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August 16, 2024
This Shabbat is the first after Tisha b’Av, the culmination of the Jewish calendar’s three week period of mourning for the destruction of the ancient Temples in Jerusalem, and the many other catastrophes of Jewish history. Now, we turn our hearts toward the possibility of comfort and healing, with this first of seven Shabbatot (Sabbaths) preceding Rosh Hashanah known as Shabbat Nachamu, named for the haftarah (prophetic reading) for this Shabbat, which comes from the book of Isaiah. The first verse reads: “Nachamu, Nachamu Ami…” “Comfort, Comfort My people, says your God.” (Isaiah 40:1)
In this week’s Torah portion we find the central line of Jewish liturgy, less a prayer than a declaration, an injunction, a reminder…the Shema. “Listen, People of Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One.” This week I’m thinking about the connection of comfort and listening. Our world is noisier than ever, and with the volume and pace of the noise coming at us it can be so challenging to listen to ourselves and to each other. We need community more than ever; we need to remember that we are interconnected and interdependent – as a community, as a people, as a species, and as part of the entire created world. Listening is a sacred act that reminds us of our connectedness and manifests and strengthens our connectedness. When we take the time simply to breathe and listen to the beating of our own hearts and the “still small voice” within; when we take the time simply to sit face to face with another person and really hear them, we receive and we give comfort. The central human need is to be heard, to be known, to be understood. The medieval Torah commentator, Rashi, taught that “Shema” means more than “listen” — it means to deeply understand. The final letter of the word “Shema” is the letter ayin, and the final letter of the word “Echad” (one) is dalet. Ayin and dalet spell “Eid” – which means “witness.” For this reason, these letters are written larger and bolder in the Torah scroll in the verse “Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad.” When we listen, we witness one another. When we witness one another, in our joys, in our sorrows, in our despair and in our hope, we manifest and strengthen the connectedness that is the deepest truth of being human, and our very purpose in this world. I believe, inspired by the modern Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, that God is in the in-between of two people who are fully present and listening to one another. We do nothing less than bring the divine into this world when we are witnesses to one another, in our holy wholeness.
In these next seven weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah, I invite you to read with me a book called The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend our Broken Hearts and World by Rabbi Sharon Brous. Rabbi Brous beautifully expresses what it means to be in sacred community with one another and the centrality of listening, of being present and witnessing one another, bringing comfort to one another and ultimately to healing the world. She speaks of “[T]he transformative nature of showing up when we want to retreat, of listening deeply to each other’s pain even when we fear there are no words. Of grieving and rejoicing together…” Cantor Maayan Harel and I envision this as a “congregational read” for the community as we prepare to enter the new year, and we will have the opportunity to come together to discuss the book on Saturday morning, September 20th, at Shabbat Morning B’yachad. Please mark your calendars! From 9:30-11:00 that morning, we’ll have a delicious breakfast and share our thoughts and reflections on this beautiful book. We will listen to each other and in our listening, we will find comfort in community and strengthen our commitment to witness one another through the new year to come.
Rabbi Audrey Marcus Berkman
