Introduction: The Lament Over the Destruction of the Temple and the Festivals
We are in chapter 2 of Megillat Eicha, verse 6. The prophet continues his lament over the destruction, and in one brief verse he encompasses the departure of the Shechinah, the ruin of the holy place, the forgetting of the Sabbaths and festivals, and the abolishment of the crowns of royalty and priesthood. Let us examine the verse according to the commentaries and see how much depth and ethical instruction lie hidden within it.
וַיַּחְמֹס כַּגַּן שֻׂכּוֹ שִׁחֵת מֹעֲדוֹ שִׁכַּח יְהֹוָה בְּציּוֹן מוֹעֵד וְשַׁבָּת וַיִּנְאַץ בְּזַעַם־אַפּוֹ מֶלֶךְ וְכֹהֵן׃ - He stripped His tabernacle like a garden, ruined His place of assembly; the Lord has caused festival and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, and in His fierce anger spurned king and priest.
The Plain Meaning: Ruining the Place Appointed for the Shechinah
The author of the Akedat Yitzchak, as well as Midrash Lekach Tov, explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, destroyed the city and the Beit HaMikdash, the place upon which Hashem's Name was called. "Ruined His place of assembly (mo'ado)" - the place is no longer a meeting place for the Shechinah. "Mo'ed" here is in the sense of "a meeting house for all living" (beit mo'ed lechol chai), meaning a designated place, a destination appointed for all; so too here, the place that was a meeting house for the Shechinah was ruined. "The Lord has caused festival and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion" - the festival and the Sabbath are also called by the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "a Sabbath to the Lord your God," "these are the appointed festivals of the Lord." "And in His fierce anger spurned king and priest" - these are the distinguished and glorious figures in Judah.
The Midrash: A Garden Whose Spring Is Blocked
The Midrash says: "'He stripped His tabernacle like a garden' - Rabbi Chama bar Rabbi Chanina said, like a garden whose spring was blocked and its greenery withered." The Midrash interprets vayachmos ("He stripped") as vayachsom ("He blocked"): just as a garden whose spring is blocked withers on its own, so it was here. The spring represents the divine spiritual bounty that flowed down upon us; once that bounty was blocked, the enemies were naturally able to come and destroy us, like a garden whose spring is stopped up and it withers away.
The Midrash: A Booth That Is No Longer Needed
The Midrash further states: "'He stripped His tabernacle like a garden' - once the produce is finished, its booth is immediately dismantled." Why is a booth built in a field? For the workers in the field, those who sow, harvest, and tend - a temporary booth is built for them during the working season. And once all the produce has been removed from the field, the booth is torn down, since it is no longer needed, and it was only built as a temporary structure anyway. So it was here: once Hashem departed from Jerusalem, the booth was immediately destroyed. Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash are considered a booth, as it is said, "And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard" - a booth in a vineyard is dismantled the moment the workers leave it. So too with Zion: the moment Hashem departed and the Shechinah withdrew, the enemies immediately came and conquered it.
The Alshich: Three Levels of Sanctity
The Alshich notes that there are three levels here, and corresponding to them the prophet states three things: the Holy of Holies, the Holy, and Zion. Corresponding to the Holy of Holies - "He stripped His tabernacle like a garden," which is in the nature of a booth (sukkah), for the Holy One, blessed be He, rested His Shechinah there and sheltered (sachach) the place; and when He withdrew His Shechinah from there, this is "He stripped His tabernacle like a garden," for the place that had shelter - Hashem left it. "Ruined His place of assembly" - the Sanctuary (Heichal) and the courtyards, the place where Hashem designated to oversee His world. "The Lord has caused to be forgotten in Zion" - this is the third level: Zion, the Temple Mount, and in a broader sense, all of Jerusalem.
Lechem Dimah: The Merits of David and Aaron Did Not Avail
On the conclusion of the verse, "and in His fierce anger spurned king and priest," the author of Lechem Dim'ah explains that this contains an allusion to King David and Aharon the Kohen. It would have been fitting for the merit of David to shield us and prevent the destruction of Jerusalem, especially over Judah, his own tribe - for the ten tribes had already gone into exile, and here we are dealing with David's tribe. Likewise, it would have been fitting for Aharon the Kohen to shelter us, and for his merit to protect the Kohanim of the Beit HaMikdash, his direct sons and descendants. Yet despite all this, it did not avail. "And in His fierce anger spurned king and priest" - neither the merit of David nor the merit of Aharon availed. So too, "and He multiplied mourning and moaning in the daughter of Judah" - mourning and moaning (ta'aniyah va'aniyah, related to onanut, grief, and weeping) multiplied among the Jewish people and the children of Judah; and in the Beit HaMikdash as well, as it says, "The Lord abandoned His altar, spurned His sanctuary." Thus, neither did the merit of David help his family, nor did the merit of Aharon help his sons; the Holy One, Blessed be He, multiplied mourning and moaning in the daughter of Judah, and regarding His altar, "spurned His sanctuary."
The Earthly Sanctuary and the Heavenly Sanctuary
Lechem Dim'ah adds: "He stripped His booth like a garden" - this refers to the earthly Beit HaMikdash; "He destroyed His meeting place" - this refers to the heavenly Beit HaMikdash. As the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: "I will not enter the heavenly Jerusalem until I enter the earthly Jerusalem." "His meeting place" (mo'ado) is the place where Hashem convenes, the heavenly Jerusalem, and "His sanctuary" is the place sanctified to Him here below. Since He stripped His booth, the earthly sanctuary, consequently "He destroyed His meeting place" - as it were, the heavenly Beit HaMikdash was destroyed as well.
The Rokeach: All the Festivals Are Alluded to in the Verse
The Rav of Worms (the Rokeach) states that all the festivals are alluded to here. During the festivals, the king and the Kohanim were seen in their greatness and splendor, the Jewish people would ascend to Jerusalem, and the time when Jerusalem was at the height of its glory was during the festival - "all your males shall appear." It was a place and time of spiritual elevation and uplifting of the soul. When the Holy One, Blessed be He, destroyed Jerusalem, all that sublime greatness that found expression specifically on the festivals was stripped away from it. Thus runs the allusion: "He stripped His booth like a garden" - Sukkot; "He destroyed His meeting place" - Pesach; "Hashem caused festival and Shabbat to be forgotten in Zion" - "Shabbat" refers to the Shabbat days, and "festival" (mo'ed) refers to Rosh Chodesh, which is also termed a mo'ed. Following this, "and in His fierce anger spurned king and priest" - all those festivals that should have been a time of spiritual elevation were neglected, and they did not properly make the pilgrimage. Guard posts and roadblocks had been placed by Yarov'am ben Nevat and the kings who succeeded him, and consequently the Beit HaMikdash was forgotten precisely at the times when it was most fitting to visit it. Because of this, the Holy One, Blessed be He, spurned king and priest, who had failed to act properly to ensure that the Beit HaMikdash would remain active, vibrant, and bustling with pilgrims.
Hoshea ben Elah: When the Justification Was Removed
As we learned in the Book of Kings, toward the exile of the ten tribes, Hoshea ben Elah did something positive: Chazal teach that he removed the roadblocks that Yarov'am ben Nevat had stationed, allowing the people to ascend to Jerusalem. Yarov'am had blocked the pilgrimage because he feared: "I am a king from the kingdom of Israel, and I am forbidden to sit in the Temple Courtyard (Azarah), whereas Rechav'am is of the House of David and is permitted to sit. The people will see me standing and him sitting, and they will say that I am not a true king but an impostor, while he is the real king. Then the heart of the people will be drawn after Rechav'am, and my monarchy will be ruined." Therefore, he set up the two golden calves, declaring, "These are your gods, Israel," thereby abolishing the pilgrimage and substituting idolatry in its place. Yet when Hoshea ben Elah permitted the pilgrimage once again, the exile came in that very generation, in the days of Shalmaneser. This seems puzzling: precisely when he performed a positive act and began walking on the proper path, the exile arrived? But that is the very point: as long as they did not make the pilgrimage during the reigns of Yarov'am and his successors, the people had a pretext and an argument - "We were blocked; we had no possibility." Then Hoshea ben Elah came and removed the roadblocks, yet the people still did not make the pilgrimage. What could be said now? What justification remained? This aroused severe prosecution against them: here they are able to ascend, yet they do not. This connects directly to our point that all the festivals are alluded to here, for the primary indictment against them concerned the festivals - the times when one is obligated to ascend on pilgrimage, yet they forgot the Beit HaMikdash. Consequently, "and in His fierce anger spurned king and priest" - you have no need for a king and no need for a priest, and following this, Heaven forbid, exile ensued.
"Hashem Caused Festival and Shabbat to Be Forgotten in Zion" - When Even Days of Light Are Forgotten
The prophet laments: Come and see, from the abundance of troubles and grief that befell them, Israel forgot what a festival is and what Shabbat is. Even a person in the midst of distress and exile usually has an island of sanity, a day to recharge, a day of encouragement - "a day that is entirely Shabbat and rest for life everlasting." He had Yom Tov. These are days on which even the humblest Jew donned dignified clothes, went to the synagogue, heard words of Torah, read from the Torah, and prayed to Hashem - days in which a Jew is revived. Yirmeyahu says: See, from the overwhelming troubles, "Hashem caused festival and Shabbat to be forgotten in Zion" - even these joyous days, which were meant to encourage us, were forgotten. Who remembers that it is Shabbat? Who remembers that it is a festival?
Measure for Measure: One Who Disrespects Does Not Benefit
And why was this so? "I saw people treading winepresses on Shabbat" - we know that the Jewish people desecrated Shabbat, and it is written that Israel was not exiled until they desecrated the Shabbathot and the festivals. The people of Israel disgraced the Shabbat and desecrated it, and one who desecrates Shabbat cannot benefit from Shabbat. As the saying goes - and indeed, this is not an aphorism of Chazal but from a modern author, yet it carries genuine merit - "More than the Jewish people have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jewish people." When you do not keep Shabbat, you are no longer worthy of its protection and guardianship. They desecrated Shabbat and desecrated festivals, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: One who desecrates Shabbat and festivals will not be able to derive benefit from them. This also explains why the sacrifices did not protect them: one who disgraced the sacrifices cannot be protected by the sacrifices. We explained this similarly regarding the sons of Eli, of whom it was said that their sin would not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering; Chazal explain that it is not atoned for by sacrifice or offering, but it is atoned for by Torah and acts of lovingkindness. Why? Because one who disgraces sacrifice and offering can never find atonement through sacrifice and offering. So too it is written of David, "and they covered him with clothes, but he did not get warm" - one who showed disrespect to clothing by cutting the corner of Shaul's robe cannot be warmed by clothes. Measure for measure: if you do not honor Shabbat, Shabbat has no power to protect you and save you.
Lechem Dim'ah: The Sukkah of David and the Prophets' Rebuke
And this is what is written in the verse, says Lechem Dimah: "He has stripped His booth like a garden" - as it were, Hashem ruined His booth, which is the fallen booth of David; the garden produce dried up, no longer green and no longer flourishing. And why did He do this? "He destroyed His appointed place" - measure for measure, because we degraded the festivals, the Holy One, blessed be He, cast down our booth. Had we observed at least the festivals, they would have had the power to protect us. "And spurned king and priest in His fierce wrath" - meaning that whenever they heard the rebuke of the prophets, both the king and the priest held it in contempt and mocked his words. They would say: Do not worry, no harm will befall us, stop trying to frighten us. You rabbis love to frighten people with Gog and Magog, with troubles and catastrophes - everything will be fine, we have a wonderful nation, we have marvelous youth, it is truly inspiring, just do not sling mud and do not say unpleasant things; all is well, all is wonderful.
The Actual Forgetting of Shabbat - After the Exile
He further explains: "Hashem has caused festival and Shabbat to be forgotten in Zion" - the tribulations caused people to no longer know what a festival or a Shabbat even was. And this is a terrible thing. Anyone who reads what happened to the Jewish people when they returned from the Babylonian Exile sees that they had to be taught how to build a sukkah; they arrived with foreign wives, and they had to be instructed that Ashdodite, Ammonite, and Moabite women could not be lawful wives in Israel, whereupon the people wept, separated from their wives, and divorced - an exceedingly difficult ordeal. Look at what the exile caused: "Hashem has caused festival and Shabbat to be forgotten in Zion", the festival was forgotten and the Shabbat was forgotten; they forgot that such things even existed, and through this they became completely detached from Hashem's mitzvot.
What Is the True Shabbat?
The Maharal Tzintz, in his work Melo HaOmer, asks a famous question. Shabbat is one, and how long does it last according to heavenly decree? Exactly twenty-four hours. We bring it in early and end it late because we do not know the exact moment and because of the mitzvah of Tosefet Shabbat (adding onto Shabbat), but essentially the week consists of seven days, each of twenty-four hours. If so, what is the true Shabbat? After all, the Shabbat that I observe here is not the Shabbat of an American Jew, nor is it the Shabbat of an Australian Jew. From when until when is it Shabbat? Is it conceivable that an Australian Jew recites Kiddush at an hour when Above, Shabbat has already ended? One must understand: Shabbat is not merely a set of earthly actions. Shabbat is a time of the elevation of the spiritual realms; there are divine flows channeled through the holy Sefirot, and the entire reality Above is transformed. We express this in practice through Kiddush, lighting candles, and observing the Sabbath laws - this is the physical expression - but the essence of Shabbat is a spiritual downpouring of heavenly abundance. If so, when exactly does this divine flow descend? Does it span forty-eight hours? How does this work?
"Even on a Weekday Shabbat"
The author of the Mishneh LaMelech, in his work Parashat Derachim, explains that this is what Chazal meant when they stated: "The Shechinah never departed from Israel, even on a weekday Shabbat" (Zohar, Parashat Korach). At first glance, this is an astonishing Midrash - what is a "weekday Shabbat"? Rather, in the upper realms there are specific orders regarding what is considered Shabbat and what is weekday, and it all corresponds to spiritual service, divine influence, and the Sefirot. And what determines this? "A land upon which the eyes of Hashem your God constantly dwell" - the Holy Land is what determines the times of Shabbat, its onset and conclusion, calculated from Jerusalem: from nightfall to nightfall, or from sunset to sunset. If so, what happens in other places where the clock is different? Regarding this, Chazal say that the Shechinah never departed even on a "weekday Shabbat": even in places where, according to the calculation of Jerusalem, Shabbat has already ended and Havdalah was recited, yet they are still observing Shabbat hours later - which is seemingly a "weekday Shabbat" - nevertheless, the Shechinah does not depart, and Heaven directs them with the providence of actual Shabbat. And one may suggest a homiletic hint: do not read "even on a Shabbat of chol (weekday)" but "even on a Shabbat of Chul (the Diaspora)" - even on the Shabbat of the Diaspora, during those later hours, the Holy One, blessed be He, directs them in a manner as though this time is indeed Shabbat.
And all of this, says the Maharal Tzintz, was wonderful as long as the Land of Israel was settled and Shabbat was observed here: there was our Shabbat, and the Shechinah extended also to the "weekday Shabbat" of other places. But once Israel was exiled and there was no Sabbath observance here - "Hashem has caused festival and Shabbat to be forgotten in Zion." The true Shabbat, which is established according to Zion, which is Jerusalem, was forgotten, for there was no one to observe it. What remained for us? A Shabbat of the weekday. But the Shabbat of the Land of Israel, which is the true Shabbat - "Hashem has caused festival and Shabbat to be forgotten in Zion."
When the Wrath Began: King Uzziah Who Sought to Be a Priest
"And spurned king and priest in His fierce wrath." It is written that the beginning of Yeshayahu's prophecy concerning Jerusalem was "in the year of King Uzziah's death," and Chazal explain that this was the day Uzziah was stricken with tzara'at, and it was termed "death" because a metzora is considered as dead - as in "for all the men who sought your life are dead," and as in "the king of Egypt died," where Chazal explain that he was afflicted with tzara'at. And why was Uzziah stricken with tzara'at? Because he wished to serve as a priest as well; it was not enough for him to be king, so he entered the Beit HaMikdash to burn incense, and tzara'at broke out on his forehead. As a result, he was expelled from Jerusalem and the royal house - for a metzora is sent outside the three camps - and he lived in the Beit HaChofshit, the house of isolation near the cemetery, the dwelling place of the lepers. On that very day began the prophecy of "The vision of Yeshayahu... which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem." The Maharal Tzintz explains: this is "And spurned king and priest in His fierce wrath" - from when did the wrath begin? From the time a king sought to become a priest. Here lies a wondrous allusion to the moment from which all the tribulations began: from when the king aspired to be a priest and was severely punished, the spurning and wrath of the Holy One, blessed be He, commenced.
The Two Crowns That Were Taken
Rav Simai said: When Israel gave precedence to "we will do" over "we will hear," six hundred thousand ministering angels descended and tied two crowns upon each and every member of Israel (Shabbat 88a). The Maharsha asks: What is the significance of these two crowns? He answers: They correspond to the crown of priesthood and the crown of royalty. The Jewish people possessed two crowns - "And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation," both royalty and priesthood. And when they sinned and the Destruction was decreed upon them, "And the Children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments" - we lost these unique crowns. Royalty? We descended among the nations and went into exile; what monarchy could there be? Priesthood? "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept as we remembered Zion" - there were no priests performing their service, nor Levites on their platform with their songs and melodies. And then it was said: "Remove the turban and lift off the crown." A turban - who wears it? The priest. And a crown - "with the crown with which his mother crowned him" - this is the king and his crown. Chazal say: The ministering angels said, this was granted to Israel because they gave precedence to "we will do" over "we will hear" - in that merit they were granted the turban and the crown, the crown of priesthood and the crown of royalty, and now these have been removed from them. And this is "And spurned king and priest in His fierce wrath": since they provoked the Holy One, blessed be He, the institution of the king and the institution of the priest were stripped from them, and the royal crown and the priestly turban were removed from them.
The Alshich: Five Angels of Destruction, Each with Its Own Mission
The holy Alshich explains: It is known that on High there are angels known as destructive angels, whom we mention in the Pesach Haggadah - Af (wrath), Evrah (fury), Charon (burning anger), Cheimah (rage), and Za'am (indignation). If they were, Heaven forbid, to unite and form a coalition, woe to us - Israel could never have survived. As noted earlier, our fortune is that the nations hate one another even more than they hate us. Look at the hatred among the Arab nations themselves: if all these evildoers were to unite - ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, and all the rest, Sunnis and Shiites and terrorists - they could wipe us out in a moment. But it is Hashem's kindness that He sets the nations against each other, so that ISIS expends its strength beheading the Shiites, the Yazidis, and others whom it hates even more than it hates us. So too on High: it is Hashem's kindness that He granted each of the destructive angels dominion over a separate realm.
And come and see how wondrous this is: "Af" (wrath) - was sent to strike the daughter of Zion, as it is written, "How has the Lord clouded the daughter of Zion in His anger [be'apo]." "Evrah" (fury) - was sent to strike the strongholds, "He has broken down in His fury [be'evrato] the strongholds of the daughter of Judah." "Charon" (burning anger) - was designated to cut down the leaders and prominent figures, "He has cut off in fierce anger [bachori af] every horn of Israel." "Cheimah" (rage) - was sent to burn the Beit HaMikdash, "In the tent of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out His fury [chamato] like fire." And "Za'am" (indignation) - is the one appearing in our verse, sent to strike king and priest; this is "and spurned in His indignant wrath [ve-yina'atz be-za'am apo] king and priest," for through indignation He struck down both the king and the priest.
In Summary:
A single verse, "And He stripped His booth like a garden," encapsulates the entire progression of the destruction: the spring of bounty was blocked and the garden withered; the Shechinah departed, and the booth was immediately demolished; the Holy of Holies, the Sanctuary, and Zion were laid waste; and not even the merit of David and the merit of Aharon could shield their descendants. Measure for measure: one who desecrated Shabbat and the festivals cannot enjoy their protection, just as one who degraded sacrifices and offerings cannot gain atonement through them. The afflictions caused Shabbat and festival to be forgotten - and with them was forgotten the true Shabbat that is established from Zion - and the indignation that began with the king who sought to become a priest stripped from us both the priestly turban and the royal crown. The lesson for us is sharp and clear: the crowns and the sacred seasons are preserved for us only when we preserve them, and in the merit of our safeguarding them, they will once again safeguard us.