Va’etchanan: Shema Israel as a central idea in our faith life

Jerusalem, August 16, 2024

Jerusalem, August 16, 2024

Jerusalem, August 16, 2024

Jerusalem, August 16, 2024

Jerusalem, August 16, 2024

Jerusalem, August 16, 2024

The nickname for this Shabbat is ‘Shabbat Nachamu’ (Shabbat of Comfort) and takes its name from the Haftarah, where it says: “Comfort, comfort my people”
The prophet says: “As a people? Israel paid double for her sins! The time for comfort has come!” Especially this year and this week, we read these verses with added meaning and invite you, dear friends of Israel from all over the world: join us in reading and proclaiming: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” (Isaiah 40:1-3)

The New Testament opens our eyes to recognize that voice in the wilderness: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” (…) Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Matthew 3:1-6)