Yitzchak Avinu, and Eisav's descendants – Titus – destroyed that house, Eisav now brought Yitzchak a dog, hinting to him, "Your house will be built by a dog and also destroyed by him!" On the night of Tisha B'Av – if Mashiach Tzidkeinu has not arrived by then – we will all sit on the floor and read Eichah. We’ll read the Pasuk: בָּכוֹ תִבְכֶּה בַּלַיְלָה – She weeps bitterly in the night. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 104b) asks, why the double language בָּכוֹ תִבְכֶּה – why these two weepings? One for the First Beit Hamikdash and one for the Second Beit Hamikdash. And why 'in the night'? Is it not also during the day that we’ll weep? At night, for the matters of the night, as it says with regards to the nation after the spies returned and slandered the land: And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. That day was the night of Tisha B'Av. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Bnei Yisrael: “You cried a baseless cry, and I will establish for you a cry for generations.”
The Semuchim Le'ad says, if we take the second letter of each of the words בכה תבכה בלילה, we get כל"ב – dog. The question arises – what is the dog hinting here and teaching us?
After these learnings, we can delve into the depth of the issue. On the morning of Tisha B'Av, it is customary to recite a kinah about the Ten Martyrs; Bnei Sepharad read the piyyut titled Eileh Ezkera (אֵלֶה אֶזְכְּרָה) while Ashkenazic communities read Arzei HaLevanon (אַרְזֵי הַלְבָנוֹן), with slight textual differences between them. We’ll first read from Arzei HaLevanon:
Cedars of Lebanon, masters of Torah, shield bearers in Mishna and Gemara, powerful heroes, toiling in purity: Their blood is spilled like water, and their strength, sapped. They are ten holy ones, martyred by the kingdom. For them, I cry, and my eyes flow with tears. When I remember this, I cry a great and bitter cry. Israel’s delight, holy vessels, a wreath and a crown, pure of heart, holiest of holy, slaughtered in horrible death.
The pious Rabbi Yesheivav the Scribe was killed by this nation of Gomorrah. They cast him, threw him to the dogs, so that he was never properly buried. A heavenly voice declared that there was nothing in the Torah of Moshe that he did not observe.
Eileh Ezkera is also recited by Ashkenazic communities during Mussaf on Yom Kippur, where it speaks about the fate of Rabbi Yesheivav HaSofer:
They tortured us that we should reject the commandments; and refused to accept neither bribe nor ransom. Only the lives of those who studied the Torah would they take like that of Rabbi Yesheivav, the scribe.
The Midrash Asara Harugei Malchut details the story of Rabbi Yesheivav HaSofer’s brutal murder. On the day he was killed, it was a Yom Sheini, and he was sitting in his fast. His students said to him: "Rebbe, do you wish to eat something before you are killed?" He replied that he wished to follow the ways of his own Rebbe, "Is it not enough to be like my colleague Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, who was killed while fasting?"
Rabbotai, one must ask themselves, why did his students offer him food before his death? He was going to die anyway, so what good would eating do?!
We see a heartbreaking parallel with Chana and her seven sons, as told in the Gemara (Gittin 57b). One by one, each son was brought before the Caesar and commanded to worship an idol. Each refused, quoting a different Pasuk affirming their loyalty to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and each was killed in turn. When the youngest was brought, even as the Caesar tried to trick him into a symbolic act of submission, he refused, crying out, “If you care so much for your own honor, how much more must we honor Hashem!” Before his death, his mother kissed him goodbye and said, “Go tell Avraham Avinu: You offered one son – I have given seven!” She then went to the roof and fell to her death. A bat kol declared: אֵם הַבָּנִים שִׂמְחָה – A joyful mother of children.
The Midrash (Eichah Rabbah 1:50) adds a detail not mentioned in the Gemara. His mother said to him, "By your life, Caesar, give me my son so I may embrace and kiss him." They gave him to her, she stepped aside with him for a few last moments, and she nursed him.
Rav Yaakov Galinsky asked – why was she nursing him if he was about to die anyway?! It is because the mother said, “If he is going as a sacrifice to Hashem, let him weigh another 200 grams!” That's a Jewish mother for you! And this is what Rabbi Yesheivav's students said, “Rebbe! They are going to kill you, and if you eat something, the sacrifice will be more complete!" Rabbi Yesheivav responded to them, "If my teacher did not eat, I will not eat either!"
The Midrash then says a heavenly voice came out and said: אַשְׁרֶיךָ ר׳ יְשֵׁבַב שֶׁלֹא הֵנָּחתָ מִתּוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה כְּלוּם. הֲרָגוּהוּ וְהִשְׁלִיכוּהוּ לַכְּלָבִים וְלֹא הֻסְפַּד וְלֹא הֻקְבַּר. Fortunate are you, R’ Yesheivav, for you left nothing from Moshe except prophecy. They killed him and threw him to the dogs, and he was neither eulogized nor buried.
Rabbotai, how is it possible that such a great person, who was comparable to Moshe Rabbeinu except for prophecy, would be eaten by dogs and not be brought to burial?! The Midrash continues and says:
וְאַחֲרָיו רַבִּי חוּצְפִּית הַמְּתֻרְגְמָן שֶׁהָיָה שָׁקוּל כְּיוֹנָתָן בֶּן עֻזִּיאֵל...
And after him, Rabbi Chutzpit the interpreter. They said about Rabbi Chutzpit the interpreter that he was comparable to Yonatan ben Uziel; just as Yonatan ben Uziel, when he was engaged in Torah, any bird that flew over him would immediately be burned, so too Rabbi Chutzpit would teach 120 aspects in the Torah of the Kohanim and would declare the impure pure and the pure impure, showing them aspects. And when they sought to kill him, they did not show favor to his Torah, blessed be the name of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, for whom there is no favoritism or taking of bribes.
The Martyrdom of Rabbi Chutzpit HaMeturgeman
In describing Rabbi Chutzpit HaMeturgeman, the Midrash Eileh Ezkera writes: They said about Rabbi Chutzpit the interpreter that he was 130 years old when they took him out to be killed, and he was handsome in form and appearance, resembling an angel of Hashem. They came and told the king about his beauty and his old age, and they said to him: "By your life, my lord, have mercy on this old man." The Caesar said to Rabbi Chutzpit: "How old are you?" He replied: "130 years, except for one day, and I ask you to wait for me until my day is complete." The Caesar said: "What difference does it make whether you die today or tomorrow?" He replied: "So that I may fulfill two more Mitzvot." The Caesar asked: "What commandment do you wish to fulfill?" He replied: "To recite the Shema in the evening and morning; to proclaim the great and awesome Name of Hakadosh Baruch Hu." The Caesar said: "Brazen-faced and brazen-hearted, how long will you trust in your G-d who has no power to save you from my hand, for my ancestors destroyed His house and left the corpses of His servants around Yerushalayim without burial, and now your G-d is old and has no power to save anymore! If He had power, He would avenge His vengeance and the vengeance of His people and His house as He did with Pharaoh and Sisera and all the kings of Canaan." When Rabbi Chutzpit heard this, he wept and tore his garments over the blasphemy of the name of Hashem and His disgrace, and he said to the Caesar: "Woe to you, Caesar! What will you do on the last day when Hashem will visit upon Rome and your gods?" The king said: "How long will I argue with this one?" And he commanded to kill him, and they stoned him and hanged him. Then his ministers and wise men came and pleaded with him to bury him because they had compassion for his old age. The king agreed to bury him. His students came and buried him, and they eulogized him with a great and heavy eulogy.
The Reward for Mitzvot and the World to Come
There are two Mitzvot in which the Torah promises the reward of long life: Honoring one's father and mother and sending away the mother bird – כִּבּוּד אָב וָאֵם וְשִׁלוּחַ הַקֵן. The Gemara (Kiddushin 39b) teaches us through the words of Rabbi Yaakov that there is no Mitzvah in the Torah for which the reward is explicitly stated that does not have Techiat HaMeitim (resurrection of the dead) dependent on that reward, to inform us that the true reward is only in Olam Haba. The Gemara brings two Mitzvot as examples – these two.
The Gemara then presents a scenario where a father asks his son to climb a building to fetch some birds. In doing so, the son fulfills both the Mitzvah of honoring his father and sending away the mother bird, yet upon his return, he falls from the ladder and dies. The Pesukim promise that one who performs these Mitzvot will have a good and long life, so where is this promised good and long life for that boy? Rabbi Yaakov concludes that the Pesukim refer to Olam Haba, where the true reward is given.
The Gemara questions his interpretation, however, suggesting perhaps such an event never happened, and indeed those who perform Mitzvot do have their days prolonged in this world. However, Rabbi Yaakov witnessed such an incident, compelling him to interpret the Pesukim as referring to the World to Come. Several additional challenges are lobbied at him, but in the end, he learns that reward for Mitzvot is given not in this world, but in Olam Haba.
In the Gemara, Rav Yosef then states that had Acher – the tanna Elisha ben Avuya – interpreted the Pasuk about reward in Olam Haba like Rabbi Yaakov, he would not have sinned. What led Acher astray? Some say he witnessed the incident of this son who fell from the ladder, while others say he saw the tongue of Chutzpit HaMeturgeman being dragged by a pig. Elisha ben Avuya wondered how such a righteous person could meet such an end. Astonished, he asked: "A mouth that brought forth pearls, shall it now lick the dust?!" He left the path and sinned.
If Hakadosh Baruch Hu acted this way toward a great man like Rabbi Chutzpit the Interpreter, it must be that there is a message in it. The question we must ask is: what is that message?
The Sin of Baseless Hatred and Lashon Hara
The Gemara in Massechet Yoma (9b) asks: Why was the First Beit Hamikdash destroyed? Because of three severe sins that were present: idolatry, forbidden relations, and murder. But the Second Beit Hamikdash, during which people were involved in Torah, Mitzvot, and acts of kindness – why was it destroyed? Because of sinat chinam – baseless hatred. This teaches that baseless hatred is as severe as the three cardinal sins combined.
The Gemara then challenges this assertion. Was there really no sinat chinam during the First Beit Hamikdash? After all, the Navi Yechezkel (21:17) speaks of people living together peacefully – eating, drinking, and trusting one another – yet ultimately stabbing each other with the swords of their tongues. This shows that sinat chinam was present then too, but it was hidden behind external friendliness, making it even more dangerous.
The Chafetz Chaim writes in the introduction to Sefer Shemirat HaLashon that ultimately, during the Second Beit Hamikdash period, sinat chinam and lashon hara increased among us, leading to the Beit Hamikdash’s destruction and our exile. This is as stated in Massechet Yoma and the Talmud Yerushalmi. Although the Gemara mentions sinat chinam, it also refers to lashon hara stemming from hatred, which otherwise would not have warranted such severe punishment.
The first instance of baseless hatred was among Yosef's brothers, as it says וַיִּשְׂנְאוּ אֹתוֹ וְלֹא יָכְלוּ דַּבְּרוֹ לְשָׁלוֹם – And they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. What caused this? The evil report Yosef brought to their father about them: וַיָּבֵא יוֹסֵף אֶת דִּבָּתָם רָעָה אֶל אֲבִיהֶם – And Yosef brought their evil report to their father. Later, the spies spoke evil about the Land of Israel, resulting in a decree to remain in the desert for 40 years, and a decree of weeping for generations, leading to the destruction of both Batei Mikdash.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu told Avraham Avinu at the Brit Bein HeBetarim: "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land not their own, and they will serve them and afflict them for four hundred years." Where did we descend to in order to fulfill being in "a land not their own"? To Egypt! Why there and not to Switzerland or Abu Dhabi or Canada?!
About four months ago, we sat at the Seder and sang the song: חַד גַּדְיָא חַד גַּדְיָא דְּזַבִּין אַבָּא בִּתְרֵי זוּזֵי – דַּיֵּנוּ – One little goat, one little goat; father bought it for two zuzim. Let's see exactly what the paytan meant here in these words. The Torah tells us: יוֹסֵף בֶּן שְׁבַע עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה הָיָה רֹעֶה אֶת אֶחָיו בַּצֹּאן – Yosef, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren. The numerical value of גדי (kid) is 17. So, do you want to know how our exile began?! It all started with one kid that father sold for two zuzim! Yosef’s father made him a coat worth two selaim, and told him: "Listen, keep your mouth closed and don't speak lashon hara," but instead of keeping his mouth shut, he did the exact opposite and spoke lashon hara about his brothers! Do you want to know why we went down to Egypt??? I'll tell you why! Because one kid, seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, and he brought their evil report to their father... His father made him a coat worth two selaim; his brothers were jealous of him — and we went down to Egypt! This is how it began!
The paytan continues: וְאָתָא שׁוּנְרָא וְאָכְלָה לְגַדְיָא – And a cat came and ate the kid. The cat refers to the brothers. The Vilna Gaon says, the cat is the most envious animal. Therefore, Chazal likened the brothers, who were envious of Yosef, specifically to a cat. And then along came a dog – this is Pharaoh, for all the sorcery of Egypt revolved around dogs, as the Midrash says (Shemot Rabbah 20:19):
How did Moshe know where Yosef was buried? Some say, Serach bat Asher showed him, and he was buried in the Nile. Some say he was buried in the palace, in the manner that kings are buried. The Egyptians crafted golden dogs through sorcery, so if a person would come there, they would bark and their voices would carry throughout the land of Egypt, a distance of forty days travel. Moses silenced them, as it is stated: וּלְכֹל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא יֶחֱרַץ כֶּלֶב לְשֹׁנוֹ – But for all of Bnei Yisrael no dog will extend its tongue.
So, we learned how full of dogs Egypt was. The question arises – if so, why did we have to go into exile specifically among the dogs? Why not among parrots? Because the Gemara says (Pesachim 118a):
Anyone who speaks slander, and anyone who accepts and believes the slander he hears, and anyone who testifies falsely about another, it is fitting to throw him to the dogs, as it is stated: “And you shall not eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field, you shall cast it to the dogs.”
The Arizal explains, it is fitting to throw him to the dogs, for anyone who speaks lashon hara, returns in the reincarnation (gilgul) of a dog.
And why specifically to a dog? The Maharal says (Gur Aryeh), it is because during Yetziat Mitzrayim, the dogs fulfilled the Pasuk: וּלְכֹל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא יֶחֱרַץ כֶּלֶב לְשֹׁנוֹ – Against any of Bnei Yisrael shall not a dog move his tongue. The dogs did not bark even though it was their nature. If a dog, which has no knowledge or intelligence, is silent when commanded to be – then all the more so should you, a human being with knowledge and understanding, remain silent when told to guard your tongue and avoid speaking lashon hara. Yet you speak – therefore, it is fitting to throw you to the dogs!
If so, the words of the Gemara are understood. A person who speaks lashon hara is worthy of being thrown to the dogs because the dog is better than him, at least it closes its mouth when told! And why did they go down specifically to Egypt? Says the Rashash, to rectify the lashon hara of Yosef! Chazal say (Vayikra Rabbah, 32:5):
Due to four matters, Israel was redeemed from Egypt: Because they did not change their name, their language, they did not speak slander, and there was not one among them who was found to be steeped in immorality.
So, Bnei Yisrael came out of Egypt clean from the sins of the tongue — and the proof is: וּלְכֹל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא יֶחֱרַץ כֶּלֶב לְשֹׁנוֹ.
We learned that the Second Beit Hamikdash was destroyed because of the sin of lashon hara, and the Ben Yehoyada tells us, this corresponds to the second watch of barking dogs – and why barking and not howling?! Because it is likened to those who speak lashon hara, who shout out their nonsense. Therefore, the fire that lay upon the altar was in the shape of a dog, because Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to warn us not to speak lashon hara!
With this, we can move on to the next stage. When Eisav brings delicacies to Yitzchak Avinu, they show Yitzchak the Beit Hamikdash in its glory and its destruction; Eisav comes and brings him a dog, to tell him: "I am destined to destroy the Second Beit Hamikdash, which is paralleled to you, and which will be built by a dog and destroyed because of a dog – lashon hara!" This is all hinted at in the Pasuk בָּכוֹ תִבְכֶּה בַּלַיְלָה – that because of the sin associated with the dog the two Batei Mikdash will be destroyed.
From Egypt to Yerushalayim: The Cycle of Lashon Hara
We asked, what is the connection between בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם and בְּצֵאתִי מִירוּשָׁלָיִם, as the Tisha B’Av kina says. The answer is very simple. בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם – we left clean from the sins of the tongue; בְּצֵאתִי מִירוּשָׁלָיִם – the baseless hatred that was among the people, which the Chafetz Chaim tells us, refers to lashon hara, is what caused us to leave Yerushalayim and witness the two Batei Mikdash destroyed!
When Yosef meets his brothers, he approaches Binyamin and they both cry: וַיִּפֹּל עַל צַוְּארֵי בִנְיָמִן אָחִיו וַיֵּבְךְּ וּבִנְיָמִן בָּכָה עַל צַוָּארָיו – And he fell upon his brother Binyamin's neck and wept; and Binyamin wept upon his neck. The Gemara (Megillah 16b) says:
How many necks did Binyamin have? Rabbi Elazar said: Yosef cried over the two Batei Mikdash that were destined to be in the tribal territory of Binyamin and destined to be destroyed. And Binyamin wept on his neck; he cried over the Mishkan of Shiloh that was destined to be in the tribal territory of Yosef and was destined to be destroyed.
The wording of the Pasuk gives rise to a question, as the word צַוְּארֵי is plural, meaning necks. How many necks did Binyamin have? Why does the Pasuk not use the singular צַוָּאר? The Pasuk intimates that Yosef cried over the two Batei Mikdash that were destined to be in the tribal territory of Binyamin and destined to be destroyed. The same Pasuk continues: And Binyamin wept on his neck; he cried over the Mishkan of Shiloh that was destined to be in the tribal territory of Yosef and was destined to be destroyed.
The Zohar Chadash writes, that when sinat chinam – baseless hatred, began during the Second Beit Hamikdash period, the sin of Mechirat Yosef was reawakened. The piyyut of Eileh Ezkera opens as follows:
These I will remember, and my soul will pour out within me. For the arrogant devoured us like a cake not turned. In the days of the ruler (some say: Caesar), no healing came for the ten martyrs of the kingdom. He studied the book from the mouth of cunning ones and understood and scrutinized the marked law. He opened with "And these are the ordinances" and devised a scheme. "And one who kidnaps a person and sells him, and he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death." His heart swelled with pride among the great ones, and he commanded to fill his palace with shoes and called ten great sages, experts in religion and its reasons, with debates. "Judge this case correctly and do not distort it with falsehood, but bring it to its truth and light." For if a man is found kidnapping a soul from his brothers, the children of Israel, and oppressing him and selling him, they answered him, "And the thief shall die." Where are your ancestors who sold their brother to a caravan of Ishmaelites, traded him, and gave him for shoes? And you shall accept the judgment of Heaven upon you, for from the days of your ancestors, none like you has been found. And if they were alive, I would judge them before you, and you shall bear the sin of your fathers.
Thus, it emerges that the ten martyrs were killed because of the sin of Mechirat Yosef. The Midrash says, Shimon and Levi saw Yosef from afar and said, “בּוֹאוּ וּנְשַׁסֶּה בּוֹ אֶת הַכְּלָבִים – Come let us sic the dogs on him.” Why specifically dogs?! The Etz Yosef...
