This week’s haftarah1 is the fourth haftarah of consolation. First came Nachamu Nachamu, the consoling through prophets, but that is not enough. We want the real thing, and so now G‑d Himself is doing the consoling.

The haftarah begins: “I, it is I, Who consoles you.”2 The Midrash on this verse says: “It is the way of a father to be compassionate . . . and it is the way of a mother to console . . . G‑d says, ‘I will do [both] that of the father and that of the mother.’ ”3 In other words, the double expression of “I, it is I,” means that G‑d will be compassionate, and He will also console us.

What is the difference between compassion (rachamim), and consoling (nechamah)? How will these two be expressed when Moshiach will come?

Both compassion and consolation are ways of dealing with a painful situation. The difference is that compassion brings us to dealing with the pain—fixing the problem so that it ceases to exist. With consoling, the issue remains; however, you are comforted, finding a way to cope with the pain.

The same is when Moshiach will come. First, there will be consoling, as we will intellectually understand that the suffering wasn’t in vain. But then the revelation will increase, bringing the resurrection of the dead, and we won’t need consoling anymore. For starters, we will be reunited with our loved ones, and even more, we will begin to see the world from G‑d’s perspective. We will see how everything we went through was good. In other words, the pain and suffering will not only cease to exist, it will be as if they were never there to begin with.

This is the difference between our perspective (seeing things from below) and G‑d’s perspective (seeing things from above). From above, everything is perfect; from below, things can be perceived as flawed. For example, gazing out at a beautiful expanse, you become taken with the breathtaking scene; it’s simply perfect. But if you actually take a walk through that beautiful expanse, then you begin to see flaws.

If you think about it, these flaws are also part of what makes the scenery so beautiful. So perhaps they are not flaws at all—just perceived flaws, which are truly perfection.

When Moshiach comes, we will see how everything is truly perfect. But you don’t have to wait for Moshiach to come to take on this perspective. The more you learn about G‑d, the more you are in tune with His view of things. This is why great tzaddikim remain happy through poverty and suffering. They are so aligned with G‑d that they don’t perceive the bad at all; from their perspective, everything is just right.4

We can take advantage of this way of thinking. When going through a difficult time, when G‑d hands you difficulties, you can see it as flawed and bad, or you can choose to see it from His perspective—that this, too, is perfect and good.

This is a lesson I learned from my mother. Growing up with my older brother Shalom, a boy with special needs, I never saw her treat him as anything less than perfect. It was not easy and is still not easy, but she sees him as the gift from G‑d that he is and understands that G‑d wanted her to mother him in the way that only she can.

May G‑d send Moshiach already. We are ready for the consoling, the compassion and the perfection. May it happen soon.

Dedicated to my beautiful and wonderful mother, whose birthday was this week. May she be blessed with many happy years to come.