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Shabbat Nachamu (Parshat
Vaetchanan): Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11;
Isaiah 40:1-26.

housed in a small apartment on the
West Side of Manhattan (150 West
End Ave. 1D). One day I noticed a
hree weeks ago, we all fasted
middle-aged gentleman who would
to the bittersweet melody of
enter the synagogue-apartment
the Scroll of Lamentations
(Eicha) — angst-music whose haunt- towards the end of the Torah reading,
remain standing near the door, and
ing cadences rise from the depths of
quickly leave after the sermon.
Jewish despair.
But on the Shabbat of
But when mid-day
Vaetchanan he arrived
arrived, we got up from
towards the beginning of
off the ground, our lag-
the reading — and as the
ging spirits suddenly
aforementioned words
lifted as we put on our
were read, he fled in tears.
tefillin adornments and
I ran out after him, and
recited the blessing of
, "comfort" (nahem) within
he later told me that his
name was Wolf Reichard.
the Amidah, a process
He grew up in a family of
that changes the mood of
pious
Satmar chasidim
mourning while confirm-
Shlomo
Riskin-
but
completely
gave up on
ing the prophetic words of
Specia
1
to
the
religion
when
he
graduated
Zachariah:
Jewish
News
from
the
hellhole
called
"Thus says the Lord God
Auschwitz.
of hosts: the fast of the ...
Then, for some reason,
fifth month [Tisha b'Av] ...
when
our
small
apartment-synagogue
shall be for the house of Judah
opened its door, he found himself
rejoicing, gladness and festival ..."
attracted to the services, and despite
(Zachariah 8:19).
his own private history of suffering he
But how is it possible that the great
recognized a need emerging from his
tragic day of the Ninth of Av, a date
truest self.
when both Temples were destroyed,
Upon hearing the Torah reader
can become an occasion for joyous
chant, "When it shall be difficult for
reprieve, even if only in the afternoon
you, all of these words will find you
hours? What can we possibly be
... and you shall return ..." he knew
happy about?
he could no longer erase his past or
I believe the answer is to be found
escape from his future destiny: The
in this week's reading wherein Moses
words were an arrow into his heart
provides a quintessential outline of
and from then on he came to shul
Jewish history: settlement of Israel,
not only every Sabbath (from the
corruption and idolatry, destruction
and exile, assimilation, but then even- beginning of services) but also every
morning — and in celebration of his
tual return to God and His land.
return, he generously provided our
I'd like to suggest that the seed for
our ultimate rejoicing on the Ninth of weekly Sabbath Kiddush. ❑
Av is planted in the declaration "...
when it shall be difficult for you, these Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Ohr Torah
Stone and the chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel.
things [words] will find you ... and
you shall return ..." (4:30). I have
chosen to translate the phrase kol
Conversations
hadevarim as "these words," empha-
Can you recall a time when your
sizing the idea that "these words" of
sadness became gladness? How
the Torah shall find you in the depths
can you use the Torah to allevi-
of your suffering, in the midst of your
ate suffering? Do you know a
exile and assimilation, and you shall
Holocaust survivor who is reli-
return.
gious, or one who gave up on
The source for this translation goes
religion?
back to 1965, when Lincoln Square
Synagogue, my first congregation, was

Efrat, Israel

T

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July 30 2009

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