A gutten Shabbos Nachamu.
A small note, if you don't mind. Over the last decade or so, Shabbos Nachamu has become increasingly more into a Yom Tov. It's almost as though people are so desperate to forget the period of availus over the Churban that just passed by. And while I don't know if there may be a source for celebrating Shabbos Nachamu, I still think it's important to not loose sight of where we are. We are still just as much in galus now as we were last Shabbos, as we entered Tisha B'av. And while we have completed the period of aveilus b'maaseh, we should not let ourselves get too distracted from our overall situation.
In the introduction to the Artscroll Kinnus, Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer wrote that he started working on the translation the day after Simchas Torah. Wanting to know how to get "in the mood" of kinnus at that time of the year, he called his father-in-law, Rav Mordechai Gifter. Rav Gifter told him that according to hashkafas haTorah, a Yid says kinnus the entire year. But the whole year, Rav Gifter explained, a Yid says kinnus silently. On Tisha B'av, we scream the words of kinnus.
I'm not advocating to remain in a foreboding mood our entire lives. I'm just saying that we should not forget that the Shechina is still in galus, and we should have just a drop less gusto when we sink our teeth into the 3" steak at the 10-piece kumzitz band at the side of the pool.
A gutten MEANINGFUL Shabbos Nachamu!
