{"id":67147,"date":"2019-12-17T17:24:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T15:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=67147"},"modified":"2023-07-14T15:34:52","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T12:34:52","slug":"comfort-for-the-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/comfort-for-the-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Comfort For The Suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[607,384,374,401,606,491],"acf":{"old_id":"67147","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":55057,"related_cahpter":"374","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"To live is to know pain\u00a0","content":"

Too many people I know are suffering, and I mean really suffering. One friend recently had a miscarriage. Another\u2019s father died way too young, less than a year after he was diagnosed with lung cancer. A third friend experienced the death of her parents and an in-law in a twenty-two month period. Still another is the victim of a blogging neo-Nazi, whose actions leave terror in her heart. Another faces cancer surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of these friends, to some extent or another, seek help from God. A few are quite religious; others are not. But they all have turned to God \u2013 the Divine, the Source, the Creator (ironically, not the <\/span>rofeh<\/span><\/em>, the healer) \u2013 whether extensively or as a small part of their overall healing, to help them cope with their pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah Chapter 40, verse 1, is one of the most well-known passages that suffering people turn to when they seek God\u2019s presence: <\/span>Nachamu nachamu ami yomar eloheichem<\/span><\/em>: <\/span><\/i>\u201cComfort, comfort My people, says your God.\u201d Many contemporary Jewish musicians have composed melodies for this verse, including Safam, Elana Arian, and Nashamah Carlebach. Music can stir the soul and open its many passages to allow in God\u2019s presence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Historically, in Isaiah Chapter 40, the Israelites have been exiled to Babylonia after the destruction of the First Temple. Their beloved city of Jerusalem has been leveled, and the holy place where they\u2019d felt a connection to the Divine is gone. En masse, they have been relocated to a foreign city in a foreign land among people who speak a foreign language and worship a foreign god. And so, Isaiah implores God to bring them comfort.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah continues his words to God in verse 2, \u201cSpeak tenderly to Jerusalem (the Israelites). Declare to her that her term of service [in exile] is over, that her sins have been pardoned.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The language is powerful, and yet it connects the pain of suffering with the commission of sin. This is a very difficult theology for most modern people, Jew or not, religious or not. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755, in which many children died when their school collapsed, challenged the theology that suffering is punishment from God for sin.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we read further into Chapter 40, Isaiah declares in verse 7, \u201cGrass withers, flowers fade when the breath of the Eternal blows on them. Indeed, the human is but grass.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

How can this provide comfort to the suffering? Perhaps the assertion of our universal humanity and frailty reminds us that we have not been singled out in our suffering. It is the way of all people. To live is to know pain. Not all the time, but in all life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":67148,"id":67148,"title":"is40-pain","filename":"is40-pain.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/comfort-for-the-suffering\/is40-pain\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is40-pain","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":67147,"date":"2019-12-17 15:23:37","modified":"2021-08-25 09:25:05","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Comfort For The Suffering","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"To live is to know pain\u00a0","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":67148,"id":67148,"title":"is40-pain","filename":"is40-pain.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/comfort-for-the-suffering\/is40-pain\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is40-pain","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":67147,"date":"2019-12-17 15:23:37","modified":"2021-08-25 09:25:05","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is40-pain-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67147"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116664,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67147\/revisions\/116664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}