Tremont Street ShulWiki
Temple Beth Shalom

Tisha B'Av Kinot

The recitation of Kinot on the morning of Tishah B'av is an important part of our mourning for the destruction of the Temple and other disasters that have befallen the Jewish people. Our current plan for Tishah B'av morning (Tuesday July 20) at TBS is to hold parallel trad & egal services for shacharit and Torah reading at 7:00 AM, and then join together for the recitation of kinot
Tisha B'av Schedule

As many of the Kinot are very difficult to understand, we would like to invite everyone who wishes to each pick one Kinah that they will study and prepare in advance, and then explain to the congregation prior to its recitation. Preparing a Kinah is an excellent opportunity to advance your own knowledge, to participate in the three weeks of mourning leading up to Tish'ah B'av, and to help make Tishah B'av more meaningful to other members of the congregation. If you would like to introduce a Kinah, please pick one and e-mail me (Joseph Weinstein) at weinstein@bbn.com with your choice.

There are many kinot, and it is not practical to recite them all. As best I've been able to determine, TBS does not have a fixed list of kinot that it recites; its practice is to take "some from the beginning" (e.g., the kinot of Ha-Kalir on the destruction of the temple), "some from the middle" (e.g., the kinot on later events), and "some from the end" (e.g., the "Zionist" kinot that look forward to the return). So I've put together a tentative list of suggested kinot, based upon that model, the practices of other congregations, a desire to ensure that the most important disasters are commemorated, and giving preference to those kinot that are traditionally sung in unison. This list is not in any way set in concrete; if someone wishes to introduce a kinah that is not on this list, we will be happy to add it; likewise, we may drop some kinot that no one wants to introduce, in the interests of time. The basic goal is to spend all of Tish'ah B'av morning (until midday) in mourning.

Kinot that have already been taken are marked by an asterisk (*). Please do not edit this list directly; to sign up, please e-mail me (weinstein@bbn.com).

                          Art     London       RA  Hebrew   Skull  Author                   Subject
                       Scroll (Rosenfeld)            Pub.     Cap
  Shavat Shuvu            152          91    none      13      15  Ha-Kalir
  Eicha Atzta             158          93    none      14      16  Ha-Kalir
  Eicha Yashva            174          99    none      17      19  Ha-Kalir
  Vaykonen Yirmiyahu      182         102    none       ?       ?  Ha-Kalir                Death of King Josiah
  Zechor Asher            226         111    none      28      28  Ha-Kalir                Titus' incursion into the Temple
  Im Tochalna             232         120    none      29      28  Ha-Kalir                Horrors of the destruction
  Licha Hashem            240         123    none      31      30  Ha-Kalir                Exposition of Dan. 9:7
  Arzei Halivanon         248         125      95      33      31  Yehiel b. Meir          Ten Martyrs
  Viet Navee              260         129    none      35      34  Elazar? Yehiel?         Son & daughter of R. Yishmael       
  Mi Yitein               270         132     113      38      36  Kalonymos b. Yehudah    First Crusade
  Az Ba-halokh Yirmiyahu  278         135     123       ?       ?  Ha-Kalir                God's reaction to the destruction
  Az Bimlot Sefeq (Sung)  282         136     129       ?       ?  Ha-Kalir                Israel as mourning woman
  Eich T'Nachamunee       286         137    none      42      40  Ha-Kalir                Futility of consolation
  Eish Tukad              304         144    none      45      43  unknown                 Exodus vs. Exile
  Etzbiotai               310         146    none      46      44  R. Baruch
  Eivel A'Oreir           316         148    none       ?       ?  Menahem b. Machir       First Crusade
  Kinot for the Holocaust (various)                                                        Holocaust
                          384, 386    173
  Zion Haloh              328         152     135      50      48  Yehudah Ha-Levi         Longing for Zion
  Sha'alee Serufa         360         161    none      52      55  Maharam of Rothenberg   Paris Talmud Burning
  Zion B'mishpat          374         165    none      61      58  Yosef b. Hayyim Ha-Kohen 
  Elokim balunu           none        168    none    none    none                          York Massacre
  Elee Zion (sung)        390         176     143      63      61

In order to prepare a Kinah, you will probably as a starter want to use the English translation and notes in Rosenfeld's edition of the Kinot (published in London) or in the Art Scroll? edition of the Kinot. For those Kinot which are included in the Rabbinical Assembly (RA) edition, you will probably find its translation and comments helpful as well. We can get a copy to you. Beware: these editions very carefuly and in a beautiful, polished form reproduce most of the now-traditional copiest's errors in the kinot, which only makes them harder to understand. For the correct text, I recommend the text and notes in Goldschmidt's text-critical edition from MSS; unfortunately, it is available in Hebrew only. It is absolutely essential for "Arzei Halivanon", the text of which is hopelessly corrupt in the standard printed editions. You will probably also want to check the Jewish Encyclopedia and/or Encyclopedia Judaica for historical background on the authors. For some kinot, there is extensive additional bibliography. Feel free to e-mail me (weinstein@bbn.com) if you would like some suggestions.

Introductions should be no more than 5-7 minutes long.

Some suggested ideas on how to approach a Kinah (or any Piyut):

Plain sense approach: what is the Kinah talking about? (Believe it or not, many of the kinot are very, very difficult to understand even on the most basic level).

Emotive approach: What type of feeling does the Kinah try to evoke from us? How does it attempt to evoke that feeling? What imagery contributes to eliciting that feeling? What other tools are used by the payettan (poet) to evoke that feeling?

Literary approach: approach the Kinah the same way you might, for example, approach a Shakespearean sonnet. What is its structure? Meter? Rhyme? Alliteration? Allusions? Similes? Metaphors? How do these contribute to the meaning and effect of the poem?

Historical approach: approach the Kinah as a maximilist historian might approach a primary or secondary historical source. What event(s) does it describe? What does it tell us about those events? What does it assume its audience already knows about those events? Why are those events commemorated on Tish'a B'av?

Deconstructionist approach: approach the Kinah as a deconstructionist historian might approach a primary or secondary historical source. What does it tell us about what its authors knew or thought they knew about the events that it purports to describe? What does it tell us about the attitudes and beliefs of its authors? How do the attitudes and beliefs reflected in the Kinah reflect the world-view of its audience at the time of its composition?

Text critical approach: What is the correct text for the Kinah? (Believe it or not, the printed editions or often very corrupt: and this is true even of the London edition, which very carefully reproduces the traditional mistakes). Why is the correct reading important for understanding the meaning? What are the manuscript and printed sources for the text? Did different communities use different versions of the text, and if so, why? What can one infer about transmission routes from the various versions of the text? (Note: the "text critical" approach is particularly important for Arzei Halivanon, which is so badly munged in the standard printed editions that three of the ten martyrs are missing. We have photocopies available of Goldschmidt's re-edition of this piyyut from manuscripts, with the correct text).

Midrashic approach: (Particularly appropriate for the Kinot based upon Eicha and Jeremiah) How does the Kinah interpret the Biblical report of the destruction of the First Temple? What peculiarities of the Biblical text suggest that interpretation? What social, religious, legal, or other objective is promoted by that interpretation? How was the Biblical account describing the destruction of the First Temple made to apply to the Second instead? What is the relationship between the interpretation(s) presented in the Kinah, to those found in the Midrashic collections? If there are differences, is there a reason for them?

Zionist approach (particularly appropriate for the Kinot of Jehudah Halevi): How does the Kinah relate to Eretz Yisrael? Does it propose any remedies for the destruction? What action(s), if any, did the Payetan himself take to put those remedies into effect? Are those remedies still available today? If so, how can we put them into effect?

Your own approach: up to you!