Ready and Waiting

During these weeks, as we read the sheva d’nechemta, the series of seven haftaros intended to convey a message of consolation to Klal Yisrael after the Three Weeks and Tishah B’Av, we might ask ourselves what Hashem’s consolation really means.

We’re all familiar with the opening line of the first haftarah, “Nachamu, nachamu ami — Console, console My nation” (Yeshayahu 40:1). What, in fact, is the consolation? Perhaps the doubling of the word “nachamu” is keyed to another doubling, in the opening words of the haftarah for parshas Shoftim just a few weeks from now. “Anochi, Anochi, Hu menachemchem — It is I, it is I, Who consoles you” (Yeshayahu 51:12). Why two Anochis for the One and Only G-d? And why the switch from first person (Hashem is saying “It is I”) to the third person (“He will console you”), as if this isn’t Hashem speaking?

The Malbim (Bereishis 27:19) explains that the word “ani” is used in a sentence where the speaker’s intent is to impute actions or adjectives to himself, with a focus on what the speaker is doing. “Anochi,” by contrast, puts the emphasis on the speaker’s person, denoting that it is he, and he alone, of whom he speaks. Ani would be used to say, “I am going to the store,” while anochi is appropriate for saying, “I am going to the store.”

When Hashem tells Yeshayahu Hanavi “It is I, it is I, Who consoles you,” those words also contain the substance of the consolation itself. Hashem doesn’t need to do anything to console us, for He — that is, His Presence with us, next to us, within us — is the essence of the consolation. Hashem points to Himself, and says “Anochi, Anochi,” it is Me, just Me alone, “hu menachemchem,” that is the very consolation itself.