Parashat Re’eh (Devarim 11:26-156:17) begins with Moshe’s instructions to the people that when the people get to the land of Israel, they are to recite blessings on Mount Gerizim and curses on Mount Eval, 11:26-30. These verses form a bookend with the corresponding verses 27:11-13, later in the book of Devarim. The large intervening section consists of laws that are the laws of the covenant of the book of Devarim.
Prior to the large list of laws, there are two verses, 11:31,32, which conclude chapter 11. 11:31 records that the people will inherit the land, using the words la-reshet and ve-rishtem, and the same words appear in the end of parashat Ekev, 11:23, which form a mini-bookend around the instructions to recite the blessing and the curses and 11:24,25.
The next verse, 11:32, is the final verse from the exhortation part of Moshe’s speech to the Jewish people that began in 5:1, as after 11:32, Moshe continues with his speech but focuses on telling the Jewish people various laws. As the summary sentence of the speech, Moshe tells the people to shamor (remember) and do the hukim and mishpatim, see our discussion, “The definition of the word shamor in Moshe’s speeches in the book of Devarim - To remember.” (Note that according to the division of the reading of the Torah on Monday and Thursday morning and Shabbat afternoon, 11:32 is the opening verse to the law section of Moshe’s speech.)
12:1 marks a transition in Moshe’s speech that instead of focusing on exhorting the people to follow the laws, Moshe informs the people of many laws, and this part of his speech continues until 27:10. The connections between the laws in this large section is sometimes based on the content of the laws and sometimes a literary connection based on similar words and sounds. For a similar discussion on the connection of the laws in parashat Mishpatim, see our discussion “The order and connection of the laws in parashat Mishpatim” on parashat Ki Teitzei, see our discussion “The order and connections of the laws of parashat Ki Teitzei” and on parashat Shoftim, see our discussion, "The order and connections of the laws of parashat Shoftim."
The first law recorded in 12:1-3 is that the Jewish people were to destroy the places of idolatry in the land of Israel when they would come to the land of Israel. This law connects with the warning not to worship idolatry in the land of Israel in the previous chapter, 11:16. Also, 12:1 has the phrase, tishmerun la-asot, which appears in 11:32, and the words hukim and mishpatim which also appear in 11:32. In addition, 12:1 has the word li-rishta and 12:2 has the word yorshim, which appear in 11:31. These literary connections connect this new section of laws with the end of Moshe’s speech from 5:29 to 11:32.
The next set of laws is 12:4-14, the law of the chosen place(s?), which is in contrast to the need to destroy the idolatrous places of worship that existed in the land of Israel prior to the Jews coming into the land, 12:4. The next set of laws, 12:15-28, relate to the implication of the law of the chosen place.
The next set of laws is 12:29-31 again relate to idolatry and these verses are linked to the opening laws of chapter 12, 12:1-3. These two small sections form a type of bookend around the laws of the chosen place.
13:1 records an introductory section to a set of three laws all of which relate to idolatry in some form, and this connects to the laws of idolatry at the end of chapter 12, see Ibn Ezra on 13:2. The first three cases in chapter 13, 13:2-6, 13:7-12 and 13:13-18, all begin with the work, ki, and build upon each other. Note the word ki appears numerous times in the parasha: 11:29, 31, 12:5, 9, 12, 14, 18, 20 (twice), 21, 23, 25, 28, 29 and 12:31 (twice). In the ensuing chapters in the parasha, the water ki appears in 14:2, 7, 8, 21, 24 (twice), 27, 29; 15:2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 (twice), 18, 21; 16:1, 3, 6, 12.
The first case in chapter 13 is the wayward prophet who tells people to worship idolatry, the second case is a person who also gets people to worship idolatry but the person was never considered a prophet and the third case is when the whole city decides to worship idolatry. Chapter 13 ends with a concluding sentence, 13:19, which with 13:1 frames the intervening laws in the chapter. Also 13:19 refers to do what is right, yashar, and this same word appears in 12:8,25,28.
14:1, the following verse, refers to the Jewish people as G-d's son, and records two laws, one a prohibition to gash one’s self and two, a prohibition to remove hair on the head to make one’s self bald. Ibn Ezra (on 14:1, in some versions on 13:18) suggests that this reference to sons connects with chapter 13 where sons are referred to three times, 13:7(2) and 13:14, and then in 14:1 the idea is that one cannot mourn for these relatives since they committed idolatry. My guess is that 14:1 is connected with 12:31, which notes that some of the inhabitants of the land of Israel would burn their sons and daughters as part of their religious worship (the worship of Molech). In contrast, 14:1 records that because the Jewish people are G-d’s sons, they cannot damage their bodies. These verses, 12:31 and 14:1, are the immediate verses surrounding chapter 13.
The two laws in 14:1 relate to each other since they involve a person damaging their body, and the following verse, 14:2, explains the law in the second half of 14:1.14:2 explains that the people are not to remove their hairs on their head as part of mourning, the law in the second half of 14:1, since they are a kadosh nation, and this corresponds to the rationale for this law by the priests in Vayikra 21:6,7.
The next set of laws, 14:3-21, record laws relating to eating, which relate to the laws of eating that were discussed in chapter 12. For example, 12:15,22 refer to eating the deer and the gazelle and these animals are referred to in 14:5. The last verse in this section on eating, 14:21 also refers to the Jewish people as a kadosh nation, and this phrase in 14:2,21 frame the laws relating to eating. Furthermore, the theme of kedusha relates both to the laws of eating, 14:3-12, and to not plucking out one’s hair in mourning, 14:1. Similarly in the book of Vayikra these laws are part of the large sections relating to kedusha, Vayikra 11:44-47; 20:25, 21:1-22:33.
The next set of laws, 14:22-29 record the laws of ma'aser (tithes), and these laws refer to eating, 14:23,26,29, and to the law of the chosen place(s?)14:23, which relate the laws of ma’aser to the laws of chapter 12. These two concepts, eating and the chosen place, are mentioned in 12:5,7,11,14,15,18,20,21. Even more explicitly, 12:6,11,17, refer to bringing ma’aser to the chosen place or not eating ma’aser by the local city gates. Furthermore, 14:27,29 refer to remembering the Levi and the Levi is also referred to in 12:12,18,19.
Tigay (1996, p. 453) notes that starting from 14:22 through 16:17, the laws all relate to a certain number of years or times during the year. The word shanah, year, appears in 14:22 (twice), 14:28, 15:1, 15:9 (twice), 15:12 (twice), 15:18, 15:20 (twice), and 16:16.
The following set of laws is the law to abolish loans after seven years, 15:1-6. The Torah makes a literary connection between the laws of ma'aser and law of annulling loans, as 14:28 records the phrase, miktseh shalosh shanim, and 15:1 records the phrase, miketz sheva shanim. Ibn Ezra (on 15:1) also notes that the law of abolishing loans helps the poor and the law of ma'aser (sheni) is also to help the poor.
The next set of laws, 15:7-11 records the laws of lending to the poor. These laws are connected to 15:1-6 since the Torah (15:9) is concerned that a person may not lend to the poor because of the law of annulling debts in 15:1-6. Furthermore, the same word evyon, the poor, is used in both sections, 15:4,9,11. Also, 15:9 refers to a person who does not want to lend as bli-yaal and this relatively rare word, is also in 13:14.
Afterwards, 15:12-18 records the laws that slaves must be given a gift, severance pay, when they are freed, and this also relates to helping the poor. In addition, both in the previous section, 15:9, and this section, 15:18, there is reference to the eye of the person who is supposed to give the money, eincha. Also, both 15:10 and 15:18 refer to G-d blessing the person who gives the money either to the poor or to the newly freed slave. Finally, both 15:1 and 15:12 refer to the seventh year, and these references to the seventh year by the law of abolishing loans and giving money to the poor might be considered a type of envelope to the law of lending to the poor.
The next set of law is the law of the bekhor, the firstborn animal, 15:19-23. This law connects with the law of giving gifts to the freed slave, the previous law, because 15:15 records that a person should give money to the slave since a person should remember that the Jewish people were once slaves in Egypt and G-d freed them, and the law of bekhor, is to remember the exodus from Egypt, Shemot 13:14,15, see our discussions on Shemot 11:5; 12:29, “The deaths of the firstborn Egyptians in the tenth plague.” The laws of chapter 12 are also relevant to the laws of bekhor, since if the animal is not blemished, then it is to be brought as a sacrifice to the chosen place, 15:20. Finally, the laws of ma'aser and bekhor are referred together in 12:6,17, and the two sections, 14:22-29 and 15:19-23 can be viewed as a bookend around 15:1-18. Accordingly, 14:22-15:23 form one unit. The outer envelope is the laws of ma’aser, 14:22-29, and bekhor, 15:19-23, who both relate to laws of chapter 12. The inner units are the three laws of charity, with main focus being the middle law to lend to the poor. Thus, in 14:22-15:23 there is a chiasmus structure of ABXBA.
The next set of laws, 16:1-8, records laws of the holidays of Pesach and Matzot. 16:2,6,7 refer to the chosen place, which is also mentioned by the law of bekhor, 15:20, and as noted above, numerous times in chapter 12. The word shaar, gate, also appears by the laws of bekhor and the korban pesach, 15:22 and 16:5. Also, the word zevach appears by both laws, 15:21 and 16:2,5,6. In addition, as noted above, the law of bekhor is due to the Exodus from Egypt, and hence relates to holidays of Pesach and Matzot. Probably for that reasons, the laws are recorded together also in Shemot 34:18-20. Tigay (1996, p. 453) also notes that in the laws of bekhor, 15:21 refers to the animal being lame, piseach, and this is the same sound of the pesach sacrifice in 16:1,2,5,6. See Ibn Ezra on 16:1 (or in some versions on 15:22) for other connections.
The next set of laws are the laws of two other festivals, Shavuot, 16:9-12, and the laws of Sukkot, 16:13-15, who are described in very similar manner of celebrating, 16:11 and 16:14. These laws also connect to the law of chosen place, 16:11,15, and they refer to helping the Levites, the orphans and the widows, like by the laws of ma'aser, 14:27,29, and 16:11,14. Also, they both have the word, shaarecha, your gates, 16:11,14, which connects both with the laws of the firstborn animal, 15:22, and the korban pesach, 16:5. In addition, the number seven is referred to by the end of the laws of the holiday of Matzot, 16:8, and this number is referred to twice both by the law of Shavuot, 16:9 (twice), and by the holiday of Sukkot, 16:13 and 16:15.
The final two verses in parashat Re'eh, 16:16,17, are concluding verses to the festivals discussed in the chapter, and refer to the three holidays mentioned in the chapter 16, chag ha-Matzot, chag Shavuot and chag Sukkot. The final verse, 16:17, also refers to G-d’s blessings, berakah, which also appears by the holiday of Shavuot, 16:10, and by the holiday of Sukkot, 16:15.
Bibliography:
Tigay, Jeffrey H. 1996, The JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy, Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.
Hello. The goal of this blog is to enhance our understanding of the Torah and the practice of Judaism. The discussions in the blog are a portion of a more extensive commentary on the Torah, which I will be happy to send to you. You can contact me at ajayschein@gmail.com. Please feel free to send comments. Also, if you want to receive an email with a link to the new posts, send me a request, and I will add you to the email group. Best wishes, Andrew Schein
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Monday, August 12, 2024
The kinah, zekhor Hashem meh hayah lanu - הקינה זכר ה' מה היה לנו
On Tisha B'av we recite kinot (dirges) at night and during the day. At night the first kinah that we recite begins with the phrase, zeckor Hashem meh hayah lanuu, please G-d what has happened to us.
This kinah is recited after reading Eicah at night, and it forms a continuation with Eicah since it is based on the fifth chapter of Eicah, as the first half of each line of the kinah is from the fifth chapter and the kinah follows the order of the verses in the chapter. Yet, the unknown paytan (the author of the kinah) changed the second half of the verse, with the exceptions of verses 5:1,2 and 5:19-22, and this change highlights one of the changes in Hebrew poetry from the biblical period to the first millennium. In Tanakh, poetry is not defined by rhymes, and any rhymes that do occur are unintentional. However, in the first millennium, the paytanim (cantors) began to create piyyutim, of which the kinot is one example, based on rhyme. Benjamin Hrushovski (1981, p. 62) writes, "The rhyming system of the Hebrew piyut was the earliest known massive, systematic and obligatory use of rhyme in poetry, and it is very plausible that through the Christian Syriac church employing Aramaic (a cognate language to Hebrew), and via Latin liturgy, the principle of rhyme was transferred to European poetry."
Why did this stress on rhyme begin with the paytanim in the first millennium? My guess is that since they were creating new prayers that the congregation did not recognize, they used rhyme to get the listener’s attention.
Returning to our piyyut, maybe the paytan had a “problem.” On the one hand, the paytan wanted to base the entire piyyut on the fifth chapter of Eicah, but he also wanted that the piyyut would rhyme. His solution was to keep some verses, such as 5:1,2, which happen to have a rhyme, and he kept the last four verses of Eicah chapter 5 without making any changes. However, for all the intervening verses, Eicah 5:3-18, the paytan changed the second half of the verse even though some verses such as 5:15,16,17 have a rhyme.
We will now go through these intervening verses to see that either the paytan changed the verse to introduce a rhyme, to improve the rhyme, or to give what apparently, he thought was a better explanation or a more appropriate explanation to the beginning of the particular verse. In addition, in many lines, the paytan changed the idea of chapter five, which is to show how sad the situation was with the destruction of the Bet ha-Mikdash, to blaming the people for their sins which caused the tragedy. Furthermore, at the end of half of each line, the paytan added the word oy, and the end of the second half of each line, he added the word oy meh hayah lanu, “what has become of us” which is from Eicah 5:1.
The first example of this change is by the third line of the kinah. The second half of Eicah 5:3 records that because of the destruction by the first Bet ha-Mikdash, “our mothers are like widows,” while the paytan changed the phrase to “our mothers lament in the month of Av.” Presumably, this change was to create a “full” rhyme (the same word) with the word av in the end of the two halves of the verse. Note the word lament in the piyyut is mekkonnot. The Mishnah Moed Katan 3:9 explains that this was a special type of mourning practice, where apparently one woman cried out and other women joined in to also cry out. I do not think this is done today at funerals.
The next line in the kinah changes the idea in the second half of Eicah 5:4 that after the destruction of the first Bet ha-Mikdash, the people had to pay a lot for their wood (people hate inflation) to “because we dishonored the water libation.” This change relates to the mention of water in the first half of the verse, adds a rhyme to the two parts of the line, and now blames the people for the destruction of the Bet ha-Mikdash, that the people sinned by the water libations.
The fifth line of the kinah changes the idea in the second half of Eicah 5:5 that “our enemies were exhausting the people giving them no rest” to “we hated other people for no reason.” This change gives a “full” rhyme since the same word, radafnu, which now ends both parts of the line, and again places blame on the people for the destruction of the Bet ha-Mikdash.
The sixth line of the kinah changes the idea in the second half of Eicah 5:6 that the people were dependent on hand outs from the Assyrians for their bread, to “Assyrians hunted us as a hunter does his pray.” This change keeps the reference to the Assyrians from the verse in Eicah 5:5, but makes the plight of the Jews much worse and it adds a “full” rhyme with the word yad in the end of first half of line and the word yad again in the end of the second half of the line.
The seventh line of the kinah barely changes the second half of the Eicah 5:7, just the order of the words. Eicah 5:7 has the words, “And we suffer for their sins” and the kinah has “And we for their sins suffered.” This does not change the meaning of the verse in Eicah, but with the change, the two parts of the seventh line in the kinah rhyme.
The eighth line of the kinah changes the second half of Eicah 5:8 that the people have no hope of coming free from their masters who had been (or still?) slaves to blaming the people for why slaves ruled over them that the Jewish people had not freed their slaves, presumably in the yovel year, see Yirmiyahu 34:13-17. This change not only blames the people for their sins, which is not in Eicah 5:8, but also adds a rhyme between the first half of eighth line of the kinah with the second half of the eighth line of the kinah.
The ninth line of the kinah changes the second half of Eicah 5:9 in a similar manner to the eighth line of the kinah. Eicah 5:9 records that the people barely have bread since they are in fear of being robbed, while the kinah records that the people barely have bread since they did not give bread to the poor when they had the chance. Again, the paytan blames the people for their sins as he claimed the people sinned due to a lack of ethics, just like in the fifth and eighth lines, and he made a rhyme between the two parts of the ninth line of the kinah. Goldschmidt (2002, p. 24, footnote 9) notes that the word used by the paytan to describe the people not giving to the poor comes from Devarim 15:7.
The tenth line of the kinah changes the second half of the Eicah 5:10 from a description of the people withering from famine to that the people had switched the glory of G-d, which Goldschmidt (footnote 10) suggests means that the people did not follow the Torah, for a scandal. The paytan seems to be insinuating some sexual impropriety, which would connect this line to the following lines in the kinah since this change does not seem to relate either to the beginning of the verse or to the words that were replaced, the second half of Eicah 5:10. Again, the paytan is blaming the people, when there is no blame mentioned in the verse in Eicah, and he added a rhyme to the kinah.
The eleventh line of the kinah changes the second half of Eicah 5:11 that young women in Yehuda were raped like other women in Jerusalem, the first half of the verse, to saying that the women were raped since the people had regularly committed adultery. Again, the paytan blames the people and again he added a rhyme to the kinah, which is not in Eicah 5:11.
The twelfth line of the kinah replaces the second half of Eicah 5:12 which states that the Jewish elders were shown no respect, presumably by the non-Jews, to explaining the first half of Eicah 5:12 that the leaders of the people were hung. The paytan explains that the leaders were hung because they acted unethically by stealing and robbing from the poor. Again, the paytan is saying that the people sinned, again unethically, but here the gain in rhyme is somewhat minor, as Eicah 5:12 has a rhyme between the two parts of the verse based on the sound, oo, but now with the change, the rhyme of the twelfth line of the kinah is based on the sound loo.
The thirteenth line of the kinah, as usual quotes the first half of Eicah 5:13, which refers to the difficulty of young men carrying heavy millstones, but does not quote the second half of the verse, which refers to the young men failing by some wood, which is not that clear. Instead, the paytan changes the second half of the Eicah 5:13 to refer to young men going to a house of prostitutes based on Yirmiyahu 5:7 and this connects with the millstone in beginning of the verse which is used for grinding wheat. Again, the paytan is blaming the people and there is some improvement in the rhyme, from oo and loo in Eicah 5:13 to oo and oo in the thirteenth line of the kinah.
The fourteenth line of the kinah changes the second half of Eicah 5:14 from referring to an absence of music by young people to explaining the first half of Eicah 5:14 that the elders were no longer judging the people since the paytan explains that they perverted justice of the orphans and widows. Again, the paytan is saying that the people sinned, and he added a rhyme to the fourteenth line of the kinah when there is no rhyme in Eicah 5:14.
The fifteenth line of the kinah changes the words in second half of Eicah 5:15 “our dancing has turned into mourning” which relates to the loss of joy expressed in the first half of the verse to “because we did not go on the pilgrimages to Jerusalem,” which explain the loss of joy in the first half of the verse/ kinah. In this case, there is no change in the rhyme at all from Eicah 5:15, but the paytan has changed the verse from being a description of sadness to blaming the people for the sad state. Did the paytan think that this was a more appropriate explanation to the beginning of the particular verse than what is recorded in Eicah 5:15?
The sixteenth line of the kinah as usual changes the second half of Eicah 5:16, but it is surprising. Eicah 5:16 begins by stating that our crown (the Bet ha-Mikdash) has fallen and the second half of the verse is that this happened due to our sins. Accordingly, this verse blames the people and also the two parts of the verse happen to rhyme based on the sound noo. One might have thought that the paytan would have accepted this verse as is, but no, he changed the second half of the verse to “because the Bet ha-Mikdash was burnt.” These words explain the crown falling in the first half of the verse, but do not blame the people, which breaks the pattern in this piyyut. Instead, maybe the paytan changed the second half of Eicah 5:16 since he improved the rhyme to now be based on she-noo (instead of just noo) in the end of both halves of the sixteenth line of the kinah.
The seventeenth line of the kinah changes the second half of Eicah 5:17 from “our eyes are dimmed” to “because the honor of the Bet ha-Mikdash is gone.” The second half of Eicah 5:17 is a parallelism to the first half of the verse which expresses the sadness of the people, but with the change in the kinah the second half of the seventeenth line of the kinah explains the first part of the verse that we are sad since the Bet ha-Mikdash is gone. Presumably, the paytan thought that this change was a more important message since this again, as in Eicah 5:15, is a case where his change did not alter the rhyme that happened to be in Eicah 5:17.
The eighteenth and last line that the paytan changes from Eicah chapter 5, seems also to be due to his desire to add a rhyme to the verse which does not exist in Eicah 5:18. Eicah 5:18 begins by stating that the Bet ha-Mikdash is desolate and then explains that this is because foxes roam over it. The paytan changes this to explain that the Bet ha-Mikdash is desolate since an idol was placed in it. This might make the desolation seem greater, and for sure it adds a rhyme of the sound mem to the end of the first and second halves of the eighteenth line of the kinah.
The next four lines of the kinah are exactly the same as the last four lines of Eicah chapter five, Eicah 5:19-22, and maybe the paytan did not changes these lines since he did not want to change Eicah 5:19, which speaks about G-d.
Goldschmidt, Daniel (1895-1972), 2002, first printed 1972, The kinot of Tisha B’av: Following the custom of Poland and Ashkenazi communities in the land of Israel, 2nd edition, Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook.
Hrushovski, Benjamin, 1981, Note on the systems of Hebrew versification, in The Penguin Book of Hebrew verse, edited and translated by T. Carmi, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: England, pp. 57-72.
This kinah is recited after reading Eicah at night, and it forms a continuation with Eicah since it is based on the fifth chapter of Eicah, as the first half of each line of the kinah is from the fifth chapter and the kinah follows the order of the verses in the chapter. Yet, the unknown paytan (the author of the kinah) changed the second half of the verse, with the exceptions of verses 5:1,2 and 5:19-22, and this change highlights one of the changes in Hebrew poetry from the biblical period to the first millennium. In Tanakh, poetry is not defined by rhymes, and any rhymes that do occur are unintentional. However, in the first millennium, the paytanim (cantors) began to create piyyutim, of which the kinot is one example, based on rhyme. Benjamin Hrushovski (1981, p. 62) writes, "The rhyming system of the Hebrew piyut was the earliest known massive, systematic and obligatory use of rhyme in poetry, and it is very plausible that through the Christian Syriac church employing Aramaic (a cognate language to Hebrew), and via Latin liturgy, the principle of rhyme was transferred to European poetry."
Why did this stress on rhyme begin with the paytanim in the first millennium? My guess is that since they were creating new prayers that the congregation did not recognize, they used rhyme to get the listener’s attention.
Returning to our piyyut, maybe the paytan had a “problem.” On the one hand, the paytan wanted to base the entire piyyut on the fifth chapter of Eicah, but he also wanted that the piyyut would rhyme. His solution was to keep some verses, such as 5:1,2, which happen to have a rhyme, and he kept the last four verses of Eicah chapter 5 without making any changes. However, for all the intervening verses, Eicah 5:3-18, the paytan changed the second half of the verse even though some verses such as 5:15,16,17 have a rhyme.
We will now go through these intervening verses to see that either the paytan changed the verse to introduce a rhyme, to improve the rhyme, or to give what apparently, he thought was a better explanation or a more appropriate explanation to the beginning of the particular verse. In addition, in many lines, the paytan changed the idea of chapter five, which is to show how sad the situation was with the destruction of the Bet ha-Mikdash, to blaming the people for their sins which caused the tragedy. Furthermore, at the end of half of each line, the paytan added the word oy, and the end of the second half of each line, he added the word oy meh hayah lanu, “what has become of us” which is from Eicah 5:1.
The first example of this change is by the third line of the kinah. The second half of Eicah 5:3 records that because of the destruction by the first Bet ha-Mikdash, “our mothers are like widows,” while the paytan changed the phrase to “our mothers lament in the month of Av.” Presumably, this change was to create a “full” rhyme (the same word) with the word av in the end of the two halves of the verse. Note the word lament in the piyyut is mekkonnot. The Mishnah Moed Katan 3:9 explains that this was a special type of mourning practice, where apparently one woman cried out and other women joined in to also cry out. I do not think this is done today at funerals.
The next line in the kinah changes the idea in the second half of Eicah 5:4 that after the destruction of the first Bet ha-Mikdash, the people had to pay a lot for their wood (people hate inflation) to “because we dishonored the water libation.” This change relates to the mention of water in the first half of the verse, adds a rhyme to the two parts of the line, and now blames the people for the destruction of the Bet ha-Mikdash, that the people sinned by the water libations.
The fifth line of the kinah changes the idea in the second half of Eicah 5:5 that “our enemies were exhausting the people giving them no rest” to “we hated other people for no reason.” This change gives a “full” rhyme since the same word, radafnu, which now ends both parts of the line, and again places blame on the people for the destruction of the Bet ha-Mikdash.
The sixth line of the kinah changes the idea in the second half of Eicah 5:6 that the people were dependent on hand outs from the Assyrians for their bread, to “Assyrians hunted us as a hunter does his pray.” This change keeps the reference to the Assyrians from the verse in Eicah 5:5, but makes the plight of the Jews much worse and it adds a “full” rhyme with the word yad in the end of first half of line and the word yad again in the end of the second half of the line.
The seventh line of the kinah barely changes the second half of the Eicah 5:7, just the order of the words. Eicah 5:7 has the words, “And we suffer for their sins” and the kinah has “And we for their sins suffered.” This does not change the meaning of the verse in Eicah, but with the change, the two parts of the seventh line in the kinah rhyme.
The eighth line of the kinah changes the second half of Eicah 5:8 that the people have no hope of coming free from their masters who had been (or still?) slaves to blaming the people for why slaves ruled over them that the Jewish people had not freed their slaves, presumably in the yovel year, see Yirmiyahu 34:13-17. This change not only blames the people for their sins, which is not in Eicah 5:8, but also adds a rhyme between the first half of eighth line of the kinah with the second half of the eighth line of the kinah.
The ninth line of the kinah changes the second half of Eicah 5:9 in a similar manner to the eighth line of the kinah. Eicah 5:9 records that the people barely have bread since they are in fear of being robbed, while the kinah records that the people barely have bread since they did not give bread to the poor when they had the chance. Again, the paytan blames the people for their sins as he claimed the people sinned due to a lack of ethics, just like in the fifth and eighth lines, and he made a rhyme between the two parts of the ninth line of the kinah. Goldschmidt (2002, p. 24, footnote 9) notes that the word used by the paytan to describe the people not giving to the poor comes from Devarim 15:7.
The tenth line of the kinah changes the second half of the Eicah 5:10 from a description of the people withering from famine to that the people had switched the glory of G-d, which Goldschmidt (footnote 10) suggests means that the people did not follow the Torah, for a scandal. The paytan seems to be insinuating some sexual impropriety, which would connect this line to the following lines in the kinah since this change does not seem to relate either to the beginning of the verse or to the words that were replaced, the second half of Eicah 5:10. Again, the paytan is blaming the people, when there is no blame mentioned in the verse in Eicah, and he added a rhyme to the kinah.
The eleventh line of the kinah changes the second half of Eicah 5:11 that young women in Yehuda were raped like other women in Jerusalem, the first half of the verse, to saying that the women were raped since the people had regularly committed adultery. Again, the paytan blames the people and again he added a rhyme to the kinah, which is not in Eicah 5:11.
The twelfth line of the kinah replaces the second half of Eicah 5:12 which states that the Jewish elders were shown no respect, presumably by the non-Jews, to explaining the first half of Eicah 5:12 that the leaders of the people were hung. The paytan explains that the leaders were hung because they acted unethically by stealing and robbing from the poor. Again, the paytan is saying that the people sinned, again unethically, but here the gain in rhyme is somewhat minor, as Eicah 5:12 has a rhyme between the two parts of the verse based on the sound, oo, but now with the change, the rhyme of the twelfth line of the kinah is based on the sound loo.
The thirteenth line of the kinah, as usual quotes the first half of Eicah 5:13, which refers to the difficulty of young men carrying heavy millstones, but does not quote the second half of the verse, which refers to the young men failing by some wood, which is not that clear. Instead, the paytan changes the second half of the Eicah 5:13 to refer to young men going to a house of prostitutes based on Yirmiyahu 5:7 and this connects with the millstone in beginning of the verse which is used for grinding wheat. Again, the paytan is blaming the people and there is some improvement in the rhyme, from oo and loo in Eicah 5:13 to oo and oo in the thirteenth line of the kinah.
The fourteenth line of the kinah changes the second half of Eicah 5:14 from referring to an absence of music by young people to explaining the first half of Eicah 5:14 that the elders were no longer judging the people since the paytan explains that they perverted justice of the orphans and widows. Again, the paytan is saying that the people sinned, and he added a rhyme to the fourteenth line of the kinah when there is no rhyme in Eicah 5:14.
The fifteenth line of the kinah changes the words in second half of Eicah 5:15 “our dancing has turned into mourning” which relates to the loss of joy expressed in the first half of the verse to “because we did not go on the pilgrimages to Jerusalem,” which explain the loss of joy in the first half of the verse/ kinah. In this case, there is no change in the rhyme at all from Eicah 5:15, but the paytan has changed the verse from being a description of sadness to blaming the people for the sad state. Did the paytan think that this was a more appropriate explanation to the beginning of the particular verse than what is recorded in Eicah 5:15?
The sixteenth line of the kinah as usual changes the second half of Eicah 5:16, but it is surprising. Eicah 5:16 begins by stating that our crown (the Bet ha-Mikdash) has fallen and the second half of the verse is that this happened due to our sins. Accordingly, this verse blames the people and also the two parts of the verse happen to rhyme based on the sound noo. One might have thought that the paytan would have accepted this verse as is, but no, he changed the second half of the verse to “because the Bet ha-Mikdash was burnt.” These words explain the crown falling in the first half of the verse, but do not blame the people, which breaks the pattern in this piyyut. Instead, maybe the paytan changed the second half of Eicah 5:16 since he improved the rhyme to now be based on she-noo (instead of just noo) in the end of both halves of the sixteenth line of the kinah.
The seventeenth line of the kinah changes the second half of Eicah 5:17 from “our eyes are dimmed” to “because the honor of the Bet ha-Mikdash is gone.” The second half of Eicah 5:17 is a parallelism to the first half of the verse which expresses the sadness of the people, but with the change in the kinah the second half of the seventeenth line of the kinah explains the first part of the verse that we are sad since the Bet ha-Mikdash is gone. Presumably, the paytan thought that this change was a more important message since this again, as in Eicah 5:15, is a case where his change did not alter the rhyme that happened to be in Eicah 5:17.
The eighteenth and last line that the paytan changes from Eicah chapter 5, seems also to be due to his desire to add a rhyme to the verse which does not exist in Eicah 5:18. Eicah 5:18 begins by stating that the Bet ha-Mikdash is desolate and then explains that this is because foxes roam over it. The paytan changes this to explain that the Bet ha-Mikdash is desolate since an idol was placed in it. This might make the desolation seem greater, and for sure it adds a rhyme of the sound mem to the end of the first and second halves of the eighteenth line of the kinah.
The next four lines of the kinah are exactly the same as the last four lines of Eicah chapter five, Eicah 5:19-22, and maybe the paytan did not changes these lines since he did not want to change Eicah 5:19, which speaks about G-d.
Bibliography:
Goldschmidt, Daniel (1895-1972), 2002, first printed 1972, The kinot of Tisha B’av: Following the custom of Poland and Ashkenazi communities in the land of Israel, 2nd edition, Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook.
Hrushovski, Benjamin, 1981, Note on the systems of Hebrew versification, in The Penguin Book of Hebrew verse, edited and translated by T. Carmi, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: England, pp. 57-72.
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