Kedushas Levi on Megillat Eichah

(17) My life was bereft of peace, I forgot what happiness was.

(18) I thought my strength and my hope had perished before ha-Shem.

(19) To recall my distress and my misery was wormwood and poison;

(20) Whenever I thought of them, I was bowed low.
(21) This do I call to mind, therefore I have hope.

(22) ha-Shem's hesed has not ended, God's mercies are not spent.

(23) They are renewed every morning -- ample is Your grace!

which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem ... Since they are harsh reproofs, he calls them “chazon,” which is the harshest of the ten expressions by which prophecy is called, as is stated in Gen. Rabbah (44:7), and proof of this is the verse (infra 21:2), “A harsh prophecy (חָזוּת) was told to me.”

It was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: The souls of the righteous are stored beneath the Throne of Glory, as it is stated: “And the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life” (I Samuel 25:29). And the souls of the wicked are continuously tied up, and one angel stands at one end of the world and another angel stands at the other end of the world and they sling the souls of the wicked back and forth to one another, as it is stated: “And the souls of your enemies He shall sling out in the hollow of a sling” (I Samuel 25:29).

(16) I heard and my bowels quaked, My lips quivered at the sound; Rot entered into my bone, I trembled where I stood. Yet I wait calmly for the day of distress, For a people to come to attack us.

Reading closely, one would think it should say, "This do I call to mind: ha-Shem's hesed [has not ended], therefore I have hope". But why does "therefore I have hope" precede, and then it comes around to "ha-Shem's hesed has not ended"?

It's true, the core idea for why the shabbat before Tishe b'Av is called "Shabbat Hazon" isn't complimentary to Israel. One can say that "hazon" is from the language of "mahazeh" (vision). A great, good, and hidden destiny was shown, after the great battle is won, b'ezrat ha-Shem, for the souls of Israel sent into this world.

[Why was this destiny shown to them?] Because they are lovers of ha-Shem (be praised), they are ha-Shem's lovers and all their trend was to God. Before they were sent to this world, to the war, the great, good and hidden destiny was shown to them. But in our great sins, the bowels of the haters of Israel quaked (Habakuk 3:16) upon us, and from remembering our oppression and our misery, and our nefesh being bowed low -- from this we recognize clearly that our resistance and our hope is not destroyed, has v'shalom. Though it is decreed for a dead person that they will be forgotten from the heart, because that which endures is removed to above, without any hope of now returning; but it is not so for a living person, there is no forgetting.

This is, "This do I call to mind". Because from, "whenever I thought of them, I was bowed low," from this it can be clearly be seen, "my hope" will not be permanently disappointed. Therefore I will have hope.

This is [from Tehillim 84:2], "How beloved are Your dwelling-places, ha-Shem Tz'vaot. (3) I long, my soul yearns for the courts of ha-Shem." Because "mishkan" is about "mashkan", a surety, a pledge against our great sins, mortgaged but not sold. For Zion will be redeemed with righteousness (Yishiyahu 1:27), just as something mortaged can be redeemed. This is what (the soul) recognizes, by means of "I long, my soul yearns for the courts of ha-Shem" always (i.e., we will return to them eventually).

(2) How beloved are Your dwelling-places, ha-Shem Tz'vaot. (3) I long, my soul yearns for the courts of ha-Shem; my heart and my flesh shout for joy to the living God.

(26) I will restore your magistrates as of old, And your counselors as of yore. After that you shall be called City of Righteousness, Faithful City.” (27) Zion shall be saved with judgment; Her repentant ones, with righteousness.

When they arrived at the Temple Mount, they saw a fox that emerged from the site of the Holy of Holies. They began weeping, and Rabbi Akiva laughed. They said, why are you laughing? He replied, why are you weeping? They said, it is written: “And the non-priest who approaches the holy of holies shall die” (Numbers 1:51), and now foxes walk in it; shall we not weep?

Rabbi Akiva said to them: That is why I am laughing, as it is written...“Therefore, for your sake Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become rubble, and the Temple Mount as the high places of a forest” (Micah 3:12), where foxes are found. Yet in Zechariah it is written: “There shall yet be elderly men and elderly women sitting in the streets of Jerusalem” (Zechariah 8:4).

Until the first prophecy was fulfilled I was afraid that the prophecy of Zechariah would not be fulfilled but now it is evident that the prophecy of Zechariah remains valid. The Sages said to him, Akiva, you have comforted us; Akiva, you have comforted us.

(1) Mourn for Zion and her cities, like a woman giving birth, like a maiden wrapped in sack-cloth for the husband of her youth

"Like a woman in childbirth". In general, when a woman is at the time she bows to give birth, she has pain. Really, after the birth, she will have great simcha. Similarly, all those present there, even at a time of great tzuris, they have simcha, because they know that of course a son or daughter will be born, this is indeed a simcha. She will also have, in truth, joy once she's given birth. Only as it's happening does she have any kind of difficulty.

For truly, Tzion, even now, when it suffers from the Hurban, it's just like a woman in childbirth. But actually, the Holy One of Blessing has great joy from this, knowing that the tzuris is but momentary, and that afterwards, the K.B.H. will build back better, with more strength.

This is the allusion of the midrash (Eichah Rabbah 1:26): "Ein la menacham" [she has no comforter]. "Ein la", right now she doesn't have it; afterwards, she will. As it says, Sarah was barren, she had no child" (Br. 11:30), but really, she would have one.

We can explain it as our rabbis and teachers did: "Ein mazel l'Yisrael" ["We don't have a zodaic sign", but also, "We don't have any luck"]. "Ein mazel l'Yisrael" -- the Ein Sof is the Mazal to Israel! [ha-Shem is our sign.]

ha-Shem is the One who rains down mazel [rains down = mashpiah, i.e. "shefa"]. This is [Bilam's] language, ha-Shem shall pour ["yizal"] the water out of ha-Shem's buckets (Bam. 24:7). This is, "Ein la menachem," she has no comfort / the Ein Sof is her comfort. ha-Shem will surely build for her, and comfort her many times over.

(26) “She has no comforter.” Rabbi Levi said: Any place that it is stated: “Has no [ein],” [ultimately] she will have. “Sarai was barren, she had no [ein] child” (Genesis 11:30), but [ultimately] she had, as it is stated: “The Lord remembered Sarah” (Genesis 21:1). Similarly, “Hannah had no [ein] children” (I Samuel 1:2), and [ultimately] she had, as it is stated: “For the Lord remembered Hannah” (I Samuel 2:21). Similarly, “She is Zion, she has no one [ein] seeking her” (Jeremiah 30:17), and [ultimately] she will have, as it is stated: “A redeemer will come to Zion” (Isaiah 59:20). So, too, it says: “She has no [ein] comforter,” and [ultimately] she will have, as it is stated: “I, it is I, who am your Comforter” (Isaiah 51:12).

(5) How fair are your tents, O Jacob

Your dwellings, O Israel! (6) Like palm

groves that stretch out,

Like gardens beside a river,

Like aloes planted by ha-Shem,

Like cedars beside the water;

(7) ha-Shem shall pour the water out of

God's buckets, moistening God's seed

plentifully

Their ruler shall rise above Agag,

Their sovereignty shall be exalted.