I LAMENT

“Over these do I weep; my eye continuously runs with water because a comforter to restore my soul is far from me. My children have become forlorn, because the enemy has prevailed.” (Lamentations 1:16)

The service of the Fast of the Ninth of Av is enhanced by a unique form of liturgical composition known as a kina (kinot in plural), an elegy, dirge or lamentation. There are approximately fifty such compositions that appear in standard Tisha B’Av compendiums. The most ancient work of this kind is the Biblical book Eicha, composed by the prophet Jeremiah (Bava Batra 15a) who prophesied before, during and after the calamitous events described in the text. It is customary to read Eicha publicly on the evening of Tisha B’Av in a low and mournful voice, using a special tune reserved for the occasion (Orach Chaim 559:1). In some congregations, Eicha is read from a scroll (see Orach Chaim 490:9 and the commentaries there which discuss whether a blessing is recited when reading from a scroll). Our shul has such a scroll but I am not sure when last it was used. Dr Yael Ziegler, a brilliant contemporary Biblical scholar, writes the following about the title of the book in her seminal work on Eicha (Lamentations – Faith In A Turbulent World, Maggid Publications, 2021, page 2): “The word “Eikha” opens the book (as well as chapters 2 and 4) with a rhetorical question, an elongated form of the word eikh, meaning “How?” This form seems to affix a sigh to the terse query, powerfully conveying the nation’s bewildered pain. Although the biblical book is popularly known as Eikha, this is not its official title. Hazal [the Sages of the Talmud] refer to it by the name Kinot, which parallels the English title Lamentations. A kina is a lament used for the public mourning of an individual (II Samuel 1:17-27; 3:33-34). As a rhetorical device, prophets sometimes utter a kina for the nation [see Ezekiel 19:1; Amos 5:1-12], or for the city that represents the nation. Jeremiah (9:9-10), for example, declares that he will engage in mourning rituals, including a kina, in advance of the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. By calling this book Kinot, Hazal note that Eikha expresses grief for Judah’s apparent demise, a seemingly irrevocable tragedy that threatens the continued spiritual and physical existence of the nature.” Our late member, Dr Naomi Kaplan earned a doctorate based on her thesis on Kinot, an event she celebrated in shul one Shabbat.  

Taking their lead from Jeremiah, great sages and poets composed kinot throughout the ages and, indeed, they are still being written to this day, as we will see below. The ‘poet laureate’ of the Jewish people (as far as liturgical poetry is concerned) in general, and of kinot, in particular, is Rabbi Elazar HaKalir. His identity and the time period in which he lived is a matter of scholarly debate. He certainly pre-dates the period of the Rishonim, the early Talmudic commentators, who include Rashi and Tosafot in their ranks  (11^th century). Rabbi AC Feuer (overview to Artscroll Tisha B’Av Service) writes that the Kalir “achieved an unsurpassed degree of excellence in language and style, combined with a superior level of Torah scholarship.” Rabbi Dr Tzvi Hirsch Weinrib who penned a translation of Kinot for the joint OU Press and Koren Publication writes this about the authors of the kinot (Kinot – The Language of Loss, Jewish Action, Summer 2010): “While working on the translation, it became clear to me that the authors of the approximately fifty kinot differ greatly in style and, frankly, in talent. Elazar HaKalir was brilliant in the intriguing manner in which he organizes each of his poems, each one differently. He is certainly characterized by originality, while some of the lesser-known authors simply imitate their predecessors. The unique gifts of Solomon ibn Gabirol and Judah HaLevi become all the more apparent as one translates their few contributions to the kinot corpus, especially when compared to some of their lesser rivals. Rabbi Solomon ben Aderet, the Rashba, wrote in a responsum that Judah HaLevi was the chief of Jewish poets. How accurate are his words! Nearing the end of the translation process, I encountered the first of the kinot dedicated to Zion by Judah HaLevi. The sadness in which I was mired throughout the process of translation began to lift as I read his moving descriptions of the beauties of the Land of Israel. Although he writes mournfully about the lost Zion, somehow, his imagery instills not grief but longing, not despair but hope.”

The kinot cover a wide period of history, from the destruction of the First Temple until the Holocaust. Each has a different topic and emphasis. For example, number 10 speaks of the 24 families of cohanim who served in the Temple; 16 speaks of the cruelty and blasphemies of Titus who destroyed the Second Temple; 21 describes the martyrdom of ten great sages, including Rabbi Akiva, at the hands of the Romans; 25 is a lamentation for the communities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz that were decimated in the First Crusade; 41, composed by Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (1220-1293), mourns the public burning of twenty four wagonloads of hand-written Talmudic manuscripts in Paris in 1242. Regarding the modern period, Rabbi Weinrib writes, “As I concluded my onerous assignment, our editorial committee faced a difficult decision: Would we include recent kinot occasioned by the Holocaust? The Rav [Rabbi JB Soloveitchick], we knew, frowned upon the recitation of any but the traditional kinot. But our people seem to have spoken in favor of the inclusion of some Holocaust lamentations; the inclusion of modern-day kinot has become prevalent if not universal in the years since the Rav’s passing. We decided to respectfully diverge from the Rav’s opinion and to include several contemporary kinot related to the Holocaust.” In the Artscroll Tisha B’Av service there are two such poems, one by the late Bobover Rebbe, Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam (1908-2000) and another by the great German rabbinical leader, Rabbi Shimon Schwab (1908-1995). These compositions are saturated with images from the Holocaust, such as “remember their screams and their weeping as they were tightly packed and locked into the train’s cars” and “finger motions of the savage officers, to the right – slave labor! To the left – the shadow of death.”

The newest kina was composed by Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon, an outstanding author, activist and halachic expert from Gush Ezion. It is entitled “Lament for the Events of Iron Swords”. It follows the same style of kina 45, Eli Zion (“Wail, O Zion, and her cities”), namely several stanzas of four lines each, with rhyming couplets. Rabbi Rimon explains that he wanted to compose a kina that reflected the pain, the fear, the humiliation and the degradation of the October 7 pogrom but which would also express the special greatness of the Jewish people, the heroism of the soldiers and the belief that we are living in times of miracles and redemption. Hence it begins: “Simchat Torah – Shemini Atzeret, our dance turned to gloomy sorrow; on this day the fences were breached, the border settlements, Ofakim and Sderot.” But it ends with hope, “We thank You for our State, for our redemption and for the salvation of our souls, united, lead us upright in our land, hasten the son of David, our righteous Messiah.” We will recite the kina on Tisha B’Av. It can be downloaded here: https://mizrachi.org/hamizrachi/kinah-for-the-events-of-swords-of-iron/ May we have to write no new lamentations in the future!

Lee, Chani Merryl and Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom!    

Rabbi Liebenberg

Link to Rabbi’s YouTube message for Shabbat: https://youtu.be/CKow7t-2CVg?si=mh7WCgR0iw3mZGQ2

*Shabbat Chazon is the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, the Fast of the 9^th Av, which takes place on Monday night 12 and Tuesday 13 August. The fast begins at 18h12 and terminates at 18h41. We have a full programme for the fast  below.