Introduction: From Lamentation to Outcry
Here in the second chapter of Megillat Eicha, we reach a turning point. Until now, the author described the destruction and the attribute of strict justice that struck the people and the city. Now, he turns to the last weapon remaining to the community: the outcry and the tear. In this one short verse lie great foundations in the service of prayer, and we will therefore examine it in depth.
צָעַק לִבָּם אֶל־אֲדֹנָי, חוֹמַת בַּת־צִיּוֹן הוֹרִידִי כַנַּחַל דִּמְעָה יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה, אַל־תִּתְּנִי פוּגַת לָךְ, אַל־תִּדֹּם בַּת־עֵינֵךְ. (ב, יח) - Their heart cried out to the Lord: O wall of the daughter of Zion, shed tears like a river day and night; give yourself no respite, let not the apple of your eye be silent. (2:18)
"Their Heart Cried Out" - An Outcry Without Words
The author says, "Their heart cried out to the Lord." The holy Zohar explains: this is an outcry where a person cries out and says nothing at all. What is an outcry? A wordless "Oy!" - a person cries out without uttering words, crying out solely from the groaning of his heart.
Rabbi Yehudah said: Therefore, an outcry is greater than all else. Why? Because speech and words are formed with the mouth, which is external. But an outcry - where does it come from? From the heart. It is something internal, the cry of the heart, as it is written, "Their heart cried out to the Lord." The terms tze'akah and za'akah are one and the same, yet an outcry is closer to the Holy One, blessed be He, than prayer and sighing. As it is said, "And it shall come to pass, if he cries out to Me, I will surely hear his cry" - it does not say "if he prays," but "if he cries out," because the outcry stems from the depth of the heart.
Rabbi Berechiah said: When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Shmuel, "I regret that I have made Shaul king," what is written? "And it grieved Shmuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night." The Midrash comments: He set everything aside and took up the outcry. He abandoned all other weapons, all categories of prayer - and there are ten expressions of prayer - and seized specifically upon the outcry. It is the heavy artillery, the weapon of the Day of Judgment, because it is closer to the Holy One, blessed be He, than any other. This is also what is meant by the verse, "And now, behold, the cry of the Children of Israel has come to Me" - it was the outcry of Israel that reached before the Holy One, blessed be He. Not prayer, not sighing, not supplication, nor any of the other expressions of prayer, but specifically the outcry. That is why our Sages taught that one of the four things that tear up a person's harsh decree - alongside changing one's name, changing one's deeds, and the like - is an outcry, crying out to the Holy One, blessed be He.
"Shed Tears Like a River" - Incessant Weeping
From here, the author turns to the wall of the daughter of Zion and says: "Shed tears like a river day and night." At the beginning of the Megillah, it said, "She weeps bitterly in the night" - weeping occurred only at night; here, he turns to her and urges her to weep day and night. "Like a river of tears" - each and every tear should have the measure and volume of a river. "Give yourself no respite [fugat]" - related to hafugah (pause): do not give rest to your tears; do not cease. And even if pausing for a moment becomes unavoidable - "let not the apple of your eye be silent": let the pause be so brief that the eye does not even have time to dry in the meantime, but remains constantly moist. That is to say, even if you must pause, do not go completely still, and do not let the eye dry up.
The Holy Alshich: An Appeal to Rachel Imeinu
The holy Alshich explains that there is also an appeal here to Rachel Imeinu. Of Rachel it is said, "Rachel weeps for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, for they are gone." Therefore, the author says: "Their heart cried out to the Lord: O wall of the daughter of Zion, shed tears like a river" - who is this "wall of the daughter of Zion" whom he addresses? It is Rachel Imeinu, that she should pour out tears like a river over her children, the Jewish people who went into exile.
For although the Avot cried out, it was only when Rachel stepped forward and pleaded: "Master of the Universe, over whom are You jealous? Over this idolatry, which has no substance? Did I not bring my rival into my home and not show jealousy toward her?" Immediately, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to her, "Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your labor... and they shall return from the land of the enemy," and "There is hope for your future... and the children shall return to their own border." Thus, the entire promise came about as a result of Rachel's deeds.
And this is what the prophet of lamentation says here: "O wall of the daughter of Zion" - you, Rachel Imeinu, who serve as a wall for Zion and the Jewish people, "shed tears like a torrent." He therefore addresses her as "daughter" (bat), for Rachel represents the feminine aspect; moreover, in kabbalistic terminology, the Partzuf of Rachel is the Nukva corresponding to Ze'ir Anpin, and Ze'ir Anpin and the Nukva are considered children to Abba and Imma, to Chochmah and Binah - and therefore she is called here a "daughter." "Shed tears like a torrent day and night; give yourself no respite, let not the pupil of your eye be still."
And this is "Their heart cried out to the Lord": they were so crushed that they had no words left in their mouths, unable to utter a single word to express their grief. What was left for them to do? Only to cry out. And from that cry - and a cry never returns empty - comes the author's counsel: shed tears like a torrent day and night and cry out to Hashem, for through crying out you can be saved from exile and distress.
Sefer Lechem Dimah: Why Specifically Now?
In Lechem Dimah by Rabbi Shmuel di Uzeda, it is explained that the Jewish people had already prayed extensively - "their heart cried out to the Lord" - and had already begun to repent, for "their heart cried out" signifies repentance from deep within the heart, not something superficial. Now they turn to the wall of the daughter of Zion and say to it: "Shed tears like a torrent day and night" - if we have sinned, what was your sin? Shed tears day and night.
He asks: why specifically now? Only after "their heart cried out to the Lord" do they turn to the wall of the daughter of Zion and urge it to weep and pray that it not be destroyed. Why not earlier? The answer is simple: before the Jewish people repent, from whom should the Holy One, blessed be He, exact retribution? From the Jewish people themselves. And because the Holy One, blessed be He, did not wish to annihilate Israel, what did He do? He unleashed His wrath upon the wall of the daughter of Zion, venting His fury upon wood and stones. If so, before repentance, one could not say to the wall of the daughter of Zion, "Shed tears like a torrent" so that you will not be harmed - for what would we be asking for then? That the retribution fall upon us instead? On the contrary, it is better that the wall of the daughter of Zion be destroyed than that Israel perish.
However, now that "their heart cried out to the Lord," after they have repented from the heart, they can now approach the wall of the daughter of Zion and plead: do not be silent; rather, shed tears like a torrent day and night, give yourself no respite. Why? Because we have already repented, so why should the wall of the daughter of Zion be destroyed? Initially, before their heart cried out to Hashem, there was no place to pray that the wall remain unharmed - for if it were not harmed, we would be harmed. But once we have repented, and retribution is no longer due upon us, as it were, we turn to the wall of the daughter of Zion and say: now you indeed can pray that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not strike you, for it is already evident that the people of Israel have repented.
In Summary:
This verse teaches us the power of crying out: it is not a verbal utterance of the mouth but the outcry of the heart, and it is closer to the Holy One, blessed be He, than any form of articulated prayer, to the extent that it is one of the things that tears up a person's harsh decree. The author addresses the wall of the daughter of Zion - and in the words of the Alshich, Rachel Imeinu, whose weeping brought about the promise that "the children shall return to their border" - urging her to shed tears like a torrent day and night without respite, without letting her eyes run dry. And according to Lechem Dimah, specifically after "their heart cried out to the Lord" and Israel repented completely from the heart, could they finally plead that the wall not be destroyed, since the destruction of wood and stone occurred only so that the people of Israel would not be consumed.