“Where Are You?”

Eichah. The mere mention of the word brings to mind images of suffering destruction and despair.

Eichah — how? How could the great and noble Klal Yisrael have fallen so low? How could the nation that experienced unparalleled closeness to the Ribono shel Olam have become so distant from Him? And what should be our response to the resulting galus?

The answer lies in that very word — eichah. The same word that expresses our pain also offers us hope. The attentive ear can hear the word ayekah echoing from within the haunting intonation of eichah. It is the word ayekah that teaches us how to respond to churban.

A Message of Hope

To understand this idea we need to go back to the first description of churban and galus in the Torah — the sin of Adam HaRishon and his subsequent exile from Gan Eden. After Adam HaRishon sinned and attempted to hide Hashem called to him saying “Ayekah? Where are you?”