The Torah's Isolation-Busters - Turning the Negative into Positive
31st July Shabbat Nachamu Edition Tisha B’Av, the Fast of the Ninth of Av is over for another year and tonight, we will enter Shabbat Nachamu – the Shabbat of Comforting. This is named after the first words of tomorrow’s Haftarah, where the Prophet Isaiah tells us: "נחמו נחמו עמי" -‘comfort, comfort My people, says Gd’ which introduces the Sheva Denechamata, the seven Shabbatot of comfort between Tisha B’Av and Rosh Hashanah. Our discomfort this year has however lasted more than three weeks. We have seen our friends and families wracked, shattered and broken by the disease which seems to show no sign of abating in other parts of this country and the wider world. Tomorrow should have seen the end of lockdown as we know it, with wedding receptions being allowed to take place, alongside the opening of leisure centres such as bowling alleys and skating rinks. Unfortunately, as we see time and again, the disease dictates our agenda. How can we be comforted if we are still stri