a distortion destined for harm. It is a distortion because, as a secular memorial day, it divorces the tragedy of the Holocaust from its true context - the realization that this tzarah is part of a series of tzaros which are the consequences of national cheit. It is destined for harm because, as the Torah states and the Rambam elucidates, the more we fail as a community to use these tzaros as opportunities for teshuvah, the more tzaros will befall us as a result.

I received a severe backlash to this blog post - one of the harshest reactions I have received to any blog post I have written. The major objection was to "my" claim that the Holocaust was brought about by the sins of the Jewish people. (I refer to it as "my" claim - in quotation marks - because I was merely citing the Rambam, who is far more knowledgeable about such matters than I will ever be.) And this wasn't the only time I have met with this objection. I have brought up this point on several occasions throughout my career as a high school teacher, and have faced the same type of vehement opposition from students. Jews - especially the descendants of Holocaust survivors - do NOT like to be told that national catastrophes befall the Jewish people because of our own actions. 

Unfortunately, this problem has plagued us since the time of the first Churban. The entire Sefer Yirmiyahu - and indeed, many of the other prophetic books - is filled with countless examples of the Jewish people refusing to acknowledge their own accountability for the catastrophes that befell them. As the paytan says here, we prefer to focus on publicizing what happened to us instead of how we caused it to happen. It is easier for us to cope with the Holocaust by preaching "Never Forget" to the rest of the world than to look at ourselves and say, "Remember Hashem."

Perhaps is why the paytan wrote this kinnah in the manner that he did: getting the reader all riled up with anger and indignation about the terrible suffering we endured, and then doing a sudden 180 and pulling a Nosson ha'Navi maneuver, saying, "You are that man!" (II Shmuel 12:7). 

After reading and discussing this kinnah in shul today, my chavrusa asked, "Do you think we (i.e. the Jewish people) are ready to talk about the Holocaust in this way yet?" My answer is: "If not now, when?" (Avos 1:14). We conclude Eichah by asking, "Why do You ignore us eternally, forsake us for so long?" (Eichah 5:20) - as if the answer rests entirely in His hands. That is simply not true, as the very next pasuk says: "Return us to You, Hashem, and we shall return; renew our days as of old." If we make the effort to return to Hashem, He will help us in our teshuvah process, and restore us as in days of old. 

But if we are unwilling to even think of ourselves as having any culpability for our own fate, then what hope do we have? If year after year, and Tishah b'Av after Tishah b'Av go by, and we persevere in our unwillingness to look at ourselves and assess the ways in which we are at fault for our own suffering, then "woe unto us!"

May we all merit to use our Tishah b'Av's - along with all of the other fast days, and other mitzvos - in accordance with their intended purpose, so that we may return to Hashem, and be renewed as in days of old.