Midrasz do Lamentacje Jeremiasza 3:17

It is written (Lam. 3, 17.) And thou hast removed my soul from peace. R. Abuhu said: "This refers to the kindling of the Sabbath lamp," And I forgot happiness, (Ib.) "This," said R. Jeremiah, "refers to a bath-house." R.Jochanan said: "This refers to the washing; of his hands and feet in warm water." R. Isaac said: "This refers to a nicely fixed bed with comfortable bedding upon it." R. Abba said: "This refers to elegant furniture and an elegantly robed wife. Our Rabbis taught: "Who is to be considered rich? 'Every one,' says R. Meier, 'who enjoys his riches [whether great or little].' R. Tarphon says: 'Every one who has a hundred vineyards and a hundred fields with a hundred slaves to labor in them.' R. Akiba said: 'He who has a wife that is becoming in all her acts.' R. Jose said: 'He who has a privy within his house.'"

“He has broken my teeth with gravel, covered me in ashes” (Lamentations 3:16).
“He has broken my teeth with gravel” – there was an incident involving the son of Rabbi Ḥananya ben Teradyon, who joined robbers and revealed their secret. They killed him and filled his mouth with dirt and pebbles. Three days later, [his body was found]. They placed him on a rope stretcher and sought to laud him in deference to his father, but he did not allow them to do so. He said to them: ‘Leave him, and I will speak about my son.’ He began and said: “I did not heed the voice of my instructors, and to my teachers I did not incline my ear. I was on the verge of complete degradation in the midst of an assembly and a congregation” (Proverbs 5:13–14). His mother read in his regard: “A foolish son is vexation to his father, and bitterness to the one who bore him” (Proverbs 17:25). His sister read in his regard: “Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel” (Proverbs 20:17).
We learned: Whenever it is the meal of the ninth of Av,²⁸The last meal before the ninth of Av. it is prohibited to eat meat, to drink wine, to eat two cooked items, to wash, and to anoint oneself. Whenever it is not the meal of the ninth of Av, it is permitted to eat meat, to drink wine, and to eat two cooked items. Rav, after he would eat his fill of food, would take one small piece of bread, place ashes on it, and say: This is the meal of the ninth of Av, to fulfill what is stated: “He has broken my teeth with gravel, covered me in ashes.”
“My soul has forsaken peace; I have forgotten goodness” (Lamentations 3:17).
“My soul has forsaken peace; I have forgotten goodness” – Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Yosei said in the name of Rabbi Ḥananya son of Rabbi Abbahu: There was an incident involving a woman who took her son to a baker in Caesarea. She said to him: ‘Teach my son a craft.’ He said to her: ‘Let him stay with me for five years, and I will teach him five hundred species of wheat.’²⁹How to distinguish between the different species, and how best to use each one. How many species of wheat are there? Rabbi Aḥa said: With Minit wheat they are unquantifiable.³⁰Minit is a type of wheat mentioned in Ezekiel 27:17. The Rabbis say: There are five hundred species of wheat, equivalent to the numerical value of Minit.³¹Mem – 40; nun – 50; yod – 10; tav – 400 = 500 Rabbi Ḥanina and Rabbi Yonatan were sitting and counting them, and they got to sixty.
In addition, Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Yosei said: There was an incident involving a certain woman who took her son to a certain chef. She said to him: ‘Teach my son a craft.’ He said to her: ‘Let him stay with me for five years, and I will teach him one hundred types of eggs.’³²One hundred dishes that can be prepared with eggs. Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] heard and said: We have not seen that there is such goodness in the world. Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta heard and said: We have not heard that there is such goodness in the world.³³We have never seen or heard that there is such a range of foods to benefit from. These statements relate to the end of the verse: “I have forgotten goodness.”
Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira went to Netzivin on the day before the great fast.³⁴Yom Kippur He ate and finished.³⁵He ate his fill and stopped eating even though the fast had not yet begun. The Exilarch heard and came to him. He said to him: ‘Heed my request, my Master.’³⁶Please come eat the meal before the fast with me. He said to him: ‘I have already eaten and finished.’ He said to him: ‘Heed my request, my Master, so they will not say that he did not regard him at all to expend any effort on his behalf.’³⁷The Exilarch asked Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira to join him, if only so that it not appear as though Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira was disrespecting him. He went with him. When he went, he said to his servant: ‘My son, a dish that you bring us once, do not bring it to us another time.’ While they were eating, he brought before them eighty cooked dishes. He ate one loaf with each dish and one cup from each barrel. [The Exilarch] said to him: ‘My Master, after you ate and finished, we brought eighty dishes before you; with each dish, my Master ate one loaf, and from each barrel, my Master drank one cup.’³⁸The Exilarch was saying to Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira that he must have still been hungry, and therefore the Exilarch had benefited him. [Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira] said: ‘Why do they call it³⁹The body nafsha? Because the more it is given, the more it expands [nefisha].’
Rabbi Abbahu went to Basra and was received by Yosei “the head.” They brought before him eighty types of birds’ brains.⁴⁰Eighty dishes prepared with birds’ brains. He said to him: ‘Do not be angry, my Master, as the hunt was insufficient.’ They called him Yosei “the head” because all of his food was only birds’ brains.
Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great went to the south and was received by Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. They brought before him twenty-four cooked dishes. [Rabbi Ḥiyya] said to him: ‘What do you do on Shabbat?’ He said to him: ‘We double them.’ Sometime later, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi came to Tiberias and was received by Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great. He gave drachmas to the disciples of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi and said to them: ‘Go provide for your Master as he is accustomed.’⁴¹Rabbi Ḥiyya himself could not prepare an adequate feast for Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi.
Rabbi Yitzḥak ben Rabbi Eliezer knew how to prepare meals according to the number of days in the solar year. When he had the means, he would do so.⁴²He would prepare a different meal each day. When he did not have the means, he would take seeds and count them, so that he would not forget them.⁴³He would eat the seeds individually, and associate the dishes to the corresponding number of seeds, so that he would not be included in the curse mentioned in the verse, “I have forgotten goodness” (Midrash HaMevo’ar). These stories are related in the midrash in order to accentuate the troubles that have occurred and which have caused the goodness that was found in previous times to be forgotten.
“I have forgotten goodness” – Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: This is washing one’s hands and feet after the bathhouse.⁴⁴Even this simple pleasure has become impossible and has been forgotten due to the suffering of the Jewish people.
“I said: My strength and my expectation have perished from the Lord” (Lamentations 3:18).
“I said: My strength and my expectation have perished from the Lord” – Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: After the Holy One blessed be He despairs of the righteous in this world, He then has mercy on them. That is what is written: “I said: My strength [and my expectation] have perished.”⁴⁵Israel had thought there was no hope of salvation, but in fact salvation will come.