Kinnos 5786: The Journey of Pain to a Destination of Hope

Rabbi Silber's Tisha B'Av Kinnos derasha for 5786 opens with Reb Nachman's image of the letter nun: pain can either collapse a person inward, like the folded letter, or flow through them into growth, like the letter that ends open and straight. Weaving together the poetry of Yehoshua November and Elie Wiesel, the wartime responsa of Rav Efraim Oshry from the Kovno ghetto, and recent tragedies from the Nova massacre to the Bondi Beach terror attack, he shows how the Jewish people's deepest wounds have again and again become the source of their greatest courage and light. He closes with stories of forgiveness and rebuilding — a bereaved father's campaign for shalom, a former hostage's wedding under the chuppah — as living proof that mourning can open onto hope.

• Pain either collapses you inward or, if you let it flow through you instead of running from it, becomes the engine of real growth.
• Owning your pain rather than erasing or numbing it is what turns suffering into strength and character.
• True heroism often looks like ordinary people quietly choosing to act for others in the worst possible moment.
• The deepest darkness is often precisely where the greatest light and courage become visible.