will be seen at the time of our geula. The ten Nevi’im arrived to comfort Knesset Yisrael and were told, “Go ahead and speak.” She wanted to see whether their words would not only be heard but would also be seen as they were spoken. Upon not seeing them, Knesset Yisrael refused to accept the consolation, because a kabbalah was received from Hakadosh Baruch Hu that the geula would be לְ עֵ ינֵי כָּ ל חַ י. If it was not visible, it would not be accepted. It was not a case of rejecting the words of the Nevi’im as untrue. Chas v’shalom. They were true and we believe in them just like the bracha recited before the Haftarah says. But there was a condition given to us by Hakadosh Baruch Hu that needed to be met. In the same way Moshe had a code – פּ ָ קֹד יִ פְ קוֹ ד – so too there was a code required here – לְ עֵ ינֵי כָּ ל חַ י, the words must be visible to the naked eye.
The question remains, however, why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu bring all the Nevi’im (and Avot and Moshe Rabbeinu) with him to console Knesset Yisrael? They didn’t succeed, they didn’t have the code, and they were done. Why not leave them behind? Divrei Yoel says, Hakadosh Baruch Hu brought them because in the future geula, when He comforts Am Yisrael and the people see His words, the Nevi’im will also merit to have their prophecy seen. After trying on their own but being only heard, Hakadosh Baruch Hu brought them along so their words could also be seen, through Him, and their consolations all experienced.
There is one final topic before we close. We find two different types of nechama – consolation. Consider the scenario of visiting someone in the hospital and finding out they are suffering from a particular illness. You excitingly tell them, “Listen, I have another friend who had the same illness but was in much worse shape. He was in a coma for two weeks, on a ventilator and with a feeding tube. And now? Now he’s a leopard. He runs and jumps all over the place with endless energy. Just wait a couple of weeks and you’ll probably be a tiger! You’ll be in the best shape of your life!” What did you accomplish with that message? The person lying in a hospital bed now goes around telling their visitors, “I’m going to be a tiger! B’ezrat Hashem, just wait a bit and I’ll be a tiger, and I’ll even have a partner leopard!” You gave the patient hope and strength, which is a lot better than telling them, “Listen, it should all be ok, although I recently had a couple of good friends with that illness, zichronam livracha.” That, too, is consolation, but of a very different type.
Now consider the scenario of a wealthy individual who suddenly met misfortune and lost everything. They went from driving a Tesla to driving an electric bike. It’s really the same thing except one is a bit more open and airy than the other. The person is broken, and you tell them, “I have a friend who is much worse off. Not only did he lose everything, but he’s also stuck with debt in the millions of shekels! I’ll tell you a secret though – Hakadosh Baruch Hu took your money but not your brains. He will help you and one day soon you’ll find a big ‘exit’ and make back all your money in a snap. My friend turned it around, paid off his debts, and now runs several large buildings. You can for sure do it, I promise!”
This is called nechama, but it is a simple nechama and not Nachamu Nachamu. Similarly, when Ruth arrives from the fields of Moav, she left behind everything. She was the daughter of royalty and was now scrounging and begging for scraps of food in total disgrace and humiliation. Boaz said to her, “I promise you, Hakadosh Baruch Hu will reward your deeds and repay you in full.” And if He doesn’t? Can she come back to him and say, “But you promised me!” Of course, not. Yet, her reaction was וַתֹּאמֶר אֶמְצָא־חֵן בְּעֵינֶיך כִּי נִחַ מְ ת אֲדֹנִי כִּי נִחַ מְ תָּ נִי – he succeeded in comforting her. But what did he actually do? He just said Hakadosh Baruch Hu will provide for her. He didn’t take out his credit card and didn’t deliver anything other than words. That, too, was a simple or single nechama – כִּי נִחַ מְ תָּ נִי.
When Hakadosh Baruch comforted Knesset Yisrael, however, He did so with a double and full consolation – Nachamu Nachamu. What is the difference?
When we conclude our meal on Shabbat, after enjoying the special dishes added in the merit of both Shabbat Nachamu and the wonderful words of the Divrei Yoel, we’ll recite the following words in the paragraph of רְ צֵ ה in Birkat Hamazon:
וְ הַ רְ אֵֽ נוּ ה’ אֱ - כִּי וּבְבִנְיַן יְרוּשׁ ָלַֽיִם עִיר קָדְ שׁ ֶֽ ך וֹן עִירֶֽ ך לֺהֵֽ ינוּ בְּנֶחָמַת צִי אַתָּה הוּא בַּעַל הַ יְשׁ וּעוֹת וּבַ עַ ל הַ נֶּחָ מוֹת:
Show us, our G-d, the consolation of Zion, Your city, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, city of Your Sanctuary, for You are the Master of deliverance and the Master of consolation.
The Sefat Emet asks (Vayeitzei), what does בַ עַ ל הַ נֶּחָ מוֹת mean? ב ּ ַ ע ַ ל ה ַ י ְ שׁ ו ּ ע ו ֹ ת is understandable, as we look solely to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for salvation, but what does it mean that He is the Master of consolation? How does He own all consolation? Did Boaz not console Ruth? Can you and I not offer consolation and comfort to a friend in the hospital? The answer is, there are two types of nechama.
The sefer Kol Aryeh says, each time we recite the words of לֹהֵֽ ינוּ ה’ אֶ חָ ד-שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָ אֵל ה’ אֱ, we express our belief in Hakadosh Baruch Hu regardless of whether He shows us His face of רַ חֲ מִ י ם (via the name ה’) or דִּ ין (via the name לֹהֵֽ ינוּ -אֱ), because these midot are in essence ה’ אֶ חָ ד – stemming from a single G-d and emanating from a single source of חֶ סֶ ד. Why do we cover our eyes with our right hand when reciting Shema? The reason is, we should not be looking through our eyes to form that conclusion, or any conclusion of faith. Everything is from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and we should not be looking through our human eyes at what is around us, because often man will see things and interpret them as bad. With our eyes closed, we eliminate those judgements triggered by visual perception, and we declare our belief that all comes from Hakadosh Baruch Hu and is לְטוֹבָה – for good.
An example of this comes in Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s words to Yaakov Avinu when he feared going down to Egypt after learning Yosef was alive and residing there (Bereshit 46:4):
אָנֹכִי אֵרֵ ד עִמְּך מִצְרַ יְמָה וְאָנֹכִי אַעַלְך גַם־עָלֹה וְיוֹסֵף יָשִׁית יָדוֹ עַל־עֵינֶיך׃
I Myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself will also bring you back; and Yoseph’s hand will close your eyes.
The Zohar says: דא רזא דקריאת שמע. Yosef’s hand closing his father’s eyes is the secret of Kriyat Shema. Every Jew needs to learn the secret of Kriyat Shema from Yosef HaTzaddik. His brothers hated him and tossed him into a pit filled with snakes and scorpions; they sat and ate lunch as he was sold into slavery and shlepped to Egypt; his father was told he’d been mauled by a wild animal; after briefly seeing success in the home of Potiphar, he was ruthlessly set up and imprisoned for twelve more years, nearly left to die. He sat in that dungeon and cried out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, “What did I do to deserve this? Why are you abandoning me here with all these criminals? Maybe I spoke harshly about my brothers, but does that warrant this degree of punishment?” How should such a person think and how should they react? They need to cover their eyes! They need to recite Shema without the distractions and distortions their eyes capture and transmit to their minds.
For seventeen years, Yosef lived at home and Hakadosh Baruch Hu was Hashem, acting with him through Midat HaRachamim. He studied each day with his father and followed every mitzvah to the fullest, without blockers. But then came Elokim – Midat HaDin, and he was sent off, sold as a slave, and dumped in a prison cell. In the end though, Hashem Echad. In the end, Hakadosh Baruch Hu would redeem him from prison and lead him to the throne of Egypt. It was one plan with many ups and downs, rather than unrelated incidents and disparate periods of his life. We close our eyes and say, “Hakadosh Baruch Hu, I don’t know why I am in the predicament I am in, but I remember the positive and I remember the negative, and I know it is all Your plan and for the good.” We don’t let our eyes deceive us that our predicament is a result of an item just to the left or a project just to the right, and that all we need to do is get over them and we’ll be in great shape. Hashem Echad – it is all from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and in the end, we will see it all originates from mercy.
Yosef ruled over Egypt after closing his eyes and putting his faith in Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Yaakov, “Do not fear going down to Egypt. In front of you is the story of Yosef, a vivid demonstration of how I am behind everything and everything is לְטוֹבָה. I stand behind everyone.”
We can all say to one another, “It will be okay. Things will get better. You will recover.” These are all merely simple or single consolations, as we cannot explain why the suffering and pain is there to begin with. We can only look beyond it and try to turn focus away from it and to the potential. That is the extent of the comfort mankind can provide.
There is only One who can go farther and deliver נְ חָ מּ ָ הּ כְּ פוּ לָ ה – a double consolation. Only Hakadosh Baruch Hu can speak to the suffering and provide comfort by looking straight at it. נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּ י – When Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes to comfort us, He will explain how each moment of suffering in our lives was ultimately לְטוֹבָה. He will show us what positive came from each moment of negativity we experienced. Our eyes cannot capture or transmit this understanding, and therefore we close them when proclaiming our faith. בַ עַ ל הַ נֶּחָ מוֹת – Only Hakadosh Baruch Hu can provide us with that understanding, and only He can transform our pain into comfort.
This Shabbat Nachamu should be one of comfort and simcha for Am Yisrael, as we see the words of Redemption and witness the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash. ◊
