Tisha B'Av 5786: Divrei Hisorirus, Eicha, Kinnos

Rabbi Silber opens Tisha B'Av night 5786 with Divrei Hisorirus before Eicha and Kinnos, built around a story a fellow rabbi shared at a shiva visit: a toddler who lost his mother, too young to remember her, will one day be the adult expected to show up for her yahrzeit gathering — not because he remembers her, but because she is still his mother. Rabbi Silber applies that to Tisha B'Av itself: we mourn the Beis Hamikdash and the losses of the Jewish people not because we personally witnessed them, but because they are ours. He urges the kehillah to let down the emotional walls we keep up all year and actually feel the pain for one night, trusting that on the other side of that grief is renewed strength and resolve.

• We mourn the Beis Hamikdash and Jewish tragedies as our own losses, even without personal memory of them, because we belong to the people who lived them.
• Keeping emotional walls up all year is often necessary to function, but Tisha B'Av is the one night to let them down and actually feel the pain.
• A Jew doesn't mourn just to feel pain — the point is to come through it recognizing the resilience and strength of the Jewish people.
• Real mourning means making the story your own, not just reading or learning someone else's story from a distance.