As we read the seven haftorahs of comfort that lead
up to the Yomim Noraim, these insights into the true
meaning of true comfort should prove very valuable.
Part I
*
How can we console someone who has suffered a great loss? We
speak of it, but how is such a thing possible? The pain is
strong, the feeling of loss is great. How is it possible that
the sufferer is comforted -- and in the midst of his
suffering?
When we speak of comforting the bereaved, we do not mean
distraction. The concept of comfort refers to something that
happens in the presence of the pain, and with full awareness
of the loss. But this seems to be impossible!
We find an interesting reference to comfort, every year.
Starting from the end of Tammuz, we annually recall the
deterioration and destruction of the Beis Hamikdash and the
society within which it functioned, in the awful Churban.
This begins a period which culminates in the holiday season
that begins with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur which complete
the tikkun of the Churban.
Chazal ordered matters so that the passage from the Churban
to the Tikkun, the seven weeks from after the final
destruction on Tisha B'Av until the restoration on Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur is, as Chazal wrote in maseches
Sofrim, through the seven haftorahs of
nechomoh, consolation. It is through nechomoh
that we pass from Churban to the days of Tikkun. It is
nechomoh that provides the essential bridge or
link.
Those days of Churban were days in which we lost everything.
They begin with our loss of the Luchos, the two tablets upon
which were inscribed the Ten Commandments. On 17 Tammuz, the
Luchos were broken and that day inaugurates the period of
Bein Hametzorim, the days of Churban. Kol rodfehoh
hisiguhoh, bein hametzorim (Eichoh 1:3). Whoever pursued
us, caught up to us in this period. Throughout history, it
has been a time of tragedy. It is a period of recurring
loss.
Whatever decrees we suffer from later sins, they are
nonetheless in the wake of earlier sins. The Cheit HoEgel,
which had a climax on 17 Tammuz when Moshe Rabbenu descended
from Mount Sinai, is included in all later decrees. Uveyom
pokdi ufokadeti aleihem chatosom (Shemos 32:34). All the
expressions of Hashem's willingness to destroy us, are linked
to the Cheit HoEgel. This is a time of Churban, which we
experience annually.
But the Borei Olom also made an annual period for
tikkun, a time in which the very root of the sin is
corrected. This is the period which begins on Rosh Chodesh
Elul and ends with Yom Kippur. The gemora at the end
of Taanis (26b) in explaining a posuk in
Shir Hashirim (3:11) says: "beyom chasunoso" --
this refers to matan Torah. Rashi explains that this
is Yom Kippur, on which the Second Luchos were given.
Yom Kippur is, then, the reestablishment of the link between
Am Yisroel and Hashem that was first established at
Sinai and then severed on 17 Tammuz. Everything that was
dismantled during the Churban was restored by and on that
day.
Chazal said that the passage from Churban to Tikkun is
through the nechomoh of the prophets. Beginning
immediately after Tisha B'Av, we read seven haftorahs
of nechomoh that end with Rosh Hashonoh. Reading
these haftorahs is an absolute obligation. According
to some opinions it even overrides the special haftorah
of Rosh Chodesh on any week that they conflict. (The
other opinion argues that it does not supersede the
haftorah of Rosh Chodesh only because the latter
haftorah (HaShomayim Kis'i -- Yeshayohu 66:1)
also includes passages of nechomoh and thereby
satisfies the requirement on its own.)
It is thus through the consolation of the prophets that the
Borei Olom returns and restores us to Him. We learn
from this that these consolations of the prophets are
unexpectedly powerful and are capable of transforming and
transporting us from desolation to a state from which we are
capable of returning to our original state, that which we
enjoyed before the Churban.
We Wish to Understand Nechomoh
We wish to understand: What is the core of the
nechomoh of the prophets, and how does this transport
us from Churban to the new wedding day on Yom Kippur? In
Churban, we were cast away; we were divorced, as it were.
Nechomoh brings us back to the wedding day.
There is also an internal order and a progression within the
nechomoh. It is not static.
The Borei Olom first sends the prophets to console us.
The prophets find the people of Israel unwilling to accept
the consolation and they go back to Hashem with that message.
In response, Hashem says that He, Himself, will console
them.
That is how Chazal interpret the sequence of the seven
haftorahs (brought by Avudrahm in the name of
the medrash and others ). First comes the task given
to the prophets in the consolation of Voeschanon: Nachamu,
nachamu ami -- Hashem says to them: Go, comfort My
people. Klal Yisroel responds (parshas Eikev),
Vatomer Zion azovani Hashem -- Zion said Hashem has
left me. The prophets return to Hashem, as it were, and tell
Him (parshas Re'eih), Aniyo so'aroh lo nuchomoh -- She
is destitute and is not consoled from our efforts. Hashem
then responds (parshas Shofetim), Onochi, Onochi Hu
menachemchem -- I, I will console you. The final three
haftorahs are the consolation that, kevayochol,
the Borei Olom consoles us with.
What becomes clear here from the strength of the obligation
to read these haftorahs -- and it is an additional,
very important obligation in this period -- is that we
must understand and accept the consolation. We must
internalize the nechomoh of the prophets and join
ourselves to it. It is not optional; it does not depend on
how the mood strikes us. We are obligated to be consoled.
But we do not even understand the idea of tanchumim.
It is very strange to us. How is it possible to console
someone? We can see that a person can be distracted, but how
can he be consoled? What can possibly console someone who is
overwhelmed by a great sorrow? What can even create the
possibility for consolation?
Nonetheless, this is an obligation of Chazal. It is certainly
not enough to just read the haftorahs in public. We
must assimilate to the consolation within ourselves. There is
a process to which we must join ourselves in order to pass
from the Churban to the eventual Tikkun. In order to do this,
as a first step we must learn what it is.
End of Part I
