Shabbat Nahamu, the first Shabbat after Tisha B’Av, marks a profound shift in tone on the Jewish calendar. After three weeks of mourning the destruction of Jerusalem, we are suddenly greeted with encouragement and hope. The haftarah from Isaiah (40:1-26) opens with the unforgettable words: “Nahamu, nahamu ami, yomar Elokeichem” – “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.”
The repetition of “nahamu” is striking. It is a double comfort, as if in response to a double sorrow, the destruction of the First and Second Temples, or perhaps the spiritual and physical anguish of exile. The pain has been so deep that the comfort must be profound and enduring. Indeed, both the Radak (Rabbi David Kimhi, 1160-1235) and the Metzudat David (Rabbi David Altshuler, 1687-1769) say that the word “nahamu” is repeated to give it added force.
In the haftarah, Isaiah speaks directly to a broken people, to a Jerusalem that has drunk from the cup of wrath. But now, God reassures the Jewish people: “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her time [of hardship] has been completed, her iniquity has been pardoned” (verse 2). The Targum Yonatan renders the phrase “her time has been completed” as, “she is destined to become full from the exiles” who shall return. Hence, this is a prediction both of future consolation and healing, as the Jewish people shall be reunited with Jerusalem.
The descriptions of Shabbat Nahamu haftarah
The imagery that follows is majestic: “A voice calls out in the wilderness: clear the way of the Lord,” which Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1040-1105) beautifully explains to mean: “clear the way of the Lord, the way of Jerusalem, for the exiles to return to her midst.” The landscape itself is to be transformed – valleys lifted, mountains flattened – symbolizing the end of any obstacles that might stand between the people and God. It is a vision of geographical return but also of spiritual renewal, for the path back to Zion is also the path back to ourselves, to our national purpose, to our faith.
Shabbat Nahamu begins a series of seven haftarot of consolation (Shiv’a D’Nehemta), carrying us from the ashes of Tisha B’Av to the awe of Rosh Hashanah. This progression is no accident. Just as we descended into national mourning with the three haftarot of rebuke preceding Tisha B’Av, so we now rise with seven stages of comfort, each lifting us higher, preparing us for teshuva and renewal.
The haftarah of Shabbat Nahamu reminds us that no tragedy is final, no exile eternal. God does not abandon His people, the people of Israel. But comfort is not a passive process. It requires active participation on our part. The prophet does not only say that God will comfort us – he calls on us to prepare the way. We are not merely recipients of divine compassion – we are partners in redemption. Our role is to bring comfort to one another: through kindness, through Torah, through rebuilding.
The Jewish people have never been strangers to suffering, but neither have we ever surrendered to it. Each generation finds itself in need of healing. Whether it is national trauma or personal grief, Isaiah gives us the road map forward: begin the process of return, remove the barriers and speak with love to a broken Jerusalem.
This Shabbat, we sit in synagogues with the somber tones of Eicha – of lamentation – having been sounded less than a week ago. But we are no longer bowed or in mourning. We stand straighter. We begin to hope again. “Nahamu, nahamu ami” – God is not distant. He is calling on us to be comforted. And to comfort one another.