How the reversal of two letters in the Scroll of Lamentations reveals the cause of the destruction and the path to reconstruction.
This study delves into the heart of Tisha B'Av by exploring a Midrash about three great prophets: Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. All three used the word "Eikha" (How) to describe Israel's state, but from different perspectives. We will discover how the prophet Jeremiah, in the Scroll of Eikha, encoded the very cause of the destruction—the sin of the spies—through a stunning reversal of two letters of the alphabet, teaching us that speech (the mouth) must never precede vision (the eye).
The Midrash teaches us that Israel had three great "shepherds" or prophets who each perceived the nation at a key moment and all used the same poignant word: Eikha (אֵיכָה), "How."
He saw Israel in its tranquility but felt the burden of its charge. In Parashat Devarim, read just before Tisha B'Av, he exclaims:
Moses represents the root of Israel's soul, the source of the Torah.
He saw Israel in its splendor but prophesied its future fall. In the Haftarah preceding the Three Weeks of mourning, he laments:
Isaiah represents vision and consolation, the aspect of kindness (Chesed).
He saw Israel in its destruction. He is the author of the Scroll of Lamentations (Megillat Eikha), which begins with these words:
Jeremiah represents destruction and severity (Gevurah).
The holy Ari'zal (whose yahrzeit, anniversary of death, is on the 5th of Av) reveals an even deeper connection: a link of reincarnation (gilgul) among these three prophetic souls. Moses is the root, and Isaiah and Jeremiah are two facets (kindness and severity) that emanate from this same spiritual root.
Our Sages find a profound but reversed logic in the order of the Haftarot read during the Three Weeks of mourning.
The order of the Haftarot from Jeremiah and Isaiah presents a sequence that leads to destruction:
This order—speaking, then hearing, then seeing—is the order that led us to the state of destruction. It is the reversed order.
The correct order, the order of building, is the reverse. This is the secret of wisdom (Chabad: Chochmah, Binah, Da'at):
Because the people of Israel reversed this divine order, the catastrophe occurred. This theme of reversal is the key that Jeremiah hid in his scroll.
The prophet Jeremiah did not just weep for the destruction; he ingeniously embedded its root cause into the very structure of the text of Lamentations.
Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Scroll of Eikha are written as an alphabetic acrostic. Each verse (or group of verses) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, from Aleph (א) to Tav (ת).
Jeremiah thus shows us that he has perfect command of the order. Chapter 1, for example, follows the perfect order. This is to tell us: "Look, I know the alphabet. If I change something, it is not a mistake; it is a message."
A unique and unsettling phenomenon occurs in chapters 2, 3, and 4. While the entire alphabet is in order, a disturbance occurs. In the normal alphabetical order, the letter precedes the letter Peh (פ).
Ayin (Eye) comes before Peh (Mouth). One sees before one speaks.
In Lamentations, Jeremiah deliberately reverses this order. The verse beginning with Peh precedes the one beginning with Ayin.
Peh (Mouth) comes before Ayin (Eye). They spoke before they saw.
This reversal is the signature of the catastrophe. It is Jeremiah's diagnosis: the reason for the destruction is that they swapped the order between the mouth and the eye.
This Peh-Ayin reversal is not an abstraction. It points directly to the original sin that sealed the fate of Tisha B'Av: the sin of the spies (Meraglim).
What was the sin of the spies? They went to see the land. The mission was to SEE (Ayin). But upon their return, before even letting the people form their own idea, they SPOKE (Peh). They gave a bad report, discouraging the people.
They put the mouth before the eye. They spoke before truly "seeing" and understanding.
That night was the night of Tisha B'Av. Because they put the mouth (Peh) before the eye (Ayin), they caused "weeping for generations," the destruction of the First and Second Temples.
After giving his diagnosis, Jeremiah gives us the method of healing in the final chapter of the scroll.
Chapter 5 is no longer organized according to the alphabet at all. It is a "jumble" of verses. Why?
Destruction is when all the bricks are piled on top of each other without any order. Chapter 5 presents us with these broken bricks.
The message is clear: "Here are the pieces. Now, it is your task to reorganize them." The chapter begins with the call:
This is a call to action. To arrive at "Renew our days as of old" (Chadesh yamenu k'kedem), we must begin to rebuild, to put the letters, the bricks, back in the right order.
How do we apply this reconstruction today? The text draws a powerful parallel between the destroyed Temple and our current synagogues.
Jeremiah complains: "You have covered Yourself with a cloud (sekhakh) so that no prayer can pass through." G-d, in His anger, placed a barrier that prevents our prayers from ascending.
What creates this "cloud" today, when we no longer have a Temple?
A person who speaks of mundane matters in a synagogue, what are they doing? The "vapor" that comes from their mouth creates a cloud. Our own futile words become the barrier that blocks our own prayers.
The final teaching is a roadmap to Redemption. The path to rebuilding the Third Temple begins here and now, in our behavior within our "small sanctuaries."
By bringing order back into our own divine service, by letting vision precede speech, and by respecting the sanctity of our places of prayer, we dismantle the "cloud" that separates us from G-d.
If we know how to behave correctly in the synagogues, the "small sanctuaries," we can merit, with G-d's help, to receive the great sanctuary which is the Third Temple, to be built speedily in our days.
Amen. Be strong and blessed!