What’s to be done when death has dealt its cards, and when the worse has happened? In Western culture restrain and so-called stoicism often prevails but in our ancient human and hebraic culture grief was not a source of shame. Expert wailers and keeners, most often women, were brought in to help open the heart, to lead us in lamenting and to ensure that healing happens as we allow ourselves to open up our wounds. No grief - no growth.
Jeremiah weeps for Judah and its future fury. He knows that the time will come when all will join him, beyond denial, in the weeping, and he knows who to call to help the people cope with the trauma:
כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֔וֹת הִתְבּ֥וֹנְנ֛וּ וְקִרְא֥וּ לַמְקוֹנְנ֖וֹת וּתְבוֹאֶ֑ינָה וְאֶל־הַחֲכָמ֥וֹת שִׁלְח֖וּ וְתָבֽוֹאנָה׃ וּתְמַהֵ֕רְנָה וְתִשֶּׂ֥נָה עָלֵ֖ינוּ נֶ֑הִי וְתֵרַ֤דְנָה עֵינֵ֙ינוּ֙ דִּמְעָ֔ה וְעַפְעַפֵּ֖ינוּ יִזְּלוּ־מָֽיִם׃ כִּ֣י ק֥וֹל נְהִ֛י נִשְׁמַ֥ע מִצִּיּ֖וֹן אֵ֣יךְ שֻׁדָּ֑דְנוּ בֹּ֤שְׁנֽוּ מְאֹד֙ כִּֽי־עָזַ֣בְנוּ אָ֔רֶץ כִּ֥י הִשְׁלִ֖יכוּ מִשְׁכְּנוֹתֵֽינוּ׃ כִּֽי־שְׁמַ֤עְנָה נָשִׁים֙ דְּבַר־יְהֹוָ֔ה וְתִקַּ֥ח אׇזְנְכֶ֖ם דְּבַר־פִּ֑יו וְלַמֵּ֤דְנָה בְנֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙ נֶ֔הִי וְאִשָּׁ֥ה רְעוּתָ֖הּ קִינָֽה׃ כִּי־עָ֤לָֽה מָ֙וֶת֙ בְּחַלּוֹנֵ֔ינוּ בָּ֖א בְּאַרְמְנוֹתֵ֑ינוּ לְהַכְרִ֤ית עוֹלָל֙ מִח֔וּץ בַּֽחוּרִ֖ים מֵרְחֹבֽוֹת׃
“So said YHWH, God of Hosts:
Listen!
Summon the women who wail, let them come;
Send for the wise women who lament, let them come.
Let them quickly start a wailing for us,
That our eyes may run with tears,
Our pupils flow with water.
For the sound of wailing
Is heard from Zion:
How we are despoiled!
How greatly we are shamed!
Ah, we must leave our land,
Abandon our dwellings!
Hear, O women, the word of YHWH,
Let your ears receive the divine word,
And teach your daughters wailing,
And one another lamentation.
For death has climbed through our windows,
Has entered our fortresses,
To cut off babies from the streets,
Young men from the squares.”
Who were those wise women who wail?
My friend and teacher Jericho Vincent, writes here on why they chose to be among those, inspired by the wisdom of Kohenet - Netivot - who reclaim the role of the wailers - the Mekonenet.
“In ancient Egypt, a professional sacred mourner was called a Dryt.
In India, the role is a Rudaali.
In ancient Greece, the sacred mourner was called a moirologist..
Jeremiah, as he mourns for his exiled people, asks that the mourning women be called to come and weep. The word mekonenet means “one who laments” but can also mean “one who makes a nest.” The mekonenet embodies the pain and truth of change. She appears as Rachel weeping for her exiled children, as the wife of Pinchas, who dies in childbirth, and as the grieving Mother Zion. She also appears in Ezekiel as the women weeping for Tammuz. She brings the gifts of comforting the bereaved, burying the dead, healing the mourners, and facing cataclysmic change. "
Rev. Wilda Gafney, author of important books including one of our favorites - Womanist Midrash, wrote a searing sermon referencing this chapter in Jeremiah and the role of those women who permit us to weep. Gafney hears the women wailing in Jerusalem and calls on her community - and on all of ours - to continue the tradition of weeping as at least one way for dealing and healing with the ongoing violence in our streets and on our planet. She offers helpful context for this mostly erased art of public wailing: