poetic, combined, metaphorical form( bat yehudah, betulat bat yehudah), Judea is used. See 1:15; 2:2, 5, etc.).
rest or respite... reflecting the alliteration of [ lo ] matza Manoah
dire straits... Of the concluding words of this verse, bein ha-metzarim, JPS notes“ meaning of Hebrew uncertain.” For a brief discussion of the term, see Joseph H. Prouser,“ Say Little, Do Much: The Three Weeks,” Crescent City Jewish News, July 14, 2023.
1:12 May you never know the like. The phrase lo‘ alekha is moved from the beginning of the verse for clarity.
1:16 Any measure of comfort, of spiritual recovery, is but a distant hope... Compare JPS:“ Far from me is any comforter / Who might revive my spirit....”
1:21 May they suffer the same fate... In direct contradiction to the sentiment in 1:12,“ May you never know the like.” This dramatic contrast evinces the disorientation and conflicted emotional state of the bereft mourner.
2:1 utterly rejected... identifying ya’ iv as derived from to’ eivah: often rendered“ abomination”
2:5 weeping and wailing, keening and crying: reflecting the assonance of ta’ aniyah va’ aniyah
2:8 determined to destroy, to dispatch... The threefold alliteration reflects the assonance in hashav l’ hash-hit homat. The repetition of the guttural het onomatopoetically suggests a choking death rattle. Compare to Genesis 22: vayikah et hama’ akhelet l’ sh-hot et b’ no. Hence,“ to dispatch.”
2:9 beams and buttresses are broken: reflecting the three-fold assonance in ibad v’ shibar beriheha
2:10 Jerusalem’ s elders sit low on the ground... mourning for Fair Zion: avoids the historically charged and unsolicitous“ Elders of Zion” – See JPS.
2:12 like those mortally wounded, asking for their mothers: Treating halal(“ mortally wounded”) as the subject of l’ imotam yomru(“ asking for their mothers”) is based on the tragic, if well-documented history of battlefield wounded calling out for their mothers. See, for example,“‘ Mother!’ The Cry of War’ s Wounded; Mrs. Philip Snowden, Here, Calls Their Appeal the Most Terrible Feature of Battle,” New York Times, June 27, 1915. The Viscount Snowden was a Member of Parliament and the first Labour Party Chancellor of the Exchequer. See also“ When Soldiers Cried for Morphine, Their Mothers,” The Morning Call, May 27, 2002.
2:14 trivial, unimportant matters... For shav v’ tafel. As William Bennett observed:“ If we are surrounded by the trivial and the vicious, it is all too easy to make our peace with it.”
2:19 Stand ready! Commonly, arise, rise, get up. Suggested by the statement of Urban League president Marc Morial:“ We stand ready to work together, where possible, in helping rebuild not only homes and businesses, but most importantly, lives of those who so desperately need our help.”
2:20 heartless... helpless... a symmetry reflecting the ironic etymological connection of‘ olalta and‘ olalei: God toys cruelly with the People Israel, while loving mothers dandle their infants.
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