Chapter 2 of Megillat Eicha is a lamentation over the strict attribute of justice poured out upon Zion, and in its center stands one verse that encapsulates the totality of the grief. The lamenter searches for words of consolation and finds none, for this rupture is no ordinary breach: "For your breach is great as the sea." In this lesson, we will delve into this single verse and explore several approaches to its explanation, from the teachings of Chazal in Eicha Rabbah to the insights of the Acharonim.
מָה אֲעִידֵךְ מָה אֲדַמֶּה לָּךְ הַבַּת יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם, מָה אַשְׁוֶה לָּךְ וַאֲנַחֲמֵךְ בְּתוּלַת בַּת צִיּוֹן, כִּי גָדוֹל כַּיָּם שִׁבְרֵךְ מִי יִרְפָּא לָךְ. - What can I take to witness for you? What can I liken to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is great as the sea; who can heal you?
The Midrash in Eicha Rabbah comments on the words "who can heal you": "He Who will heal the breach of the sea is the One Who will heal you." This statement is deeply puzzling: What is the "breach of the sea"? What was broken in the sea, and what is there to heal within it? What exactly is being spoken of here? We will explain several approaches.
Chazal state: The lower waters were separated from the upper waters only with weeping, as it is said, "He dams up streams from weeping" (Iyov 28:11). When the Holy One, blessed be He, created the division between the upper waters and the lower waters, the lower waters wept and felt anguish over it. And what was the reason for their weeping? Chazal explain: The lower waters grieved over their distance from the Creator. They lamented, "We were left down here, while the upper waters remained close to the Holy One, blessed be He."
Therefore, we see that the sea constantly casts its breaking waves upward. Where are they striving to go? Higher and still higher, yearning perhaps to draw a bit closer to the Holy One, blessed be He, just a little more and a little more. They possess a perpetual yearning to return to their supernal source, to the state before they were separated and brought down to earth. And this is the meaning of the verse, "When its waves surge, You calm [or praise] them" (Tehillim 89:10) - when the waves of the sea yearn to rise and ascend upward, on the contrary, it is their praise, as the Maharal of Prague explains: this is their praise, that they are drawn and seek to return to their supernal source.
And this is what Scripture means: "Your breach is great as the sea." Even if the troubles of the Jewish people were to cease, there would still remain for us a profound breach, one akin to the breach of the sea: our distance from the Holy One, blessed be He. Even if we heal from the afflictions, we still remain distanced from Hashem. Therefore, the Midrash says: He Who will heal the breach of the sea is the One Who will heal you. And what is written regarding the Future to Come? "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Hashem, as the waters cover the sea" (Yeshayahu 11:9), and "they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them" (Yirmeyahu 31:33). There will be a reality in which the Holy One, blessed be He, rests His Shechinah upon the earth, and when He rests His Shechinah on earth, the lower waters too will find relief: for Hashem is with us here, just as with the upper waters. Then the breach of the sea will be healed, and then our breach will also be healed - we will no longer be in a state where we have sinned, and where even if Hashem forgives us we remain distant; rather, He will renew our days as of old to be close to Him and connected to Him, just as the sea will be close and connected to the Holy One, blessed be He, when Hashem heals its breach.
Another explanation is offered by the author of the Sho'el U'Meishiv. Chazal state in the Jerusalem Talmud, Avodah Zarah, chapter 6, and likewise in Bereishit Rabbah: All concede that none rules over the sea except the Holy One, blessed be He. The nations of the world may deny divine providence, yet there is one matter that even they concede - that the sea is placed in and subject to the direct providence of Hashem. From here also stems the saying that all sailors are pious: a person aboard a ship sees himself atop a nutshell tossed upon vast waters, his life hanging in the balance between heaven and earth, and at any moment he could become food for the fish. What can he do if not cry out to Hashem? So we find in the Book of Yonah, where the sailors all began to cry out. A person who constantly finds himself between life and death cries out to Hashem continually.
From here, the author of the Sho'el U'Meishiv explains, another matter becomes clear. After all, the Shechinah does not dwell outside the Land of Israel due to the impurity of the lands of the nations, and prophecy is not granted to a prophet outside the Land. This immediately raises the question: How, then, did Yechezkel prophesy by the Chebar River? Several answers are given: a prophet who began prophesying in the Land of Israel can receive prophecy outside the Land as well; or a prophet who prophesies for the sake of the Land of Israel can prophesy outside the Land. But the answer we understand now is that the sea is a pure place, for none rules over it except the Holy One, blessed be He.
And indeed, the sea is a place of purity: it is the greatest mikveh in the world. We find a very interesting teaching in Masechet Oholot, in the final chapter: when the Mishnah discusses the ritual impurity of the land of the nations (tumat eretz ha'amim), it states that the Sages did not decree impurity upon the sea - they did not impose the impurity of the land of the nations upon it. Likewise, we learn in Masechet Kelim: "Whatever is in the sea is pure," meaning that anything fashioned from sea creatures cannot contract ritual impurity, unlike vessels made from terrestrial materials. Here we see a unique quality: the sea possesses the status of purity. Because of this, Yechezkel was able to prophesy by the sea, for it is a place where the Holy One, blessed be He, reigns directly, free from ritual impurity.
When the Roman Empire arose, what did it do? It spread heresy throughout the world; it disseminated a lack of faith in Hashem. Then, even among the nations, that clear realization that the Holy One, blessed be He, rules over the sea was undermined. This heretical empire, which championed solely "my power and the might of my hand" and celebrated outward physical beauty and all that comes with it, succeeded in eroding even among the gentiles the belief that the Holy One, blessed be He, governs the sea.
An allusion to this is found in the words of Chazal: When King Shlomo married the daughter of Pharaoh, the angel Gavriel descended and planted a reed in the sea. A sandbank accumulated around it, and upon it was built the great metropolis of Rome. The reed stood in the water, the water shifted sediment, the sediment formed a mound, the mound a hill, the hill an island, and upon it the metropolis of Rome was built. Surely this is not meant literally, for Rome already existed prior to Shlomo and his marriage to Pharaoh's daughter. Incidentally, he was forbidden to marry Pharaoh's daughter, for even as a convert she was forbidden, as the Torah specifies that an Egyptian may only marry into the congregation in the "third generation." Yet he married her and brought her in, and our Sages write that the celebration of her wedding surpassed the joy of the dedication of the Beit HaMikdash. Concerning this it was said, "For this city has aroused My anger and My wrath," as we have discussed in the past.
Rather, what is the deeper allusion here? Based on what we have explained: even the sea, which had still served as a source of faith for the nations in recognizing that the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over it, was struck by Rome planting a reed within it. Rome turned it into dry land, formed a sandbank, and, as it were, managed to dry up the sea - not entirely, but enough to undermine faith in this realm among the nations as well. This is the meaning of "the breach of the sea" - that heresy which Rome disseminated across the globe.
In the Future to Come, heresy will be uprooted and idolatry eradicated: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as water covers the sea," and all will know Me. That heretical mindset will be nullified, and then: "He Who heals the breach of the sea will heal you" - Hashem will abolish heresy and the heretical kingdom, the empire of Rome.
And our Sages have already stated: Yerushalayim was built only from the ruins of Tzor (Tyre), and Tzor was built only from the ruins of Yerushalayim - "I shall be filled from the ruined one." We have explained previously that the nations and Yisrael are like the two pans of a balance scale: it is impossible for both to be high or both to be low at the same time. When we descend, the opposing pan inevitably rises; when they descend, Yisrael inevitably rises. And what determines this pendulum is Yisrael - they are the ones who determine whether the scale tilts down or up. It emerges, then: when the wicked kingdom is dismantled and heresy is destroyed, everyone will recognize anew that the Holy One, blessed be He, has absolute dominion over the sea and absolute dominion over the entire world. The balance pan of Rome will plunge, Yisrael's standing will rise, and Yisrael will be filled from the downfall of Rome. At that very moment, He Who heals the breach of the sea will also heal the breach of Yisrael.
Another explanation may be offered in a homiletic vein. It is well known that we recite a Mi Sheberach prayer for someone who is ill, and the entire purpose of that Mi Sheberach is for the sick person to recover. And from where do we see that a Mi Sheberach truly helps the patient heal? It is hinted right here in our verse: "Ki gadol kayam shivrech, mi yirpa lach" ("for your breach is as vast as the sea; who can heal you?"). Take the words "shivrech mi" ("your breach; who") and invert them: "mi sheberach yirpa lach" - the Mi Sheberach will bring healing to you! That is to say, even if your breach is as great as the sea, even if the person is critically ill - the Mi Sheberach will heal you. Recite a Mi Sheberach for him, and Hashem will help bring about a complete recovery.
The author of Lechem Dimah offers another explanation for "the breach of the sea." There is a fundamental difference between a disaster that occurs at sea and one that occurs on dry land. A tragedy that strikes on land remains visible for many years: clearing the rubble of the Twin Towers took years, and the impact of the catastrophe remained evident for a very long time. If a meteorite strikes, craters remain for thousands of years from that devastation. Damage on dry land leaves its mark for generations. In contrast, damage occurring at sea is swallowed up immediately: the moment after the Titanic sank, the ocean returned to its calm surface, revealing nothing of what had been swallowed into its depths. Perhaps a few scattered items drift on the surface, but nothing bears witness to what transpired there. A breach at sea is swiftly erased, leaving behind no testimony, whereas a breach on dry land leaves scorched earth where the suffering and destruction remain visible for years to come.
In light of this, the prophet laments: "For your ruin is as vast as the sea" - the fate of the Jewish people resembles a disaster at sea. All the troubles and catastrophes are quickly forgotten. Who remembers what happened? Who remembers Chmielnicki and his cohorts? Who remembers the massacres of Tach veTat (1648 - 1649) and the Inquisition? Who remembers the Mawza Exile endured by the Jews of Yemen? Who remembers the expulsion of the Jews from England? And so on and so forth. Anyone who looks at history will see that the path of the Jewish people is steeped in blood, and the soil of Europe is soaked in blood. Yet we do not remember all of this, and the nations have long since forgotten.
Indeed, this is evident in our own days as well. They go and make an agreement with Iran, allowing them to continue developing centrifuges and producing an atomic bomb, so that what previously lacked legitimacy now receives legitimacy. We are promised ten years of quiet; yet the Iranians are not even willing to allow inspections, and if there is to be an inspection, they must be notified in advance: 'Give us time to get ready! What, you want a surprise inspection? That is going too far - in a surprise inspection, maybe I will have to hide something. Notify us in advance, we will prepare, we will tell you what to look at and where to go, and then you can come and see that there are no problems at all.' Meanwhile, they continue to declare that they will destroy the Jewish people. Furthermore, the agreement includes a clause stating that the nations are supposed to assist them if their nuclear facilities are attacked: if Israel deploys a virus to disrupt their centrifuges, as occurred a few years ago, the nations pledge to help them; and if they are struck in any military operation, the nations will even assist them in rebuilding the reactors. Who can comprehend such a thing? A person declares openly and without shame that his intention is to destroy the Jewish people, and everyone carries on as usual. The nations very quickly forgot the persecutions and afflictions of the Jewish people, and the agreements that once led to total capitulation to Germany are being repeated today. This is the meaning of "for your ruin is as vast as the sea": we endure troubles, we endure disasters, yet who remembers them? People revert to business as usual, continuing to act exactly as they did before.
The author of Lechem Dim'ah offers another explanation for the words "who can heal you" (mi yirpa lach). It is known that the word Mi (literally, "who") hints at the Sephirah of Binah, the fifty gates of Binah. And where do we see that Mi hints at the Holy One, blessed be He? "Lift your eyes on high and see: who [Mi] created these?" - Mi is the Holy One, blessed be He. If so, the verse is telling you: Do you know who can heal us? Only Mi, only the Holy One, blessed be He. He alone can heal the ruin of Israel, entirely above the laws of nature.
In light of this, this matter can be understood based on what was previously learned regarding the teaching: "Happy are you, Israel! Before whom are you purified, and who purifies you? Your Father in Heaven." This statement is quite perplexing: Are we purifying ourselves, or is someone else purifying us? Some suggest that first "you are purified" and then "who purifies you" - one must begin with an awakening from below (itaruta deletata) so that an awakening from above (itaruta dele'eila) will follow. But there is another wonderful explanation: a person who has descended into the fifty gates of defilement cannot extricate himself by his own power. Who can take him out? Only the Holy One, blessed be He, for there is none besides Him, and through the mystical conduct of absolute unity (hanhagat hayichud), He can pull him out even from the fifty gates of defilement. On his own, a person in the fifty gates of defilement has neither strength nor remedy. This was the state of Israel prior to the Exodus: they were in forty-nine gates of defilement, for had they reached the fiftieth, they would no longer have been able to be liberated through their own strength or their own merit.
This is what the teaching means: Happy are you, Israel, so long as you are "before Mi" - that is, before the fiftieth level - "you are purified"; you can still purify yourselves and repent. But if you have arrived at Mi, if you are already in the fifty gates of defilement, then only "Mi purifies you" - you need the Holy One, blessed be He, to purify you, for on your own, you no longer possess the strength.
According to this, the verse is explained: The Jewish people reached a state akin to the fifty gates of defilement. Although they did not reach it literally, their condition was as if they were there, such that only the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself could extricate them. And this is what the verse means by "who [Mi] can heal you": in a state where we have descended to the level of Mi, only Mi can heal you. And why? "For your ruin is as vast as the sea [kayam]" - what is the numerical value of yam (sea)? Fifty. Your ruin and your fall are like the sea, like fifty. And since your ruin is vast like the sea, like fifty, it is no longer within our power to extricate ourselves, and only Mi, only the Holy One, blessed be He, can take us out of this trouble and heal us.
A single verse, "For your ruin is as vast as the sea; who can heal you?" has opened five gateways before us. The ruin of the sea is the anguish of the lower waters over their distance from the Creator, and its healing will come when the earth is filled with the knowledge of Hashem; the ruin of the sea is the heresy that Rome planted like a reed in the sea, and its healing lies in the nullification of the kingdom of heresy and the rising of Israel's scale of merit; as a homiletic play on words - "He who broke you will heal you" (Mi shebarach yirpa lach); as an ethical teaching - a disaster at sea leaves no trace, and likewise the afflictions of Israel are forgotten by the world and the nations, and the cycle repeats itself. And finally: yam has the numerical value of fifty, and having descended to such a depth, we lack the power to extricate ourselves on our own, and only Mi - the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself - can heal us and renew our days as of old.