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by Daneal Weiner
email: daneal@actcom.co.il
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It was
last year just before Parshas
Va'eschanan – Shabbos Nachamu that
Rav Moshe Wolfson spoke on the radio in Israel and …. let me think….yes… this
is what he said…(only slightly re-edited for print) After
another disapointing Tisha b'Av which departed with out bringing the
Mashiach, this coming Shabbos Yishaya Hanavi- Isaiah the Prophet comes with a heartening message
from Hashem. “‘Nachamu
nachamu ami,’ yomar
Elokaichem”- 'Be
consoled, be consoled My people,' says
your G-d. Be consoled, your delivery is imminent. Shabbos Nachamu is a happy
Shabbos, it's a special Shabbos. It's a landmark on the calendar. The
reassuring words of Yishaya Hanavi are a balsam on our aching hearts. Why do
we believe? After 1931 Tisha b'Av's, 1931 disappointments, why do we still believe? Because it’s more
than a belief. It's a
conviction! Shabbos
Nachamu always falls together with Parshas Va’eschanan. In it we read
the Aseres Hadibros- the 10
Commandments and Moshe
Rabbeinu recounts the experience of Matan Torah- the giving of the Torah. Moshe tells
them it was not with our forefathers, not something which is a tradition which we received from our
fathers do we have
this covenant of the Aseres
Hadibros, and the whole Torah. No, It’s with us, all
you people alive today. You
have to understand, my
dear listeners, that Matan Torah, the giving of the Torah, is something very special which no other
nation experienced. There were 600,000 men there together with the women, together with their children. In other
words, a few million people stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai when the Torah was given. After
40 years Moshe Rabbeinu recounts the experience of Matan Torah. There were
many people there who remembered it when Moshe spoke to them. All those who
were already 20
years old by Yetsias Mitrayim- the exodus from Egypt had perished by now. But the women were
alive. Their children who were then
under 20 years were alive. The verdict had not passed on them. Only newborns of the last 40 years heard
from others about Matan Torah, otherwise they experienced it themselves! Most
remembered Matan Torah. And, again,
this is something special and something singular only to Klal Yisrael. This weeks parsha tells us no other nation
will make this claim.(4:32-33) All the
other faiths are based on individual people who were charismatic. Perhaps
they were able make a few tricks with magic. Such people came and told others about a revelation that they had. They
were individuals. We don't believe individuals. We are a people that millions
of us were able to hear Hashem, to
see presence of the Shchinah. If
someone were to tell you that George Washington is a myth, that he never existed, you would say hes
crazy. He can't
be fictional
because George Washington left his stamp on 100’s of 1,000's of people. There were 100’s of 1,000's of people
in the revolutionary army. There
were 100's of 1,000's
of people that saw him and felt
his impact when he was the first president of the United States. This
passed down through the
generations. Something that one person comes to tell you you can say that
maybe its not true but something that 100’s of 1,000's of people experienced, that can't be false! If one somebody wanted to tell such a
story that wasn't true the other people would say, “Really? How come we didn't hear about it already?” And so the
Rambam brings it in
chapter 8 of Yisodai Hatorah-
Foundations of Torah. "Our own
eyes saw,"
millions of people saw the presence of the Shchinah and "our own ears heard" the voice of
Hashem. When the Torah was given Israel didn't only have to depend on Moshe
Rabbeinu and believe him. They each were prophets! Every Jew who was at Har
Sinai was a prophet! And the Shchinah Hakadosha- the holy presence
of G-d spoke to each person directly!
It was given to a multitude. There
was a consciousness of G-d,
not a belief. It's a knowledge. An actual experience. We percieved it with our own senses. When Moshe Rabbeinu recounts the experience of Matan Torah he tells the
Jews, “Face to
face did Hashem
speak to you," personally. There was no intermediary. Now if
you would hear on the radio that tomorrow was going to rain you may believe
it. But if you look out of the window and you see that its raining now, your
not believing
that its raining. You know it. It's a knowledge. We all witnessed and we all heard
when Moshe Rabbeinu was
appointed to teach us the
Torah. When
Moshe was told about Matan Torah he was told by Hashem the revelation of Har Sinai is going to be of such a nature that all Israel
is going to believe in him too. And on Har Sinai all Israel prophetically heard Moshe Rabbeinu was appointed by Hashem that he should give and teach the Torah to
Klal Yisrael. They each saw Hashem's presence and heard
it, each and every one. Now
this Torah is a true Torah. We all received this Torah. It was passed down the
generations. We all have the same Chumash, the same books of the Torah. There are
many many Jews that lived far away from each other. Where geographical
barriers separated one
from the other for many, many, many centuries. Still they all had the same
Torah, that Torah which
was written down after 40 years when many, many people were still alive who witnessed Matan Torah and who heard the appointment of Moshe Rabbeinu. And the
others who witnessed
all the miracles in the desert,
the bread coming down from heaven every day, the water coming from the rock,
they all heard from their
mothers and fathers what was before. And they heard that others had heard the
same thing from their mothers and fathers who witnessed it. When
the Torah was written and handed down to them at the end of the 40 years,
when Moshe Rabbeuinu wrote 13 Torah scrolls and gave each tribe their own scroll and each
one copied from that original, if anything would have been false or that they didn't
know about, that they didn't witness themselves or hear from their
own parents then they would have said, “How come this is written down? I didn't know it. Why
didn't I see it? Why didn't my father tell me?” Now
this Torah, this true
Torah, this irrefutable Torah, it guarantees us our ultimate redemption. In the portion we read on Tisha b'Av, which was also from this parsha,
Hashem promises us that
ultimately we will be redeemed.
Moshe says Hashem, our
G-d is a merciful G-d. He
won't
abandon us. He won't let us
go. He
wont forget the covenant he made with our forefathers. This promise of redemption is
reiterated in Parshas
Nitsvim and in
Vayeilech and in all the
books of the Prophets. The prophecy of galus- exile is in
many places in the Prophets. We have it in the Torah in the
Shema as well. “V’avaditem mehaira mahaharets hatova”- You will be quickly lost from the good
land Hasham gave you. And the
prophecy of galus is also in Nitsavim- Hashem will scatter you and disperse you among all nations.
And many afflictions, bad ones, will befall you. The galus, the afflictions
and tribulations we experience in the galus, we all see that the Torah
predicted them. That same Torah predicts that we are going to be redeemed. If
you are would be scatter to the extremeties of space Hashem will gather you
from there and bring you back! And you are going to have more bounty, more
happiness then even the Jews at the time of King Solomon. Much more. Our
redemption is a promised one. We believe it…. more than we believe… we know
it! We
don't know just when the mashiach
will come. We don't know who mashiach is. The final redemption
is concealed. Like the Prophet says in the Name of Hashem, “ki yom nakan
b'libi ushnas geula ba’ah” - A day of vengeance is in My heart and the
year of redemption will come. On b’libi- in My heart our Sages tells us
Hashem didn't
let it out of His heart.
His heart didn't reveal it to His mouth, so to speak. He did not let it become known to us. Hashem alone knows when the final, rock
bottom redemption will be. This
Shabbos we have the nachama-
consolation of Yishaya Hanavi. After the disappointment of Tisha b'Av we believe… no… we know
that we are going to be redeemed and the voice of Yishaya Hanavi, this Shabbos, comes to visit us and his
consolation echoes over mountains and valleys and he proclaims, “On a
high mountain ascend, the one
who announces the redemption of Zion. Raise your voice, announcer of the redemption of Jerusalem, tell the cities of Judah, tell the Jewish people their G-d is arriving!” We have
7 weeks of comfort, 7
haftorahs which start off this week with Nachamu nachamu ami. And on this Shabbos we
make a new covenant with our G-d. We have the Aseres Hadibros. It was once
written in Parshas Yisro. Its repeated over again at the end of the 40 years, at the
end of Israel's wandering in exile. It's a renewal of the covenant. A new committment to be a true, G-d
fearing and obeying Jew. Be true, dear listeners. Be clean. Be
morally clean. Be honest. Keep the Shabbos holy. This
will contribute to bringing
the redemption even nearer and nearer. Dear
brethren, enjoy
Shabbos Nachamu. Rededicate
yourselves on Shabbos Nachamu. Become better Jews on Shabbos Nachamu. And may
we all be zocheh- merit
to see with our own eyes, v'sechezenah aynaynu bshuv'cha l’Tsion, we should see the geula
shelaima bimhairah bimhairah b'karov. Shabbat Shalom. |
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