The Weight of Suffering
Kinnos 2025 @ Avodas Halev
Transcript
So we're gonna move to Kinah Yud Gimel 13, which is a pretty powerful Kinnah, where we.
Speaker A:We actually speak up to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and we ask of him in a pretty bold way, Ei Ko, where is that which you promised us, that you told us something of a.
Speaker A:Of an eternal promise?
Speaker A:And now the state we're in does not align with what you promised us.
Speaker A:And then we go on again.
Speaker A:Eiko, where is the promise that you made at Akita's Yitzchak?
Speaker A:Eiko, where is the promise that you made to Yaakov Avinu?
Speaker A:Eiko, where's the promise that you made to Moshe?
Speaker A:And it goes on.
Speaker A:And we keep making this claim, really, in a sense, against the Kadish Baruch Hu, a claim against him.
Speaker A:You made certain promises.
Speaker A:And the state we're in is, where are they?
Speaker A:When are they going to be fulfilled?
Speaker A:And I think this speaks to an important part of Tisha B'Av, which on the one hand, we have Sido Qadin, as was mentioned.
Speaker A:We have a sense of understanding that Kadosh Baruch Hu is beyond our understanding, obviously.
Speaker A:And what he did, what he does is.
Speaker A:It goes without saying, or it needs to be said, or doesn't need to be said or whatever it is, but it's clearly what's right.
Speaker A:And part of the reason for the tragedy is for reasons beyond what we can know.
Speaker A:Part of the reason for the tragedy is because we have sinned and we need to do teshuvah.
Speaker A:Those are both major themes and elements of the day, as comes up in different kinos.
Speaker A:But what comes up in this kina is a different.
Speaker A:Is a third theme, which is actually, in a sense, taking hashem to task, making demands of Baruch Hu, what's called in the Sephardim a chutzpah to kedusha, a holy chutzpah that we have to have.
Speaker A:There's an amazing Das Zekenim that says on the Shulchan Arach in the Simon about shemonesre.
Speaker A:When I think it's the Rama says that we take three steps forward before we start sheminessre, as we all know.
Speaker A:So the Dasa kingdom says, what's the three steps we're taking?
Speaker A:It's parallel to three times in the Torah that we find vayigash.
Speaker A:Vayigash, Chazal says, is not just walking forward.
Speaker A:Like, that's like, you know, to approach would be vayigash means to with a strength, with a power to stand up in front of hashem that we find that Avra Vinu by Sedom.
Speaker A:Avraham speaks up and it's Vayigash, Avraham Tashem.
Speaker A:And he says in brazen terms, Hashofet Kol Haaretz, La Yasa, Mishvar.
Speaker A:He takes Hashem to task Yehuda, Vayiga, Ashe, Lev Yehuda to Yosef.
Speaker A:But Chazal learned that it was also was a Tefillah and then also Eliyo Behara, Carmel.
Speaker A:It's Vayigash that he speaks up to Hashem in a demanding kind of a way.
Speaker A:There's an amazing story about the Klausenberger Rebbe that maybe you've heard.
Speaker A:I've heard a number of different people.
Speaker A:I saw this years ago in this book, but I've heard a number of people quote it since.
Speaker A:So maybe you've heard it.
Speaker A:But it's worth reading.
Speaker A:Rabbi Ruskin was a young child and he writes about his own experience visiting the Klosenberger Rebbe.
Speaker A:He writes like this.
Speaker A:I want to read it to you.
Speaker A:He says it was the Shabbos of Parshas Ki Savo.
Speaker A: ward the end of the summer of: Speaker A:I wanted to pray with the Hasidim that Shabbos morning.
Speaker A:He goes on to explain, and then he writes like this.
Speaker A:When I arrived at the base Medrash, I was amazed by the sea of black and white swaying figures that greeted my eyes.
Speaker A:All newly immigrant Holocaust survivors.
Speaker A:It was said about the Rebbe that although his wife and 13 children had been murdered, he had not sat shiva for any of them.
Speaker A:He preached that those still alive must be saved with exit visas before one could be allowed the luxury of mourning for the dead.
Speaker A:The Rebbe himself was among the last to leave Europe, insisting that the captain does not leave the sinking ship before its passengers.
Speaker A:I took a seat directly behind the Rebbe, who stood at the lectern facing the eastern wall and the Holy Ark, with his back to the congregation.
Speaker A:The prayer was the most intense I had ever experienced, with no talking whatsoever and chance individuals even bursting out in tears during varying parts of the service, apparently in response to a sudden association with a painful memory.
Speaker A:Then the Kriya satora, the balcore, began to chant the weekly portion.
Speaker A:When he came to the passage known as the tochocha, which he began to read in accordance with time honored custom, in a whisper, and very quickly, we know we Read the tocha quietly, quickly.
Speaker A:A sound suddenly came from the place of the Rebbe.
Speaker A:He said only one word, Hecher.
Speaker A:Louder.
Speaker A:The Torah reader immediately stopped reading and seemed to hesitate for a few moments.
Speaker A:I could almost hear him pondering.
Speaker A:Did the Rebbe actually say louder?
Speaker A:Would the Rebbe go against the custom of Israel in all congregations to read the curses rapidly and in a barely audible voice?
Speaker A:The reader apparently decided that he had been mistaken in what he thought the Rebbe had said and continued reading in a whisper.
Speaker A:The Rebbe turned around to face the congregation, banged on the lectern, his eyes blazing.
Speaker A:I said, louder.
Speaker A:He shouted out.
Speaker A:Let the Master of the Universe hear.
Speaker A:We have nothing to be afraid of.
Speaker A:We have already received all these curses and more.
Speaker A:Let the Almighty hear, and let him understand that the time has come to send the blessings.
Speaker A:I was trembling, my body bathed in sweat.
Speaker A:Many people around me were silently sobbing.
Speaker A:The Rebbe turned back to his lectern, facing the wall.
Speaker A:The Torah reader continued to chant the curses loudly and distinctively, in a much slower cadence.
Speaker A:At the end of davening after Elenu, the Rebbe once again turned to his congregation, but this time with his eyes conveying deep love.
Speaker A:My beloved sisters and brothers, the blessings will come, he said, but not from America.
Speaker A:God has promised the blessings after the curses, but they will come only from the land of Israel.
Speaker A:Let us pack our bags for the last time.
Speaker A:Our community is setting out for Israel.
Speaker A:And indeed, it wasn't very long after that Shabbos that the Rebbe led his flock to settle in Netanya, where they founded Kiryat Sons.
Speaker A:The Rebbe established a large base, Medrash, and Netanya is still a major enclave for Klausenberg and Hasidim.
Speaker A:But this call of the Rebbe of.
Speaker A:Louder.
Speaker A:We've already seen all the curses.
Speaker A:Now it's time to hold Hashem up to his other end of the bargain.
Speaker A:He's going to give us the curses, but he also has promises to keep.
Speaker A:Well, most of us are not trained or comfortable talking in that kind of a way.
Speaker A:But that's really what the Kinna is saying.
Speaker A:We understand we've sinned.
Speaker A:We have to do Teshuvah.
Speaker A:That's part of what we have to focus on today.
Speaker A:We understand you have your reasons beyond what we can know, and we accept that, and we have a muna.
Speaker A:But we also understand that we've suffered all the curses.
Speaker A:And now you have to hold up your other end of the bargain, which is that the brachos come also.
Speaker A:And so we say to hashem eiko.
Speaker A:Where are they?
Speaker A:Where are the promises?
Speaker A:Fulfill your promises already.
Speaker A:So we read this kinah with a certain sense of chutzpah, the kedusha a scream out to Shemayim to say that it's time.
Speaker A:It's already time.
Speaker A:We've been doing this year after year.
Speaker A:We're waiting now, waiting now for kadosh baruch hu to fulfill the other end of all the promises.
Speaker A:Eko omer korez coraspa of the fetza.
