The following was taken from past Tisha B’Av events with Rabbi Brovender and adapted by Rabbi Johnny Solomon.
אַרְזֵי הַלְּבָנוֹן אַדִּירֵי הַתּוֹרָה – The Cedars of Lebanon, Masters of the Torah
This Kinnah was written by Rabbi Meir ben Yechiel who was one of the Ba’alei HaTosafot and who is talking about the Assarah Harugei Malchut. He is talking about Talmidei Chachamim, Cedars of Lebanon.
Cedar was the wood that was used to build the Beit HaMikdash. Shlomo HaMelech went to Hiram in Lebanon for the wood that Lebanon is famous for, the cedars of Lebanon.
And so here Rabbi Meir ben Yechiel says “There is a Beit HaMikdash! There is a Temple! There are Arzei HaLevanon!” And where is this Beit HaMikdash? It is found among the Adirei HaTorah – the masters of the Torah.
The Aleph Bet and history
In this Kinnah, every line is alphabetical. In doing so Rabbi Meir ben Yechiel is saying that it is not only in Eichah that you have an alphabetical locked-in process. Instead, it continued in history. We had to pay the price, and it was a terrible price. But there were also Arzei HaLevanon.
Every nation in the world from ancient times has managed to disappear. And the reason why they disappeared and why they assimilated was because they had no reason not to disappear and not to assimilate. In contrast, we had the Torah, and those who learn Torah are doing something important for the nation.
גִּבּוֹרֵי כֺחַ עֲמָלֶיהָ בְּטָהֳרָה – Powerful warriors, toiling in purity
What does it mean to toil in purity? The word Amal (toil) was coopted for Torah learning, and in the Beit HaMikdash, the difference between purity and impurity made a big difference.
So the author gave a new definition to Torah and to learning Torah which was the concept of Amal (toiling). The Roman’s thought that if you destroy the leading lights then you destroy the enterprise of Talmud Torah. But this was a mistake because Talmud Torah implies the students and children of Talmud Torah.
And so they did this monstrous act of destroying the Arzei Halevanon Adirei HaTorah, but they were not able to destroy the desire that Am Yisrael had to reconnect to the Torah. And through the Torah to Arzei Halevanon, and through the Arzei Halevanon to Tzion, and through Tzion to the Beit HaMIkdash and to Eretz Yisrael.
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