This is a BIG Shabbat. We just read the 10 Commandments and the Sh’ma and Va’avata. It is also Shjabbat Nachamu—The Sabbat of Comfort” From the spiritual low point of Tisha B’av until the spiritual high point of Rosh Hashanah there are 7 weeks filled with haftarot of consolation, the return of instrumental music and opportunities to rejoice. Really, really rejoice and be comforted. This was a week that seemed to bring very little comfort to many. Whether you are concerned about Salman Rashdie, may he have a full, complete healing. Or climate crisis as we say more flooding in Las Vegas, Scottsdale and Tucson and as we were warned that California could have the most expensive natural disaster with a megaflood while places like Massachusetts and Europe are under severe drought. Or an attack on an FBI office in Cincinnati, or the recent vandalism at Reform and a Masorti congregation in Netanya on Tisha B’av. There is plenty to worry about, to even kvetch about.
The haftarah begins with these words: Comfort, comfort My people says G-d. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and tell her that her suffering is over.”
On a very local level I am concerned about some very serious medical issues that congregants are struggling with. One family had three generations in hospitals yesterday. Their suffering is not over and the mother feels a little like Job. How do we support them adequately? I am concerned about inadequacies in the health care system and access to good, reliable mental health services. I am concerned about Elgin’s exploration of closing the Lord’s Park pool. You will hear more about that as the City Council wrestles with the issues of a shrinking pool of lifegaurds and an aging physical plant.
We Jews. We learned how to kvetch—most certainly while we were wandering in the desert. And I am good at it too. I’ve even been known to tell people on the phone that I’m kvetching. I know I sound whiny. We even kvetch about the commandments. Why do we have to do them at all?
This week we read the version of the 10 Commandments that states we are to “keep” or “guard”—or as our translation says “faithfully observe” Shabbat. In Exodus we learn we are to remember the Sabbath day—taken to mean to verbally sanctify it—with kiddush and candles and the signing of “V’shamru”, that reminds us that Shabbat is a sign of the covenant between G-d and the people of Israel for all times. By taking pleasure in Shabbat.
How do we explain this difference…by saying in Lecha Dodi that “Shamor v’zachor bidibur echad. Remember and Keep were said as one.” This way there is no discrepancy, no mistake in Moses’s reporting of the commandments. While there are 39 Talmudic prohibitions on Shabbat, tied to the 39 categories of work to build the Mishkan which some people find daunting since no one likes to be told no, we are to take comfort and pleasure in Shabbat.
One of the things we learn from Ahavah Rabbah and Ahavat Olam the prayer that thanks G-d for loving the Jewish people—recited even in the midst of suffering is that those very commandments, rules, laws that G-d gave us precisely as an example of love. Like a loving parent, G-d gave us limits and that too brings us comfort.
As my friend and colleague. Rabbi Ariann Weitzman reminded her congregation yesterday. “Judaism is not a religion that encourages redemption through suffering.” G-d does not want us to suffer. Her comments were a jumping off point for me. No, rather, she continued, “We are supposed to really take pleasure in life and lean into comforts.” As she tells her Tot Shabbat group, “We’ve got time to get out all our oys, (go ahead, try it now) but then we give thanks and we give thanks again.”
That is part of the purpose of Shabbat. We are supposed to pause. To stop and give thanks. To enjoy that special Shabbat spice. To enjoy each other’s company. To experience a palace in time as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said, a foretaste of the world to come.
Ron Wolfson wrote a book—The 7 Questions You’re Asked in Heaven. Five come from the Talmud, one from Reb Zusiya who on his death bed was crying, afraid he would be asked not “Why were not Moses but rather “Why were you not Zusiya. And the last, “Have you seen My Alps.” Why would G-d be asking Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the intellectual giant of modern Orthodoxy, this question?
“Soon, I will stand before the Almighty. I will be held answerable to many questions. But, what will I say when I am asked, ‘Shimson, my son, it is true you did many mitzvot, but did you also remember to see My Alps?”
The explanation is that while we are commanded to keep or guard the mitzvot, we also need to experience pleasure—to enjoy all the Creation that G-d has given us—good food, good company, being outdoors in nature and being wowed by a sunset, a flower, the roaring ocean or the towering mountains of the mountains or the Alps, or the Rockies or the Tetons. It is even encouraged to have sex in the right time and place—a double mitzvah on Shabbat.
We offer comfort to one another. Judaism commands us for instance to bury the dead and comfort the bereaved. We have a whole system for that. We host shiva minyanim and pray with them. We feed them. We remind them that even in their grief, they are loved. That they are not alone. We might stock their pantries and even tidy up their house as we are leaving. And when we do this, we discover that bringing them comfort brings us comfort too. Some of those traditions were disrupted during COVID and it has extended grief for many families.
We do similar things for people who are ailing or for happier occasions like when babies are born with baby namings and brises or for weddings. For each of these, people feel that they are a little less alone. We need to relearn how to bring comfort to those who are hurting. We need to relearn how to comfort ourselves. Whether as Rabbi Weitzman said they divide into four categories—loving relationships, engaging with animals and nature, engaging in Jewish practice and finding joy. And I would add finding pleasure. Did you see My Alps?
What brings you comfort? Family. Good health. A good book. A roof over my head. Parnasa.
Following Rabbi Wetizman’s lead, this Shabbat and coming week, I’m going to pay special attention to the moments when I feel comforted and comfortable, whether that’s reading a good book, eating something I love fresh from the farmer’s market or Klein’s Farm Stand, snuggling with Caleb, wrapping myself in my tallit or calling a friend while out for a walk, or as she ends, “knowing that I am loved in a universe that was built out of love. Shabbat shalom, and may it be one of comfort and joy.” And then I will work to bring comfort to others.