In light of the pain that struck the Jewish world this week via vandalism of our own doorstep...(see link below)
This shabbat we read the final portion of the Book of Leviticus, parshat B'chukotai. As is the practice for concluding each of the Five Books of Moses, the community will stand for the final verses of the book and say, “Chazak, Chazak v'nitChazek” (BeStrongandWewillbeStrengthened). For those present, it is a moment of great emotion and communal unity as we rise together, pronounce together, and bid farewell together to the book of the Torah that we have engaged with and which we will long for until we return to it next year. At that moment, there is a sense of standing again at Mt. Sinai; a band of folks from different houses, of various opinions, multiple styles and flavors who, by having a common ancestry and by sharing similar adversities at the hands of the non-Jewish world, forge a bond of brotherhood stronger than any pernicious force that others send our way. Indeed, as history has proven, the holiness of the Jewish People is predicated on us and no one else. Each and every community is a part of the connective interlocking tissue that serves to strengthen our People – no matter the malice of others or even our own, we will not waver in fulfilling the duty of our residence among the People Israel, in the Land of Israel, for the State of Israel.
To view news coverage of vandalism: Click Here
