It Wasn't Me

         This week in Megillot we finished up Perek ג and moved on to Perek ד. In the last section of Perek ג, we discussed our final evaluations of the Gever. We found that the Gever changes from speaking as an individual to speaking in plural. It seems he is re-engaging himself in society after a period of depressing isolation. Before, he has been a self-absorbed individual. Now, he ready to rejoin the community- he says, "Let us repent for our misdeeds! You didn't forgive, You didn't treat us with mercy, You were justified in punishing us because we sinned. We appealing to Your mercy and we are asking you to accept our prayers and repentance."
       
         In the last few pasukim of Perek ג, the Gever seems to be discussing his suffering again. However, this time, he goes through his suffering realizing that it was because of his sins, and not because of G-d. He understands that G-d hid His face (הסתר פנים) and it was justified. This can show us that G-d doesn't show His face in exile, but we still need to keep on going while recognizing that G-d does both good and bad.
       
         After finishing Perek ג, we began to discuss Perek ד. We talked about it in comparison with Perek ב, seeing how the descriptions of the children, the starvation, and the situations that caused the people to be immoral differed in the beginnings of both Perakim. In Perek ב, the narrator put the blame G-d for creating such a horrible situation, while in Perek ד, the narrator recognized that the actions of the people were to blame. In the second part of both Perakim, we looked at how the anger of G-d and the destruction of the leaders was portrayed differently. In Perek ב, there was an implication that G-d's anger was unjust and misdirected towards the leader and the Beis Hamikdash. In Perek ד, the narrator recognizes that G-d's anger came about because of the sins of the leaders and the people, and His anger was justified because of their actions.

         Realizing and accepting that you are to blame for something is not an easy thing to do. Most of the time, people avoid confronting the fact that they themselves are the cause of their problems and instead find it much easier to put the blame on others. In the last book of the Percy Jackson series, Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian, written by Rick Riordan, all of the horrors that the main characters have had to endure come to end (for now....there's a whole other series!). Luke Castellan, the boy whose body was taken over by the main bad guy, Kronos, realizes that he is the one who is causing everyone's misery and sacrifices himself. This immediately came to mind when I was learning Perek ד, because in both cases, the main character or narrator recognizes that they are the ones to blame. Hopefully in Eicha the Gever won't end up sacrificing himself, but you get the idea.

Do you think it's easy to accept the blame for something that you either did or didn't do?