WHAT MIGHT NAḤEIM MEAN FOR US?
Rabbi Jeff Hoffman
On Tisha B’ Av, the weekday Amidah blessing of Boneh Yerushalayim, The Builder of Jerusalem, is mostly replaced by Naḥeim,“ Comfort”. The blessing asks God to comfort the mourners of Jerusalem and to rebuild the city
An unusual facet of this Tisha B’ Av addition to the Amidah is that in the Ashkenazic rite, it is only added in the afternoon service of the fast day and not in the earlier evening or morning services. It is very unusual for the liturgy to mention a fast day or holiday in only one of its Amidot and not in all of them.
A common way of explaining a number of rituals on Tisha B’ Av is that until the afternoon service, Jews are like people who have suffered the death of loved one but haven’ t yet buried the relative, and so, are not ready to receive“ comfort;” in the afternoon, they are like people who have just buried the relative, and are open to comforting. 13 On the other hand, there is also a very old diametrically opposed viewpoint explaining that we recite“ Naḥeim” in the afternoon because the mood of the day actually grows more severe and painful as the close of Tisha B’ Av approaches because it was only then that our enemies introduced fire to the destruction of the Temples and Jerusalem. 14 Therefore, it is in the afternoon that our need for“ comforting” increases. This is an opinion that is usually
13
Menaoned by R. Avraham ben Nathan HaYarḥi( 1155-1215), Provence, in his Sefer HaManhig, Ḥilkhot Tisha B’ Av, 24-26. This noaon is also anributed to Ritva, Rabbi Yom Tov ben Avraham Ishvilli( ca. 1260-1320), Seville( as his surname indicates) by R. Yosef Karo in his Bet Yosef commentary to Arba’ ah Turim, Oraḥ Ḥayyim 557, s. v., Vekhatav. See Rabbenu Yom Tov ben Avraham Ishvili, She’ eilot U’ Teshuvot, ed., Rabbi Yoseph Kapaḥ( Jerusalem, 1959) # 63, p. 70.
14
Rabbi Yosef Karo in his Bet Yosef commentary to Arba’ ah Turim, Oraḥ Ḥayyim 557, s. v., Vekhatav.
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