Between the holiday of Passover and the Holiday of Shavuot (the festival of offerings), we count seven weeks – known in Hebrew as the Omer. At Israel365 we marked those seven weeks with a series on heroes: Biblical and Modern Heroes alike who inspired and continue to inspire us to be our best selves. Self improvement, being an overarching theme in Judaism invites us to ask: what can I do to become the best version of me? We now find ourselves in a second set of “seven”. Known as the seven weeks of comfort, the Jewish people are currently commemorating the time between the Ninth of Av and Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year). The way each of these seven weeks is marked is through reading the Haftara, or the weekly verses in prophets that correspond with the weekly Bible reading (on Shabbat).
But what is the purpose of these seven weeks? What is so comforting about each of the portions that we read, and what lessons can we take with us from these ancient texts into our modern times?
One of Israel’s best habits that has been credited with military prowess in the IDF as well as innovation in technology, is the ability to learn from mistakes. The book Start Up Nation argues that since the IDF meets to discuss every operational error and even rewards those who admit their mistakes, Israeli soldiers learn not to fear failure. This serves them well in the business world where they can see opportunities where others see pitfalls, and is one of the reasons for Israel’s economic miracle. Perhaps Israelis have been able to learn lessons from a military training exercise snafu or a business bankruptcy because of the message inherent in Shabbat Nachamu – or the Sabbath of Comfort (the first of the seven weeks of comfort).
The haftara for this week (Isaiah 40: 1-26) opens the series with the well-known message: “Comfort, comfort my people.”
The prophet’s words are often seen as capturing the transition from devastation to jubilation. Nevertheless, the actual consolation as described in our haftara, seems somewhat less than ideal.
Isaiah is meant to “proclaim to Jerusalem that her period of exile is over,” but not on account of the people’s repentance. Instead, the prophet declares that Jerusalem has been punished sufficiently. “She has received from the hand of God double for all her sins,” which is why Jerusalem will finally be redeemed.
Not only that, but Isaiah’s description of the physical return pales in comparison to other similar examples in the Bible. When God originally led the Israelites from Egypt to Israel it was “on the wings of eagles” (Exouds 19:14).
In our haftarah the verses proclaim:
God will assist the return to Israel by removing obstacles, but isn’t promising the same kind of divine intervention as when we entered the land following the Exodus.
Whereas in the haftara two weeks ago, in Jeremiah, the Israelites were described as God’s bride, here the bulk of the haftara describes how humankind is nothing compared to the Almighty. Isaiah says,
How are we meant to understand the apparent lack of enthusiasm in “Nachamu, Nachamu Ami”? “Comfort, Oh Comfort my people!”
We can answer this question by examining the meaning of the word “nechama,” as we find elsewhere in Bible.
In one of the most egregious examples of rebellion in the Bible, following the sin of the Golden Calf, God threatens to destroy the Israelites. Moses begs God to reconsider:
Rashi explains that Moses wants God to “formulate a different thought to do good to them.” The Bible then records that “God reconsidered (va’yenachem) the punishment He had planned to bring upon His people”
This nechama did not reverse the effects of the sinful behavior. Thousands were punished, Moses destroyed the first set of Tablets and then spent weeks praying for forgiveness before fashioning the second set by himself. In this context, nechama is not equated with forgiveness for indiscretions, nor does it imply a complete restoration of our relationship with God. Instead, nechama represents a shift in trajectory.
When comforting mourners, we offer the traditional blessing, “May the Omnipresent comfort (yinachem) you amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.” We aren’t asking for complete wholeness. We know their loved one cannot return, but we pray the mourner finds the ability to change their perspective from complete despair towards looking to a hopeful future.
In all of these examples, nechama is not the end, it is the beginning of the journey back to God.
After the destruction of the Ninth of Av, it would be unreasonable to expect we could immediately restore the ideal relationship with God, with the same intimacy the Jewish people had when leaving Egypt. After three weeks of mourning we commemorated prior to the Ninth of Av, there still remains a distance between God and the Jewish people. We are not yet partners with Him as we once were, which is reflected in the prophet’s extended description of God’s overwhelming power and greatness, compared to humanity’s frailty and imperfection.
Nevertheless, we are to find comfort, nechama knowing that God is allowing for us to return by raising the valleys and lowering the mountains and removing the obstacles in our path. It will be a journey, but over the course of the coming seven weeks, if we take the necessary steps forward in following the path He cleared for us, we will be able to fully restore our relationship with Hashem.
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