Weekly Torah Gatherings – Wed 8/10

“How” a destroyed Temple might have appeared — should it have been spared  . . . 

This Shabbat (Sabbath) is ‘Shabbat Nachamu’ — which, considering the historical and commemorative stories of this immediate last month, has come pretty much in the nick of time, however perhaps too late for this generation . . .

Isaiah Chapter 40 יְשַׁעְיָהוּ

א  נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ, עַמִּי–יֹאמַר, אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.	1 Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God.
>ב  דַּבְּרוּ עַל-לֵב יְרוּשָׁלִַם, וְקִרְאוּ אֵלֶיהָ–כִּי מָלְאָה צְבָאָהּ, כִּי נִרְצָה עֲוֺנָהּ:  כִּי לָקְחָה מִיַּד יְהוָה, כִּפְלַיִם בְּכָל-חַטֹּאתֶיהָ.  {ס}	2 Bid Jerusalem take heart, and proclaim unto her, that her time of service is accomplished, that her guilt is paid off; that she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins. {S}
ג  קוֹל קוֹרֵא–בַּמִּדְבָּר, פַּנּוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְהוָה; יַשְּׁרוּ, בָּעֲרָבָה, מְסִלָּה, לֵאלֹהֵינוּ.	3 Hark! one calleth: ‘Clear ye in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make plain in the desert a highway for our God.

Some comfort there, perhaps one could get more comfort from a bottle of Southern Comfort . . .

It is the first of seven ‘haftarot of consolation’ leading up to the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It occurs on the first Shabbat following Tisha B’Av.

“Well what a relief that is” . . . hardly speaks to the generation after ‘the War‘ (I think you know which one I refer to).

Hope to see everyone at 7:00 PM this evening!

Warm regards,

R’ Seth