Kina for 2020
Note: I'm not proposing a new kina
For the past several years I went to a shul or other program that included little presentations on kinos. But this year I stayed home and so checked out the commentary in the Artscroll version. One kina in particular resonated for me, and I bet you wouldn't guess which one it is.
Politics and book burning
The Maharm of Rothenberg, R' Meir ben Baruch (1220-1293), composed Kina 41in memory of the 42 cartloads of manuscripts on the Talmud and associated commentaries that was burned in Paris in 1242. that is what gave rise to some observing the Friday before Parshas Chukas as a fast day. You can read about how that came to pass here: https://www.aish.com/jw/s/When-King-Louis-IX-Burned-the-Talmud.html
Just over a moth before that, the works of the Rambam were rendered into ashes, as those opposed to the views turned them over the books to Dominican months who agreed they were heretical and burned them. (This was the second time that the Rambam's work was desecrated in France, as they had previously been publicly burnt by monks in 1234).
The two burning events drove home the point to Rav Hillel of Verona, who wrote: ‘G-d looked down from heaven and avenged the honor of our holy master Rambam and his works. He poured His wrath upon the Jewish community of France. ’
He elaborated:
You must bear in mind that R' Moshe ben Maimon was almost second in his generation to Moshe Rabbeninu, and the righteousness of the entire generation depended upon him.... If you ask, who can be sure that the Talmud was burned because of the burning of the Rambam’s works? I will answer you… Not even forty days passed between the burning of the works of our master, and the burning of the Talmud. On the very spot where the Rambam’s works were destroyed, the Talmud was later burnt! The ashes of the Talmud mingled with the ashes of the Rambam’s volumes, for those ashes still remained in that very place. This served as a clear lesson for one and all, Jew and gentile alike..
You must bear in mind that R' Moshe ben Maimon was almost second in his generation to Moshe Rabbeninu, and the righteousness of the entire generation depended upon him.... If you ask, who can be sure that the Talmud was burned because of the burning of the Rambam’s works? I will answer you… Not even forty days passed between the burning of the works of our master, and the burning of the Talmud. On the very spot where the Rambam’s works were destroyed, the Talmud was later burnt! The ashes of the Talmud mingled with the ashes of the Rambam’s volumes, for those ashes still remained in that very place. This served as a clear lesson for one and all, Jew and gentile alike..
The tragic event of so many precious hand-written Torah manuscript destroyed that way didn't come out of nowhere but out of the wrong-minded attempt of Jews who claimed their machloches was leshem shamayim instigating an insult to one of the greatest Torah giants in history. The Rambam wasn't frum enough for them, and they thought they'd show him up by getting the church to do their dirty work! Thus they acted as malshinim and destroyers of Torah, and that boomeranged against them when the same church decided that the Talmud was just as much heresy as the Rambam was.
Hamevin yavin.
Do anything to save a life except this
But there's more to the lesson the kina holds for our time than that particular lesson, powerful as it is. That is the story of the author himself and how he demonstrated true leadership with vision that extended beyond the obvious and urgent to the unintended consequences of adopting a policy that appears to be unassailable.
In 1285 he attempted to escape Europe and headed for Israel, then under Turkish rule. This was illegal, and when he was recognized in Italy by an apostate, he was turned in to a baron who sold him to the Emperor of Austria. The Emperor demanded a huge ransom for the rabbi's freedom. While his followers were determined to raise that amount to achieve pidyon shvuyim, the Maharm refused to allow it. He pointed out that giving the ransom would incentivize future kidnappings any time the Emperor wanted money. So he remained in jail not only until his death but 14 years beyond years past, as the Emperor would not even release the remains for burial until a ransom was paid, and the Maharam had forbidden it.
This is true leadership: issuing directions not just for the here-and-now but that take into account n the effects down the road. This has been so sorely missing this year in which everyone acted as if one cannot question any action done in the name of saving lives without regard for the consequences of that action. The Maharam, in contrast, was literally willing to put his own life on the line to make the point that not all good intentions result in the greater good.
An interesting postscript to the story is the twin graves that still stand in the cemetery in Worms.
A wealthy Jew, Alexander Wimpfen paid the ransom, and the Maharam was finally laid to rest with a stipulation that Wimfen would be buried beside him. So it was.
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