The Lord Is My Shepherd – This Comforts Me
Published: August 19th, 2016
So where will you be on Shabbos Nachamu, the most widely vacationed Shabbos of the summer, judging by all the advertisements found in major Jewish publications?
Hopefully, no matter where you are, you will have the presence of mind to pay close attention to the haftarah, which is explicitly designed to provide comfort to us. Nachamu, nachamu ami.
As we read the haftarah, there seems to be one specific idea in regards to comfort that Yeshaya HaNavi is trying to get across to us:
“A voice calls, ‘In the desert, clear the path for Hashem, smooth out the wilderness, and make a road for our Lord’… The glory of Hashem shall be revealed, and all people together shall see that the mouth of Hashem spoke… The grass will dry out, the blossom will wither, but the word of our Lord will last forever… Behold the Master, Hashem, will come strongly and His arm makes dominion for Him, behold the reward He grants is with Him, and His compensation is before Him… Like a shepherd, He tends his flock, with His arm he gathers lambs, and in His chest He carries them, and He guides the nursing ones” (Yeshaya 40:3, 5, 8, 10, 11).
Throughout the perek, the navi describes the greatness of Hashem Yisbarach and His tender loving care and concern for His people, Klal Yisrael.
What then is the comfort? Where is the Nachamu, nachamu, ami? Is all the suffering explained? Are the tragedies and destructions of Yeshaya’s times and throughout our history understood? Does Yeshaya explain the Holocaust?
The answer is a resounding no.
Still, Yeshaya is describing the only solution that can allow us to sustain our faith despite all the questions we have and crises of faith that we experience.
Here is Yeshaya’s answer.
G-d is great.
G-d is All-Powerful.
G-d loves us.
G-d is our Shepherd.
And though we don’t usually understand His ways, He knows what He is doing.
One day we will understand; one day all the roads and highways will be cleared. There will be no distractions, no “natural” or “historical” explanations, no other roads to the path of truth. There will only be Hashem who will allow us to understand His ways, how He accounts for all world history with His perfectly-just system of reward and punishment. He will show us that He has always been our Shepherd and we His treasured and beloved flock.
This is Yeshaya’s message for hope and consolation.
Perek 23 of Tehillim, Mizmor LeDovid Hashem Ro’ee lo echsar, Hashem is my Shepherd, I do not lack anything, describes the acceptance of punishment and suffering as being from Hashem. It teaches that we must have bitachon and trust that it is in our best interest to suffer as atonement for sin or for other Divine reasons that we don’t comprehend. This is what is meant by (23:4) Shivtecha umishantecha heimah yenachamuni, Your stick and Your rod – they comfort me. We take comfort in the fact that all suffering comes from Him.
The Baal Shem Tov (Tzava’as HaRivash 2) taught the following explanation of the pasuk, “Shivisi Hashem l’negdi samid, I have placed Hashem before myself continually” (Tehillim 16:8). The word shivisi is related to the word hishtavus, meaning composure, equanimity and self-control. Whatever happens to a person should feel the same to him. It’s all from Hashem Yisbarach. Whether something good or bad happens, it’s something which Hashem is allowing to occur. In all circumstances one should say, “Does this not come from Hashem? And if this is proper in His eyes, should it not be acceptable to me?” Whatever happens should make no difference from one’s own standpoint; it should all be shaveh, equal to him because it is all from Hashem. With this approach, one can have a more serene self-control when dealing with the challenges and tests Hashem throws our way.
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