July 28th, 2017 5th Av, 5777 This Shabbat happens to have a special name, as some do. Our tradition calls the Shabbat before Tisha bAv the Ninth of the month of Av, Shabbat Hazon, which means the Shabbat of Vision. This name was given to correspo
July 28th, 2017 5th Av, 5777 This Shabbat happens to have a special name, as some do. Our tradition calls the Shabbat before Tisha bAv the Ninth of the month of Av, Shabbat Hazon, which means the Shabbat of Vision. This name was given to correspo
July 28th, 2017 5th Av, 5777
This Shabbat happens to have a special name, as some do. Our tradition calls the Shabbat before Tisha b’Av (the Ninth of the month of Av), Shabbat Hazon, which means the Shabbat of Vision. This name was given to correspond to the first word of the haftarah that we’ll read tomorrow, which depicts the vision of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah looked at the state of the Israelites and knew that something wasn’t right; he saw that no one was carrying out acts of justice and that people weren’t caring for each other. Crime was rampant and the people were not unified as a nation. He knew that something cataclysmic was going to happen to Jerusalem and would bring destruction to the nation. Isaiah was right, which is why we read this haftarah on the Shabbat before Tisha b’Av, the day where we mark the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem over two thousand years ago. On the eve of Tisha b’Av, we chant the book of Eicha (Lamentations) which depicts the devastation that the Israelites went through. Its melody is as solemn and soulful as the words are raw, and we’ll read it sitting low to the floor and with flashlights. I hope you’ll join us on Monday evening at 8PM.
Yet, this Shabbat is also called Shabbat Chazon, the Shabbat of Vision, because it offers us some hope for the future. It offers us the reassurance that things will be better even if we don’t see it in the moment. It reminds us that woven into the fabric of what it means to be Jewish is the ideal that hope is possible.
A Hassidic master, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, offered another meaning to this Shabbat of Vision. He said that on this Shabbat, each of us is shown a vision of what can be built in the future. The purpose of this vision, he writes, is to instill in each of us a yearning for what can come in the future and the drive to make it possible. Indeed, this is a Shabbat of Vision. Despite this being a sad time on the Jewish calendar, I am excited to think about what we can build together. I am excited to envision the future together, to think about what is possible, and for each of us to be inspired to do our part.
