Episode details
Podcast: Three Weeks of Poetry: A Closer Look at the Kinnot
Episode date: Jul 6, 2026
Speakers: Rabbi Jay Kelman
Category: Tefillah (Prayer)
Episode description
You've heard the story of exile: enemies at the gates, the Temple in flames. But Kinah 9 tells a different story. God mourning not because of the Romans, but because of what happened within. Corrupt judges, false prophets, a nation divided against itself. The Kinah forces you to sit with a brutal reality, sometimes the destruction we face is the one we inflict on ourselves. But then it shifts: an imperfect, flawed people stand up and say their fundamental decency still matters. It's a Kinah about the cost of ignoring truth, the power of unity, and the stubborn resilience of people who refuse to disappear.