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Parasha Insights

By Guest Rabbi
August 3, 2017

This week’s Haftorah begins with the words NachamuNachamu Ami, which means that Hashem will console us, twice.

שמחינו כימות עניתנו שנות ראינו רעה(Tehilim 90:15)

We plead with the Shechino that we should merit to rejoice in our salvation, equal to the amount of suffering we endured…

How is this possible?

The Mashgiach of Lomza Yeshiva, Reb Moshe Rosenstien explained beautifully.

When a father rebukes his child, the child is sad. Even later, when the child apologies and is comforted by his father,  the earlier sadness can’t be undone.

All they can look forward to is a renewed and stronger relationship, but the past remains.

However, HKB”H is the כל יכול and we ask for wonders. We ask and plead that the past should be undone and that we should have double comfort.

Not only the future, even the past.

נחמה בכפלים

Reb Binyomin, the Magid from Radin, once told over the following parable to the Chofetz Chaim zatzal.

It was a particularly cold Russian winter and there was a group of businessmen who needed to travel from Petersburg to Odessa.

This journey would take approximately 72 hours in the freezing temperatures. They hired a driver who led them on an ice sledge which was very much out in the open and unprotected from the elements.

As such the travellers came prepared. Armed with furs to cover themselves, their goods and a bottle of alcohol to warm their bones, they set out late one night.

As nightfall fell, they kept themselves warm by talking, singing, sharing words of Torah and drinking their beverages.

As the hours passed by, the men fell into a restless sleep and slept throughout the short Russian day. When they awoke they saw the light of the moon high above them, not realising that it was the next evening.

After more talk, more singing and more drinking, they slept again and missed seeing the short hours of the day.

As this pattern continued, one passenger called to the driver and queried as to what part of the world they were in, as there was no day at all.

The driver dutifully replied  that had been daylight hours, but unfortunately the men had slept through them, thereby only seeing the dark skies –  but that didn’t meanthere wasn’t any sunlight.

It was there, but they hadn’t seen it. They only saw darkness.

‘שומר מה מלילה ,שומר מה מליל  (Isaiah 21)

We ask HKB”H, the Shomer, “what’s with this endless night?”

And HKB”H replies אתא בקר וגם לילה, there has been day as well as night. We missed it.

We ask Hashem to reveal to us, that even though we have suffered so much in our Golus, we should be zoicheh to see how everything that happened was actually for our good, even when we didn’t see it.

We ask Hashem, that not only should our future be bright, but we also ask HKB”H to undo the suffering, which only He can do.

נחמו נחמו עמי

 

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