Lamentations in the era of #MeToo: War Porn? | Sefaria

Lamentations in the era of #MeToo: War Porn?

ByZahavit Shalev

Like a widow

איכה א׳:א׳-ב׳

(א) אֵיכָ֣ה ׀ יָשְׁבָ֣ה בָדָ֗ד הָעִיר֙ רַבָּ֣תִי עָ֔ם הָיְתָ֖ה כְּאַלְמָנָ֑ה רַּבָּ֣תִי בַגּוֹיִ֗ם שָׂרָ֙תִי֙ בַּמְּדִינ֔וֹת הָיְתָ֖ה לָמַֽס׃ (ס) (ב) בָּכ֨וֹ תִבְכֶּ֜ה בַּלַּ֗יְלָה וְדִמְעָתָהּ֙ עַ֣ל לֶֽחֱיָ֔הּ אֵֽין־לָ֥הּ מְנַחֵ֖ם מִכָּל־אֹהֲבֶ֑יהָ כָּל־רֵעֶ֙יהָ֙ בָּ֣גְדוּ בָ֔הּ הָ֥יוּ לָ֖הּ לְאֹיְבִֽים׃ (ס)

Lamentations 1:1-2

(1) Alas! Lonely sits the city Once great with people! She that was great among nations Is become like a widow; The princess among states Is become a thrall. (2) Bitterly she weeps in the night, Her cheek wet with tears. There is none to comfort her Of all her friends. All her allies have betrayed her; They have become her foes.

What is the root of the word [almanah]? Perhaps it is the same root as “silence, muteness” or “violence, strength” or “not having a portion”. - Jerusalem the Widow - Naomi Graetz (1999)

סנהדרין ק״ד א:ט״ו

(איכה א, א) היתה כאלמנה אמר רב יהודה אמר רב כאלמנה ולא אלמנה ממש אלא כאשה שהלך בעלה למדינת הים ודעתו לחזור אליה

Sanhedrin 104a:15

“She became like a widow” (Lamentations 1:1), Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Like a widow, but not an actual widow. Rather, Jerusalem is like a woman whose husband has gone to a country overseas, and yet he intends to return to her.

Another implication of being a "grass widow” or “like a widow” is that her widowhood is qualified: she cannot marry another man, nor can she live off her husband's earnings. So what is her actual status? It would seem she is a classic case of the agunah, the chained or anchored women, one whose husband is unaccounted for yet is not free to marry again. This is developed in a midrash - one of many - which draws an analogy (mashal) between God and a King who was angry at his wife and wrote her a bill of divorce.
The rabbis use this divorce scene as a “significant site for the discussion of the covenantal relationship” between God and the people. The king/God reneges and snatches back the writ, saying, “As long as you wish to remarry another you cannot, since you don't have your divorce decree.” On the other hand, he also says whenever she requests monetary support, “It's too bad, since I've already divorced you.” The analogy with God is that when the people wish to worship other gods, God says, “You are mine,” and when they ask God for a miracle to save them, God says, “but I've already divorced you.” - Naomi Graetz

The menstruant

איכה א׳:ח׳-ט׳

(ח) חֵ֤טְא חָֽטְאָה֙ יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם עַל־כֵּ֖ן לְנִידָ֣ה הָיָ֑תָה כָּֽל־מְכַבְּדֶ֤יהָ הִזִּיל֙וּהָ֙ כִּי־רָא֣וּ עֶרְוָתָ֔הּ גַּם־הִ֥יא נֶאֶנְחָ֖ה וַתָּ֥שָׁב אָחֽוֹר׃ (ס) (ט) טֻמְאָתָ֣הּ בְּשׁוּלֶ֗יהָ לֹ֤א זָֽכְרָה֙ אַחֲרִיתָ֔הּ וַתֵּ֣רֶד פְּלָאִ֔ים אֵ֥ין מְנַחֵ֖ם לָ֑הּ רְאֵ֤ה יְהוָה֙ אֶת־עָנְיִ֔י כִּ֥י הִגְדִּ֖יל אוֹיֵֽב׃ (ס)

Lamentations 1:8-9

(8) Jerusalem has greatly sinned, Therefore she is become a mockery. All who admired her despise her, For they have seen her disgraced; And she can only sigh And shrink back. (9) Her uncleanness clings to her skirts. She gave no thought to her future; She has sunk appallingly, With none to comfort her.— See, O LORD, my misery; How the enemy jeers!

Although the third-person narrator briefly adopts the menstrual image rather un- sympathetically as a metaphor for sin (“Jerusalem has surely sinned; therefore she has become an abhorrence”-verse 8), the image more often connotes weakness and isolation and is used to evoke sympathy. The poet himself becomes menstruant Jerusalem to accomplish catharsis of grief within a community weakened by defeat and isolated from its God. - Daughter Zion - Barbara Bakke Kaiser

איכה א׳:י״ז

(יז) פֵּֽרְשָׂ֨ה צִיּ֜וֹן בְּיָדֶ֗יהָ אֵ֤ין מְנַחֵם֙ לָ֔הּ צִוָּ֧ה יְהוָ֛ה לְיַעֲקֹ֖ב סְבִיבָ֣יו צָרָ֑יו הָיְתָ֧ה יְרוּשָׁלִַ֛ם לְנִדָּ֖ה בֵּינֵיהֶֽם׃ (ס)

Lamentations 1:17

(17) Zion spreads out her hands, She has no one to comfort her; The LORD has summoned against Jacob His enemies all about him; Jerusalem has become among them A thing unclean.

תענית כ׳ א:י׳

(איכה א, יז) היתה ירושלם לנדה ביניהם אמר רב יהודה אמר רב לברכה כנדה מה נדה יש לה היתר אף ירושלים יש לה תקנה

“Jerusalem among them was a like a menstruating woman” (Lamentations 1:17). Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: It can also be understood as a blessing: just as a menstruating woman will become permitted [after her period], so too, Jerusalem will be repaired.

In the first chapter of Lamentations, Lady Jerusalem refuses to accept the cold narrative report of her literary death. Instead, she interrupts the eyewitness twice to speak directly to YHWH (v9c and v11c). Employing languages found in the communal laments of the Psalter, she insists that YHWH take note of her distress. Her suffering motivates the disruption of the form of the dirge. These interruptions function on a number of levels. The first is to grasp onto what remains of life - not necessarily in hope, but in what is more akin to survival. The second is to circumvent the narrator in order to raise very personal and tragic concerns direct to the Deity. By interrupting the narrator and speaking past him to the Deity, Lady Jerusalem points to the important role YWHW can play in the alleviation of her distress and possibly also to YHWH’s complicity in it. Finally, these interjections shift the focus away from what is otherwise rather a factual account of the effects of the collapse on Jerusalem on the city itself (its walls, its roads, for example) and it inhabitants (young girls and noblemen among other.) Disaster has real consequences that these interjections of complaint capture more poignantly than a news report about them.
- “Speaking of Speaking: The Form of Zion’s Suffering in Lamentations” by Jill Middlemas in Daughter Zion: Her Portrait, Her Response edited by Mark J. Boda, Carol J. Dempsey, and LeAnn Snow Flesher, pp. 39-54.

She speaks

איכה א׳:י״א-י״ב

(יא) כָּל־עַמָּ֤הּ נֶאֱנָחִים֙ מְבַקְּשִׁ֣ים לֶ֔חֶם נָתְנ֧וּ מחמודיהם [מַחֲמַדֵּיהֶ֛ם] בְּאֹ֖כֶל לְהָשִׁ֣יב נָ֑פֶשׁ רְאֵ֤ה יְהוָה֙ וְֽהַבִּ֔יטָה כִּ֥י הָיִ֖יתִי זוֹלֵלָֽה׃ (ס) (יב) ל֣וֹא אֲלֵיכֶם֮ כָּל־עֹ֣בְרֵי דֶרֶךְ֒ הַבִּ֣יטוּ וּרְא֗וּ אִם־יֵ֤שׁ מַכְאוֹב֙ כְּמַכְאֹבִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֥ר עוֹלַ֖ל לִ֑י אֲשֶׁר֙ הוֹגָ֣ה יְהוָ֔ה בְּי֖וֹם חֲר֥וֹן אַפּֽוֹ׃ (ס)

Lamentations 1:11-12

(11) All her inhabitants sigh As they search for bread; They have bartered their treasures for food, To keep themselves alive.— See, O LORD, and behold, How abject I have become! (12) May it never befall you, All who pass along the road— Look about and see: Is there any agony like mine, Which was dealt out to me When the LORD afflicted me On His day of wrath?

The persona is not to be thought of as a fiction. It is a creative procedure in the displacement of the poet’s imagination beyond the limitations of a single viewpoint so that he may gain a manifold insight into the human experience. The poet’s manifold creative insight then becomes the ground by which the reader achieve a more powerful perception of the creative situation. [ ]
The most obvious example of the existence of persona the Book of Lamentations appears in the first two chapters during which Jerusalem speaks in her own voice. Obviously, the city of Jerusalem cannot speak except in some figurative sense, but is it precisely this personification of the city which expresses the anguish of these verses. However Jerusalem does not merely register a community complaint as a political abstraction; it characterises itself as a particular woman whose specific feelings are embodied in a certain texture of imagery.
- “The Speaking Voice in the Book of Lamentations” by William F. Lanahan, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 93, No. 1 (Mar., 1974), pp. 41-49.

Punishment

איכה א׳:י״ד-ט״ז

(יד) נִשְׂקַד֩ עֹ֨ל פְּשָׁעַ֜י בְּיָד֗וֹ יִשְׂתָּֽרְג֛וּ עָל֥וּ עַל־צַוָּארִ֖י הִכְשִׁ֣יל כֹּחִ֑י נְתָנַ֣נִי אֲדֹנָ֔י בִּידֵ֖י לֹא־אוּכַ֥ל קֽוּם׃ (ס) (טו) סִלָּ֨ה כָל־אַבִּירַ֤י ׀ אֲדֹנָי֙ בְּקִרְבִּ֔י קָרָ֥א עָלַ֛י מוֹעֵ֖ד לִשְׁבֹּ֣ר בַּחוּרָ֑י גַּ֚ת דָּרַ֣ךְ אֲדֹנָ֔י לִבְתוּלַ֖ת בַּת־יְהוּדָֽה׃ (ס) (טז) עַל־אֵ֣לֶּה ׀ אֲנִ֣י בוֹכִיָּ֗ה עֵינִ֤י ׀ עֵינִי֙ יֹ֣רְדָה מַּ֔יִם כִּֽי־רָחַ֥ק מִמֶּ֛נִּי מְנַחֵ֖ם מֵשִׁ֣יב נַפְשִׁ֑י הָי֤וּ בָנַי֙ שֽׁוֹמֵמִ֔ים כִּ֥י גָבַ֖ר אוֹיֵֽב׃ (ס)

Lamentations 1:14-16

(14) The yoke of my offenses is bound fast, Lashed tight by His hand; Imposed upon my neck, It saps my strength; The Lord has delivered me into the hands Of those I cannot withstand. (15) The Lord in my midst has rejected All my heroes; He has proclaimed a set time against me To crush my young men. As in a press the Lord has trodden Fair Maiden Judah. (16) For these things do I weep, My eyes flow with tears: Far from me is any comforter Who might revive my spirit; My children are forlorn, For the foe has prevailed.

She is bringing a countersuit against YHWH, for which the people are called to be witnesses [ ] She demands that people take account of her perspective ask an alternative to the previous wors spoken against her. Her point is that the enormity of her suffering works to mitigate her guilt: priests and elders have starved (1:19), warriors have been crushed (1:15), her children have gone into exile (1:5, 18), mothers are bereft (2:12) and her institutions have been obliterated (2:6-7). Daughter Zion may have been unfaithful but how does that stack up against the wholesale slaughter of a people, a genocide to which God himself admits responsibility through prophetic texts?
- “Daughter Zion Finds Her Voice” in Daughter Zion Talks Back to the Prophets:A Dialogic Theology of the Book of Lamentations by Carleen Mandolfo

Bitterness

איכה א׳:י״ח-כ׳

(יח) צַדִּ֥יק ה֛וּא יְהוָ֖ה כִּ֣י פִ֣יהוּ מָרִ֑יתִי שִׁמְעוּ־נָ֣א כָל־עמים [הָֽעַמִּ֗ים] וּרְאוּ֙ מַכְאֹבִ֔י בְּתוּלֹתַ֥י וּבַחוּרַ֖י הָלְכ֥וּ בַשֶּֽׁבִי׃ (ס) (יט) קָרָ֤אתִי לַֽמְאַהֲבַי֙ הֵ֣מָּה רִמּ֔וּנִי כֹּהֲנַ֥י וּזְקֵנַ֖י בָּעִ֣יר גָּוָ֑עוּ כִּֽי־בִקְשׁ֥וּ אֹ֙כֶל֙ לָ֔מוֹ וְיָשִׁ֖יבוּ אֶת־נַפְשָֽׁם׃ (ס) (כ) רְאֵ֨ה יְהוָ֤ה כִּֽי־צַר־לִי֙ מֵעַ֣י חֳמַרְמָ֔רוּ נֶהְפַּ֤ךְ לִבִּי֙ בְּקִרְבִּ֔י כִּ֥י מָר֖וֹ מָרִ֑יתִי מִח֥וּץ שִׁכְּלָה־חֶ֖רֶב בַּבַּ֥יִת כַּמָּֽוֶת׃ (ס)

Lamentations 1:18-20

(18) The LORD is in the right, For I have disobeyed Him. Hear, all you peoples, And behold my agony: My maidens and my youths Have gone into captivity! (19) I cried out to my friends, But they played me false. My priests and my elders Have perished in the city As they searched for food To keep themselves alive. (20) See, O LORD, the distress I am in! My heart is in anguish, I know how wrong I was To disobey. Outside the sword deals death; Indoors, the plague.

Children suffering

איכה א׳:ה׳

(ה) הָי֨וּ צָרֶ֤יהָ לְרֹאשׁ֙ אֹיְבֶ֣יהָ שָׁל֔וּ כִּֽי־יְהוָ֥ה הוֹגָ֖הּ עַ֣ל רֹב־פְּשָׁעֶ֑יהָ עוֹלָלֶ֛יהָ הָלְכ֥וּ שְׁבִ֖י לִפְנֵי־צָֽר׃ (ס)

Lamentations 1:5

(5) Her enemies are now the masters, Her foes are at ease, Because the LORD has afflicted her For her many transgressions; Her infants have gone into captivity Before the enemy.

איכה א׳:י״ח

(יח) צַדִּ֥יק ה֛וּא יְהוָ֖ה כִּ֣י פִ֣יהוּ מָרִ֑יתִי שִׁמְעוּ־נָ֣א כָל־עמים [הָֽעַמִּ֗ים] וּרְאוּ֙ מַכְאֹבִ֔י בְּתוּלֹתַ֥י וּבַחוּרַ֖י הָלְכ֥וּ בַשֶּֽׁבִי׃ (ס)

Lamentations 1:18

(18) The LORD is in the right, For I have disobeyed Him. Hear, all you peoples, And behold my agony: My maidens and my youths Have gone into captivity!

That brings us directly to the heart of the matter: the inseparable linkage between laments and motherhood. Laments are above all about separation and the severing of ties between mothers and their children, or other relationships often configured as ties between mothers and their children. It may not be an exaggeration to suggest that it is exactly the harsh contrast between the intuitive, wished-for inseparability of the mother-child relationship and the finality of the separation caused by death that constitutes the bleeding heart, the burning epicenter of laments. And thus, in an inverse move, lament proves to be all about life (cf. Dobbs-Allsopp 2002, 2). - Bodies Performing in Ruins: The Lamenting Mother in Ancient Hebrew Texts by Galit Hasan-Rokem

bat = daughter?

איכה ב׳:א׳-ב׳

(א) אֵיכָה֩ יָעִ֨יב בְּאַפּ֤וֹ ׀ אֲדֹנָי֙ אֶת־בַּת־צִיּ֔וֹן הִשְׁלִ֤יךְ מִשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ אֶ֔רֶץ תִּפְאֶ֖רֶת יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְלֹא־זָכַ֥ר הֲדֹם־רַגְלָ֖יו בְּי֥וֹם אַפּֽוֹ׃ (ס) (ב) בִּלַּ֨ע אֲדֹנָ֜י לא [וְלֹ֣א] חָמַ֗ל אֵ֚ת כָּל־נְא֣וֹת יַעֲקֹ֔ב הָרַ֧ס בְּעֶבְרָת֛וֹ מִבְצְרֵ֥י בַת־יְהוּדָ֖ה הִגִּ֣יעַ לָאָ֑רֶץ חִלֵּ֥ל מַמְלָכָ֖ה וְשָׂרֶֽיהָ׃ (ס)

Lamentations 2:1-2

(1) Alas! The Lord in His wrath Has shamed Fair Zion, Has cast down from heaven to earth The majesty of Israel. He did not remember His Footstool On His day of wrath. (2) The Lord has laid waste without pity All the habitations of Jacob; He has razed in His anger Fair Judah’s strongholds. He has brought low in dishonor The kingdom and its leaders.

Certainly Daughter Zion in an emotional character. Her tears flow freely in the first two chapters. She mourns, despair, shouts and moans. Scholars interpret Daughter Zion’s physical displays of emotion light of similar displays exhibited by the weeping goddesses found throughout Mesopotamian lament literature. Like the goddess Ningal who laments of the destruction of her city Ur and her temple, Daughter Zion weeps over her destroyed city and temple. The comparison between Daughter Zion and the weeping goddess provides an insight into the power and purpose of her tears, Goddesses weep in order to appeal to, accuse, and perhaps appease the god responsible for the destruction. The their tears are not a spontaneous expression of emotional weakness and vulnerability, but are part of a calculated strategy of intervention.
- “Their Heart Cried Out to God: Gender and Prayer in the Book of Lamentations” by Amy Kalmanofsky in A Question of Sex: Gender and Difference in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond edited by Deborah W. Rooke, pp. 53-65.

Maternal cannibalism

איכה ב׳:י״א-י״ב

(יא) כָּל֨וּ בַדְּמָע֤וֹת עֵינַי֙ חֳמַרְמְר֣וּ מֵעַ֔י נִשְׁפַּ֤ךְ לָאָ֙רֶץ֙ כְּבֵדִ֔י עַל־שֶׁ֖בֶר בַּת־עַמִּ֑י בֵּֽעָטֵ֤ף עוֹלֵל֙ וְיוֹנֵ֔ק בִּרְחֹב֖וֹת קִרְיָֽה׃ (ס) (יב) לְאִמֹּתָם֙ יֹֽאמְר֔וּ אַיֵּ֖ה דָּגָ֣ן וָיָ֑יִן בְּהִֽתְעַטְּפָ֤ם כֶּֽחָלָל֙ בִּרְחֹב֣וֹת עִ֔יר בְּהִשְׁתַּפֵּ֣ךְ נַפְשָׁ֔ם אֶל־חֵ֖יק אִמֹּתָֽם׃ (ס)

Lamentations 2:11-12

(11) My eyes are spent with tears, My heart is in tumult, My being melts away Over the ruin of my poor people, As babes and sucklings languish In the squares of the city. (12) They keep asking their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” As they languish like battle-wounded In the squares of the town, As their life runs out In their mothers’ bosoms.

איכה ב׳:י״ט-כ״ב

(יט) ק֣וּמִי ׀ רֹ֣נִּי בליל [בַלַּ֗יְלָה] לְרֹאשׁ֙ אַשְׁמֻר֔וֹת שִׁפְכִ֤י כַמַּ֙יִם֙ לִבֵּ֔ךְ נֹ֖כַח פְּנֵ֣י אֲדֹנָ֑י שְׂאִ֧י אֵלָ֣יו כַּפַּ֗יִךְ עַל־נֶ֙פֶשׁ֙ עֽוֹלָלַ֔יִךְ הָעֲטוּפִ֥ים בְּרָעָ֖ב בְּרֹ֥אשׁ כָּל־חוּצֽוֹת׃ (ס) (כ) רְאֵ֤ה יְהוָה֙ וְֽהַבִּ֔יטָה לְמִ֖י עוֹלַ֣לְתָּ כֹּ֑ה אִם־תֹּאכַ֨לְנָה נָשִׁ֤ים פִּרְיָם֙ עֹלֲלֵ֣י טִפֻּחִ֔ים אִם־יֵהָרֵ֛ג בְּמִקְדַּ֥שׁ אֲדֹנָ֖י כֹּהֵ֥ן וְנָבִֽיא׃ (ס) (כא) שָׁכְב֨וּ לָאָ֤רֶץ חוּצוֹת֙ נַ֣עַר וְזָקֵ֔ן בְּתוּלֹתַ֥י וּבַחוּרַ֖י נָפְל֣וּ בֶחָ֑רֶב הָרַ֙גְתָּ֙ בְּי֣וֹם אַפֶּ֔ךָ טָבַ֖חְתָּ לֹ֥א חָמָֽלְתָּ׃ (ס) (כב) תִּקְרָא֩ כְי֨וֹם מוֹעֵ֤ד מְגוּרַי֙ מִסָּבִ֔יב וְלֹ֥א הָיָ֛ה בְּי֥וֹם אַף־יְהוָ֖ה פָּלִ֣יט וְשָׂרִ֑יד אֲשֶׁר־טִפַּ֥חְתִּי וְרִבִּ֖יתִי אֹיְבִ֥י כִלָּֽם׃ (פ)

Lamentations 2:19-22

(19) Arise, cry out in the night At the beginning of the watches, Pour out your heart like water In the presence of the Lord! Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your infants, Who faint for hunger At every street corner. (20) See, O LORD, and behold, To whom You have done this! Alas, women eat their own fruit, Their new-born babes! Alas, priest and prophet are slain In the Sanctuary of the Lord! (21) Prostrate in the streets lie Both young and old. My maidens and youths Are fallen by the sword; You slew them on Your day of wrath, You slaughtered without pity. (22) You summoned, as on a festival, My neighbors from roundabout. On the day of the wrath of the LORD, None survived or escaped; Those whom I bore and reared My foe has consumed.