Pain and comfort in the remembrance days near the end of the mourning year
Parsha and its implementation - Parshat Va’etchanan - Shabbat Nahamu - and the war of the 'Iron Swords' 5784
Rabbi Eliezer Haim Shenvald
Dedicated in Jonathan Deutsch’s memory, HY’D, who was murdered in the attack in the Jordan Valley.
Dedicated to the IDF soldiers' success, to safeguard them lest any harm come to them, to the healing of all the wounded and the return of the abducted.
About a week and a half ago, in our neighborhood synagogue in Modi'in, an 11-month memorial was held for first sergeant Amit Most HY’D from the Nahal patrol, who fell in a heroic battle at the Sufa outpost on Simchat Torah.
His name was immortalized in a trail, near his family's home next to the synagogue. His family practices the custom to hold a memorial at the beginning of 11 months after passing (this year was a leap year). This was the war’s first 11-month commemoration of a fallen soldier to which we attended.
We recently received a message about the 11-month memorial for my friend Moshe Ohayon HY’D and his son Eliad HY’D, who fell in the battle against the terrorists who entered Ofakim and massacred the residents. In their fighting, they prevented the terrorists from reaching additional neighborhoods and harming many more residents. More announcements will be received soon. A shocking reminder that it will soon be one year since the beginning of the war!
During the year of mourning the loss is still fresh, the pain of mourning focuses on loss and longing, making it difficult to find comfort. One can find solace in the circumstances of the fall, a fall in a heroic battle to defend the country and the lives of its inhabitants, in that the willingness to fight and pay the price revealed the greatness of the fallen’s soul and his nobility. Thanks to his fighting, the lives of many people were saved. But the pain and longing make it difficult.
The memorials at the end of the mourning year direct the reflections on the loss and its meaning in retrospect. In the pain of loss, cracks may open-up with slivers of comfort penetrating through (see Brachot 58b). Comfort is not forgetfulness. It is a more softened state of mind that allows one to look at the loss, from a broader perspective. To see the lights of the falling circumstances, shining out of the darkness of pain and longing. To receive from them great encouragement that inspires hope for the future.
On a national level, there is pain for the fallen, the wounded and the kidnapped, and empathy with their families. There is shock, dismay and anger for the negligence that caused the Simchat Torah traumatic massacre. For the carelessness on the collapse of conceptions and a decline in trust in the IDF's senior command.
The war is still going on, and there are casualties. It is difficult to observe the events and their meaning while they are still happening. However, when you look back, you can see slivers of comfort. The memorials for the dear fallen heroes that will mark the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of the war, direct attention to national contemplation in hindsight, and make it possible to see the achievements of the war as well, the dramatic changes it brought about, what we learned about ourselves, and draw strength and hope for the future at the national level as well.
The way in which we reacted on a national level facing a terrible negligence and the biggest tragedy in our history, revealed precisely our national survival power and our ability to grow even from great crises. We rediscovered our true abilities and the foundations of unity that we have within us, which are the secret of our strength. The nation wants unity and the minority boisterous crowd that tried to take control with outspoken aggression took on its true dimensions.
The assumption that the State of Israel cannot withstand long wars has been refuted, and therefore we must give up from the start and avoid necessary confrontations with our enemy, to earn peace in the short term by pledged security for the future generations. We discovered that we can really fight in Gaza despite all those who scared us and fight aggressively against terrorism in Judea and Samaria.
We discovered that the spirit of the nation is strong and fit for heroism and not as they tried to tell us that it is over; everyone thinks only of themselves. We discovered the strengths of the younger generation that we suspected was only interested in Tiktok and screens. We regained our self-confidence in our capabilities and abilities.
In front of us are satanic monsters that have no stops, the roots of the conflict being religious and not territorial, and as far as our enemy is concerned, we are all Jewish settlers, and our fate is equal.
We have created an armament dependence on the US, which limits the possibility of acting freely according to our sovereign interests. And more. All of these create national hope for the future and strength to produce change.
The Sabbath is called 'Shabbat Nachamu' after the words of the Haftara from Yishayahu's prophecy of consolation:
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי "Comfort you, comfort you, My people" (Yishayahu 40:1)
Yishayahu, whose prophecy we read last Shabbat, 'Shabbat Chazon', spoke about the calamities of destruction and exile (more than a century before it occurred), because of the sins of the people; their failures and blindness that did not allow them to lead processes of clear-headedness and correction.
'Destruction and exile' and 'consolation' are two opposites, and despite this there is a connection between them:
חָטְאוּ בְּכִפְלַיִם, דִּכְתִיב (איכה א, ח): חֵטְא חָטְאָה יְרוּשָׁלָיִם. וְלָקוּ בְּכִפְלַיִם, דִּכְתִיב (ישעיה מ, ב): כִּי לָקְחָה מִיַּד ה' כִּפְלַיִם בְּכָל חַטֹּאתֶיהָ. וּמִתְנַחֲמִים בְּכִפְלַיִם, דִּכְתִיב (ישעיה מ, א): נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי
“They sinned doubly, as it is written: “Jerusalem has committed a sin” (Lamentations 1:8). They were punished doubly, as it is written: “For it has received from the hand of the Lord double for all its sins” (Yishayahu 40:2). They are comforted doubly, as it is written: “Comfort, comfort My people” (Yishayahu 40:1). (Eicha Rabbah 57:1)
There is a direct relationship between the intensity and grief over the destruction and the magnitude of consolation and redemption that will grow from it. From the “they were punished doubly” comes “they are comforted doubly”. Two sides of the same coin. The root of the processes of redemption, repair, rebuilding and comfort are all found in the catastrophe and crisis of the destruction. Optimism and hope from which a renewed building and comfort will grow in the future.