1. Akiva Marder
Ft.
Oren Strich

2. Tragedies of
 Personal Relations: (1,1)- “The city was great with
people” “She has become like a widow”
 Political Relations: (1,1)- “greatest amongst nations, a
princess amongst provinces” “Has become a
tributary”
 (1,8): “All who once respected her, disparage for they have
seen her disgrace”
 Religious Relation: (1,4): people would come on the
shalosh regalim “the roads of Zion are
mourning for lack of festival Pilgrims and all her gates are
desolate”

3. Women and Children Suffering
after
 (1,4): “Her maidens are afflicted”
 (2, 20): “women eat their own fruit, their new born babes!”
 (5,11) “Women are ravished in Zion, and virgins in the
cities of Judah”
 (1,5): “Children go into captivity before the enemy”
 (2,19): “For the life of your infants, who faint for hunger at
every street corner”
 (4, 4): “Little children beg for bread; none give them
morsel”
 (5,13) “they took the young men to grind and boys
stumble under the wood”

4. Jewish Leaders Suffering after
 (1,4): “Her Priests sigh”
 (2,2): “He (Hashem) profaned the kingdom and its
leaders”
 (2,6): “He has spurned kings and priests”
 (2,9): “Her kings and her leaders are in
exile, instruction is no more; her prophets too receive
no vision from the Lord”
 (5,12) “Princes are hanged up by their hand; the
faces of elders are not honored”
 (5,14) “The elders have ceased from the gate, the
young men from their music”

5. Enemies Reacting to our
Suffering
 (3, 60-63): “You have seen all their malice, all their
designs against me; You have heard, O Lord, their
taunts, all their designs against me, the mouthings and
pratings of my adversaries, against me all day along. See
how, at their ease or at work, I am the butt of their gibes”
 (4, 14-15): “They wandered blindly through the streets,
defiled with blood, so that no one was able to touch their
garments. „Away! Unclean!‟ people shouted at them.
„Away! Away! Touch not!‟ So they wandered and
wandered again‟ For the nations had resolved: „They
shall stay here no longer.‟”

6. as a Valid Source of
History
 Generally, the Megillah is not a credible historical source
b/c the perspective in prakim 1-4 is from someone in the
moment of tragedy and struggling and as a result
somewhat slanted to the oppressed
 However, Perek 5 can perhaps be valid as it presents a
detached approach (“zichor” implies more of a nostalgic
approach of the community) and therefore has already
coped with the issues
 Perek 5, however, is still not necessarily so reliable b/c it
is from a Jewish, subjective perspective even if its
reflective. It still, to some degree, reflects our mourning
and evoking of sympathy as opposed to simply stating
the facts