Study the Torah with Academic Scholarship

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use

Lamentations, Book

The Violation of Jerusalem

Look and see! A sexually assaulted Jerusalem resists being blamed and shamed by Lamentations’ male narrator and demands that YHWH recognize her suffering.

Prof. Rabbi

Rachel Adelman

,

,

Daughter Zion, Jerusalem Personified

We first meet Bat Tzion as YHWH’s defiant virgin daughter in Isaiah’s prophecy against the Assyrian king Sennacherib. The metaphor turns dark when Jerusalem is ravaged by the Babylonians.

Prof. Rabbi

Rachel Adelman

,

,

To Explain the First Crusade, Jews and Christians Turned to the Bible

In 1096, the Crusaders captured the Holy Land from the Seljuk Turks. On the way, they stopped in Jewish communities throughout the Rhineland and massacred them in the name of Christ. Robert the Monk drew on the biblical song of the sea to highlight God’s support for the crusade, while the Chronicle of Solomon bar Simson used Psalms and Lamentations to articulate Jewish suffering and martyrdom.

Jennifer Seligman

,

,

What Sin Caused the Destruction of the First Temple?

The prophet Zechariah, son of the high priest Jehoiada, is stoned to death in the Temple (2 Chronicles 24:21). According to the Talmud, his blood bubbled for two centuries, until the destruction of the Temple. Is “a priest and prophet were killed in the Temple” (Lamentations 2:20) a reference to this incident, presenting a reason for the destruction?

Prof. Rabbi

Marty Lockshin

,

,

Reading Lamentations with Inner-Biblical Exegesis

By identifying biblical intertexts and parallel phrases, we can better understand the flow, the imagery, and even the core message of Eichah, Lamentations.

Prof. Rabbi

Reuven Kimelman

,

,

Where Are God’s Tears in Lamentations?

Tears abound in Lamentations: the poet cries, the people cry, even the city cries, but God does not. In contrast, the gods and goddesses of ancient Near Eastern city laments, cry along with their people. Midrash Eichah Rabbah, seemingly uncomfortable with such a callous depiction of God, rereads Lamentations to include God weeping.

Prof.

Edward L. Greenstein

,

,

Better Slain by Sword Than by Famine

An emotionally evocative window into the suffering experienced by the victims of the siege of Jerusalem.

Prof.

Adele Berlin

,

,

Tisha B’Av with Queen Esther

Prof. Rabbi

Laura Lieber

,

,

An Introduction to Lamentations

Prof.

Adele Berlin

,

,

Lamentations in Seasonal Context

The reading of Lamentations on Tisha b’Av functions both as the climax of the three weeks of mourning and the beginning of the seven weeks of conciliation, which leads us into the High Holidays.

Dr.

Elsie R. Stern

,

,

Parents Eating their Children – The Torah’s Curse and Its Undertones in Medieval Interpretation

Early rabbinic interpretation connected the curse of child eating (Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53-57) with the description of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in Lamentations (2:20 and 4:10) and the Roman destruction of the Second Temple. In the Middle Ages, however, Jewish commentators de-emphasize this connection. The reason for this lies in the 12th c. development of Christian Bible commentary.

Dr. Rabbi

Wendy Love Anderson

,

,

The “Man” in Lamentations

Unlike the other four chapters where the author speaks for the community, the third chapter of Lamentations is written as an individual lament. The chapter begins with “I am the man who has known affliction,” but who is he?

Prof.

Jacob Klein

,

,

Communicating Catastrophe

“Great as the sea is your breaking,” Lamentations 2:13. Before we try to understand pain or tragedy, we must first perceive its magnitude.

Dr.

Tzvi Novick

,

,

Relating to God in Calamity

The approaches in Lamentations

Prof.

Marc Zvi Brettler

,

,

Voices in Lamentations: Dialogues in Trauma

Prof.

Edward L. Greenstein

,

,

Lamenting with Job: The Karaite Version of the Fasts for Jerusalem

In keeping with the verses, Karaite Jews fast on the 9th of Tammuz, beginning the five weeks of mourning, which culminates with the dual fasts on the 7th and 10th of Av.

Tomer Rami Mangoubi

,

,

The Sumerian City Laments and the Book of Lamentations

A comparative theological view

Dr.

Nili Samet

,

,

An Honest Discussion with High School Students

Rabbi

Lee Buckman

,

,

Pe before Ayin in Biblical Pre-Exilic Acrostics

Abecedaries uncovered in pre-exilic Israel and Judah suggest that in their Hebrew alphabet, ayin followed pe. This order is attested in a number of biblical acrostics, some of which have been corrected by later scribes to make them fit what eventually became the standard ayin-pe order.

Mitchell First

,

,

The Genre of Lamentations

In the ancient Near East, laments were written to mourn past destructions or to prevent future destructions. With which type of lament were the authors of Lamentations familiar?

Dr.

Uri Gabbay

,

,

No items found.