Perashat Vaethanan 5778

Perashat Vaethanan 5778

The Shabbat after Tish'a BeAb is called Shabbat Nahamu, the Shabbat of Consolation, named after the opening words of this week's Haftarah, "Nahamu, nahamu ami", "Console, console My people". This reading is the first in a series read in the seven weeks between Tish'a BeAb and Rosh HaShanah, known as The Seven of Consolation. After commemorating the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, the biggest catastrophe to happen to the Jewish people, whose consequences still reverberate today, it is understandable that our mourning nation would endeavor to find comfort by reading these passages.

However, this week's Haftarah is not our first quest for solace. On Tish'a BeAb, after the halakhic midday, when some of the restrictions of mourning are lifted, we add the Nahem prayer to minha, in which we ask for comfort and support.

There is something very perplexing about including nehama in the Tish'a BeAb minha prayers. The Talmud in tractate Ta'anit says that the flames were still raging in the Holy Temple through the tenth of Ab, the day after we commemorate the destruction. How then can the nation be consoled over the destruction of the Temple on the same day in which we mark its calamity? 

The answer lies in the true meaning of nehama. Although nehama is commonly understood to mean consolation, it literally means reconsideration. When speaking of great tragedy or destruction and loss, nehama does not mean forgetting what happened and moving on to a new reality. Nehama is the conscious and emotional ability to re-examine what happened with a different perspective. 

How can we ever derive hope from the horrific destruction of the Holy Temple?

Hakhamim taught us in Midrash Eikha that, "Hashem poured out His wrath on the wood and stones" that made up the structure of Beit HaMikdash, His own home, rather than on the transgressors, so that the Jewish people would survive. Nehama means recognizing the budding sprouts of redemption emerging amidst the dust and ashes of destruction. Being conscious of this beginning on Tish'a BeAb, and in the subsequent weeks following it, is what nehama is all about. 

Awareness and change of perspective bring consolation and enable us to turn the feelings of despair following trauma to hope and even start the process of renewal. We are asked to see the Hand of G-d beneath the chaos and are encouraged to see beyond the pain. The test lies in our ability to collect the broken pieces, get back on our feet and rehabilitate ourselves. To be able to reconsider the situation and rehabilitate is one of the strategic components for the survival of a nation. Many nations throughout history were lost because of a catastrophe from which they were never able to recover. Despite our troubled history, the Jewish people withstood the test successfully.

Therefore, it is vital for us, specifically after the mourning period of the three weeks, to not become submerged in sorrow but rather to view tragedies as a vehicle for growth. It is this nehama process that will set in motion the complete redemption of the Jewish people beginning with the rebuilding of Beit HaMikdash, may it be speedily in our days.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Mimoun Miller