Notes on Translation
The goals of this translation are three-fold. First, to render the meaning of the Hebrew with reasonable accuracy, remaining faithful to the original. Second, to replicate the pattern and effect of acrostics without unduly altering the content. It is the defining assumption of this translation that the acrostic form is critical to the message of the book, its ritual function, and its literary artistry. Finally, to provide an accessible and felicitous English version that will serve the academic demands of the student and the standards of the scholar, but no less so the spiritual and liturgical needs of the individual worshipper and congregation.
The English alphabet, at 26 letters, is longer than the Hebrew alef-bet with its 22 letters. The final verse( or, in chapter 3, verses) of each acrostic chapter thus begins with the letter V:“ View their wickedness...” etc.). To maximize the acrostic effect of the translation, each“ V” verse also includes the letters W, X, Y, and Z... which are highlighted( though not necessarily at the beginning of words:“ He Will eXile You no further, Fair Zion,” e. g.).
The anomalous change in the order of the peh and ayin verses in chapters 2 through 4 are not reflected in this translation.
For a study of the function of acrostic in biblical literature and, specifically, in the Book of Lamentations, see Joseph H. Prouser,“ Darkness on the Face of the Deep: Lamentations as Midrash on Creation,” Conservative
Judaism, 56:4, Summer 2004, 37-42. For a discussion of constrained writing in biblical translation see Joseph H. Prouser, Initial Instructions: A Translation Celebrating the Book of Genesis in Lipogram( Ben Yehuda Press, 2016), xi-xvii; 97-102.
Title and quote: I weep for you... From Chaim Grade’ s“ Elegy for the Murdered Yiddish Writers” – Ikh veyn af aykh mit ale oysyes fun dem alefbeys. The victims of Stalin’ s purge were members of the Jewish Anti- Fascist Committee.
1:1 How can this be... On the interrogatory nature of the term eichah, see Rabbi Kenneth Brander,“ Between‘ Eichah – Lamentations’ &‘ Ayeka – Where Are You?’”(“ Eichah, God; how? How did we get to the point that there is such a rift between Your‘ chosen people’ and Yourself?” https:// blogs. timesofisrael. com / betwe en-eicha-lamentations-ayeka-whereare-you /); See also Marita Anderson,“ Eichah: The Most Difficult of Questions,” Atlanta Jewish Times, August 12, 2016. See also comments at 4:2, 5:22, below.
forlorn, bereft, servile... While these adjectives are not attested explicitly in the Hebrew, they dramatize and clarify the force of the“ widow” imagery: the social displacement, emotional isolation, and material desperation of the widow in the biblical world.
1:2 presumed friends... Compare JPS: allies.
1:3 Judah... This form of the exonym is used for the national designation yehudah. When used in its more
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