Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
August 3rd 2012 -Volume 2, Issue 37 –15th of Av
5772
Parshat Va’eschanan/Nachamu
Double Comfort
Was it
only just a week ago that we were sitting on the floor and crying over the
destruction of our heart and soul, the Bais HaMikdash-our temple, not yet rebuilt?
After a full week of summer vacation- touring, kayaking, hiking throughout our
beautiful country, it seems like moons ago. For those that were fortunate
enough to be part of the hundreds of thousands that participating in the grand
Siyum Ha’Shas the completion of the 7 ½ year cycle of the daily study of a
folio of Talmud I’m sure Tisha’a B’av feels long gone. (for those of you who
weren’t lucky enough to participate in one yet make sure to come this Thursday evening
to Heichal Shlomo for the Young Israel English Siyum in Jerusalem, see below
for details,- a brief shameless plug by our sponsors and now back to your
regular E-Mail programming J). Have we moved on already? Have we forgotten about the
reality that we were hoping for that still hasn’t come?
This
Shabbos is known as Shabbat Nachamu, the first of the 7 weeks of comfort in
which we read a selection of the prophets each Shabbos for the Haftorah that
offer words of consolation to the Jewish people over our loss. It’s our Shiva-
so to speak; the time when Hashem, who understands our souls and the tragedy we
endured on Tisha B’Av much deeper than we do, tells us that we need to be
comforted. How sad is it when someone comes to pay a grieving mourner a Shiva
call and he finds out that the mourner is out on the beach. Yet, to be fair to
us summer vacation frolickers (and of course not to take business away from
those faithful tour guides- www.ourholylandtours.com
check it out J- shameless plug number 2-
it’s Olympic season when commercials are at a premium give me a breakJ J) and for those of you that
might be feeling guilty, we are not meant to be mourning now either. The
mourning is over. It ended the day after the fast. So on one hand there is
Shiva on the other hand we are not mourning. What is the season all about? Are
we meant to move on, or are we meant to still be reflecting and receiving consolation?
The
answer I believe can be found in the strange repetition of the opening words of
this week’s Haftora- Nachamu Nachamu Ami- Console, console my people- Says
Hashem. The Maharsha, the classic 17th century Talmudic commentary,
notes that in many places when our sages comfort they repeat the phrase twice-“Kol
Hanechamot B’Lashon Kaful-all consolations are expressed in a language
repitively” The classic case he refers to is the famous story of Rabbi
Akiva and the sages who when upon seeing foxes run through the temple ruins had
different reactions. The sages burst out wailing and Rabbi Akiva began to
laugh. Perplexed they turned to him and he explained that just as they were
mourning as they see the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah ”foxes in the
ruins” in that destruction, he sees in
that a sign that the prophecy of its eventual rebuilding and the return to the
temple will be assured as well. The
rabbis then respond “You have comforted us Akiva, You have comforted us,
Akiva”.
Rabbi
Akiva laughed. He saw the ruins, the burnt remains of the Temple that he used
to pray at and where the offerings and the Divine presence were centered around
for so long. He saw the destruction and the later failed return of Bar Kochva,
and he laughed. For Rabbi Akiva understood what consolation and mourning were
all about. Rabbi Akiva understood that in the ruins of the temple lie the beginning
of the rebuilding. Our mourning is our consolation. Our connection of Tish’a B’Av
gives us the strength and direction to move forward.
When
one sits Shiva, it because he is beset with a sudden tragedy; the loss of a
close relative. The process of shiva and the mourning for thirty days and the
whole year that follows is one that helps a person adjust to the new reality of
life without that individual. He needs time to absorb the loss and heal. When
it comes to the Temple, the opposite takes place. We build up our mourning from
the three weeks before. We work towards that day when we fully appreciate the
gravity of our lives without the Temple…without the nearness of Hashem. Once that
is over though, like Rabbi Akiva we can be doubly consoled. We must focus on
the laugh, on the knowledge of redemption still to come. We are consoled
doubly. Once by the fact that we know that our souls were still alive enough to
feel that pain-our mourning was successful, and secondly that we know that if we
were capable of still crying…still feeling that pain…still experiencing the
longing to come home…than Hashem must feel that too. And He will come back and
we will be united once again.
The
consolation Isaiah tells us is Nachamu Nachamu Ami- Be comforted be
comforted- my nation. You are still my nation. I haven’t left you. Be
comforted for our loss. Be consoled in the knowledge that I have never left
you. There maybe foxes jumping and dancing and building foreign places of
worship on our once Holy Home that we shared together. But know that we will be
together once again.
The
next seven weeks until Rosh Hashana when we start fresh again are that time of
comfort... When we appreciate and are strengthened and fortified by our shared
destiny together that we know is soon on its way. The singing and dancing of
the Jewish peoples renewed dedication this week to once again begin the study
of the Talmud is the greatest testament to our power of laughter and the
consolation Hashem has given us until that day. The tours we take together as a
family and as a people, the serenity we try to achieve in the seven weeks
before the High Holidays are part of the holiest work a Jew can do. We don’t
move on and forget the past. Rather we take our work and our struggles and our
pain and recognize that they themselves are the secret of our endurance. The
key to our redemption…. So if you’re looking for a good tour guide this summer ….
Have a
fantastically amazing Shabbos!!
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-
Metula- It’s summer time and as all good jews know you go to the north- no, I don’t mean the catskills (I know that there are jews outside fo new York that go other places- but New Yorkers don’t know that J)
Anyways in Israel the furthest North you can go is to the tip of Israel-or what is reffered to as the nail of the finger of the Galile the quaint little village of Metula. The city of Metula one of Israel’s early settlements was purchased from Lebanese Druze arabs from Baron Rothchilds foundation in 1893. A few years later 59 families moved there to work in the barons fields. After WWI Metula which is actually surrounded by the north, East and west by Lebanon was placed under French rule unlike most of Israel/Palestine which was under the British mandate. In fact from 1920-1924 the jews of Metula voted in the Lebanese parliament elections. Prior and during the independence war metula served as a transit base for the smuggling in of many “illegal” Jewish refugees under the pretense of “fake” weddings many were snuck to the center of the country after the celebrations.
The city was hit very hard during the Lebanese wars and even evacuated however today Metula is a great tourist site with its Canada Center Ice Skating Rink that hosts Israels hockey league (the Rangers, Islanders and Red Wings have nothing to worry about) as well as beautiful views and pleasant walks through the old Yishuv area.
RABBI SCHWARTZES VERY COOL LINK OF THE WEEK
Siyum HaShas at METLIFE STADIUM 95 THOUSAND JEWS CELEBRATE
THE WHOLE PROGRAM- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzZtjj0ICe0
(if you don’t have time to watch the who thing click on 11:00 minutes to see dancing.
32 minutes for cantorial piece memorial
41 minutes for shema together-)
AND OF COURSE IN HONOR OF SHABBAT NACHAMU
RABBI SHLOMO CARLBACH
NACHAMU AMI- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWWuYadWME0
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