Shabbat Nachamu

 (nablopomo day 23)

The Shabbat after Tisha b'Av is called Shabbat of Consolation, or Shabbat Nachamu, because of the passage which is read from the Haftarah, the prophetic portion read each Shabbat right after the Torah portion.

This week's portion is from the prophet Yishayahu (Isaiah) comforting the people after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash:

נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ, עַמִּי--יֹאמַר, אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.	1 Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God.
ב  דַּבְּרוּ עַל-לֵב יְרוּשָׁלִַם, וְקִרְאוּ אֵלֶיהָ--כִּי מָלְאָה צְבָאָהּ, כִּי נִרְצָה עֲו‍ֹנָהּ:  כִּי לָקְחָה מִיַּד יְהוָה, כִּפְלַיִם בְּכָל-חַטֹּאתֶיהָ.  {ס}	2 Bid Jerusalem take heart, and proclaim unto her, that her time of service is accomplished, that her guilt is paid off; that she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins. {S}
ג  קוֹל קוֹרֵא--בַּמִּדְבָּר, פַּנּוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְהוָה; יַשְּׁרוּ, בָּעֲרָבָה, מְסִלָּה, לֵאלֹהֵינוּ.	3 Hark! one calleth: 'Clear ye in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make plain in the desert a highway for our God.
ד  כָּל-גֶּיא, יִנָּשֵׂא, וְכָל-הַר וְגִבְעָה, יִשְׁפָּלוּ; וְהָיָה הֶעָקֹב לְמִישׁוֹר, וְהָרְכָסִים לְבִקְעָה.	4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the rugged shall be made level, and the rough places a plain;
ה  וְנִגְלָה, כְּבוֹד יְהוָה; וְרָאוּ כָל-בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו, כִּי פִּי יְהוָה דִּבֵּר.  {פ}

It is a message of the future end of the long exile of the Jewish People and the rebuilding of our capital city, Jerusalem, as well as the Beit HaMikdash.  This has already begun, in our day--with the miraculous return of Jewish sovereignty to the Land of Israel, and the subsequent re-building of Jerusalem.

Here is an interesting incident in recent past Jewish history which happened on Shabbat Nachamu, and relates to the inception of the State of Israel, written by my good friend Larry Domnitch, entitled A Message was Captured in Jerusalem One Shabbat Morning.  Read it in it's entirety.  It is a message of hope.


A video of Neshama Carlebach, continuing in her father's tradition,  singing the words of the Navi (prophet) Yishayahu (thanks, Rafi)