The Shabbat after Tisha B’Av, the Shabbat which just passed, is known as Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort. The name is taken from the first lines of the haftarah, where the prophet Isaiah cries out: Nachamu, nachamu ami—comfort, comfort My people. On our calendar, we are now in the 7 weeks of consolation between Tisha B’Av and Yom Kippur. This week, we will reflect on the theme of nechama, of comfort.
בָּכ֨וֹ תִבְכֶּ֜ה בַּלַּ֗יְלָה וְדִמְעָתָהּ֙ עַ֣ל לֶֽחֱיָ֔הּ אֵֽין־לָ֥הּ מְנַחֵ֖ם מִכׇּל־אֹהֲבֶ֑יהָ כׇּל־רֵעֶ֙יהָ֙ בָּ֣גְדוּ בָ֔הּ הָ֥יוּ לָ֖הּ לְאֹיְבִֽים׃
Bitterly she weeps in the night, Her cheek wet with tears. There is none to comfort her of all her friends. All her allies have betrayed her; They have become her foes
(Lamentations 1:2)
In this second verse of the Book of Lamentations, the verb “to cry” is repeated twice. We open with the bitterness of tears, of loneliness—of having no one to comfort us.
It is no coincidence, our tradition suggests, that the beginning of the Haftarah after Tisha B’Av opens with the repetition of the word comfort. Our tears are matched evenly with comfort, our loneliness assuaged. The bitterness and the consolation balance each other out.
Except, tradition goes further. After 3 weeks of rebuke, we are granted 7 weeks of consolation. No longer an even match, we are given far more comfort than we were unease. What is the message we are taught, and how do we carry this forward into the next 7 weeks?
— Rabbi Sari Laufer