Moving from Certainty to Possibility (Shabbat Nachamu)
Last week, Tisha B’av, a holiday we mourn the destruction of the first and second Jerusalem Temples, focused our attention on the ways our world is broken. These days we hear dire predictions about climate change, rising COVID cases, threats to voting rights, the list goes on…
Our modern prophets of doom — news outlets, even friends and family, seem so certain about the future. At times, this certainty makes us feel helpless to actually do anything.
Tonight begins Shabbat Nachamu, named for the first of seven haftarot of consolation leading up to our new year, Rosh Hashanah. This week, Isaiah, (who also starts off as a prophet of doom) shifts his tone: between now and Rosh Hashanah, he brings us words of redemption, peace, and hope for the future.
This Shabbat, our haftarah begins:
נַחֲמ֥וּ נַחֲמ֖וּ עַמִּ֑י / Comfort, oh comfort
My people, Says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
And declare to her…
That her iniquity is expiated. (Isaiah 40:1-2).
In these words, we can hear Isaiah speak across time, saying: though the horizon is still dim with smoke, and a flurry of headlines from your 24/7 news cycle, the hard times you had are coming to an end. Pay attention now to the bigger picture in which all of this is unfolding. In life’s great mystery -- in all we cannot know about the future and might yet be able to do – there lies vast hope.
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We can all think of times when our own dire predictions did not come true, right? When healing and transformation came from unexpected places. Isaiah encourages us this week to let go of our certainty, and instead open to possibility. He pleads with us to take a break from predictions of doom and gloom: watch less CNN, don’t read as much of the New York Times, politely shorten your conversations with cynical friends!
Negative predictions provide us with a false and dangerous surety — distract us from what we can do to build the just and loving world our grandchildren, and their grandchildren are counting on us give them. As we approach a new year, and all we hope to see and do, Isaiah reminds us that the future is still in our hands:
What is one small step you can take before Rosh Hashanah to move humanity toward a world redeemed? Volunteering your time or money to a cause you believe in? Offering a little more love and attention to a friend or family member in their moment of need? Reconnecting with someone you love but have lost touch with?
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The last words we heard on Tisha B’av, and again encounter during High Holidays are: Chadeish yameinu k’kedem / renew our days as of old: kedem means ancient – but also has in it kadima – which means, onward, forward! Rabbi Arthur Waskow renders this line not “Give us back the good old days,” but “Make our days full of newness, as You did long ago.”
As we approach Rosh Hashanah, opening to a future we do not yet know, and still have the power to shape, may we be blessed with inspiration to cast off the old voices of cynicism, and partner with God to renew our world for the sake of our grandchildren, and the wellbeing of all future generations.