Healing

by Rabbi Lana Zilberman Soloway

Oseh shalom bimromav Hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol Israel.

May the one who brings peace on High bring peace to us and all of Israel.

These sacred words that we sing so often appear for the first time in the Biblical Book of Job, found in the Prophets section of the Hebrew Bible.

Job was a good and prosperous family man who suddenly faced horrendous disasters that took everything and everyone that he knew and loved. Numerous Bible interpreters explain that Job’s faith was tested, however, Job – struggling mightily to understand his situation – reflected on his despair but consistently remained devout.

This week, all of us are Job. Every single Jewish person and Jewish family. We collectively share the sense of loss of so many of our extended family members, whether we know the deceased in person, heard about them from friends, or read about them in the news. Just like Job, we are hurting so intensely.

I would like to offer a different approach to reconcile Job’s pain and our own pain. This interpretation does not understand our painful experiences as the result of a test created by the Holy One.

Can we open ourselves to the possibility that the Holy One was hurting alongside Job and that God is in pain with us now?  A God who is crying alongside us is not testing our sacred Brit (our covenant) with the Holy One, rather, since God is in pain with us, then the strength of our relationship allows us to turn to the Holy One for comfort.  

When the words of Oseh Shalom entered into Jewish liturgy in the 6th century, Jews around the world added more words to this peace-seeking prayer. Yemenite Jews, as they turned to the Holy One, added powerful words, asking for comfort:

Yenachamenu b’Tzion v’ivne b’rachamav et Yerushalaim, b’Chayeinu u’b’yameinu, b’karov. Amen and Amen.

May the Holy One grant us nechama (comfort) and in Your mercy may Zion/Jerusalem/Israel be rebuilt again, in our lifetime, in our generation, soon. Amen and Amen.

What many of us need more than anything at this terrible time of mourning is Nechama (comfort) and consolation. The Yemenite Jews teach us that we can ask the Holy One to grant us that, to ease the turmoil to our hearts.

Longago, the Holy One promised our people to stand by our side, to be with us in our pain, but then to show us the path through the tunnel of darkness to the light at its end. May the words of prophet Jeremiah (chapter 31) provide a bit of the nechama, (comfort) that we are desperately seeking:

The Eternal One appeared to us in the past, saying:

The people who survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness;

I will come to give rest to Israel.

I have loved you with an everlasting love; 

I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

I will build you up again,

and you, Israel, will be rebuilt.

Let us continue reciting words of peace,  asking for comfort, and, God willing, may peace prevail. Amen. 

Oseh Shalom bimromav Hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol Israel. May the One who brings peace on High, bring peace to us and all of Israel.

And may the Holy One grant us nechama (comfort) and in Your mercy may Israel be rebuilt again, in our lifetime, in our generation, soon, Amen.