We continue in Chapter 1 of Megillat Eicha, focusing on verse 11. The entire chapter is a lament over the city that sits solitary, and in this verse, the lamentation reaches one of its most terrible aspects: the famine. Not a famine affecting just a few, but a famine that engulfed the entire people, to the point where the whole nation seemed like a glutton willing to surrender everything it possessed in exchange for a piece of bread. The commentaries and Midrashim revolve around this verse, and from it we will proceed to the following verse, which contains one of the great answers to the question of the uniqueness of the Jewish people's suffering.
כׇּל־עַמָּהּ נֶאֱנָחִים מְבַקְשִׁים לֶחֶם, נָתְנוּ מַחֲמַדֵּיהֶם בְּאֹכֶל לְהָשִׁיב נָפֶשׁ, רְאֵה יְהֹוָה וְהַבִּיטָה כִּי הָיִיתִי זוֹלֵלָה׃ - All her people sigh, seeking bread; they have given their precious things for food to revive the soul. See, Hashem, and behold, for I have become a glutton [debased]!
Ibn Ezra explains: it was not merely a few who sought bread, but the famine was so dreadful that "all her people sigh, seeking bread." And because of this, "they have given their precious things for food" - they were willing to part with their most treasured possessions, for what does hoarding silver and gold profit a person if he has nothing to eat? Everything was sold "to revive the soul," just to stay alive.
And what is the meaning of "I have become zolelah"? It is related to the phrase zolel v'sovei (a glutton and a drunkard) - one whose entire purpose and pursuit is after food, a glutton, as the verse says regarding the rebellious son (ben sorer u'moreh) that he is a "glutton and a drunkard." That is to say: we reached a state where I was ready to give away everything for food, like a glutton who spends all her wealth just to purchase something to eat.
Chazal expound "all her people sigh, seeking bread" as an allusion to the destruction of the Second Temple. Regarding the destruction of the First Temple, it is stated: "And the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land" - the common people of the land had no bread, but the distinguished members of Judah, the officers and nobles, did have bread. In the destruction of the Second Temple, however, it says: "All her people sigh, seeking bread."
The Dubno Maggid explains this homiletically. There is a vast difference between the masses and the prominent leaders of the nation. The lower stratum of society is concerned solely with material matters, with physical attainment, rather than spiritual matters. By contrast, the higher, more enlightened stratum, the elite of the nation, also seeks spiritual attainment and closeness to God, for they possess greater understanding.
Accordingly, says the prophet: during the destruction of the First Temple, the men of stature still had "bread," as it were, and their primary lack was in spiritual attainments - they were not seeking bread; only the common folk sought bread. But during the destruction of the Second Temple, the hunger reached such an extreme that even the exalted and noble individuals no longer searched for spirituality, but were "seeking bread" - just bring us bread. They deteriorated to the level of the common folk of the First Temple era.
It is taught in Eicha Rabbah: Had you been worthy, you would have read, "And you shall eat your bread to the full"; now that you were not worthy, you read, "All her people sigh, seeking bread." This approach recurs throughout the Midrash on many verses in Eicha: the expounder quotes the verse in Eicha and contrasts it with the verses of blessing in the Torah, declaring - had you been worthy, the blessings would have been fulfilled through you; but since you were not worthy, it is verse for verse, the very antithesis.
The Kol Yaakov explains: Had we merited, we would have had sustenance in abundance and would not have had to compromise our souls for a livelihood. Now, however, we are willing to surrender all our precious treasures for food just to keep body and soul together. To illustrate: a person needs a livelihood, so he goes to work as a lifeguard at a mixed beach. What brought him to this state? The hunger pressing upon him. When we sigh and beg for bread, we sink backward to such a degree that we are willing to damage our spirituality just to obtain a slice of bread, and this is the lowest state. Therefore: had you merited, "and you shall eat your bread to the full" - you would have experienced both physical and spiritual satiety, for when there is plenty, a person need not blemish his soul for bread. But since we did not merit, "all her people sigh" - I sigh over the fact that I am forced to forfeit a spiritual standing just to gain a slice of bread.
The Akeidat Yitzchak explains homiletically: the Congregation of Israel laments, as it were, that she was judged under the law of a wayward and rebellious son (ben soreir u'moreh), as in the expression "I have become vile (zolelah)," which parallels what is stated concerning the rebellious son, "a glutton and a drunkard (zoleil v'sovei)." She says: even though the conditions of a wayward and rebellious son do not apply to me, they judged me in the manner of a wayward and rebellious son.
How so? A wayward and rebellious son is only judged from the age of thirteen, yet here, "all her people sigh" - even those under the age of thirteen sigh and beg for bread. A wayward and rebellious son demands meat and wine, a tartimar of meat and a half-log of wine, whereas we merely ask for bread - we do not even have bread! A wayward and rebellious son obtains what he desires through theft, stealing money to buy a tartimar of meat and a half-log of wine, whereas we "have given their treasures" - we did not steal, but paid from our own pockets, parting with our most precious items. Furthermore, it was all merely "to sustain life" and not for indulgence, unlike the glutton and drunkard seeking to sate himself beyond fullness. Yet despite all this, "Behold, Hashem, and see, for I have become vile" - they applied to me the judgment of a glutton and a drunkard, even though I was far removed from the deeds of a wayward and rebellious son.
The Alon Bachut explains "I have become vile (zolelah)" in a different manner. The unique aspect of a wayward and rebellious son is that he is punished before he has committed a capital crime. After all, he has not yet robbed people at the crossroads, and one is not sentenced to stoning or the death penalty for eating meat or for theft alone. Rather, Chazal teach: the Holy One, Blessed is He, said, let him die innocent and not die guilty, for he is destined to stand at the crossroads and rob people; therefore, retribution is extracted from him now.
The Congregation of Israel says: "Behold, Hashem, and see, for I have become vile" - they judged me like a wayward and rebellious son, punishing us before the full time had arrived; the exile of Tzidkiyahu was brought forward before the time we were supposed to be punished. They judged me like a rebellious son, whose punishment was brought forward before his ultimate sin.
And the deeper meaning of this is: had the Holy One, Blessed is He, waited, we would have descended to such a depth that it would no longer have been possible to save us. Just like the Jewish people in Egypt, where had they reached the fiftieth gate of impurity, there would have been no one left to redeem, and therefore He had to redeem them earlier. So too here: had the Holy One, Blessed is He, waited any longer, we would have deteriorated further and further, and what happened to the Ten Tribes would have happened to us. The Ten Tribes had nothing to halt their decline; they did not have a Beit HaMikdash that could be destroyed to save them, and therefore they were exiled, and to this day their whereabouts remain unknown. They were lost to the Jewish nation. What will happen in the future, God knows - there is a dispute whether they will return or not - but either way, we do not have them. As for us, this is our miracle: that the Holy One, Blessed is He, struck us a moment before we reached rock bottom. "I have become vile" - I was like a wayward and rebellious son who received the blow a moment beforehand, and this was for our ultimate good: just as there, "let him die innocent and not die guilty," so too here, the people of Israel went into exile so that they would not, God forbid, be completely severed from the seed of the House of Israel.
The Midrash states: "Zolelah" is related to the verse "as vile things (zulut) are exalted among the sons of men," an expression of cheapness and degradation. That is to say: we suffered humiliation, "I have become vile (zolelah)."
And listen to an astounding Midrash. What is meant by "I have become vile"? Rabbi Pinchas said: An incident occurred in Ashkelon with two harlots who were quarreling with each other. One said to the other, "Get away from here, for your face looks like that of a Jewish woman!" Consider what was considered an insult and a curse: "your face looks like a Jewish woman." The Midrash adds: Days later they reconciled, and she said to her, "Know this: I forgive you for everything, but for telling me that my face looks like a Jewess, I do not forgive you. Everything is forgiven, but comparing me to a Jewess - that is unforgivable."
This is what is written, "I have become vile," and as it is said, "for disgrace was taken among the nations toward all who are called by the name of a Jew." For whoever was called a Jew, when they wanted to revile a person and say he was the lowest of the low, they told him: "You look like a Jew." That was the ultimate degradation. And concerning this, the Congregation of Israel cries out: Master of the Universe, behold how I have become vile, how we have been disparaged, how despised I have become in the eyes of the nations!
There is another explanation of "I have become vile [zolelah]": as if we are justifying the judgment upon ourselves and saying, everything that is happening to us now is because in the days of my tranquility I was gluttonous. "Woe to those who drink wine from basins" - they were drawn after the pleasures and desires of this world, establishing banquet halls and revelries, pursuing all kinds of physical pleasures, lusts, and wines, and all of this brought about their decline. Therefore she says: "See, Hashem, and behold" - we acknowledge that all of this came upon us because in the time of my tranquility I was gluttonous; I was like a glutton and a drunkard, never considering my end, and because of that, this punishment has come upon us.
And another explanation: A person whose financial situation was already dire, who barely ate a slice of bread with margarine each day and even that was considered a luxury, if he falls into the disgrace of famine - one survives it, for even beforehand he did not have much. But one who was accustomed to champagne and caviar, and suddenly he is brought down to a level where he barely has a slice of bread, such a thing can kill him. This is what the Gemara relates concerning Marta bat Baitos, to what lowest depths she descended, and why? Because she was so pampered, "The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground." The more pampered a person is, the harder the blow and the more excruciating the suffering.
And this is what she says: Master of the Universe, see and behold that I was gluttonous; I was accustomed to indulging and feasting, with great wealth and abundance. Behold, spare us, and have mercy upon us, and see how painful this situation is for us, because compared to our former standing, this is a massive and catastrophic fall.
The Ri Shem Tov explains along the lines of what we explained in the previous verses. "See, Hashem, and behold" - and why should He behold? Not for our sake, for in truth we have no merits, but rather "for I have become vile": when the Jewish people are degraded among the nations, whose Name is desecrated? The Name of the Holy One, Blessed is He. This is similar to what we saw above: "יָדוֹ פָּרַשׂ צָר עַל כׇּל מַחֲמַדֶּיהָ כִּי רָאֲתָה גוֹיִם בָּאוּ מִקְדָּשָׁהּ אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתָה לֹא יָבֹאוּ בַקָּהָל לָךְ" - "The adversary spread his hand over all her treasures, for she saw nations enter her Sanctuary, of whom You commanded that they should not enter into Your congregation," where the nations blaspheme the Holy One, Blessed is He, saying: Behold, He cannot stand against us; what is written in the Torah is nullified. Therefore: Master of the Universe, have pity on Your Name! See and behold that I have become vile; see how they degrade us. And this is reason for Hashem's mercy to be aroused toward us - if not for our sake, then for the honor of Heaven.
An early commentary is cited on the verse above, "All who honored her despised her [hiziluha], because they have seen her nakedness," and similarly here, "for I have become vile [zolelah]." "Zolelah" is related to the phrase "They lavish [hazalim] gold from the purse," as in the common idiom - to lavish great sums, meaning to extract much money from one's pocket. According to this, "all who honored her despised her [hiziluha]" means: they turned away from her, cast her out from among them, and removed their awe of her. And why? "Because they have seen her nakedness" - they saw us in our weakness, as in the expression "to see the nakedness of the land you have come"; they saw us in our degraded state.
Those who previously honored us, those who made promises to us, now despise us. We are no longer treated as a power; we are no longer treated as someone who must be respected. And why? Because we have reached a state where we are dependent on them, where we must turn to Egypt in the hope that they might come and help us - as mentioned in the Prophets - turning to the nations and sending them gifts and bribes so that they might aid us. The more a person is dependent on others, the lower he becomes in their eyes. As the Gemara states: One who is fed by his fellow is ashamed to look at his face. And why? Because the giver immediately feels like a patron: "I am helping him; if I had not provided for him, he would have had nothing to eat." When a person approaches from a position of strength, he is respected, but when he approaches from a position of humiliation, he is treated with contempt. This is the meaning of "they despised her, because they have seen her nakedness": they saw us in our degraded state, how needy we are of them and pleading with them for assistance and help, and consequently they turned away from us and cast us aside, no longer treating us with respect.
The Lechem Dimah explains: "All her people groan, they seek bread" - even though they were groaning over many troubles, the most agonizing trouble of all is that they were "seeking bread."
It is well known that one of the methods of the Nazis, may their names and memory be erased, and one of their greatest pleasures, was to turn us into human beasts, to treat us as human beasts and thereby grant themselves legitimacy. They used many methods to achieve this, one of which was the rationed distribution of bread. Through this, we were seemingly reduced to animals, for over every crust of bread there were fights, there were thefts - it was literally a matter of mortal danger, pikuach nefesh. And they would stand on the sidelines watching us struggle over every scrap of bread, deriving great satisfaction: look, just like throwing a bone to dogs, and thirty dogs leap and tear into each other. They took immense pleasure in saying, "See, these people are mere animals."
In this context, a story is told about the late Rosh Yeshivah of Mir, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel. A very wealthy American Jew, who had built a chain of restaurants across the United States - dozens, or hundreds of locations - was named "Man of the Year" by one of the most prestigious universities, recognized as an employer whose staff deeply loved him and were willing to work for him even at minimum wage. They asked him: What brought you to this? How did you come to be so widely loved? Naturally, a boss is someone employees do not love to love. People joke that the happiest person in the world is the Pope, because every morning he walks into his office and sees his boss crucified; people do not naturally love their boss, yet here his workers loved him so dearly.
That man related that he had once come on a visit to Eretz Yisrael, and as part of the tour they brought the group to the Mir Yeshivah. There, he said, they witnessed an unbelievable, stunning sight: ten yeshivah students packed into a single square meter, debating, shouting, and passionately studying Torah. Afterward, they brought us in to meet Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, who as is well known suffered from Parkinson's disease and was physically shattered, yet despite this had built a vast Torah empire - it was beyond belief what a single person was capable of achieving.
"They told us there would be a talk with the Rosh Yeshivah," the man related, "and we assumed he would surely lecture us, telling us to start keeping Shabbat and eating kosher. But he said nothing of the sort. Instead, he asked: 'Tell me, what is your message? What did the Holocaust teach you? What did you learn from the Holocaust?' I was taken aback by the question," the man recalled. "I asked to speak and said, 'We learned that we have to be strong, and that if you are not strong no one will protect you; therefore, we must have the IDF, and we must be powerful, and we must...' I watched him listening and smiling. When I finished, I asked, 'Did I say something amusing that made the Rosh Yeshivah smile?' He replied, 'Yes, because I already heard those exact words in the past, even before the war. And you saw that none of it helped. People said we would take our fate into our own hands, but that is all empty - the Arab nations could have wiped us out, and if not for the abundance of Hashem's miracles, what would have remained of us? That is clearly not the lesson of the Holocaust.' I asked him, 'Then what does the Rosh Yeshivah say? What is the lesson?'"
"He told me: 'I will tell you what the lesson of the Holocaust is.' And he related what one of the great Chasidic Rebbes had told his followers: 'Listen, the Nazis have a goal, and their goal is to turn us into animals and beasts, which would grant them justification to destroy us. Our task is not to give them that satisfaction. We will preserve our human dignity - our divine image - even in the direst conditions. And what does that mean? It means that if only one crust of bread remains, I give it to my friend. They tossed crusts of bread just to see us pounce on one another, to strip away our human dignity - and we will not give them that pleasure.'
"And he added: 'We were a group, and each of us sacrificed himself for the other. And they failed. They could not break our spirit throughout the darkest period we endured. We always viewed it this way: I am a prince, a child of God, while he is a savage, deranged Nazi animal. The time will come when we will be on high and they will be down below. But for me to become a beast? Under no circumstances will I grant him that pleasure. This is the lesson: a person must know that he lives for others, that he must sacrifice himself for his fellow, and preserve the divine image of man.'
That man concluded: "I was deeply moved by these words, and from that moment on, I completely changed my approach in my business. Until then, I had been someone driven to amass wealth and trample everyone in my way, in line with ruthless American capitalism - succeed at all costs, step on anyone, climb to the top. From then on, I revolutionized my outlook. I began caring for every single employee, giving each one personal attention, and as a result of that, I reached where I am today."
This is what is meant by "See, Hashem, and behold, for I have become debased [zolelah]": Look, Master of the Universe, to what a low state we have fallen. "All her people groan" - we groaned over many afflictions, but groaning over bread reflects an exceptionally low and degraded condition. We appear like gluttons, like a glutton and a drunkard whose entire wish is merely "bring me something to eat," and this presented us in an utterly abased state. Therefore, "See, Hashem, and behold" - please, Hashem, spare us and have mercy upon us; see the degradation to which we have descended.
לוֹא אֲלֵיכֶם כׇּל עֹבְרֵי דֶרֶךְ, הַבִּיטוּ וּרְאוּ אִם יֵשׁ מַכְאוֹב כְּמַכְאֹבִי אֲשֶׁר עוֹלַל לִי, אֲשֶׁר הוֹגָה יְהֹוָה בְּיוֹם חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ׃ - "May it not come upon you, all who pass along the way! Look and see if there is any pain like my pain which has been dealt to me, which Hashem has brought upon me on the day of His fierce anger."
On the face of it, the argument of the Jewish people here is an immense one: Master of the Universe, is there any other nation in the world that suffers as we do? And even if You wish to punish us for our sins, the other nations have sinned no less than we have, and in fact far more, as we well know. If so, why do You afflict us so far beyond the suffering the other nations endure for those very same sins?
Rabbeinu Chaim of Volozhin writes in Ruach Chaim on Pirkei Avot, chapter 4, that the answer lies within the verse itself: Why were we the only ones punished? Because only us can the Holy One, blessed be He, judge under the law of a stubborn and rebellious son (ben sorer u-moreh).
Let us explain. There is a halachah regarding the ben sorer u-moreh: the father and mother come before the court and declare, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious," and it is said of him that he is a glutton and a drunkard, and they ask the court to carry out the judgment on him. Chazal state: If someone raises an orphan in his home, and comes to beit din saying, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious," the judgment of a ben sorer u-moreh is not administered to him; he is not stoned, and this entire halachah is not applied to him. Why? Because he is not "this son of ours" - "this son of ours" must be a true, biological son, not an adopted son.
Notice how profound this is: "If there is any pain like my pain which was dealt to me" - no other nation received pain like my pain. And why? "For I have become vile [zolelah]" - I was like a ben sorer u-moreh (a glutton, zolel). And who is the son of the Master of the World? "You are children to the Lord your God." Only us, only the people of Israel. And since we are children, "I have become vile [zolelah]" means I was like a gluttonous and drunkard son who is subjected to the law of a stubborn and rebellious son, punished with the utmost severity. The nations of the world, by contrast, are not sons; the other nations are like stepchildren, having an animalistic soul, whereas Am Yisrael alone possesses a portion of God from Above, a part of the Holy One, blessed be He, as in "the Holy One, blessed be He, the Torah, and Israel are one" - which was never said of a gentile, nor of an ape. If so, what comparison is there at all? "I have become vile" shows that I am like a ben sorer u-moreh who is a glutton and a drunkard.
Now you might ask: What benefit is it to me that I am a son, if I just end up getting beaten? Let us return to the ben sorer u-moreh. Why is he punished so severely? On the surface, it seems completely disproportionate to his deeds. He stole money and bought a tartimar of meat and a half-log of wine. Make no mistake: the meat was under the strictest rabbinical supervision, not non-kosher meat, everything strictly kosher (mehadrin), and the half-log of wine had no concern of libation wine, no concern of Shemitah, with tithes properly separated according to halachah. So what do they want from him? And if it is because of the theft - a person is not put to death for theft.
Rather, Chazal explain: The Torah fathomed the ultimate depth of his mindset. This is how he begins, but who knows where it will end? By age twenty he will already be robbing people at the crossroads, seeking his habitual cravings and unable to satisfy them - woe to him. Therefore, let him die innocent rather than die guilty; it is better to punish him now so that he does not die guilty. Note this well: the punishment of the ben sorer u-moreh is for his own benefit. They say to him: It is better for you to be punished now than to remain alive and later be hanged for murder or another capital offense, where, woe to him, he would die guilty.
It follows, then, that when the Holy One, blessed be He, judges us, He judges us under the law of the ben sorer u-moreh, which is a verdict of "let him die innocent rather than die guilty." The punishment inflicted upon us was intended to preserve a surviving remnant of the Jewish people. For as Chazal teach, the 852 years corresponding to the numerical value of "venoshantem" ("and you grow old") - had we remained here, there would have been no recovery for the Jewish people, but total destruction. If so, was it not a kindness that Hashem exiled us two years early? Was it not a kindness that the Holy One, blessed be He, destroyed the Beit HaMikdash, expending His wrath upon wood and stone, thereby allowing the people of Israel to endure forever?
Thus we find that this is not ultimate retribution. When the Holy One, blessed be He, punishes the nations, it is a punishment of total payback, of wiping them off the face of the earth. We can cite countless ancient peoples of whom not a remnant or memory remains today. Read through most of the nations mentioned in the Torah, from the Book of Bereishit onward, and you will find no trace of them today; you cannot point to any existing group and say, "That is that ancient nation." Yet Am Yisrael saw them all, outlasted them all, and endures forever. We suffered blows, true; but the ben sorer u-moreh was executed while still innocent - he received his punishment, but died innocent. The gentile nations, by contrast, the Holy One, blessed be He, lets them be until their measure is full, as Scripture states: "For the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." But once the iniquity of the Amorite was complete - there is no Amorite left. Is there an Amorite today? Does anyone know an Amorite? They were erased and are gone. Is that what we want? We say: No, Master of the World, we would rather take the blows, so long as we endure.
This is what is meant when it says: "Look, Hashem, and see! If there is any pain like my pain which was dealt to me" - did any other nation ever receive such pain? And the sole reason is "for I have become vile [zolelah]," for I was like a ben sorer u-moreh who is a glutton and a drunkard, and the punishment of a ben sorer u-moreh is for his own benefit, to grant him eternal life, letting him die innocent rather than die guilty. Therefore, we prefer this state to being in the category of stepchildren, from whom the Holy One, blessed be He, does not collect payment immediately, but when He does collect, it is a retribution of total destruction. Master of the World, we prefer our present situation over that fate.
Verse 11 portrays the nadir of the deterioration: a famine that engulfed the entire nation, the selling of all precious treasures in exchange for food, and sighing over a slice of bread - a state in which a person is even willing to compromise his spiritual integrity in order to survive. "*Hayiti zolelah*" ("I have become vile") is expounded in several ways: as a description of ravenous eating out of starvation, as an expression of degradation and contempt in the eyes of the nations, as an admission that during days of tranquility we indulged in gluttony and drinking, and as a plea that we were judged according to the law of the wayward and rebellious son (*ben sorer umoreh*). From here we arrive at a profound foundational principle: precisely because "You are children to Hashem, your God," the law of the rebellious son applies to us and not to the nations, and this punishment is ultimately entirely for our benefit - "let him die innocent and not die guilty." The nations that were wiped out are gone forever, while we endure eternally. For our part, the practical lesson is to preserve our divine image even in the most harrowing hours, to show self-sacrifice for others, and to beseech: Look, Hashem, and behold; have pity and mercy upon us.