Introduction: The Verse Before Us
We find ourselves in chapter 1 of Megillat Eicha, at verse 10. Until now, the author of the lament described the destruction, the exile, and the loneliness; here, he touches upon the most painful point of all: the enemy reaches out his hand against the sanctities of Israel, while the people of Israel stand aside and do not react. The words of the commentators and the Midrashim we will explore revolve around this verse, and they all point to one question: How did this happen, and how is it possible that they did not rise up?
יָדוֹ פָּרַשׂ צָר עַל כׇּל מַחֲמַדֶּיהָ, כִּי רָאֲתָה גוֹיִם בָּאוּ מִקְדָּשָׁהּ, אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתָה לֹא יָבֹאוּ בַקָּהָל לָךְ׃ - The adversary has stretched out his hand over all her treasures; for she has seen nations enter her Sanctuary, of whom You commanded that they should not enter into Your congregation.
"The Adversary Stretched Out His Hand" - Without Effort
The author of the lament states: The enemy did not need to exert himself too much. "The adversary stretched out his hand" - he merely reached out his hand, and immediately laid it upon all her treasures. No great effort was required here, neither a siege nor a battle over every corner; one reach of the hand, and everything was in his grasp.
Why Did They Not Rise Up?
And if you ask: Why did they not stand up against him? How could they watch him enter so easily and not confront him? To this the verse responds: "For she has seen nations enter her Sanctuary, of whom You commanded that they should not enter into Your congregation." Who entered here? Ammon and Moab, those concerning whom it is said, "they shall not enter into your congregation" - and suddenly they come into the Sanctuary. The lowest of the low conquer the most exalted and elevated place. It could be nothing other than a decree from Heaven. And since this was so, they concluded that there was no point in rising up or rebelling, for against the will of Heaven, no action can avail.
The Thief in the King's House
This explanation originates in the Akeidat Yitzchak, and similarly explains the Binyan David: The verse gives us the reason why "the adversary stretched out his hand over all her treasures." Could one ever imagine that a thief would dare to enter deep inside the king's house? If he steals, he steals outside, or steals from the storehouses; but to reach out his hand against all the palace's treasures while the master is at home? Rather, the explanation is that when the thief sees people wandering freely in the palace and doing as they please, he understands that the King is not at home - and if the Master is not at home, he too can enter.
And this is what is meant by "the adversary stretched out his hand over all her treasures" - they took the Cherubim from the Holy of Holies. And why? Because they saw the nations enter her Sanctuary, those about whom it was commanded "they shall not enter into your congregation," boasting: Here, we have entered! That very place from which the sons of Aharon were carried out burned; that place into which only the Kohen Gadol entered, and if someone was unworthy, he would be pulled out by a chain - and suddenly they see impure and abominable gentiles able to enter there. If so, they realized that this place had already lost its exalted status, lost its sanctity, and therefore the adversary allowed himself to stretch forth his hand. Had he seen the place still standing in its sanctity, what thief would dare enter the most elevated and holy place? But once they saw "nations enter her Sanctuary," they understood that entry was permitted: anyone could enter, anyone could take whatever he wished.
Another Explanation: The Houses Were Left Vulnerable
There is another explanation of "the adversary stretched out his hand over all her treasures": The people of Jerusalem saw the Beit HaMikdash being destroyed, and seeing this, they no longer spared their wealth or their houses; rather, they immediately ran to defend the Beit HaMikdash. And why? "For she has seen nations enter her Sanctuary, of whom You commanded that they should not enter into Your congregation." And because they ran to defend the Beit HaMikdash, the adversary stretched out his hand over their treasures - over the wealth of Israel. Since they abandoned their houses to defend the Mikdash, the houses remained vacant, vulnerable, and exposed, and the enemy came and took their homes.
Ibn Ezra: The Turning of the Wheel
Ibn Ezra explains that here the author of the lament intends to emphasize: Ammon and Moab were exceedingly cruel, refusing to greet the people of Israel with bread and water when they came out of Egypt - even though Avraham Avinu had sustained and provided for their ancestor, Lot, helping him and rescuing him from the upheaval of Sodom. Despite all this, they did not greet us with bread and water. And now, see how the wheel has turned: those of whom it was said, "they shall not enter your congregation," because of their cruel character traits, are, in this great upheaval, the very ones who come and plunder our wealth. Those whom we ostracized, telling them they could never be accepted among us - the lowest and most degraded - now lord over us and seize our possessions. Through this, Israel recognized that this decree was indeed a decree of Hashem.
The Midrash: Ammon and Moab Ran to the Sefer Torah
Chazal say, and so cites the Lechem Dimah: You find that when the enemies entered the Beit HaMikdash, Ammonites and Moabites entered with them. Everyone else ran to plunder silver and gold, but the Ammonites and Moabites ran to plunder the Torah, in order to uproot the verse, "An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter the congregation of Hashem." Listen to what the Midrash says: Everyone else is running - one to take the Menorah, another the Keruvim, another fire pans, silver, and gold, for the Beit HaMikdash was filled with treasures. But Ammon and Moab ask: Where is the Sefer Torah? Nothing else interests them, only where the Sefer Torah is - so they can take a knife and cut out what is written there: "An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter the congregation of Hashem." A stain of everlasting contempt, and they wanted to cut it out of the Sefer Torah.
Rabbi Shimon said in the name of Reish Lakish bar Parta: To what can this be compared? To a fire that broke out in a king's palace. Everyone ran to plunder silver and gold, but a slave ran to plunder his bill of sale - his document of slavery. What does the slave go to take? The document. Why? Because the moment he seizes it, it is over; he is no longer a slave. Who knows if the document will burn or not; he wants to seize it to be certain. Such were the Ammonites and the Moabites.
The Power of a Document: A Story of the Rebbe of Kretchnif
A story is told of the previous Rebbe of Kretchnif, about whom a book was recently published - a deeply holy man who passed away at the age of forty-four. Wondrous deeds are recounted of him. Once, a woman brought a rooster to him for shechitah, to serve as a kapparah. At home there was nothing to eat, so the Rebbetzin said to one of the Chassidim: Go and ask if we may take the rooster for slaughter, so that there will be food for Shabbat. The Rebbe said to him: You may take it, but it will not turn out kosher. They brought it to the shochet, and just as he prepared to slaughter it, the rooster escaped from his hands and became a treifah. They were stunned. The shochet felt terribly embarrassed, so he went to his refrigerator, brought a chicken of his own, and said: Bring this to the Rebbe in place of the rooster that was invalidated. They returned to the Rebbe and asked: How did the Rebbe know in advance that it would not turn out kosher? He replied: I saw that the soul within it had not yet reached its rectification.
It is further related that a woman who suffered from a severe pancreatic illness came to receive his blessing. He saw her condition and blessed her with long life and complete recovery. She said: I want this in writing from the Rebbe. She was not satisfied until he wrote it down for her - that he blessed her with long life and good health. She left, and for years she remained fully healthy. Years passed, and she fell ill again with the same disease. At that very time, the yahrtzeit of the Rebbe, who had since passed away, arrived, and his son went up to the gravesite. A relative of the woman recounted: I took the document and went to the Rebbe's son, asking him to pray at his father's grave, since the illness had returned and I held the Rebbe's written promise in hand. The son told him: If you have a check from my father, you can be at peace. My father's checks do not bounce without cause. There is no need to pray, no need for anything. And indeed, the woman recovered, and the doctors told her: You should know, this is one in a million - only one in a million survives pancreatic illness in such a state.
Years passed, and the woman fell ill once again. That same relative related: We turned the house upside down searching for the Rebbe's check, that written document; wherever we looked, we could not find it. Then we knew that the decree was sealed, and indeed so it was, and she passed away to her eternal rest. As long as she possessed the document, she had a valid check in hand and there was no cause for worry, for the Rebbe's checks did not bounce. And this is precisely what the parable describes: The slave runs to search for the document - give me my deed of servitude; I will tear it up and go free! So too with the nations: while everyone else ran to plunder silver and gold, Ammon and Moab went searching for the Sefer Torah, to scrape away, erase, and tear out the words, "An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter the congregation of Hashem."
What Were They Thinking?
This is truly astonishing. Granted, you erased it from one Sefer Torah - now you have one Sefer Torah without "An Ammonite shall not enter." Are there no other Sifrei Torah in the world? Do we not have "An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter the congregation of Hashem" written in our Sifrei Torah today? What were they thinking? What crossed their minds when they ran to erase it from the Sefer Torah?
The Lechem Dimah explains, as does the Alshich, that they wanted to prove a point: Look, we enter His Sanctuary, take His Sefer Torah, and tear portions out of it - and does He react? Does He do anything? Nothing at all. And what does this show? That He possesses no power, and that there is no meaning to what is written in His Torah. For if there were meaning - someone enters your house, tears words out of your Torah, and why do you not rise up? If You do not rise up, it proves that You lack the power; and if there is no power, there is no longer any meaning to what is written in the rest of the Sifrei Torah. If a man who does not have a penny to his name promises you a million dollars, are you impressed by that? Could you buy breakfast with his promise? If the Master of the Universe is incapable of defending His own house, it must be - so they reasoned - that there is no validity to what He wrote in His Torah. That was their intent; it is not to be understood literally, as if erasing it from one scroll would erase it from all Torah scrolls everywhere. Rather, their point was: Look, Hashem has no power to stop us, and therefore there is no significance to what He wrote in His Torah. What they failed to understand was that it was solely because of our sins that Hashem delivered us into their hands. They imagined it was due to their own merits and power.
The Alshich: "All Her Precious Things" - The Torah
The holy Alshich asks: Why does it say "all her precious things," and why did the adversary spread his hand over all her treasures? What is this "all"? He explains: If they had plundered silver and gold, one could say they took some and left some, and even if they took everything, other things would still remain. But from the moment they took the Torah, the Community of Israel felt that this was "all her precious things" - he left us with nothing. For what is "everything" to us? The holy Torah. And once that was taken from us, one can truly lament over "all her precious things."
Midrash Shocher Tov: "These Entered with Permission"
Midrash Shocher Tov states: Asaf said, did You not write in Your Torah, "And the stranger who approaches shall be put to death"? And not only an outsider - even the sanctified sons of Aharon, who were not strangers and were permitted to enter the Mishkan, were consumed by fire when they entered to offer sacrifice before the Holy of Holies. Likewise Uzziah, who entered only for Your honor, was struck with leprosy; moreover, the earth quaked - it is written that there was an earthquake when Uzziah entered to offer incense. Yet these, You allowed to enter?
The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Had they entered without permission, I would have struck them down. But these entered with permission, as it is said, "For behold, I call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Hashem, and they shall come and set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will pronounce My judgments against them for all their wickedness." What do you see? The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I summoned these. You ask why those entered and died while these enter and live - those entered without an invitation, while these entered with an invitation. These I called; to these I said to come here.
According to what was explained above, this becomes even clearer: as noted, the sanctity had departed from the Beit HaMikdash and its sublime status was gone. Thus, Titus could naturally come and do as he pleased, entering into the Sanctuary and desecrating it - and that was that, it was no longer the Beit HaMikdash. When the elevated quality of the Beit HaMikdash is no longer within it, it makes no difference if the most defiled gentile enters; it does not harm him, because it is no longer a holy Temple.
"Reproach Has Broken My Heart" - And Ammon and Moab Will Pay
An ancient Midrash teaches that regarding this it was stated, "Reproach has broken my heart, and I am fatally sick." What is the reproach that broke the heart? The taunts and scorn of the Ammonites and the Moabites. And the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "Therefore, as I live, says Hashem of Hosts, Moab shall become like Sodom, and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah." For these taunts and blasphemies they will pay a heavy price: Moab will become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah. That is, it will not pass without retribution.
Torat Chesed: Three Explanations
The book Torat Chesed explains that "The adversary spread his hand" contains an answer to the question: Why did Israel allow the gentiles to enter the Sanctuary? Why did they not fight them until every last one fell by the sword? This is what is meant by "For she saw nations enter her Sanctuary" - after all, it is written, "and the stranger who approaches shall be put to death," so how could they enter her Sanctuary and remain unharmed? They realized: if so, it is a decree from before Him. As explained earlier, seeing Ammon and Moab arrive made them understand that there was no point in rising up in revolt, and no one to revolt against.
Others explain "all her precious things" in a different way: What is the delight of a person's eyes? His child. Children are one's greatest treasure, as stated regarding Ezekiel: "Behold, I am taking away the delight of your eyes." And they see the gentiles taking their children, yet they are unable to react or do anything - and this is the greatest anguish of all.
The Torat Chesed offers yet another explanation: here the prophet actually comes to praise the self-sacrifice of Israel. They saw fire falling upon the Beit HaMikdash, and they abandoned their homes and went to save it. This is part of the great and unique merit of the Jewish people, on account of which they were willing to lose everything - "the adversary spread his hand over all her precious things" - and they were prepared to witness this and not react.
In summary:
"The adversary spread out his hand upon all her precious treasures" - the enemy needed no effort; he simply stretched out his hand and took. When the people of Israel saw Ammon and Moav, disqualified nations forbidden to enter the congregation, entering the Beit HaMikdash and emerging unharmed, they realized that the sanctity had departed and that this was a decree from before Him, and therefore they did not rebel. The thief enters the palace only once he realizes the master is not at home; Ammon and Moav ran to the Sefer Torah like a slave running to his deed of servitude, claiming that what is written in the Torah has no power or validity - not understanding that it was only because of our sins that we were delivered into their hands. And from every side, the pain resounds: whether "all her precious treasures" refers to the holy Torah, which is our everything, or to the children who were the delight of the eyes, or to the homes that were abandoned with self-sacrifice to save the Mikdash. And concerning the disgrace brought by Ammon and Moav, it was promised that it would not go unanswered: "Moav shall be like Sedom, and the children of Ammon like Amorah."