איכה, פרק ג׳, פסוק מ״ח

A profound sadness and deep mourning follow the destruction of the nation, captured through the vivid imagery of freely flowing tears. The overwhelming tragedy is met with rivers and heavy currents of water pouring down [אבן עזרא].

The identity of the one shedding these tears is understood in two distinct ways. The most straightforward approach is that the prophet is speaking from his own personal grief, crying endless streams over the ruined and degraded state of his people [ביאור שטיינזלץ, צאינה וראינה]. However, another perspective suggests a divine response. In this view, God shares in the sorrow of the destruction, mourning alongside the Israelites to keep them from sinking into total despair.

The act of weeping from only one eye carries deep symbolic meaning [אלון בכות]. One approach connects the concept of two eyes to the two parts of the Torah, with the right eye representing the Written Torah and the left eye representing the Oral Torah. Shedding tears from a single eye reflects a specific tragedy of the bitter exile: the Oral Torah was forgotten by the people, even as the Written Torah remained in their hands.

Another interpretation links the two eyes to the summer months of Tammuz and Av, times of historical tragedy. According to this view, the single weeping eye mourns specifically for the month of Tammuz. It was during this month that the first stone tablets were broken. This initial event is viewed as the root of all subsequent troubles, eventually causing the destruction of the Temple, and it represents the deepest meaning behind the shattering of the nation.