This Shabbat is recognized by the name of “Shabbat Nachamu – Shabbat of consolation” because after Tisha b’Av we move into days of consolation – days of hope for redemption, repairing the loss we experienced.

This week’s Parasha is called Ve’etchanan, which contains the Ten commandments for the second time in the Torah. What is the connection of Shabbat Nachamu to the Ten Commandments that we are reading, ALWAYS on the Shabbat after Tisha b’Av?

As we all probably remember, Moses went up to Mount Sinai and stayed there for forty days and nights, at the end of which he came down from the mountain with the tablets of the Ten Commandments in his hands. Moses approached the camp of the Israelites and discovered that in his absence the Israelites had made a Golden Calf.

Their justification was that they felt lost following the disappearance of Moses in the mountain and they made a calf of gold treating it as a God.  They claimed the new idol as “These are your Gods Israel”.

Moses’ immediate reaction to the sight of the calf was extreme: “And he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them.”

The breaking of the tablets was an extreme step since the tablets were given to Moses by God.

It was an independent decision by Moses, who understood that there was no point in giving the tablets to the people of Israel when they are immersed in gross idolatry.

But the story of the tablets did not end there.  After that, Moses begged God to forgive the people of Israel for the sin of the calf, and following his prayer, the people of Israel were given an additional set of replacement of tablets.  The first tablets were broken, and the remaining second tablets were preserved in the temple.

In Shabbat Nachamu, which is always also Parashat ‘Ve’etchanan’, we read the text of the second tablets.  The second tablets are an expression of the ability to repair.  After the sin of the calf and the breaking of the tablets, it seemed that the people of Israel lost the chances of winning the divine tablets. But after Moses’ prayer, the second tablets were given and expressed the forgiveness that God gave to Am Israel.

The second Tablets are an expression of the possibility of repair, even of the worst situation.  Just as the sin of the calf was corrected and the relationship between God and the people of Israel was restored through the second tablets, so we believe that after Tisha b’Av mourning, a complete redemption will come, and we’ll return to the open and close relationship between God and us. A relationship that will be reciprocal and will lead us to a more spiritual life, Amen.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Refael Cohen