Chapter 3 of Megillat Eicha is the chapter of an individual lamenting in the first person, describing the depth of the distress - and precisely from within it, finding the point of light. In the passage before us, we examine three verses that are the heart of the chapter: the recognition that even amid the harshest calamity, Hashem's kindnesses are revealed; the renewal that comes every morning; and the practical conclusion - "therefore I will hope."
חַסְדֵי יְהֹוָה כִּי לֹא תָמְנוּ כִּי לֹא כָלוּ רַחֲמָיו׃ - The kindnesses of Hashem, for we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.
The mourner says: Even in this harsh calamity that has befallen me, I still see the light at the end of the tunnel; I see Hashem's kindness in it. And what is the proof? "For we are not consumed." The Holy One, blessed be He, did not bring us to total annihilation, as it is said: "And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I abhor them, to destroy them completely." There is a promise that the Jewish people will never cease from being a nation before Him for all time. Hashem left us a remnant and a survivor, a root from which the nation will flourish and multiply anew, and also so that we may recount afterward the deeds of the enemy.
And this is a reality of life: When a person endures suffering, he later feels a need to tell others what the wicked enemies did to him, how much they abused him. It is known that among Holocaust survivors, there were those who withdrew and did not speak for years, while others, after years of silence, opened their mouths and became like a flowing spring of everything they had kept inside. And those who found relief quickest were those who spoke earliest. Part of a person's process of emotional cleansing is recounting what he went through. That is why people pay a psychologist, and that couch is very expensive: you pour everything out, drain the abscess festering inside, and through that you are liberated.
This is what is stated here: "The kindnesses of Hashem, for we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail." Hashem spared us so that we might recount the deeds of the enemy - their cruelty, their corruption, and their wickedness. And this very purpose gave us the strength to survive - so that we could afterward tell of Hashem's kindness, that He did not bring us to the point of being "consumed," that He did not bring us to total destruction.
The Ridvaz explains differently: "For we are not consumed" does not mean that we did not perish, but rather that the kindnesses have not ended. "Tamnu" is like "tamemu," meaning they came to an end, with the nun being an extra letter. It is as if it were written: The kindnesses of Hashem, for they have not ended - Hashem's kindnesses are not exhausted; they still endure.
The Akeidat Yitzchak explains: "The kindnesses of Hashem, for we are not consumed" - if we reflect, we see that everything the Holy One, blessed be He, created in the world is for good, and evil is nullified in the minority. As we learn in the Book of Iyov, which is well worth studying especially during the Three Weeks of Bein HaMetzarim, there is a gentile misconception that most of what happens in the world is bad, leading to the question of why Hashem would create a world of mostly suffering. But the true perspective is that whoever examines reality closely will see that most of what happens in the world is good, and the bad is nullified in the minority.
And this is what is written: "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." Not only is what happens in the world good, but even what appears to you as bad - "everything that He had made," what does the verse come to include? To include even what appears bad in your eyes, knowing that it too is good. And Chazal taught: "'Very good' - this refers to death." Death? The very thing everyone flees from as from the Angel of Death, you call very good? Yes. If one considers the destiny of the world and the purpose for which we are here, it becomes clear that death is "very good." First, "and she laughs at the final day" - as long as man is in this world, he cannot attain true closeness to God as is fitting, but only after his passing.
Secondly, were it not for death, would a person ever perform good deeds in his lifetime? Why did the Holy One, blessed is He, shorten man's lifespan, whereas in earlier generations people lived for seven hundred and nine hundred years, while after the corruption it was said, "and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years"? This can be compared to a king who gave his servant a hundred diamonds to polish. He returned after two months and saw that the servant had barely polished ten. He gave a second servant only twenty diamonds, saying to him: "I see that I gave the first one too many; to you I am giving only a few - at least make sure to finish these." So too here: when a person has hundreds of years, Noach begins fathering children at age six hundred, and until five hundred a person is still considered a youth - what is the rush? But when a person tells himself: "You are already thirty, forty, fifty, life is passing by" - he feels the pressure. Who is knocking at his window? Death. If so, is death bad or good? Death is the only thing that moves a person to do the will of Hashem, as Chazal phrased it: "Let him remind himself of the day of death." It emerges that nothing in this world is inherently evil: everything is for the good, and even what appears bad - know that it serves a purpose.
חֲדָשִׁים לַבְּקָרִים רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ׃ - They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
A person must cast off the heretical thoughts that view the darkness of the night as an independent reality of evil in the world, as though the Holy One, blessed is He, does not watch over what occurs. That is not so: "They are new every morning" - after every night comes a morning. This morning is a renewal, a reality in which the darkness and obscurity dissipate, the concealment of God's face is removed, and the troubles and afflictions come to an end. And then - "great is Your faithfulness": strengthen yourself in faith in Hashem, blessed be He, for the dawn is approaching, and we stand on the threshold of redemption.
On the contrary, Chazal said that in the seven-year cycle during which the son of David comes - meaning in the seven years before the arrival of Mashiach - the last coin will vanish from the pocket. If we want to know who brings redemption closer, it is someone suffering hardship and distress. On this particular condition, that the pocket is emptied of every coin, the world seems to be working very hard indeed. It turns out that the troubles and suffering pressing upon us herald the redemption. A woman in labor knows that the more frequent and intense the contractions, the closer the baby is to being born. So it is with us: "They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness" - wait. Chazal taught that just before daybreak, the darkness is at its deepest, and only then does the morning star break through and the sun begin to rise. So too in our case: when you see such darkness, that itself should encourage you to believe and anticipate that at any moment, the light of Hashem will shine upon us.
The Lechem Dim'ah explains: when I contemplate the kindnesses of Hashem, "that we are not consumed," I reflect upon an unprecedented miracle and wonder - a sheep among seventy wolves. And not just any sheep, but the very sheep that the seventy wolves regard as the world's consummate troublemaker, the one without whom many of the world's problems would supposedly be solved. And between us, they are right, for in truth everything that happens in the world happens for the sake of Israel. The real battle is not America's, but between the people of Israel and the nations and religions, and everything occurring in the world occurs for the sake of Israel.
Naturally, every king and every nation made a pastime of persecuting the Jew: "Strike the Jew and save Germany." Today too: "Strike the chareidi and save the country; draft the chareidim and all the problems will be solved; impose on them 'equal sharing of the burden'; compel them to study core secular curricula." And all this comes from people who never mastered core subjects or shared the burden equally themselves! Even the Nazi oppressor, lehavdil, sought an Aryan master race, although anyone looking at him could see he lacked the very traits he exalted. It seems that often, whatever a person lacks in himself, he demands of others. Thus someone who never completed twelve years of schooling, never earned a matriculation certificate, and served merely as a military radio reporter presumes to lecture us about "sharing the burden" and "core curricula." It is an upside-down world, where anyone with a knack for glib talk gains momentum and suddenly becomes a somebody, despite having accomplished nothing in his life, and now begins to act - mostly by causing damage.
Yet there is no reason to be alarmed. The people of Israel outlasted Pharaoh, and they will outlast all of these figures, their satellites, and their accomplices as well. "The kindness of Hashem is that we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail" - the Holy One, blessed is He, brings afflictions upon us in order to awaken us to repentance, and all that is demanded of us is to return to Hashem. Then the Holy One, blessed is He, says: they will vanish on their own; I will cast them down slain. When I observe this immense wonder - that there was not a single nation that did not attempt to destroy and torment the Jews - I can only conclude "for His compassions never fail": even when we are in exile, His compassions rest upon us.
זֹאת אָשִׁיב אֶל־לִבִּי עַל־כֵּן אוֹחִיל׃ - This I recall to my heart; therefore I hope.
What do I hope for? Because I ask myself: Is your existence natural? Does the Jewish people exist in a conventional, natural way? Given our circumstances, we should have ceased to exist long ago. Ancient empires and mighty nations were wiped out and are no more, yet how is it that you still exist? If so - "therefore I hope." This reflection itself encourages me to hope, for surely the Holy One, blessed is He, does not desire our destruction, but wants to bring us back to Him, so that we return in repentance and be redeemed with a complete redemption.
In this there is also an answer to the nations. The nations claimed that the exile of Israel proves that Hashem rejected them - that He rejected us and chose the Christians or the Muslims. Each of them claims that this nation rebelled against the word of Hashem - and in this they are correct, as everyone accepts and interprets the explicit prophecies - and following this, according to their claims, He rejected them and handed the scepter of leadership over to that man or to Muhammad, each according to his religion. We say, on the contrary: "The kindnesses of Hashem, for we are not consumed" - do you not see that the Jewish people have not come to an end? This is proof and an answer to the nations, a sign that His mercies have not ended and a sign that we will return to be redeemed.
Christianity struggled with this and said: The Holy One, blessed be He, intentionally left them so as to smite them for having killed his messiah, leaving them as an eternal disgrace so that everyone would see what becomes of those who rebel against Hashem. But where is the flaw in this logic? Someone who had a son and the son rebelled against him casts him out of the palace, and that is it - it is finished. He does not keep pursuing him with a submachine gun. And if he does keep pursuing him, that itself is a sign that he still desires him.
Furthermore, church leaders five hundred years ago stated that the greatest proof that Hashem rejected Israel is that they will never return to their land. Yet behold, the people of Israel have returned to their land. What do they say to this? They began to squirm, and found an explanation: they will not return to Jerusalem. But in 5727 (1967), we returned to Jerusalem as well. The Christian solution was simply to ignore it: the Pope arrived at the Allenby Bridge, and the Rishon LeTzion went to greet him - yet he did not enter Jerusalem. What one does not see does not hurt and does not exist. But it is very difficult to ignore, for your entire foundation is built on the premise that Hashem rejected Israel and that they will never return - and yet here they have returned, here they have returned to Jerusalem, and here, "And you, mountains of Israel, shall yield your produce and bear your fruit for My people Israel, for they are soon to come." The Land began to yield its fruit, and there is no more explicit sign of the End of Days than this. This is one of the refutations against Christianity, and there are far greater challenges against them. But one who bases his religion purely on faith without knowledge tells you: It does not matter, I believe. Judaism, by contrast, is founded upon knowledge - "And you shall know this day, and take it to your heart."
By way of remez (allusion), it is explained: "This (zot) I recall to my heart, therefore I hope" - the numerical value of "zot" (זאת) equals the combined numerical value of kol (voice/prayer), tzom (fasting), and mamon (money/charity), which are the three elements necessary for a person to repent: voice is prayer; fasting - "and afflicted his soul with fasting"; and money is charity. What enables me to repent and find favor before Him? "Zot" - these three, which nullify evil decrees. "Therefore I hope."
Another explanation: "Zot" (זא"ת) is an acronym for zechut avot tamah - the merit of the Patriarchs has been exhausted. Even though we have consumed and exhausted the merit of the Patriarchs to the end, the Jewish people have still not perished, and still endure - why? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, still watches over us and has not removed His providence from us. This is the meaning of "This (zot) I recall to my heart": I take this realization to heart, reflect upon it, and consider what is incumbent upon me to do. Until now, we approached Hashem through the power of the holy Patriarchs' deeds, through the power of merits; but what can we do when "zot" - the merit of the Patriarchs has been exhausted, and we have emptied the account completely. I have no choice but "therefore I hope" - to lean upon Hashem's mercy, to anticipate and yearn. If I cannot come through merit, I will come through kindness: "The kindnesses of Hashem, for we are not consumed, for His mercies have not ended" - that Hashem in His abundant kindness will redeem us.
From the depths of the lamentation, the author of the kinah found the point of light: our very existence is the proof that Hashem's kindnesses have not ended and that His mercies have not ceased. Everything is for the good, and the bad is nullified in its minority; after every night comes morning, and specifically the deep darkness before dawn heralds the sunrise. The miraculous survival of the Jewish people among seventy wolves is a decisive rebuttal to the nations who claim that Hashem has rejected us - on the contrary, their persecution proves that He still desires us. From here emerges the practical conclusion: "This I recall to my heart" - through voice, fasting, and charity, and with the awareness that the merit of the Patriarchs has been exhausted, nothing remains for us but to return to Hashem and yearn for His kindness: "therefore I hope in Him."