"NACHAMU, NACHAMU”

R’ Yossi said, “I was once walking on the road and I entered the churvos (ruins) of Yerushalyim to daven. Eliyahu HaNovi came to me and he said, “My son, what voice do you hear in this ruin?” I said, “I hear a bas kol (Heavenly Voice) that hums like a dove and says, “Woe to the children that because of their aveiros I destroyed my House, I burned my House, and I exiled them between the nations of the world”.

Eliyahu said to R’ Yossi, “Chayeicha, I swear, not only in this hour, but every day, three times a day, it says that. And not only then, but when the Bnei Yisroel go into the batei midrashos and say, ‘Yehei Shemei rabboh’, Hakadosh Baruch Hu nods his head and says, ‘Happy is the king that they adore him so in his house. Also to the father that has exiled his children. And woe is to them, the children, that they have been exiled from their father’s table.” Brachos 3A

To be sure, Hashem wants to redeem all of His children. The path of redemption is sometimes difficult to discern. It can be that the various trials and tribulations which we experience that very well will be the reason for our ultimate redemption.

A father had two sons for whom he made beautiful clothes which were exactly alike in their appearance and design. When the children went out, they passed by a ledge that had many different cans of paint on it. Accidentally, one of the cans of pain tipped over and it fell on one of the boys, and his clothing was completely covered in paint. The second boy, however, only got a few spots where the paint had hit his garment. The one who was totally covered in paint and had ruined his garment had tremendous tza’ar, distress, and he cried a lot. The second brother, however, was happy that he only had a few small spots on his clothing and that it hadn’t been damaged as badly as his brother’s.

When they came home, the father saw what had happened and he recognized the distress and pain of the son whose clothing was totally ruined. The father called an expert tailor to make him new clothes. The second son, however, who only had a few stains, kept his original clothing.

It is apparent that the tza’ar, the pain and tears, of the first brother brought the yeshua, the salvation. As a result of the distress that he encountered he received brand new clothing. Similarly, as explained by the Ben Ish Chai, Hashem redeemed Bnai Yisoel from Mitzrayim at the last moment before they sank down to the lowest depths of spiritual impurity. As long as they still had hope that they would be able to occupy a place in the society of Mitzrayim, the redemption was held off. But when they were almost totally immersed in impurity, when they descended to the 49th gate of spiritual impurity, Hashem could not withhold the geulah any longer. We find that their descent to the lowest level was the very reason for the . Their spiritual pain and suffering is what brought about their redemption.

On Shabbos Nachamu, we are given a double consolation. We look forward to the complete redemption of B’nai Yisroel and in the rebuilding of the Bais HaMikdash. Perhaps it is because of all of the tzurus, the pain and suffering that B’nai Yisrael has encountered – not in spite of it, but because of it – we will merit Mashiach’s coming, speedily and in our days.