איכה, פרק ב׳, פסוק י״א

The destruction of Jerusalem and the horrors of extreme famine drive the mourner to a state of total physical and mental collapse. The sheer intensity of the grief transcends emotional pain, manifesting as a fatal physical blow to the body's vital systems. Endless weeping brings the mourner to a state of complete exhaustion [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This is not merely blurred vision, but the actual physical ruin of the eyes [לחם דמעה], a deterioration so severe that eyelashes fall out until sight is entirely destroyed [תורה תמימה]. The agony then strikes deeper. The intestines violently contract and shrink as if they have been thrown into a fire [רש״י], seized by a terrible, burning pain [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This physical breakdown peaks as the liver, a vital organ, collapses under the crushing weight of the mourning [תורה תמימה]. Some view these descriptions as the formation of terminal physical defects, rendering the mourner akin to a dead person. Alternatively, this severe internal trauma may describe a horrific historical reality of the famine, where desperate robbers stabbed people in the abdomen to steal whatever food they possessed [לחם דמעה].

This physical collapse ultimately leads to a profound spiritual paralysis. The ruined eyes prevent the reading of the Written Torah, the burning intestines make it impossible to review the Oral Torah, and the failing liver drains the last reserves of strength needed for deep study [אלשיך]. The tears streaming from the mourner's eyes are a bitter mixture of physical agony and the stinging smoke of the burning Temple. Yet, in a devastating reality, despite total repentance and the desperate cries of the heart, the gates of tears remain shut, and prayers go completely unanswered [לחם דמעה].

The root of this profound breakdown is a double catastrophe of mass starvation and murder [לחם דמעה]. The most unbearable sight, which pushes the mourner to the absolute breaking point, is that of innocent infants and nursing babies fainting in the city squares [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The tragedy is magnified as they collapse from starvation precisely in the streets where bread was once sold. In their desperation, these babies crave bread and wine not for themselves, but to feed their starving mothers, hoping the women might then be able to produce a few drops of breast milk [אלשיך]. These pure children suffer such a severe fate as a consequence of the older generation's sin of neglecting Torah study [פלגי מים].

The specific nature of these punishments can be traced back to the historical sins of the Israelites. The failing eyes mirror the baseless weeping of the generation in the wilderness, the intestinal agony serves as a punishment for their disgust with the heavenly Manna, and the fainting children reflect the moment the Israelites faithlessly claimed their children would become spoils of war [אלון בכות]. Another perspective links these events to the story of Esau, connecting the tears to Esau's great, bitter cry, the internal pain to the food he prepared for his father, and the collapsing children to the children of Jacob bowing down before Esau [אלון בכות].