Traditionally the Haphtorahs of the three Shabbosim before Tisha B’av are called the three Haphtorahs of Rebuke while the seven Haphtorahs of the Shabbosim after Tisha B’av are called the seven Haphtorahs of Comfort. The Shabbos immediately before Tisha B’av is always parshas Devorim and is called Shabbos Chazon after the beginning word of the Haphtorah Chazon Yeshayahu. The Shabbos after Tisha B’av is called Shabbos Nachamu after the beginning words Nachamu Nachamu Ami. It would seem at first thought that each Shabbos of Rebuke or Comfort should be named after its Haphtorah. Why only these two Haphtorahs? The simple answer is that these two are the most prominent being in such close proximity to Tisha B’av. But nothing is quite simple when it comes to naming a parsha, there are always underlying rationales. We would like to posit that the underlying rationale is the actual similarity of these two Haphtorahs, one of extreme Rebuke and the other of extreme Comfort, and the rationale is the heading of this essay, that Chazon and Nachamu, epitomes of Rebuke and Comfort, both have elements of Nechama, Comfort, in them. Open your intellectual eyes and let’s look at this.
Obviously there is no need to discuss the concepts of Comforting Klal Yisroel inherent in the Haphtorah of Nachamu Ami, whose every word shouts the ideas of solace after all the rebuke and remembrance of punishment that Klal Yisroel just went through. But Chazon Yeshayahu with its strong language of rebuke and dire warnings of impending disasters? Where do we see comfort and solace? Again, open your eyes, those eyes of intellectual thought instead of the flesh and blood that you think you have.
Listen to the prophet: “Lomo li rov zivcheichem yomar Hashem”. Why do I need this overabundance of sacrifices says Hashem. I am over sated with your fattened animals and the blood of your offerings I don’t care for. When you come to see my face (to offer sacrifices), who asked you for these offerings, you who trample my grounds (come to the Beis Hamikdosh). Stop bringing your false Mincha offerings, your incense offerings are abominable to me. Your Chodesh and Yom Tov observances have become hateful to me. They have become to me as an overbearance (of my patience).
I read this every year and tears come to my eyes. Hashem is telling us very clearly, I dont want you in my house, I dont need your sacrifices and prayers, stay away from me. Sounds terrible doesn’t it? G-d telling us He has no need nor patience to our sacrifices and at this point, to our prayers. But read into these words. As we said earlier, there must be similarities between these two Haphtorahs of Chazon and Nachamu. Nachamu is definitely comfort. But where’s the comfort in these words of Rebuke? Yeshayahu's worrds are words of prophecy. Prophecy can only come through the prophet’s ultimate Simcha, joy. What is Yeshayahu joyful of?
G-d is telling us that He has no patience to the prayers and sacrifices of people who think that they can live their lives counter to the teachings of the Torah and then pray to G-d to provide them with their daily needs. G-d has no comfort with people who say they are "Good Jews" because they give sacrifices of money to charity. That’s the prima facie meaning of this prophecy. But we would like to posit that there’s a deeper meaning to these words, a Comfort within the Rebuke, a silver lining to the clouds that hide G-d’s face from us. G-d is saying to us, who needs all this from you? Please stop bringing sacrificial offerings. Please stop your prayers. The emphasis is on “please”. Because if we insist on opening our hearts and praying, Hashem has no choice but to listen to our prayers and to answer them.
Obviously there is no need to discuss the concepts of Comforting Klal Yisroel inherent in the Haphtorah of Nachamu Ami, whose every word shouts the ideas of solace after all the rebuke and remembrance of punishment that Klal Yisroel just went through. But Chazon Yeshayahu with its strong language of rebuke and dire warnings of impending disasters? Where do we see comfort and solace? Again, open your eyes, those eyes of intellectual thought instead of the flesh and blood that you think you have.
Listen to the prophet: “Lomo li rov zivcheichem yomar Hashem”. Why do I need this overabundance of sacrifices says Hashem. I am over sated with your fattened animals and the blood of your offerings I don’t care for. When you come to see my face (to offer sacrifices), who asked you for these offerings, you who trample my grounds (come to the Beis Hamikdosh). Stop bringing your false Mincha offerings, your incense offerings are abominable to me. Your Chodesh and Yom Tov observances have become hateful to me. They have become to me as an overbearance (of my patience).
I read this every year and tears come to my eyes. Hashem is telling us very clearly, I dont want you in my house, I dont need your sacrifices and prayers, stay away from me. Sounds terrible doesn’t it? G-d telling us He has no need nor patience to our sacrifices and at this point, to our prayers. But read into these words. As we said earlier, there must be similarities between these two Haphtorahs of Chazon and Nachamu. Nachamu is definitely comfort. But where’s the comfort in these words of Rebuke? Yeshayahu's worrds are words of prophecy. Prophecy can only come through the prophet’s ultimate Simcha, joy. What is Yeshayahu joyful of?
G-d is telling us that He has no patience to the prayers and sacrifices of people who think that they can live their lives counter to the teachings of the Torah and then pray to G-d to provide them with their daily needs. G-d has no comfort with people who say they are "Good Jews" because they give sacrifices of money to charity. That’s the prima facie meaning of this prophecy. But we would like to posit that there’s a deeper meaning to these words, a Comfort within the Rebuke, a silver lining to the clouds that hide G-d’s face from us. G-d is saying to us, who needs all this from you? Please stop bringing sacrificial offerings. Please stop your prayers. The emphasis is on “please”. Because if we insist on opening our hearts and praying, Hashem has no choice but to listen to our prayers and to answer them.
But isn’t that the epitome of audacity? Hashem is saying stay away from me because I can’t take your false prayers? And yet we continue to pray and hope that our prayers will be answered. From where do we get this nerve? Let’s look at a piece from a short essay of Rabbeinu Tzadok HaCohen from his sefer Tzidkas Hatzadik, essay number 46. The piece starts off with the posuk, "L'Rosho omar Elokim mah lecho lesapeir chuki." Hashem says to the sinner: who are you to relate my laws. This means who gives you the right to learn my Torah and to daven to me. The people are bereft of true Torah meaning in their lives Towards the end of his essay he says that Chazal tell us that before the advent of Moshiach, the generations will be full of chutzpah, audacity. And he brings down a verse that provides us with a rationale for this audacity. And hence the words of comfort. After the Jewish Spies came back and discouraged the nation from entering Canaan, and they were told that they would all die out over the next 40 years, they tried to force an entry. The verse states “and they were presumptuous in their rising to enter the land”. Moshe Rabbeinu said to them, don’t go. This act won’t have success. “This act”, this audacity at this point in time won’t work. But says Rabbeinu Tzodok Zechuso togein oleinu, there will come a time when the audacity of the Jews to face Hashem, without any right to pray because they don’t deserve it, will succeed.
This is what Yeshayahu is prophesizing to us. Hashem says I don’t need your prayers, I have no patience to your offerings. But we can see behind Hashem’s words, that He is really saying, please be audacious, please pray to me, and I'll have no choice but to listen. Yes I am over sated with your prayers but at this time your audacity will work. My ears are constantly open to the prayers of Klal Yisroel. At the end of the Haphtorah the prophet says: Let your eyes look upwards to Hashem and see Who created all this. Look at this world with your intellectual eyes and see behind the words of Rebuke and see the Words of Comfort.
And if we do continue to have the audacity of the Messianic generations and we continue to pray to Hashem, He will answer us. If we continue to study Torah and observe mitzvos and a Torah lifestyle, G-d will answer our prayers and bring us Comfort. And we will succeed, as Moshe Rabbeinu promised us, the audacity back then didn’t succeed, not then, but in the future, at this point, this audacity will succeed. And we will see the next week’s Haphtorah, Nachamu Nachamu Ami, be comforted my people. I will double your comfort.
Let us cry over the destruction but let us also remember Rabbi Akiva’s comfort. Just as we now see the destructive prophecies so shall we soon see the prophecies of comfort.
