Parsha Va’etchanan Shabbas Nachamu Chasidic Torah thought Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz

Welcome to this week's Torah lesson. This week's Torah portion is Parshas Va'etchanan. The question of the week is, why does God have to give us a double comfort, Nachamu Nachamu? So, in this week's Torah portion, Parshas Va'etchanan, we have the Haftorah where it says, Nachamu Nachamu Ami. And the question the Rebbe asks is, why a double comfort? What's wrong with one comfort? If it's from God, one comfort is good enough. And the Rebbe explains based on the Medrash that the Jewish people cried twice, once for the destruction of the first Temple, and the second time for the destruction of the second Temple. So, God's comforting us for the first Temple and for the second. But, the Rebbe says, one second. The first Temple, the light was much greater. Matter of fact, in the second Temple, five things were lacking. So, if God comforts us for the lack of the light in the first, it covers the second. And the Rebbe says, that's true. However, we know that when you have an upgrade and you have a downgrade, anytime there's a downgrade, the greater the downgrade, the upgrade's going to be much greater afterwards. So, in other words, since the second Temple the downgrade was so low, it was a much greater destruction, so therefore, the elevation is going to be much higher. So, the answer to the question, why is God have to give us two comforts? The first comfort is, yes, for the first Temple. Why? Cuz the light was much greater. So, God's comforting us we don't have the light. The second comfort is because the second Temple, it's for the second Temple. It was such a tremendous downgrade for the Jewish people, so he's comforting us and telling us, "Don't worry. The light is going to be even much more powerful and much more grateful." Thanks so much for joining us for our weekly Torah lesson. This week's Torah lesson dedicated to memory of Baruch Menachem Aryeh Leib Yosef ben Rochel bas Leah and Chaim ben Masada. And my father, Reb Leib ben Reb Mordechai ben Reb Aryeh Leib Hertz, of blessed memory. May their souls be elevated by which Torah we're studying in their memory. For more information, please see our website, chabadsw.org. Have a great and blessed week. Shabbat tov.