Coming on the heels of the Three Weeks and Nine Days of mourning, culminating in Tisha B’Av, Shabbos Nachamu brings the Jewish nation a measure of comfort from all the sadness. Yes, we are still in exile, but we take comfort in our faith in G-d’s promise that He will redeem us.
To quote Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, venerable editor of the Yated Ne’eman:
Shabbos Nachamu says that next year on Tisha B’Av we will all be in Yerushalayim; we will all be singing and dancing. We will all be healed and suffering will come to an end. There will be no more kinnos, no need for those uncomfortable little benches; no more sadness; no more pain. The enemies who wreaked such havoc and caused such anguish will meet their downfall and be obliterated.
Not only will swords be beaten into plowshares; but tears will be twisted into smiles; pained features will come alive with happiness; the sad will be festive and mournful will be joyous.
It will be the last Tisha B’Av in golus. The last time kinnos were said. The last time the whole community sat in semi-darkness on the floor, shoeless, chair-less and clueless.
Watch how Shabbos Nachamu is celebrated in our very own Oorah camp, TheZone.
