Yoshiahu's Downfall
The only qinah, elegy, that we recite on Tish'ah beAv that dates back to the days of Tanakh (other than the Book of Eichah itself) is Yirmiyahu's qinah for King Yoshiahu.
Yoshiahu was raised by one of the more idolatrous of our kings, Menasheh. Menasheh managed to so suppress Torah that Yoshiahu was taken by the scroll he found in the Beis HaMiqdash. Yoshiahu lead a ran a rather successful religious revival. The gemara describes the generation as one that even in the children knew greater details of tum'ah and taharah than did the rabbis of the Talmud. Successful, but imperfect. There were still homes where idols were worshipped. They would be hidden, for example (an example referenced in the qinah), they would paint an image on the backs of their doors, so that if anyone would inspect the home, it would be hidden between the door and the wall. The style was to have a split door, 1/2 opens on each side. Therefore, they could even honestly say, whenever the doors were open and therefore the image split, that there was no avodah zara in their home.
Yoshiahu was unaware of this. He thought the revival was complete. When Par'oh Necho wanted to lead an army through Israel on the way to a war, Yoshiahu wanted to rely on Hashem's promise, "a sword will not enter your land." Yirmiyahu warned him, that no, we didn't merit that level of protection. Yoshiahu didn't listen to him. Egypt still needed to travel, so since they were refused safe passage, they attacked. Yoshiahu was fatally wounded, and confessed his error to Yirmiyahu in his final breath.
Why? What blinded such a righteous king, a man Rav Hillel thought merited to be the messiah, to the message of the navi?
Interestingly, in the qinah, Yirmiyahu refers to the wicked of the generation as "leitzanim", ridiculers. Not as wicked, sinners or idolaters. Again, why?
Leitzanus, ridicule, is a lack of yir'ah. It's an inability to accept the significance of the truly important, of dealing with the feelings of awe and fear that that engenders. Leitzanus is therefore a symptom of ga'avah, egotism. When someone has an over estimation of his own importance, he has no room to acknowledge anything else as perhaps being more important, he can't accept the insecurity fear engenders. A natural response would therefore be leitzanus, belittling it.
Ga'avah also demotivates one to improve himself. I'm so good, my flaws are minor ones. I am reluctant to suggest this, but perhaps Yoshiahu, living in a culture that overly promoted in egotism, was tinged with some of that flaw himself. Therefore, he was incapable of believing that his religious reawakening was imperfect.
Among the things mentioned in the story of Qamtza and Bar Qamtza about the destruction of the second Beis haMiqdash, interestingly, was the modesty of R' Zecharia ben Avqulus. He refused to permit the offering of a blemished animal donated by the Caesar, lest someone think that one is allowed to offer blemished animals. Then he refused to permit killing Bar Qamtza, to keep him from reporting that rejection back to the Romans, lest someone think that the punishment for bringing a blemished offering is death. In one version of the story, he also refused to get involved at the original party at which Bar Qamtza was shamed and turned against his people.
R' Zecharia ben Avqulus's modesty was not healthy anavah. It was not an awareness of self-worth and one's true relationship to the rest of creation. It was a lack of self-esteem, an unwillingness to believe he could take a stand that in reality he was qualified to take.
This lack of self-esteem is actually very related to ga'avah. Ga'avah is a defense mechanism for someone who feels a constant need to prove to himself and the world that he really does have value. It's the insecure who have a need lie to themselves, magnifying their accomplishments, minimizing their imperfections. The need to constantly prove one's importance would also explain the divisiveness and lack of tolerance of the flaws and errors of others by the masses of his generation.
Perhaps, therefore, one can suggest a common cause.
Yoshiahu was one of a generation that was digging itself out of the depths. If they never shook off that self-image, then perhaps they too shared the "modesty of Rav Zecharia ben Avqulus". This in turn lead to ga'avah which fueled an inability to change on the part of those who hid their icons by ridiculing the efforts to spread change, as well as the inability of Yoshiahu to admit he might not have been successful.
Yoshiahu was raised by one of the more idolatrous of our kings, Menasheh. Menasheh managed to so suppress Torah that Yoshiahu was taken by the scroll he found in the Beis HaMiqdash. Yoshiahu lead a ran a rather successful religious revival. The gemara describes the generation as one that even in the children knew greater details of tum'ah and taharah than did the rabbis of the Talmud. Successful, but imperfect. There were still homes where idols were worshipped. They would be hidden, for example (an example referenced in the qinah), they would paint an image on the backs of their doors, so that if anyone would inspect the home, it would be hidden between the door and the wall. The style was to have a split door, 1/2 opens on each side. Therefore, they could even honestly say, whenever the doors were open and therefore the image split, that there was no avodah zara in their home.
Yoshiahu was unaware of this. He thought the revival was complete. When Par'oh Necho wanted to lead an army through Israel on the way to a war, Yoshiahu wanted to rely on Hashem's promise, "a sword will not enter your land." Yirmiyahu warned him, that no, we didn't merit that level of protection. Yoshiahu didn't listen to him. Egypt still needed to travel, so since they were refused safe passage, they attacked. Yoshiahu was fatally wounded, and confessed his error to Yirmiyahu in his final breath.
Why? What blinded such a righteous king, a man Rav Hillel thought merited to be the messiah, to the message of the navi?
Interestingly, in the qinah, Yirmiyahu refers to the wicked of the generation as "leitzanim", ridiculers. Not as wicked, sinners or idolaters. Again, why?
Leitzanus, ridicule, is a lack of yir'ah. It's an inability to accept the significance of the truly important, of dealing with the feelings of awe and fear that that engenders. Leitzanus is therefore a symptom of ga'avah, egotism. When someone has an over estimation of his own importance, he has no room to acknowledge anything else as perhaps being more important, he can't accept the insecurity fear engenders. A natural response would therefore be leitzanus, belittling it.
Ga'avah also demotivates one to improve himself. I'm so good, my flaws are minor ones. I am reluctant to suggest this, but perhaps Yoshiahu, living in a culture that overly promoted in egotism, was tinged with some of that flaw himself. Therefore, he was incapable of believing that his religious reawakening was imperfect.
Among the things mentioned in the story of Qamtza and Bar Qamtza about the destruction of the second Beis haMiqdash, interestingly, was the modesty of R' Zecharia ben Avqulus. He refused to permit the offering of a blemished animal donated by the Caesar, lest someone think that one is allowed to offer blemished animals. Then he refused to permit killing Bar Qamtza, to keep him from reporting that rejection back to the Romans, lest someone think that the punishment for bringing a blemished offering is death. In one version of the story, he also refused to get involved at the original party at which Bar Qamtza was shamed and turned against his people.
R' Zecharia ben Avqulus's modesty was not healthy anavah. It was not an awareness of self-worth and one's true relationship to the rest of creation. It was a lack of self-esteem, an unwillingness to believe he could take a stand that in reality he was qualified to take.
This lack of self-esteem is actually very related to ga'avah. Ga'avah is a defense mechanism for someone who feels a constant need to prove to himself and the world that he really does have value. It's the insecure who have a need lie to themselves, magnifying their accomplishments, minimizing their imperfections. The need to constantly prove one's importance would also explain the divisiveness and lack of tolerance of the flaws and errors of others by the masses of his generation.
Perhaps, therefore, one can suggest a common cause.
Yoshiahu was one of a generation that was digging itself out of the depths. If they never shook off that self-image, then perhaps they too shared the "modesty of Rav Zecharia ben Avqulus". This in turn lead to ga'avah which fueled an inability to change on the part of those who hid their icons by ridiculing the efforts to spread change, as well as the inability of Yoshiahu to admit he might not have been successful.
posted by micha @ 8/14/2005 04:59:00 PM
