Parshat Vaetchanan/Shabbat Nachamu: A flash of light
Shabbat Nachamu, immediately following Tishah B’Av and always coinciding with Parshat Vaetchanan, takes its name from the opening verse of its Haftarah: “Nachamu Nachamu Ami – Be comforted, be comforted, O my people” (Isaiah 40:1).
Shabbat Nachamu’s eponymic verse is featured in Perek Shira, a rapturous ancient text of unknown authorship, in which 85 different elements of creation (the heavens, the sun, rivers, the goose, the scorpion, the elephant, the dog, etc.) are said to offer praise to God, together producing a universal symphony of sacred song. By way of lyrics, most of the 85 intone biblical passages, primarily from Psalms. For example:
“The heavens say: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God…’” (Psams19:2).
“The fish say: ‘The voice of the Lord is upon the waters…’” (Psalms 29:3).
One of my favorites: “The dogs say: ‘Come! Let us prostrate ourselves and bow; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker” (Psalms 95:6). Picture a dog, rising from an extended period of inactivity, standing anew on all fours, reclaiming wakefulness by stretching out its body and extending its front paws out along the ground in front of it, thus approximating a deferential bow!
Most of the “singers” in Perek Shira are readily identified and neatly fit the verse assigned them. In the section devoted to flying creatures (rooster, hen, eagle, fly, locust), however, is included a species of elusive identity, referred to in Hebrew as “Retzifi” (resh-tzadi-[yod]-feh-yod). “The Retzifi says: ‘Nachamu Nachamu Ami – Be comforted, be comforted, O my people.’”
Debate as to the nature of this winged creature abounds. In the Schottenstein edition of Perek Shira, Rabbi Nosson Scherman, general editor of Artscroll/Mesorah publications, notes:
“This is the most obscure of all the creatures in Perek Shira. In fact, R’ Yaakov Emden (1697-1776) writes that he scoured all of Torah literature and did not find a reference to this word.”
Perhaps that was overstating the case. The “Retzifi” is, in fact, mentioned in the commentary of Rabbeinu Chananel (c. 980-1055) to Shabbat 80b/81a. He there identifies an avian species (“Tziltzalta” in Aramaic, defined by Rashi simply as “a small bird”) as “from among the various kinds of doves: in Rabbinic parlance, ‘Retzifi.’” Given the dire dearth of data, documented by Yaakov Emden, “in Rabbinic parlance” must be understood as an early reference to Perek Shira.
Accordingly, in his commentary on Perek Shira, “Knaf Renanim” (1842), Hanoch Zundel Luria translates Retzifi into Yiddish as “shvalb” — meaning swallow.
Shmuel Ben-Tzion Kraines (“The Song of Existence”) identifies Retzifi as the laughing turtledove. The director of Israel’s Biblical Museum of Natural History, Rabbi Natan Slifkin (“The Circle of Life”), accedes to this translation, having identified the Retzifi as the bat in his earlier work! The Schottenstein edition maintains the translation as bat.
The assertion that bats somehow exemplify or embody comfort, is, to my thinking, an unconvincing flight of fancy, forced at best.
The root resh-tzadi-feh, in which Retzifi finds its origin, has the primary meaning of “to glow” (see Brown-Driver-Briggs’ lexicon of the Bible): to burn, to flash, to luminesce. Consider the singularly apt attestation of this root in Isaiah’s call to prophecy (6:6) — “One of the Seraphim flew to me with a ‘Ritzpah’ — a glowing coal (others, ‘a live coal,’ ‘a burning coal,’ ‘an ember,’ ‘a glowing stone’) — that he had taken with tongs from the Altar.”
“Retzifi” takes the adjectival form of this verb root — alight, flashing, shining, aglow, luminescent. A close semantic equivalent of Retzifi in English usage is “Lampyrid” (literally, “one that glows”) from the Greek “lampir,” meaning “to shine” — whence “lamp.” The plural of Lampyrid is Lampyridae (the “-idae” suffix indicates “family” — as in Maimonides, Nachmanides, Gersonides, etc.). “Lampyridae” is the scientific classification for the family of flying insects that are bioluminescent: glowing like lamps. The term encompasses nearly 2000 discrete species of fireflies (or “lightning bugs,” depending on your regional linguistic preference!).
The seasonal connection of Lampyridae — fireflies — to Isaiah 40:1 supports the identification of Retzifi as this family of insects. The verse’s primary liturgical function, inaugurating the haftarah for this Shabbat, falls definitionally during the summer, precisely when fireflies are in evidence.
Furthermore, Shabbat Nachamu has long been associated with romance and matchmaking. This reflects the renewed, luminous hope that follows the dark mourning associated with Tishah B’Av, and the proximity of Shabbat Nachamu to Tu B’Av and its association with courting (See Ta’anit 4:8). In fact, Tu B’Av not infrequently coincides with Shabbat Nachamu itself, as it did in 2008, 2021 and 2025.
The bioluminescent activity of fireflies, it is well documented, is the central element of Lampyrid mating rituals. Males luminesce, flash, and glow (generally in the very last days or weeks of life) in an effort to provoke an amatory response from a suitable mate, thereby to perpetuate the species. It is reported that female fireflies react with a more receptive and eager willingness to those male “suitors” with a longer duration of luminescence, apparently deemed to indicate virile stamina and masculine vitality!
The august concordance of the Hebrew Bible by Solomon Mandelkern (1896) suggests that Retzef/Ritzpah may be closely connected to Reshef (resh-shin-feh), meaning “flames” or “burning coals,” specifically citing Song of Songs 8:6 — “For love is strong as death… the flashes thereof are flashes of fire [Rishfei Eish]” (American Standard Version). Or, as the King James Version renders the passage: “For love is strong as death… The coals thereof are coals of fire.”
Song of Songs’ related phrase, “Ratzuf Ahavah” (3:10) is understood by the 15th-century commentary Tzror Ha-Mor as “Ahavah Rotachat” — literally, “boiling love” — suggesting an urgent drive, a burning, fiery passion. That the Isaiah verse associated throughout the ages with a time of ritual romance should be attributed to the firefly and its own ardent “flashes of fire” makes perfect sense.
The etymological, entomological, calendrical, and canonical evidence that Perek Shira’s “Retzifi” is the firefly is, I am persuaded, compelling.
Accuracy in translation — especially in our study of sacred texts — is no trivial matter. As Mark Twain put it, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
So, if, on this Shabbat Nachamu, you see fireflies lighting up the summer night, “Be comforted!” Creation itself is — if but for one brief shining moment –—singing to you (and to the Almighty) of joyous, confident faith: conveying its assurance that light will dispel the darkness, that life triumphs over death, and that love is stronger than hate and fear, transcending even catastrophic loss.
Tishah B’Av is behind us. Tu B’Av is but days away.
It’s enough to make the heart glow.