This Shabbos we recite the Haftorah in Yeshayahu 40:1 m«¤ki ¥wŸ«l ¡` x−©n`Ÿi i®¦O©r E −n£g«©p E ¬n£g«©p: "Console, console My people," says Hashem. ̈di ½¤l ¥` E ́` §x ¦w §e Æm¦Æ ©l ̈WE «x §i a μ¥l l©r E ºx §A ©C Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her; The question is: why do we recite this Haftorah, and what is the consolation here? It is also difficult to understand the consolation of this Shabbos, after the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash close to two thousand years ago, and we just passed a Tisha B’av and we still did not see the building of the Bais Hamikdash, what is Nachamu all about?
To better understand this, The Gemarra Makkos 24a relates a few episodes of exile and the hope for redemption: “And it once was that Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva were walking along the road in the Roman Empire, and they heard the sound of the multitudes of Rome from Puteoli, Italy at a distance of one hundred and twenty mil. The city was so large that they were able to hear its tumult from a great distance. And the other Sages began weeping and Rabbi Akiva was laughing. They said to him: For what reason are you laughing? Rabbi Akiva said to them: And you, for what reason are you weeping”? The Gemarra relates another incident involving those Sages. “On another occasion they were ascending to Jerusalem after the destruction of the Temple. When they arrived at the Temple Mount, they saw a fox that emerged from the site of the Holy of Holiest. They began weeping, and Rabbi Akiva was laughing. They said to him: For what reason are you laughing? Rabbi Akiva said to them: For what reason are you weeping”? This is very strange that Rabbi Akiva should laugh at the desecration of the Holy of Holiest?
To answer these questions, we will refer to the Gemarra Pesachim 54b which states; Hashem created a world in which people should not suffer, and one of them is that a deceased person gets forgotten from the heart of his loved ones, and the sense of pain and loss diminishes with time; Chazal derive from this that only a deceased person gets forgotten. However, a person who is still alive, is always remembered. The same idea is with the Bais Hamikdash; since we still remember, and weep every year on the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash, that is the biggest proof, that the Bais Hamikdash, is still in our minds and it is not destructed. That is why Rabbi Akiva was laughing, after he saw the great Rabbis were weeping, he understood, that the Bais Hamikdash was still alive and ready to be built, since a deceased person is forgotten. This was the reason that Rabbi Akiva was laughing.
Now we understand clearly the Nachamu Nachamu Ami. How should we be consoled, because it says in the following Posuk ̈di ½¤l ¥` E ́` §x ¦w §e Æm¦Æ ©l ̈WE «x §i a μ¥l l©r E ºx §A ©C Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her; This is reffering to all future generations in exile, that Yerushalayim and the Bais Hamikdash would still be in our minds after so many years, which is clear proof that it is still alive. Another twist to this insight is the word Nachmu repeated in succession. In Chazal this always means a guarantee of something, and this is our consolation, that Hashem will build for us the Third Bais Hamikdash.
This Haftorah is the first of seven Haftorahs of consolation. This leads us up into Rosh Hashana, which is the new year and everyone hopes for being inscribed in the book of life and happiness. The number seven is powerful for Klal Yisrael. Hashem blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which Hashem created and made. The significance of “seven” is throughout our lives, and it notes completeness and wholesomeness. The seven branches of the Menorah. The sprinkling of blood seven times in the Temple. The Seven days of celebration for chasan and kallah. Seven aliyos. Seven mitzvos on Sukkos. Seven weeks of Omer, Seven years of Shemita etc. Hashem should comfort us and redeem us from this long exile, and build the third Bais Hamikdash, Amein.
(Yehuda Z. Klitnick)
