Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

The Sabbath following Tisha B'Av is called Shabbat Nachamu - The Sabbath of Comfort. For the next seven weeks, all the Haftarot will come from the Prophet Isaiah. In each selection, the Hebrew word for comfort will appear. The first Haftarah of comfort begins right away with a double imperative, as God commands Isaiah, "Comfort, comfort my people."

On Tisha B'Av, a slight liturgical modification was made to the familiar prayer called, U'Va L'Tzion. The following verse was consciously omitted, "This is My covenant with them: My spirit shall remain with you and with your descendants. My words shall be upon your lips and the lips of your children and your children's children, now and forever." The omission of this phrase implies that the covenant between God and the eternity of the Jewish people has been shattered, at least for a day.

The Shabbat Torah portion of Vaetchanan appears as the perfect response. Two of the most familiar passages in Judaism appear in this Parsha, the Ten Commandments and what is now called, the First paragraph of the Shma. The former begins with, "I am the Lord, your God." The latter begins with, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might." Both fundamental passages establish and restore the eternal bond between God and the Jewish people. In fact, there was a time during the second Temple period and afterwards that these two texts were recited hand in hand every day. Only when certain groups falsely limited Judaism to only the Ten Commandments and nothing more was the daily liturgical text amended to include the Shma only.

With the High Holy Days now seven weeks away, I encourage us to find our own personal sources of comfort and renew our spiritual place in the context of our eternal Jewish heritage.

Rabbi Howard Morrison