An intriguing Midrash states that three of the great Jewish personalities communicated their prophecies using an identical Hebrew term, eicha, which means "how" or "alas."
The first one to utter this word was Moses.
At the beginning of this week's portion, Devarim, Moses, speaking during the last weeks of his life, recalls how, many years earlier, he shared with his people his profound frustration as the leader of Israel. "I said to you at that time, 'I cannot carry you alone...How (eicha) can I carry your contentiousness, your burdens, and your quarrels if I am all by myself?’"
The second was Isaiah.
In the opening chapter of Isaiah, this extraordinary man of G-d laments the moral degeneration of Jerusalem and its Jewish inhabitants 700 years after Moses' death. "How—eicha—has the faithful city become a prostitute?" Isaiah cries. "She was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now, murderers."
The third was Jeremiah.
Jeremiah's heart-wrenching book of Lamentations, written 200 years after Isaiah and depicting the bloody destruction of Jerusalem, opens with the word "eicha," alas. "Alas—she sits in solitude! The city that was great with people has become like a widow."
The Midrash concludes: Said Rabbi Levi, it is compared to a noblewoman who had three friends. One saw her in her negligence, one saw her in her recklessness, and one saw her in her degenerateness. So did Moses see Israel in their honor and in their negligence, and he said, "How will I carry their burden alone?" Isaiah saw them in their recklessness, and he said, "How has she become a prostitute..." Jeremiah saw them in their degenerateness, and he said, "How does she dwell..."
THREE LINKED MESSAGES
It is logical to assume that the Midrash is not making a random observation of three people using the same term. Rather, the Midrash is attempting to tell us that there exists a subtle link between the three messages of Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. It is this connection that compelled the three prophets to choose the dramatic term "eicha" for their conversations with the people of Israel.
On the surface, no link is visible. Moses was discussing the enormous burden of leadership, Isaiah, the ugliness of promiscuity, and Jeremiah, the tragedy of loss. Yet, the Midrash is hinting to us that these three messages are not only intertwined but actually evolve one from another.
THE TRAGEDY OF SILENCE
What was Moses' complaint? This great leader "Whom G-d had known face to face" was not lamenting his stressful schedule or the lack of time for leisure. What perturbed Moses was that he was the only one taking ultimate responsibility for the fate of the nation. Others were willing to assist during their free time, but it was only Moses who felt that the needs and struggles of the people of Israel were his own.
"How (eicha) can I carry your contentiousness, your burdens, and your quarrels if I am all by myself?" Moses cries. If only one person is ready to put himself on the line in the fight for a better world while others just emit a sigh and go on with their personal affairs, we are bound to crumble. The triumph of evil does not occur as a result of the perpetrators of evil per se; it happens because of the many ordinary men and women who don't care enough to stand up for what is right. When ordinary people of good moral standing lose the courage or willingness to protest injustice, morality is dead.
This is what Moses protested: the notion that ordinary people need not share equal responsibility in mending the world, combating immorality, and transforming human society into an abode for G-d.
Eicha, says the Midrash elsewhere, is comprised of the same letters as the word ayekah, the question G-d asks Adam after eating from the Tree of Knowledge: Where are you?! The eicha becomes a call for ayekah.
The cry of Moses' "How can I carry you alone" ultimately evolved into the second stage of degeneration, which reached its peak during the time of Isaiah. "How has the faithful city become a prostitute?" Isaiah asked. "She was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now, murderers."
How indeed? Because Moses was left alone on the front lines of the battlefield for goodness and morality. When multitudes of people of moral stature do not feel an urgent responsibility to combat the flames of hate and evil burning in their society, a city once full of justice becomes, instead, a haven for murderers; a city of light turns into darkness.
Isaiah's call of "How has the faithful city become a prostitute" evolved into the third stage of degeneration, when Jerusalem destroyed itself, reaching the abyss during the days of Jeremiah. "Alas—she sits in solitude! The city that was great with people has become like a widow," he lamented.
The three "eichas" represent three levels of moral degeneration: passivity, destruction, and isolation.
CONTEMPORARY JEWISH SILENCE
The same is true concerning every crisis—physical or spiritual—that faces our people today, from mass assimilation to inner conflict and disharmony, to domestic abuse, teenage despair, and the dangers of anti-Semitism the world over. If we rely on "Moses" to do all the caring for us, our future is endangered. Every individual ought to lose a little bit of sleep because of his or her personal concern about how to bring redemption to a hurting world.
RABBI YY JACOBSON
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