Letter & Spirit: The Meaning of ‘Hamokom Yenachem..’

In this week’s edition of Letter and Spirit, in honor of Shabbos Nachamu, we present a letter from the Rebbe in which he sends his condolences to the family of an academic who had a profound love for the Land of Israel. The letter was written in English through the Rebbe’s trusted secretary Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and was made available by the latter’s son-in-law, Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro.

The Rebbe explains the traditional phrase we use when comforting a mourner – “Hamokom yenachem eschem…” – and connects it to the comfort we experience after Tisha B’Av.

This weekly feature is made possible by a collaboration between CrownHeights.info and Nissan Mindel Publications. Once a week we publish a unique letter of the Rebbe that was written originally in the English language, as dictated by the Rebbe to Rabbi Mindel.

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                                                                                                                                    By the Grace of G-d

11 Av, 5740

Brooklyn, N.Y.

To the Bereaved Family of the late

Professor

New York, N.Y.

I was saddened to hear of the passing of your father, may he rest in peace, and extend to you sincere sympathy and the tradition blessing of condolence –

Hamokom yenachem eschem b’soch sh’ar aveilei Tzion vYrushalayim

The Almighty comfort you in the midst of all mourners for Zion and Jerusalem.

Since everything is by Divine Providence, and he was laid to rest on the day of TIsha b’Av – the day our Jewish people mourn the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash in Jerusalem, there is a special significance in this coincidence, as emphasized also in the said time-honored expression of condolence. For, by associating the loss of an individual Jew with the loss of all our Jewish people, it pointedly reminds everyone of us of the Jewish concept of “an individual is a whole world,” and that all our people share in the loss of a single Jew, even as we share in our great national loss.

At the same time, there is true comfort in the said expression, in that just as surely as G-d will fulfill His promise to restore the Bet Hamikdash and Jerusalem, with the coming of Mashiach and the final redemption of our people, so certain it is that “the dwellers in dust will rise and sing G-d’s praises.”

There is yet a further connection with Tisha b’Av is that this day calls upon every Jew to help rectify the cause of the national calamity – by strengthening his or her personal commitment to the way of the Torah and mitzvos in the everyday life. Hence, every additional effort in this direction is doubly meritorious: it provides true gratification to the soul of the dear departed that is now in the World of Truth and, at the same time, hastens the coming of Moshiach and the Resurrection of the Dead that is to follow it.

To conclude with a personal note. I vividly recall my meeting and conversation with your father some years ago. I was deeply impressed by his profound commitment to the security and wholeness of our Land of Israel and by his deep sense of identity with our Jewish people. I am confident that you will surely cherish this sacred legacy.

May you truly find solace in all above, and may G-d grant that henceforth you should not know sorrow, but only goodness and benevolence be with you always.

With blessing,

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The above letter is from the second volume of The Letter and the Spirit by Nissan Mindel Publications. The letters are from the archives of Rabbi Dr. Nissan Mindel, a personal secretary to the Previous Rebbe and The Rebbe, whose responsibilities included the Rebbe’s correspondence in English.

We thank Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro, director of Nissan Mindel Publications and the one entrusted by Rabbi Mindel, his father-in-law, with his archives, for making these letters available to the wider public. May the merit of the many stand him in good stead.