The “Lechem Dim’ah” (“Bread of Tears”) is
a 16th-century commentary on the book of Lamentations that describes
the destruction of the ancient Jewish Temples and city of Jerusalem. The
author, Samuel de Uçeda, writes in an introduction that he published his
commentary on the mishnaic tractate Pirkei Avot first because of the importance
of its ethical lessons. He prioritized Lamentations next because of his intense
grief over the destruction of the Temples and the centuries of suffering that
ensued, as if his tears were the bread he consumes, an allusion to Psalms 42:4
and 80:6. (source)
The following is
taken from Lechem Dim’ah
on Eikhan 2:1:
איכה יעיב וגו'. השליך משמים
ארץ וגו'. הכונה ידוע הוא שירושלם של מעלה מכוונ' כנגד ירושלם של מטה וכמש"ה ירושלים
הבנויה כעי' שחוברה לה יחדו וכן ג"כ ב"ה של מטה מכוון כנגד ב"ה של מעלה
וכשנחרב הבית עשה השי"ת כאשר הוא עושה לאחרים כי יפקוד ה' על צבא המרום במרום
ואח"כ על מלכי האדמה באדמה וז"ש איכה יעיב באפו ה' כלומר תדע לך איכה עשה
כיעיב ויחשיך באפו ה' את בת ציון החשיך אותה במה שהשליך משמים ארץ תפארת ישראל כלומר שהשליך מן השמים
ארץ ירושלים העליונה
שהיא היתה תפארת ישראל כיון שהשליך אותה שהיתה בשמים זה היה סבה אשר לא
זכר אותה ירושלים של מטה שהיא היתה הדום רגליו כמד"א השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי
לא זכר אותה ביום אפו וחמתו והחריב גם אותה:
English translation:
“‘Eikhah ya‘iv…’ ‘He cast from the heavens the earth…’ — the intent is
well known: this is the Jerusalem of above as opposed to the Jerusalem below.
And as it is said, ‘Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together.’
Likewise the House of God below corresponds to the House of God above; and when
the Temple was destroyed the Holy One, blessed be He, acted as He acts
elsewhere — first He visits (pours out judgment upon) the host of the heights
in the heights, and afterwards the kings of the earth on the earth.
And concerning the phrase ‘Eikhah ya‘iv be-apho Adonai’ (How He has
made desolate in the anger of the Lord): that is, know how He acted — ‘He
darkened/made desolate in His anger the daughter of Zion.’ He darkened her by
casting down from the heavens the land that was the glory of Israel — i.e., He cast down from the heavens the upper land of Jerusalem
which had been the glory of Israel.
For when He cast down that which had been in the heavens, that was the
reason He did not remember the Jerusalem below, which had been His footstool —
as it is said, ‘The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool’ — He
did not remember it in the day of His anger and wrath, and He destroyed it as
well.”
Note how the
phrase ארץ ירושלים (land of Jerusalem) appears in the above
text.
