Nachamu nachamu ami – “Comfort, comfort My people” (Isaiah 40:1). With these words we begin the shiva denechemta, the seven haftarot of consolation that carry us from Tisha B’Av to Rosh Hashana.

At the very outset, it is striking that the word nachamu is repeated. This doubling is not unique to our haftarah. Across these seven weeks, words of consolation repeatedly appear in pairs. The haftarah for Parshat Shoftim opens, “It is I, I who comfort you” (51:12), while the haftarah for Nitzavim declares, “I shall rejoice, rejoice in the Lord” (61:10). This insistent language of consolation demands explanation.

At a basic level, the repetition denotes intensification. The coming redemption will be so all-encompassing and overwhelming that the words must double to match its scale. But I believe there is an even deeper message embedded here: the word nachamu appears twice because there are two distinct parties in need of comfort.

The first, obviously, is the Jewish people. We are the ones who were exiled, who watched the Temples burn, and who have carried the painful weight of that loss and subsequent persecutions across centuries. But there is a second party in need of consolation, and that is God Himself. Because we have........

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