14 Jul DEVARIM/TISHA B’AV: THE DANGER OF PASSIVITY THREE LEVELS OF MORAL DEGENERATION: PASSIVITY, DESTRUCTION, ISOLATION

Willpower
A woman is leaving

her multimillion-
dollar mansion in

Beverly Hills when
a poor man
approaches her and cries, “Oh ma’am, I
haven’t eaten in three days.” To which the
woman responds: “I am so envious of
you; I wish had your willpower.”
Three Prophets
An intriguing Midrash states that three of
the great Jewish personalities
communicated their prophecies using an
identical Hebrew term, eicha, which
means “how” or “alas.”
The first one to utter this word was
Moshe.
At the beginning of this week’s parsha,
Devarim, Moshe, speaking during the last
weeks of his life, recalls how many years
earlier he shared with his people his
profound frustration as the leader of
Israel. “I said to you at that time, ‘I cannot

carry you alone…How (eicha) can I carry
your contentiousness, your burdens, and
your quarrels if I am all by myself?”
The second was Yeshayahu.
In the opening chapter of Yeshayahu, this
extraordinary man of G-d laments the
moral degeneration of Jerusalem and its
Jewish inhabitants 700 years after
Moshe’s death. “How—eicha—has the
faithful city become a prostitute?”
Yeshayahu cries. “She was full of justice,
righteousness lodged in her, but now
murderers.”
The third was Yirmiyahu.
Yirmiyahu’s heart-wrenching book of
Lamentations, written 200 years after
Yeshayahu and depicting the bloody
destruction of Jerusalem, opens with the
word “Eicha,” alas. “Alas—she sits in
solitude! The city that was great with
people has become like a widow.”
The Midrash concludes: Said Rabbi Levi,
it is compared to a noblewoman who had
three friends. One saw her in her

negligence, one saw
her in her recklessness,
and one saw her in her
degenerateness. So did
Moshe see Israel in
their honor, and in their
negligence, and he
said, “How will I carry
their burden alone?”
Yeshayahu saw them in
their recklessness, and
he said, “How she has
become a prostitute…” Yirmiyahu saw
them in their degenerateness, and he said,
“How does she dwell…”
Three Linked Messages
It is logical to assume that the Midrash is
not making a random observation of three
people using the same term. Rather, the
Midrash is attempting to tell us that there
exists a subtle link between the three
messages of Moshe, Yeshayahu, and
Yirmiyahu. It is this connection that
compelled the three prophets to choose
the dramatic term “eicha” for their
conversations with the people of Israel.
On the surface, no link is visible.
Moshe was discussing the enormous
burden of leadership; Yeshayahu, the
ugliness of promiscuity; and Yirmiyahu
the tragedy of loss. Yet the Midrash is
hinting to us that these three messages
are not only intertwined but actually
evolve one from another.
The Tragedy of Silence
What was Moshe’s complaint? This
great leader, “Whom G-d had known
face to face,” was not lamenting his
stressful schedule or the lack of time
for leisure. What perturbed Moshe was
that he was the only one taking ultimate
responsibility for the fate of the nation.
Others were willing to assist during
their free time, but it was only Moshe
who felt that the needs and struggles of
the people of Israel were his own.
“How (eicha) can I carry your
contentiousness, your burdens, and
your quarrels if I am all by myself?”
Moshe cries. If only one person is
ready to put himself on the line in the
fight for a better world, while others
just emit a sigh and go on with their
personal affairs, we are bound to
crumble. The triumph of evil does not
occur as a result of the perpetrators of
evil per se; it happens because of the

many ordinary men and women who
don’t care enough to stand up for what is
right. When ordinary people of good
moral standing lose the courage or
willingness to protest injustice, morality
is dead.
This is what Moshe protested: the notion
that ordinary people need not share equal
responsibility in mending the world,
combating immorality, and transforming
human society into an abode for G-d.
Aicha, says the Midrash elsewhere, is
comprised of the same letters as the word
Ayekah, the question G-d asks Adam
after eating from the Eitz Hadaas: Where
are you?! The Aicha becomes a call for
Ayekah.
The cry of Moshe “How can I carry you
alone” ultimately evolved into the second
stage of degeneration, which reached its
peak during the time of Yeshayahau.
“How has the faithful city become a
prostitute?” Yeshayahu asked. “She was
full of justice, righteousness lodged in
her, but now murderers.”
How indeed? Because Moshe was left
alone on the front lines of the battlefield
for goodness and morality. When
multitudes of people of moral stature do
not feel an urgent responsibility to combat
the flames of hate and evil burning in
their society, a city once full of justice
becomes, instead, a haven for murderers;
a city of light turns into darkness.
Yeshayahu’s call of “How has the faithful
city become a prostitute,” evolved into
the third stage of degeneration, when
Jerusalem destroyed itself, reaching the
abyss during the days of Yirmiyahu.
“Alas—she sits in solitude! The city that
was great with people has become like a
widow,” he lamented.
The three “eicha’s” represent three levels
of moral degeneration: Passivity,
destruction, and isolation.