Kinah 7-Part One-Above The Stars

Trancribed by Michael Beller- In this kinah it seems like Hashem is just focusing on all the bad in our relationship (the Jews and Hashem) but what about all the good?

When this happens in a relationship we feel forgotten, and what does this do to our accomplishments and the goods things we’ve done? They lose their power and the next time we don’t even know if we can trust this feeling of accomplishment and joy.

This Kinah helps us reconnect to our most special great moments with Hashem, that’s what this Kinah is for. So the first thing we mention is; “You don’t remember the covenant between the pieces”.

What was the gift of the covenant between the pieces? That God made a commitment to Abraham that He would always provide his descendants with the means of living above the stars.

This doesn’t mean that God made a promise to always save the Jewish people. People don’t pray with the mindset that this prayer is the one that will make the difference because we all believe that eventually God will save us so its just a matter of time.

The promise that Hashem made to Abraham was that just as with him, Abraham, Hashem will acknowledge his descendants’ accomplishments and give them the means to raise themselves up above the stars and make their own reality.

None of us can live consistently at such a high level but we have to connect to the times that we did experience living above the stars and say to Hashem, “You’ve kept your promise yes you do it, now do it again.”

A Tikkun (positive action) that one can take from tisha b’av is, is any of my mitzvoth I’m doing a process of self-discovery, or am I doing it because everyone else in the community does it and that is just what we do?

How many of us do mitzvoth as their real purpose, a process of self-discovery? Judaism directs us, nurtures us, and nourishes our growth and development, and that is what the Gra describes as the process of “discovering your flag”.