VaEtchanan (I pleaded)
Deut. 3:23 - 7:11

     This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Nachamnu, which in English literally means Sabbath of "you shall be comforted".  The name comes from the beginning of the Haftorah for this week which begins in Isaiah 40:1 "comfort ye my people…".  It always occurs on the Shabbat following Tisha B'Av, the day set aside to mourn the sad events in the history of the Jewish people.  Following a time of fasting and sadness, we turn to God for comfort and joy.  The reason we can turn to God is because He gives us hope for the future.  In our Torah portion for this week,  Moses reminds the Israelites that they have a tremendous gift in the ten commandments and that the key to their success in the land is to live out the Torah and teach it to their children. In a fascinating book called A Letter in the Scroll by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, there is a chapter called "Exodus and Revelation".  The author says that the Jewish people are bound together by both fate and faith. The Exodus binds the Jewish people together by a common experience - freedom from slavery. However, it is the revelation at Sinai which bind the Jewish people together as a people of faith and hope. God entered into a covenant relationship with the people at Sinai.

In our Torah portion, Moses reminds the people of the hope that they have in their covenant relationship with God.  As they live out his Word, they will have victory in the land. The covenant relationship between Israel and God is a covenant of hope.  Israel is never alone. God has made a promise to his people which He will never break. Although we mourn the destruction of the Temples and we lament at the great sufferings of our people,  we know that we are never abandoned. God will never break His covenant. In the Torah portion, not only does Moses remind the people of the covenant stipulations (ie the Ten commandments), but He also instructs them to teach these important words to their children.  As a people, we have a responsibility of instilling this hope to the next generation. We do so by teaching them via our words and actions.
 
As messianic believers, we should be comforted to know that our relationship with God is unconditionally covenantal.  God will never abandon us and in our most difficult times, He will comfort us in our afflictions.   It is with the comfort that we receive that we can comfort others and communicate to others, the unconditional love that God has for us.

As we read, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. So on this Shabbat Nachamnu, may we receive comfort  knowing that there is always hope in the God of Israel.