One extra Kinah

In many kehillos and shuls today, an additional קינה is recited at the conclusion of the קינות, lamenting the Holocaust. This minhag is relatively recent, dating back only about forty years. It all began with one man—a Holocaust survivor, ר' פנחס הערצקא ז"ל. A distinguished בעל הבית and תלמיד חכם, he was a Pressburger Yid who lived in Brooklyn. Mr. Herzka was deeply troubled that on Tishah B'Av we mourn not only the חורבן בית המקדש, but also later tragedies such as the Crusades, while the greatest catastrophe to befall כלל ישראל since the Churban—the destruction of European Jewry during the Holocaust—was not commemorated with a dedicated קינה. He resolved to change that. Single-handedly, he launched a campaign urging that a special קינה be added to mourn חורבן אירופה. At first, many ridiculed him. They viewed his effort as a hopeless cause with little chance of success. Many Gedolim were hesitant to support the idea, and some even opposed it. But Mr. Herzka refused to give up. He visited Gedolim and Rabbonim, explaining why the Holocaust deserved a permanent place in the Tishah B'Av liturgy. He corresponded with and sought the support of hundreds of Rabbonim throughout the Torah world. Another major obstacle was the inability to reach a consensus on which קינה should be recited. His solution was both practical and wise. He collected and published approximately ten different Holocaust קינות, composed by various Gedolim and Torah scholars, and suggested that each kehillah choose the one most appropriate for its own congregation. Over time, most communities adopted one of two versions: the קינה composed by the Bobover Rebbe, רבי שלמה הלברשטאם זצ"ל, or the one written by ר' שמעון שוואב זצ"ל. Through remarkable perseverance, Mr. Herzka eventually succeeded in winning broad support. Agudas Yisroel of America publicized the decision of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah encouraging kehillos to recite a special Holocaust קינה, with each community selecting the version it preferred, in memory of the greatest churban to befall Klal Yisroel since the חורבן בית המקדש. All of this came about because of the determination of one individual who ignored the skeptics, persevered despite repeated setbacks, and refused to accept "no" as the final answer. ר' פנחס הערצקא ע"ה יהא זכרו ברוך