Ken (Chanoch) Bloom's Blog

8th August 2011

L'mi Ebcheh

Translation of the Kinah למי אבכה (found on page 220 of the Or VaDerech siddur for fast days). The Hebrew text and recordings are available at http://www.piyut.org.il/textual/515.html

To whom I cry and raise my hands and in my crying express bitterness and my innards are stirred up.

The mikdash, aron, and cherubim that the ravens and kipod bird nest there.

And the duchan that was prepared eternally for the Levites to sing to God with joy.

They were from heaven - The leaves [of parchment in] the urim and tumim The kohanim on watch [in the mikdash].

And on the death of the wise ones, [who are] the house of God Magicians and sorcerers came [in their place].

Alas! The light of halacha dimmed. And the Talmud sits solitary. Who remains to study it?

And the secrets of Torah - who will bring them to light? And what great men of the generation will be distressed over this?

Disgraced ones fell, children and babies. There's nobody to raise them up, nobody to have pity and mercy on them.

On this I wail, every day and every night, in mourning over the enormous pain of all this.

With bitterness, I wail, and as a fellow sufferer, I call to the kipod bird with tears. Please have mercy on the dust of Zion.

I cease the sound of my joyous singing, and I lament "Alas! She sits in solitude."

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