"Let Zion and her cities lament, like a woman in the pangs of birth..." (Kinot)
There are two types of suffering: the pangs of death—which are pure pain—and the pangs of childbirth, which are pain mixed with joy, for they bring new life. Zion’s suffering is like the suffering of a woman in labor — the pain of childbirth.
—Kedushat Levi
"Whoever mourns for Jerusalem will merit and see her future joy..." (Taanit 30)
Our Sages say that the dead are eventually forgotten from the heart. If, after thousands of years, Jerusalem has not been forgotten and we continue to mourn for her, this proves that she is not, Heaven forbid, dead — for the living are not forgotten from the heart.
—Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin
"He has cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel..." (Lamentations 2:1)
The beauty and praise of the Jewish people has fallen from heaven to earth. In the past, Jews were respected for their spiritual qualities — Torah scholarship, fear of Heaven, good character traits. But now, a person gains fame through wealth, and sadly, this has become today’s “glory of Israel.”
—Chiddushei HaRim
Not for Many Years
All scrolls in the Bible are written on parchment — except for the scroll of Lamentations, which is read from a printed Chumash. This is because we hope every day to be redeemed from exile and to turn this day of destruction into one of joy. Had we written Lamentations on parchment, it would appear as though we intended to use it for many years — Heaven forbid.
—the Levush
The Humiliation Atones
The righteous tzadik, Rabbi Yissachar Ber of Radoshitz, was sitting with his students and chassidim for a meal during the Nine Days and told the following story:
There lived a Jew who loved to sleep so much that he was nicknamed "the Sleeper." One year, on Rosh Hashanah, his wife tried to wake him so he could go to synagogue, but he kept on sleeping. As the time for the shofar blowing approached, his wife came home and shouted to him, "They're already blowing the shofar!"
The man jumped up, threw on whatever garment he could find, and ran to the synagogue. The garment he grabbed was full of feathers, and the sleep still clung to his face, adding to his disheveled appearance. Everyone stared at him, and he became an object of ridicule. He wished the earth would swallow him out of shame. But in Heaven, it was decided the humiliation he suffered would atone for all his sins.
The tzaddik concluded: The shame we endure in exile, with our Holy Temple destroyed, is worthy to atone for all the sins of the Jewish people.
