Posted on July 24, 2026 by Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
Dear friends,
Last Shabbat was called Shabbat Chazon, so named for the fearful Haftarah that accompanies the Shabbat before Tishah B’Av – the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Hebrew calendar on which we mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and many other moments of anguish in our People’s history. On the night of Tishah B’Av, I joined members of our congregation and clergy and congregants from congregations all around New Jersey at Delaney Hall to bear witness to the human horrors going on there. Families being ripped apart, people being housed in inhumane conditions, and ICE agents showing blatant disregard for the human dignity of others–not only immigrants, but also the citizens gathered in peace outside the fence. I watched as an ICE agent driving a large white truck purposely drove through the crowd toward the gate at speed, very nearly striking several of us.
As I said in my d’var Torah last Shabbat, Pirkei Avot teaches that “in a place absent humanity, we must strive to be human” (Pirkei Avot 2:5). As we move beyond Tishah B’Av and into the weeks leading toward the High Holy Days, our tradition points us toward comfort. This Shabbat, the first after that solemn day, is called Shabbat Nachamu, Shabbat of Comfort, named for the Haftarah which comes from Isaiah 40: “Comfort, oh comfort My people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and declare to her that her term of service is over, that her iniquity is expiated; for she has received at God’s hand double for all her sins.” This is the first of seven Haftarot of Consolation, designed to hearten us in advance of the High Holy Days. This Shabbat also happens to be the Shabbat on which we read the words of the V’ahavta in the Torah, pointing us, as one People, toward love.
Tonight we will lean into that love, surrounding one another with words and songs of comfort and love.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Noah Diamondstein