Forty-three years ago I made Aliya, and my first Shabbat in Eretz Yisrael was Shabbat Nachamu. My small family was assigned an apartment in the Merkaz Klita (Absorption Center) in Mevaseret Tziyon. It was a wonderful community of new OLIM with a marvelous view of the road up to Yerushalayim. But I was caught off guard when that week’s Haftorah was chanted, because it contained the following verse:

Ascend a lofty mountain, O herald of joy to Zion; Raise your voice with power, O herald of joy to Jerusalem; Raise it, have no fear; Announce to the cities of Judah: Behold your God! (Yeshayahu 40:9).

Many of you already know that the words ‘herald of joy to Zion’ in Hebrew is Mevaseret Tziyon. The ‘coincidence’ and the powerful message were overwhelming and I started to cry. Another, slightly less new immigrant from Los Angeles, put his hand on my shoulder and told me, ‘You’ll get used to the magic.’ I’m not sure I ever did. 

For those keeping score at home, the term MEVASERET also has cool translations into Greek and Old English. In Greek, it’s ‘euangelion’ (or evangelism); in Old English it is ‘godspel’ which later becomes ‘gospel’. The term (and the concept) travels well.

Before we dive deeper into this powerful and, clearly, inspiring expression, I think that it’s cool that Yeshayahu could be both the prophet of destruction in last week’s Haftorah, CHAZON, and the herald of hope in this week’s Haftorah NACHAMU, NACHAMU. I know that there’s a popular school........

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