A Post-Holocaust Reading Through the Dialectic of Being and Non-Being
This essay presents a literary and theological analysis of Kinna 31, a medieval Hebrew liturgical poem (recited on Tisha B’Av) that juxtaposes the Exodus from Egypt with the destruction of Jerusalem through an alternating refrain structure. Moving beyond traditional historical interpretation, this study examines how the kinna's sophisticated antiphonal pattern embodies fundamental theological insights about the coexistence of being (yesh) and non-being (ayin) within divine essence (azmut).
The analysis integrates post-Holocaust theological perspectives from scholars including Elie Wiesel, Paul Celan, Eliezer Berkovits, Joseph Soloveitchik, Emil Fackenheim, Richard Rubenstein, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, alongside a radical theological framework that understands creation itself as divine self-wounding. Rather than viewing the alternating pattern as mere historical comparison, this study demonstrates how the poem's structure reflects the internal dialectical tension within divine consciousness—the simultaneous presence of creation and destruction, redemption and catastrophe, within ultimate reality.