The coincidence of hope and despair in Midrash

One more text of interest, in relation to the preceding posts (key phrases highlighted):

אין לה מנחם מכל אוהביה - אמרו אותו היום שנכנסו אויבים לעיר והחריבו בית המקדש, היה חוץ לירושלים יהודי אחד חורש במחרשתו, וראה שהפרה שהיה חורש בה הפילה את עצמה לארץ, ולא הייתה רוצה לחרוש, אלא תמיד הייתה גרעה [גערה],

There is none to comfort her of all who love her (Lam 1:2) - They said: The very day enemies converged on the city and destroyed the enclosure of the sanctuary, outside Jerusalem a Jew was plowing with his plow. He saw that the cow he was plowing with threw herself to the ground. She had no desire to plow, but balked continually, again and again.

ראה אותה האיש ונבהל מאוד, והיה מכה את הפרה כדי שתחרוש, ולא הייתה רוצה, אלא תמיד הייתה מפלת עצמה לארץ, והוא מכה אותה תמיד, עד ששמע קול אומר: מה לך לפרה, הנח אותה, שהיא צועקת על חורבן הבית ועל מקדש שנשרף היום.

The man saw it and was distraught. He went on beating the cow so that she would plow, but she had no desire to. Instead, she threw herself to the ground continually. He continued to beat the cow, until he heard a voice say, “What do you have against the cow? Let her be, for she cries out on account of the destruction of the enclosure and of the sanctuary that burned down today.”

 שמע האיש, מיד קרע את בגדיו, ותלש את שערו וצעק, ונתן אפר על ראשו ובכה ואמר אוי נא לי, אוי נא לי.

When the man heard, he rent his garments then and there, plucked out his hair, cried out, and put ashes on his head. He wept, and said, “Misfortune is mine! Misfortune is mine!”

לאחר ב' או ג' שעות עמדה הפרה על רגליה ורקדה ושמחה, תמה האיש מאוד, שמע קול אומר טעון וחרוש כי בשעה זאת נולד משיח,

Two or three hours later, the cow stood up on her legs and skipped and rejoiced. The man was totally astonished. He heard a voice saying: “Load up and plow, for this very hour, Messiah was born.”

שמע האיש רחץ פניו וקם ושמח הלך לביתו ולקח רצועות ארוכות של משי לתינוקות להעציבם בעריסם, לקחם והלך לירושלים, וכשבא לעיר לקחם ונתנם על זרועותיו, וקרא ברחוב העיר, מי יקנה פרה לבנו או לבתו,

When the man heard, he washed his face, arose, and rejoiced. He went home and retrieved long silken straps for babies to tie to their beds. He retrieved them and went to Jerusalem, and when he entered the city, he took them, put them on his arms, and called out in the town square, “Who would purchase a cow for his son or his daughter?”

שמעה שכנת אם משיח, ואמרה לו לך לבית פלוני, שהרי ילד יולד לה, הלך ונכנס לבית ואמר להם קנה לבנך רצועה, אמרה לו לא אקנה לו, כי הוא נולד יום שנחרב בית המקדש, ארור היום שהוא נולד בו,

Shechinat, the mother of Messiah, heard and said to him, “Go to so-and-so’s house, because a child was born to it.” He went and converged on the house and said to them, “Purchase a strap for your son.” She said to him, “I will not purchase it for him, because he was born the day on which the enclosure of the sanctuary was destroyed. Cursed the day on which he was born!”

מיד בא האיש אצל הילד ונשקו על ראשו ונתן לו רצועה, וביקש האם עליו והלך לו לביתו, ובכל שנה ושנה בא לירושלים לראותו. ושם הילד מנחם בן עמיאל, שנה אחת בא לירושלים ונכנס לבית, מיד הרימה אם הילד קולה, ואמרה אין לה מנחם שהרי נגנז, והוא שכתוב אין לה מנחם מכל אוהביה"

מדרש זוטא איכה (בובר)-נוסח ב' פרשה א', על הפסוק: אין לה מנחם

The man went beside the child right then and there, kissed him on the head, gave him a strap, and beseeched the mother on his behalf. He made his way home, but year after year he went to Jerusalem to see him. The name of the child: Menachem ben Amiel. One year he went to Jerusalem and converged on the house. Right then and there, the mother of the child raised her voice and said, “No one can comfort (Menachem) her, because he is hidden! And it is as written, “There is none to comfort her of all who love her.”

Midrash Zuta, Eikha [Buber] - Nusach 2, 1

In light of the child-Messiah's disappearance, the following is bittersweet:

הַיּוֹם בּוֹ נוֹלַדְתָּ

הוּא הַיּוֹם בּוֹ הֶחְלִיט הקב"ה

שֶׁהָעוֹלָם אֵינוֹ יָכוֹל לְהִתְקַיֵּים בַּלְעֲדֶיךָ

רבי נחמן מברסלב

The day on which you were born,
that is the day on which God declared
that the world could not be preserved without you.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

But one might dare to believe, of others still:

יום נולדת בו
הוא היום אמר יהוה
אין מנחם לארץ ושמים בלעדיך

Comments

[Simon Holloway]

Ah yes, the Ancient Israelite guide to running a business! If you have a sick animal, wait until it seems to be healthy again, and sell it.

Incidentally, Fray Pul used this very midrash in his disputation against Nachmanides in Barcelona. He was attempting to prove that the rabbis accepted the divinity of Jesus, but his chronology was somewhat confused and it wasn't too difficult (according to Nachmanides' account) to pick it apart.

How do you understand it? The name of the woman is somewhat odd (unless it is her profession, though I am unaware of women fulfilling this role), and so is the manner in which she redirects the nameless Jew to the home of a nameless Jerusalemite. The meaning of the final two paragraphs escapes me entirely.

[JohnFH]

Hi Simon,

A friar "Pul" taking on Ramban? Sounds like a mismatch to me.

There is almost something like an inner necessity to the notion that, in terms of deep structure, the Messiah is born on Tisha be'Av. That much I get, plus the notion that the Messiah, though born, is hidden, resulting in an inconsolable mother, who I would see as a type of Rachel (matriarch of the nation) per Jeremiah, besides of Zion, the presupposition, it would seem, of this text, which has reached us perhaps in slightly garbled form.

But it would also seem that the Messiah's mother is identified with the Shechinah, and thus with the Holy Spirit, involved in the birth of many worthies according to a number of sources. Extrapolation, perhaps, based on passages like Gen 21:1 and 1 Sam 2:21.

The namelessness of the chief characters, I would guess, is consonant with them standing in for "any Jew" who laments the destruction and "any mother" who longs to give suck to her people's Messiah, a Messiah, nonetheless, who remains hidden.

Luke 11:27-28 addresses the issue in a way, more or less, any rabbi might approve of. For the flip side, there is Luke 23:29.