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Nachamu, Nachamu, Ami

Comfort, Oh Comfort Ye, My People

            Sometimes it just hits us hard, that anxiety and fear or maybe sorrow.  For many of us, it’s about a loved one—a child, perhaps, or a parent or spouse.  A terrible reality is in front of us, and we envision an even more terrible future.  Or it might be about the past, an absence  and emptiness, maybe the crushing weight of guilt and shame.

For many of us, the forever wars in the Middle East and, more, the horror of the recent past and of today—invasion, hostages, the staggering amount of destruction and death—exceed the boundaries of psychological and emotional endurance.  And the feelings of helplessness….

Yes.  I don’t usually get this dark in my Reflections, but sometimes that which we carefully avoid saying needs to be said. 

In this, I must tell you, none of us are alone.

‘Yes,’ you say, ‘We have each other.’  And this is true, but it is too often said with bitterness and cynicism.  We’re not really talking.  Between each other there are so many silences and secrets.

It is, in many ways, the human condition.  In more ways, perhaps, it is the Jewish condition.  And yet, through incomprehensibly painful centuries, we have survived, and thrived and flourished.  How can this be?

We have our Tradition.  Our Torah.  I know that’s exactly what you’d expect a rabbi so say, and I know it sounds like the same old, same old.  But the thing is, these are a major part of what has been our profoundly effective Jewish survival strategy.  We are not alone because the millions of Jews who lived before us felt everything we feel today, and more.  We are not alone, because what sustained them can sustain us once again.

Do I mean faith?  Maybe, but even before Faith, there was, for example, Isaiah.  Millenia ago, in the wake of national cataclysm and destitution, Isaiah offered Comfort.  He is right here, ready to do this again.  These are in fact the very weeks preceding the High Holy Days wherein the Rabbis ordained we would read the Haftorot of Consolation, portions of his profound writings. 

Perhaps you have a Tanakh or Bible at home.  Or just go online.  Its right there, it’s always been right there, Isaiah 40 and 41.  So many sweet verses offering succor and hope.  And then there are the Psalms.  I recommend 46, 91, and 107.  You don’t even have to have Faith.  Just a moment of self-care to connect to our People, their Strength, our Prophets and Psalms.  And, if you want or need me, I’m right here.

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