By Rabbi Dovid Sapirman, Dean, Ani Maamin Foundation
We turn to the timely subject of the Bais Hamikdash. On Tisha B’Av, we will read the Megillah of Eicha, authored by Yirmiyahu Hanavi and dictated to him by Hashem. Knowing the story behind the writing of Eicha will allow us to experience true mourning when we hear it read.
At the time of its writing, 18 years before the final destruction, Yehoyakim sat on the throne of Yehuda. Yirmiyahu had been imprisoned for the crime of prophesying that the city would be conquered by Bavel.
In prison, Hashem instructed him to take a scroll and dictate an account of the predicted punishments to his talmid, Baruch ben Neriah. Yirmiyahu told Baruch to hold onto the scroll and wait for a public fast day, when the people would assemble at the Beis Hamikdash. Then he should read it to them.
After many months, the nation feared an attack by Nevuchadnetzar’s army. A fast day was indeed proclaimed, and the people gathered in the Beis Hamikdash to pray. Baruch took the Megillah and read it before them. Although Eicha was written 18 years before the Churban, it was a complete description of all that was destined to occur.
One of the king’s officers was present during the reading. He arranged for Baruch to read the scroll again in the staff room where other officers sat. They all agreed that the king had to be notified. Knowing of Yehoyakim’s wickedness, they knew he might vent his anger on Yirmiyahu and Baruch, and so the pasuk tells us that “Hashem hid them,” i.e., they miraculously became invisible.
At first the king’s reaction was indifferent. In the first few verses of Eicha, the land of Yehuda is left barren and abandoned. Yehoyakim did not care, “as long as I am king over those who remain!” But the fifth verse described the enemies of the land becoming its master. “I will not be king?” he exclaimed. He slashed the scroll with a blade and threw the pieces in the fire. Hashem instructed Yirmiyahu to rewrite the prophecy, with additional verses added.
Although the nation had come to the Beis Hamikdash to fast and pray, their tefillos were not answered. One of the basic steps of teshuvah is to correct one's ways. The Jews of Eretz Yehuda were committing many sins, but their fast and prayer was not indicative of repentance from idol worship and other serious sins. Teshuva requires one to be honest with himself, recognize his faults, and be prepared to change.
