A season for comfort and encouragement

We are in the season of consolation on the Jewish calendar – what Rabbi Lauren calls the “seven week ascent” from the depths of grief on Tisha B’Av to the celebration of a new beginning on Rosh Hashanah. It is indeed an ascent, but especially in these early weeks, it is more gentle than triumphant - we are stirring the energy to stand up from sitting, not planning our next mountain climbing expedition. Each week during this time, we read Haftorot meant to give us comfort and encouragement: Be comforted, my people; Arise, shake the dust from you, and clothe yourself in splendor; fear not, you will not be shamed or humiliated; your God will rejoice over you as though you were God’s betrothed.  If we call to mind our own experiences with loss and grief, we may especially appreciate the range of emotions addressed by the prophet Isaiah in these texts: first there is comfort for our grief, then encouragement to reclaim our sense of dignity, and finally a call to see ourselves as the beloved.  It takes time – much more than seven weeks, if we are being honest! But the ritual re-enactment of our people’s recovery through these texts reminds me, every year, that there is both grief and suffering and hope and recovery around us all the time. 

This Friday night, we have the great privilege of welcoming the Ukrainian family that our community has been helping to support as they find refuge here in Atlanta. Of course, their story is not quite the same as the story of our people. They are (Baruch Hashem!) not being held by the forces who have attacked their home, as we were brought to live in Babylon so many centuries ago. Their religious beliefs may not be tied to their homeland the way that ours are. But their faraway home is in ruins, and their loved ones are in danger, and they live each day with a level of fear and uncertainty that resonates deeply with the poems and songs – psalms and prayers – that grew up around our story, and have sustained us through innumerable hard times to this day.

I hope you’ll join us on Friday night for this special service. At the conclusion of our davening, our Ukrainian friends will offer some music for us, and then the entire community will come together to share the most beloved of comfort foods – ice cream! If weather permits, we will be in the courtyard so we can unmask. 

Bring your friends, bring your children. It will be beautiful. 

Dr. Amy