Iran and Eicha

One of the parts of Eicha that struck me yesterday was this verse (Eicha 2:17):

עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר זָמָם, בִּצַּע אֶמְרָתוֹ אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה מִימֵי-קֶדֶם--הָרַס, וְלֹא חָמָל; וַיְשַׂמַּח עָלַיִךְ אוֹיֵב, הֵרִים קֶרֶן צָרָיִךְ

The LORD hath done that which He devised; He hath performed His word that He commanded in the days of old; He hath thrown down unsparingly; and He hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, He hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries.

With Iran's gloating over the deal, this verse is all too real.

Let's take a look at what Eicha Rabbati has to say about this verse.

"עָשָׂה ה' אֲשֶׁר זָמָם" ר' אהבה בריה דר' זעירא אמר משעה שאמר הקדוש ברוך הוא (ויקרא כו,): "ואם עד אלה לא תשמעו לי וגו' והלכתי אף אני עמכם בקרי" שמא כך עשה ח"ו אלא "עָשָׂה ה' וְגוֹ'" "[בִּצַּע אֶמְרָתוֹ]" פשורי מפשר ר' יעקב דכפר חנן אמר בזע פרפורין שלו.

"The LORD hath done that which He devised."  R' Ahava the son of R' Ze'ira said: From the time that HKB"H said, "And if ye will not yet for these things hearken unto Me ... then will I also walk contrary unto you [בקרי - with Kerry]." Perhaps he did so, Has Veshalom?!?! Rather, [read it as follows: "Did Hashem do that which He devised? No. Rather, בזע אמרתו means] he diluted the punishment [half justice, half mercy]. R' Yaakov of Kefar Hanan said: He tore His raiment. [See Anaf Yosef both here and on Eicha Rabbati 1:1 for 2 fascinating explanations what this means.]

The Midrash continues:

"וַיְשַׂמַּח עָלַיִךְ אוֹיֵב" א"ר אחא בטובה הוא שמח עמהם דכתיב (דברים ל,): "כי ישוב ה' לשוש עליך לטוב כאשר שש על אבותיך" אבל ברעה משמח הוא אחרים הה"ד"וישמח עליך אויב הרים קרן צריך" ועל זה נאמר "צָעַק לִבָּם אֶל ה' חוֹמַת בַּת צִיּוֹן הוֹרִידִי וְגוֹ'":

"and He hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee."  R' Aha said: In good times, He is joyous with them, as it says "for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers." However, in bad times, He causes others to rejoice, and this is meant when it says, "and He hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, He hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries." And upon this, it says [the next verse in Eicha]: "Their heart cried unto the Lord: 'O wall of the daughter of Zion...'"

I would humbly like to suggest that although there doesn't seem to be a strong connection between the 2 halves of the verse, nevertheless, the 2 parts of the verse - as the Midrash describes them - are connected and also referring to our days.

Hashem, in the Tochaha of Vayikra, "devised" a terrible punishment for us when we do not hearken to His voice.  (And, as the verse states, that plan would be "with Kerry".)  However, if that plan would have been realized, the Jewish nation would not have survived, G-d forbid. Therefore, in His infinite mercy, He decided to dilute the punishment that He planned in the days of old.

How? By enacting the second half of the verse only: "and He hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, He hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries." I say "only", but in reality, the exalting of the horn of our enemies is the worst of all troubles [see Etz Yosef on this Midrash ד"ה ועל זה נאמר]. This is why, as it says in the next few verses, we are crying our hearts out to Hashem - almost the entire Jewish nation is bemoaning and fighting the Iran deal. Some our crying out to Hashem, some are crying out to their senators, some are crying out to Netanyahu, but when push comes to shove, all will turn to Hashem eventually.

On that, the Midrash says that in good times, Hashem will be joyous with us. The verse used to prove that is from Parshat Nitzavim in the verses that talk about the days of Mashiah. We see that the Midrash is contrasting this period of Hevlei Mashiah to the period of the days of Mashiah.

May the worst of the Iran deal be only that our enemies are very temporarily exalted, and may that soon turn around in a miraculous way as our prophets have prophesied throughout the ages to bring us to the days of Mashiah, speedily in our days, Amen.