This Kinah lists many of the special things and experiences we miss when we live in a world without the Temple. I offer a poem by Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra (1058 - 1128). Born in Granada about 1055, Moses Ibn Ezra was destined to wander Spain...
O’ Zion, most desirable crown, joy for your multitudes; Accept blessings of peace. Which blessing of peace? R. Judah contrasted the following passages: “And the ends of the staves were seen,” (Kings I 8:8) and it is written, “but they could not be seen without,” (Ibid) — how...
“O’ Israel, drunk, but not with wine, cast away your timbrels of joy...
This Kinah is based on the story of Nevuzaradan and the boiling blood of Zechariah, a prophet and Cohen, murdered on the Temple grounds on Yom Kippur by people who did not want to hear his prophecies of impending destruction. The aftermath of this story...
Though we were unable to do anything to stop the way they were annihilated, our hearts are pained that even after the great cataclysm no commemoration for them has been established for the future – some form of eulogy and mourning – in the manner...
My fingers are humbled and my foundations are crumbled - O woe! The Holy Temple and its courtyards are dragged on the day of wrath - Woe, what has befallen us! The faces of princes and princesses are blackened like the bottoms of pots - O woe! This Kinah describes numerous details of...
“The celestial palaces, the heavens that house You, are filled with Your splendor, yet they cannot contain You. How much less so the Temple?” A small group of friends made a commitment to each other as they in a cattle car on the way to Auschwitz: “We will...
I said, “Turn away from me, while I express my bitterness with weeping.” I will soothe the bitterness of my soul and spirit by crying with those who are prepared to arouse their lament. We, who cannot find words to soothe our bitterness, turn to weeping with others who...
“So how can I be consoled?” We have met the inconsolable in the Bible (Genesis 37:34-35): “And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort...
When Jeremiah returned to Jerusalem after the destruction he met a woman sitting on a mountaintop, clothed in black, her hair disheveled. “Who will console me? she cried out. Jeremiah responded sternly, “If you are a real woman, speak to me, but if you are a...
