The surprising connection between Shabbos Nachamu, “Shema Yisrael,” and the wall swifts that return every year to the Western Wall.
Every year, a unique and moving ceremony takes place at the Western Wall. It is not a Bar Mitzvah celebration or a national event. It is a welcoming ceremony… for the wall swifts. The event marks the return of these remarkable birds from Africa and the beginning of a new nesting season. People gather to welcome them back to their nests hidden within the ancient stones of the Wall.
After a migration of approximately 4,500 kilometers from East Africa, they return to the Western Wall to nest in the crevices between its ancient stones. These birds usually arrive around the middle of February and remain in Israel for about three and a half months, until early June, during their nesting and breeding season.
The swift is one of nature’s most extraordinary birds. It can live for more than twenty years, reach speeds of over 200 kilometers per hour, and spend almost its entire life in the air. It catches insects while flying, drinks while in flight, and even sleeps in the air. In fact, it lands for only one reason: to lay eggs and care for its young.
Swifts are also known for their remarkable loyalty. They remain with the same mate for many years, and every spring they return from Africa to the exact same nest they used the previous year.
The Western Wall is the largest and oldest nesting site in the world for wall swifts. The birds nest in the cracks between the massive stones, where they find ideal conditions: an ancient, towering structure and warm air currents rising from the Western Wall Plaza that help them easily reach their nests. Every spring, visitors can hear their sharp calls as they dart swiftly above the plaza. For many people, it is simply background noise, but for researchers it is evidence of a tradition that has continued for countless generations.
Several years ago, a joint study conducted with experts from Germany identified 88 active nests hidden among the stones of the Western Wall, making it one of the largest and most famous swift colonies in the world.
According to the researchers, swifts depend on tall structures because their legs are too short to allow them to take off from the ground. When they leave the nest, they first drop several meters before spreading their wings and taking flight. The height of the Western Wall and the many crevices between its stones provide them with an ideal and safe nesting place.
Lift Up Your Eyes
As we know, every Shabbos, in addition to the weekly Torah portion, we also read the Haftorah. Usually there is a direct connection between the Parsha and the Haftorah. For example, Parshas Shelach tells the story of the spies sent by Moshe, while the Haftorah tells the story of the spies sent by Yehoshua. This pattern continues throughout the year. Sometimes the connection is obvious, while other times it takes a little deeper thought to uncover it.
But every rule has its exception.
Beginning with the Three Weeks, from the Seventeenth of Tammuz through Tisha B’Av, and continuing until Rosh Hashanah, we read ten special Haftorahs that are connected not to the weekly Torah portion but to the season itself.
During the Three Weeks, we read three Haftorahs of rebuke, focusing on the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. After Tisha B’Av, we begin seven Haftorahs of consolation, in which G-d comforts the Jewish people and promises the future redemption. That is why this Shabbos is called Shabbos Nachamu, after the opening words of the Haftorah: “נחמו נחמו עמי יאמר אלוקיכם”. These seven weeks of comfort continue until Rosh Hashanah.
The Rebbe, however, points out that if a particular Haftorah is read on a specific Shabbos, there must also be a connection to that week’s Torah portion. Sometimes we simply need to look a little deeper to discover it.
In the maamar Basi Legani (10 Shevat 5722), the Rebbe quotes the explanation of the Rebbe Maharash:
The Rebbe Maharash explains that the verse, “שאו מרום עיניכם וראו מי ברא אלה,” calls upon every Jew to contemplate G-d’s creation. Through this reflection, a person can come to the awareness expressed in “Shema Yisrael, G-d is our G-d, G-d is One.” The word Shema, he explains, is an acronym for “Se’u Marom Eineichem” (“Lift up your eyes on high”). By lifting our eyes and contemplating creation, we come to recognize G-d’s absolute oneness on the highest level.
The verse, “שאו מרום עיניכם וראו מי ברא אלה,” teaches us to lift our eyes and contemplate G-d’s creation. How does this connect to the weekly Torah portion? In Parshas Va’eschanan we encounter, for the first time in the Torah, the most famous verse in Jewish history: “שמע ישראל ה’ אלוקינו ה’ אחד”.
The Rebbe explains that the word “שמע” is an acronym for “שאו מרום עיניכם”. In other words, what does “Shema Yisrael” ask of us? How does a Jew come to recognize that “G-d is our G-d, G-d is One”? By lifting our eyes upward. We should not become completely absorbed in ourselves and our daily worries. Instead, we should lift our eyes and reflect on the incredible world that G-d created.
What is the difference between a human being and an animal? An animal always walks with its head facing downward, focused only on what is directly in front of it and on the ground. A human being, by contrast, was created to stand upright, able to lift his head and look upward.
When we look up and observe the heavens, we see the stars, the birds soaring through the sky, and the remarkable wisdom that G-d placed within every one of them. Among them are the migrating birds. G-d implanted within them this extraordinary ability that no matter how far they travel, they never forget where home is. Year after year, they return to the exact same place.
The truth is, you do not have to visit the Western Wall to witness this remarkable phenomenon. You can see it anywhere in the world, if you simply lift your eyes.
And that reminds us of our own mission. No matter where life takes us, no matter where we may live or what we may do, we must never forget where our true home is. Our home is Judaism, the Torah, the Jewish people, and G-d. And no matter how far we travel, we must always know how to come home.
May we very soon merit the fulfillment of the prophecy, “מי אלה כעב תעופינה וכיונים אל ארובותיהם.” (ישעיהו ס, ח. Just as the dove instinctively returns to its dovecote, so too will the Jewish people return from every corner of the world to the Land of Israel, drawn home by a deep and natural connection to their true home and their source, with the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our days.
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