The Koren Mesoret Harav Kinot: A Modern Translation

Issue of July 9, 2010/ 27 Tammuz. 5770

It is a point of historical irony that the least popular liturgical work of out faith is the Kinot, the series of prayers for the tragic fast day of Tisha B’Av. In my opinion, this is because, unlike the Passover Haggadah, the High Holiday Machazor, the Megillah of Esther, and Pirkei Avot, the Jewish book calendar very rarely features an annual mass listing of new translations or commentaries of Kinot in the bookstores that dot our communities. Despite our sad history, the publishing of new commentaries on elegies is not something that much occupies the time and talent of our scholars.

Sadness is hardly an attractive emotional, or intellectual, commodity; the Kinot reflects that sadness to perfection. Commemorating the fall of Jerusalem twice in our history at the hands of brutal foreign rulers, Tisha B’Av and the Kinot bring the events of those eras to a reality rarely noticed in other nationalistic traditions.
Who in our day mourns the fall of Babylon, of Persia, of Carthage, of Athens, of Rome? What nation fasts for their calamities, sits on stools, shoeless and tearful, for whatever befell them in times past?

None, at least not that I am aware of, and distinctly not in the terms and spirit as our observance of the fall of Jerusalem. Yes, we mourn, however, despite this, we do not go overboard in the publication of a plethora of volumes of commentaries of Kinot.

Thus, we note this week the elegant and sophistication of a new edition of the Kinot published this year. Titled, “The Koren Mesorat Harav Kinot” [Orthodox Union Press, Koren Publishers, 2010] this attractive volume contains several features that bring together diverse learning skills that would find an audience for just about anyone dedicated enough to engage this fast day in a serious manner.

Among the features found in this edition of the Kinot are, first and foremost, a collection of commentaries by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik that help us all to better appreciate both the halachic as well as the historic importance of this fast. The Rav, in his unique manner, demonstrates to us that the tears shed by previous generations need not be a source of pity nor shame for us today, rather, they should serve as a sign of pride in our historic determination to maintain our religious legacy through memory and mitzvoth. The Rav both intellectualizes this sad fast as well as gives us the emotional strength to help us fortify ourselves and the salvation we seek in the days soon to come.

This commentary is further buttressed through the translations of the Kinot by my former rebbe, Rabbi Hersh Weinreb, and of the liturgy by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
Taken together with the use of the Koren typestyle this Kinot is a truly unique work that surely helps the learner better appreciate this day’s observance. Both the Orthodox Union and Koren Publishers are to be commended for the high quality and standard that they have set and performed in the name of both limmud Torah and hiddur mitzvah. However, there is more to be said.

As has been the case with the other previous Kinot editions by Artscroll, the Holocaust is given a prominent liturgical role within the context of the Tisha B’Av observance in this new Koren edition.

Four very special Kinot with a Holocaust theme are included for the spiritual edification of all. Each plays its own unique role in demonstrating the contemporary nature of the persecutions that have faced our people since time immemorial.
One is the kinah, “In Memory of Our Six Million Martyrs who Perished during 1939–1945” by Rabbi Abraham Rosenfeld, who  was the translator of the British Kinot in 1965, the first major English translation of the Kinot in history.
Another is an elegy appropriately titled, “Eli , Eli” by Yehudah Bialer. The Chassidic tradition is represented with a special composition from Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, the previous Bobover Rebbe, who  survived the ravages of the Holocaust. The German Jewish tradition is represented with Rabbi Shimon Schwab’s heartfelt and deservingly popular, “Elegy on the Churban.”

Each of these kinot  are  presented in their original Hebrew and translated into English.

Speaking of Rabbi Schwab, hopefully soon we will be taking a closer look at Rabbi Schwab’s recently translated commentary on the book of Isaiah. This work, translated by Rav Schwab’s son Moshe, will  be the subject of a review that will be timed to the readings of the haftorot between Tisha B’Av to Rosh Hashanah since all those haftorot are from the book of Isaiah. Rav Schwab’s unique manner of commentary and his practical method of d’rash will surely help enhance your spiritual journey in the days and weeks ahead leading to the Days of Awe. I look forward to giving you my take on this masterpiece.