Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
Book of Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...
The midrash is quoted, perhaps for the first time, by R. Hananeel under the name "Aggadat Eichah." Many passages are quoted by R. Nathan, who invariably calls the work "Megillat Eichah." The term "Eichah Rabbati," which is general even now, is used to designate the many extracts in
Yalkut Shimoni
The ''Yalkut Shimoni'' ( he, ילקוט שמעוני), or simply ''Yalkut'', is an aggadic compilation on the books of the Hebrew Bible. It is a compilation of older interpretations and explanations of Biblical passages, arranged according to the ...
which have been included with the other Biblical books. In ''Eichah Rabbah'' itself the sources are almost always missing. The names "Midrash Eichah," "Midrash Kinot," "Megillat Kinot," are also found in the old authors. In Yalkut Shimoni there are likewise long extracts from a Midrash on Lamentations published under the name "Midrash Zutta".
Contents
The work begins with 36 consecutive
proems
__NOTOC__
A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a ''foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes ...
forming a separate collection, certainly made by the author of the Midrash. They constitute more than one quarter of the work These proems and, perhaps, most of the annotations, which are arranged in the sequence of the verses, originated in the discourses of which, in olden times, the
Book of Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...
had been the subject. The
aggadic
Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, ...
explanation of this book—which is a dirge on the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem and the national destruction that came along with it—was treated by scholars as especially appropriate to the
Ninth of Av
Tisha B'Av ( he, תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב ''Tīšʿā Bəʾāv''; , ) is an annual fast day in Judaism, on which a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian E ...
, to the day of the destruction of the Temple, and to the evening before Tisha BeAv.
The Proems
The sources from which Yerushalmi drew must have been accessible to the author of ''Eichah Rabbah'', which was certainly edited some time after the completion of the former, and which probably borrowed from it. In the same way older collections must have served as the common source for ''Eichah Rabbah'', '' Bereshit Rabbah'', and especially for the ''
Pesiḳta de-Rab Kahana
Pesikta de-Rab Kahana (Hebrew: פסיקתא דרב כהנא) is a collection of aggadic midrash which exists in two editions, those of Solomon Buber (Lyck, 1868) and Bernard Mandelbaum (1962). It is cited in the ''Arukh'' and by Rashi.
The name
...
''. The aggadic comment on
Hosea
In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; he, הוֹשֵׁעַ – ''Hōšēaʿ'', 'Salvation'; gr, Ὡσηέ – ''Hōsēé''), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BCE prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the ...
6:7 appears earlier as a proem to a discourse on
Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...
, and is included among the proems in this Midrash as a comment on
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
3:9. The close of this proem, which serves as a connecting link with
Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...
1:1, is found also in the Pesiḳta as the first proem to pericope 15 (p. 119a) to
Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
1:21, the
Hafṭarah
The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', he, הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave", (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros'') is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Prop ...
for the Sabbath before the
Ninth of Ab
Tisha B'Av ( he, תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב ''Tīšʿā Bəʾāv''; , ) is an annual fast day in Judaism, on which a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian ...
.
The same is the case with the second and fourth proems in the ''Pesiḳta'', which are identical with the fourth and third (according to the correct enumeration) of the proems to ''Eichah Rabbah''; the fifth in the ''Pesiḳta'' (120b-121b), which corresponds to the second in this Midrash, has a defective ending. With a change in the final sentences, the first proem in ''Eichah Rabbah'' is used as a proem in the ''Pesiḳta'' pericope 11 (110a), and with a change of the proem text and of its close, proem 10 (9) of ''Eichah Rabbah'' is found as a proem in the Pesiḳta pericope 19 (137b).
On the other hand, there is found embodied in the exposition of
Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...
1:2, "she weepeth sore in the night," etc., a whole proem, the text of which is
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
78:7 et seq., "I remember my lute-playing in the night," etc.; this proem contains also the final sentence which serves as introduction to the section
Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
49:14, and it is known from the ''Pesiḳta'' pericope 17 to be a proem to a discourse on this section, which is intended for the second "consolatory Sabbath" after the
Ninth of Av
Tisha B'Av ( he, תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב ''Tīšʿā Bəʾāv''; , ) is an annual fast day in Judaism, on which a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian E ...
. From this, it becomes evident that the collector of the ''Eichah Rabbah'' used the aggadic exposition—found in the ''Pesiḳta'' fulfilling its original purpose—as a comment on Lamentations 1:2. The same is true of the commentary to Lamentations 1:21 for which there was used a proem on the Pesiḳta section Isaiah 51:12, intended originally for the fourth Sabbath after the Ninth of Av, and a section which had for its text this verse of Lamentations (pericope 19, p. 138a); and also in regard to the comment to Lamentations 3:39, which consists of a proem of the Pesiḳta pericope 18 (p. 130b).
But the author also added four proems from Eichah Rabbah itself (29, 18, 19, 31, according to the correct enumeration), retaining the introductory formula ר ... פתח, as a commentary to Lamentations 3:1,14,15; 4:12. The opinion set forth in the introduction to Buber's critical edition that the arrangement of the proems at the beginning of the work was made by a later editor, who included the marked comments of the Midrash as proems, and who, after prefixing the introductory formula to a comment on the
Midrash Ḳohelet
Ecclesiastes Rabbah or Kohelet Rabbah (Hebrew: קהלת רבה) is an aggadic commentary on Ecclesiastes, included in the collection of the Midrash Rabbot. It follows the biblical book verse by verse, only a few verses remaining without commentary ...
12:1 et seq., used it as a proem for Eichah Rabbah 24 (23), is entirely wrong. There can be no doubt that precisely the opposite process has taken place. The entire interpretation in
Ecclesiastes Rabbah
Ecclesiastes Rabbah or Kohelet Rabbah (Hebrew: קהלת רבה) is an aggadic commentary on Ecclesiastes, included in the collection of the Midrash Rabbot. It follows the biblical book verse by verse, only a few verses remaining without commentary ...
12:1-7, which consists of two versions, is composed of two proems—that in
Vayikra Rabbah
Leviticus Rabbah, Vayikrah Rabbah, or Wayiqra Rabbah is a homiletic midrash to the Biblical book of Leviticus (''Vayikrah'' in Hebrew). It is referred to by Nathan ben Jehiel (c. 1035–1106) in his ''Arukh'' as well as by Rashi (1040–1105) ...
and the proem in this Midrash. The numberless proems originating in the
synagogal
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worsh ...
discourses of the earliest times must be regarded as the richest source upon which the collectors of the midrashim could draw.
Running commentary and stories
In the part of Eichah Rabbah which contains the running commentary to the
Book of Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...
, the character of interpretation is on the whole the same as in Bereshit Rabbah. Side by side with the simple interpretation of sentences and words, and with various midrashic explanations dating from different authors (whose comments are placed in juxtaposition), the Midrash contains
aggadic
Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, ...
passages having some sort of relation to the verse. For example, in connection with the words "at the beginning of the watches" (Lamentations 2:19) is introduced the whole discussion of Yerushalmi on the statement of the
Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
, "to the end of the first watch"; in connection with the words "let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in heaven" (3:41) is introduced a story from Yerushalmi
Taanit
A ta'anit or ta'anis ( Mishnaic Hebrew: תענית) is a fast in Judaism in which one abstains from all food and drink, including water.
Purposes
A Jewish fast may have one or more purposes, including:
* Atonement for sins: Fasting is not consi ...
65a, telling how R.
Abba bar Zabda
ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group' ...
preached on this verse during a fast-day service.
It is not strange that for similar expressions, such as "en lo . . ." and "lo matz'ah manoah" occurring in Lam. 1:2, 3, and
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
8:9, 11:30, ''Eichah Rabbah'' uses the explanations of
Bereishit Rabbah
Genesis Rabbah (Hebrew: , ''B'reshith Rabba'') is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical inter ...
38 and 33,end; or that in the ''Eichah Rabbah'' the same
aggadah
Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, ...
is found three times (to explain the three passages Lamentations 1:1, 2:4, and 2:5, in each of which the word "like" occurs; or that the same comment is applied to 3:53 and 3:56; or that a sentence of R. Simeon b. Laḳish is used five times; or that the explanation for reversing the order and putting the letter פ before ע is given twice.
Eichah Rabbah comments on every verse in Lamentations, except a few verses in chapter 3. To some verses (2:20, 3:51, 4:13,18,19) are added the stories to which they were referred, even though they are also found in the large collections on 2:2 and 1:16: "For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water." These collections, as well as the long passage on 1:5 ("her enemies prosper"), giving so many accounts of the sufferings of Israel, including the times of the First and Second Temples and the fateful
Bar Kochba revolt
The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Roman province of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, aga ...
, are the most impressive in Eichah Rabbah; they form an integral part of the work, like the interesting sagas and stories to Lamentations 1:1 on the greatness of the city of Jerusalem and the intelligence of her inhabitants.
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
are contrasted in ten stories. The Scriptural words "the populous city, the city great among the nations," are vividly interpreted in the Midrash as meaning "great in intelligence." In connection with "the sons of Zion, the splendid ones" (4:2), the Midrash tells of social and domestic customs. The stories of ''Eichah Rabbah'' fill over fifteen columns of the Venice edition (about eleven in the first chapter), and include more than one-fourth of the midrashic comments (without the proems). Without these stories the differences in size of the several chapters would have been less apparent, even if (as was perhaps the case) the first chapter, in the form in which the author knew it, offered more opportunity for comments than did the other chapters.
From this, Zunz erroneously concluded that "the last sections were added later"; and, furthermore, "that the completion of the whole work must not be placed before the second half of the seventh century," because
Zunz Zunz ( he, צוּנְץ, yi, צונץ) is a Yiddish surname:
* (1874–1939), Belgian pharmacologist
* Sir Gerhard Jack Zunz (1923–2018), British civil engineer
* Leopold Zunz (Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz) (1794–1886), German Reform rabbi an ...
concludes that the empire of the Arabians is referred to even in a passage of the first chapter. However, according to a reading of
S. Buber
Solomon (or Salomon) Buber (2 February 1827 – 28 December 1906) was a Jewish Galician scholar and editor of Hebrew works. He is especially remembered for his editions of Midrash and other medieval Jewish manuscripts, and for the pioneering res ...
's editionp. 39a (which is the only correct one as shown by the context), Seir, not Ishmael, is mentioned in connection with Edom in this passage to 1:14. Zunz' other arguments likewise fail to prove such a late date for the Midrash, especially since Zunz himself concludes that the authorities mentioned therein by name are not later than Yerushalmi. All that can be definitely stated is that ''Eichah Rabbah'' was edited after the completion of the Yerushalmi, and that '' Bereshit Rabbah'' must also be considered as of earlier date, not so much because it was drawn upon, as because of the character of the proem collection in ''Eichah Rabbah''. Like Bereshit Rabbah, Eichah Rabbah is of
Judean
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sout ...
origin, and rich in foreign words, especially
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
.
It certainly is not strange that the "Vive domine imperator!" with which R. Johanan b. Zakkai is said to have approached
Vespasian
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...
in his camp, should have been reproduced. The same phrase was likewise transmitted in
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
form, in Buber's edition and in the ''
Arukh
Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome (Hebrew: נתן בן יחיאל מרומי; ''Nathan ben Y'ḥiel Mi Romi'' according to Sephardic pronunciation) ( 1035 – 1106) was a Jewish Italian lexicographer. He authored the Arukh, a notable dictionary of Talmud ...
''.
References
*
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
*Earliest editions of the ''Midrash Eichah'' in the ''Midrashim on the Five Megillot'', Pesaro, 1519; Constantinople, 1520; in the complete editions of the '' Rabbot to Pent. and Megillot'', Venice, 1545; Cracow, 1587; Salonica, 1594;
*Eichah Rabbati, ed.
S. Buber
Solomon (or Salomon) Buber (2 February 1827 – 28 December 1906) was a Jewish Galician scholar and editor of Hebrew works. He is especially remembered for his editions of Midrash and other medieval Jewish manuscripts, and for the pioneering res ...
, specially valuable for its commentary and introduction, Wilna, 1899: the text differs largely from that of previous editions in being inferior, having at times the character of another recension, whole passages being summarized in some cases; on other MSS. compare Buber, Introduction, pp. 37b et seq.;
*
Zunz Zunz ( he, צוּנְץ, yi, צונץ) is a Yiddish surname:
* (1874–1939), Belgian pharmacologist
* Sir Gerhard Jack Zunz (1923–2018), British civil engineer
* Leopold Zunz (Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz) (1794–1886), German Reform rabbi an ...
, G. V. pp. 179–181;
*
J.L. Rapoport
Solomon Judah Löb HaKohen Rapoport ( he, שלמה יהודה כהן רפאפורט; June 1, 1786 – October 15, 1867) was a Galician and Czech rabbi and Jewish scholar.
Rapoport was known by an acronym "Shir", שי"ר occasionally שי ...
, Erek Millin, pp. 252 et seq.,
*
Weiss, Dor
Isaac (Isaak) Hirsch Weiss, also Eisik Hirsch Weiss () (9 February 1815 – 1 June 1905), was an Austrian Talmudist and historian of literature born at Groß Meseritsch, Habsburg Moravia.
After having received elementary instruction in Hebrew ...
Dor we-Dorshaw, iii. 262 et seq.;
*Winter and Wünsche, Die Jüdische Litteratur, i. 543–554;
*
W. Bacher
Wilhelm Bacher ( hu, Bacher Vilmos; yi, בִּנְיָמִין־זְאֵב בּאַככֿר, he, בִּנְיָמִין־זְאֵב בכר ''Benjamin Ze'ev Bacher''; 12 January 1850 – 25 December 1913)Jew. Encyc. iii. 62, s.v. Bereshit Rabbah.
Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...