The Developmental Perek

As we discussed in class, we split the Perek up in a way that we start to see a developmental progression.

We first get the objective account of the מקונן and then we get the subjective account from ירושלים herself. There's a transition even in the subjective account: she goes from being angry to being sad to recognize it's her sin - צידוק הדין. The whole פרק gives us an account of the emotional trauma associated with destruction and loss. It's a combination of the loneliness of not having anyone to comfort her (אין מנחם לה) and sadness that her people are lost. She's so stuck in her sadness and despair. 

It all culminates in a seemingly different ending Passuk: 

כב  תָּבֹא כָל-רָעָתָם לְפָנֶיךָ וְעוֹלֵל לָמוֹ, כַּאֲשֶׁר עוֹלַלְתָּ לִי עַל כָּל-פְּשָׁעָי:  כִּי-רַבּוֹת אַנְחֹתַי, וְלִבִּי דַוָּי.  {פ} 22 Let all their wickedness come before Thee; and do unto them, as Thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions; for my sighs are many and my heart is faint.' {P}

What's this doing here? What's its connection with the rest of the Perek? It's part of the progression. It continues with the development we've seen the whole Perek: even though she's come to the understanding that it was her sins that caused it to happen, she wants Hashem to punish her enemies as well. She's realizing that they caused her to do bad things and they deserve to be punished as well! It's another stage in her development: before she's lonely because she lost her friends and now she's lonely because she lost her people. 

It seems like איכה is so distant from us. How can we relate it to our lives? I know I can definitely identify with ירושלום here. She starts off really upset, angry, and defensive. Just like I would if I was accused of something (like the objective account of the מקונן). Then after she goes on for a while she starts to realize how sad it is and how sad her situation is. Then she recognizes that it's really her fault. I've definitely seen myself in situations like this before. At the very end though, it's always the 'Okay, I know it's my fault.. but can't they be punished too?' It's really cool that something that seemed so distant and far away is really much closer to us than we thought.