Tidbits of Torah

Hope, Strength, and Courage!

Shabbat Parashat VaYelekh

Shabbat Shuva

October 8, 2016 – 6 Tishrei 5777

Dear Friends,

As we progress through the Asseret Yemei Teshuvah [the Ten Days of Repentence] that connect Rosh HaShana to Yom Kippur – hope, strength, and courage are the uplifting and motivational spiritual watchwords that light our way through this special Jewish season.

At the closing of the Penitential Psalm, Psalm 27, we repeat the words: Kaveh el Adonai, Chazak v’y’ametz libecha, v’kaveh el Adonai [Place your hope in Adonai; be strong and have courage; and place your hope in Adonai].

If hope alone were enough, we would not need the additional blessings of strength and of courage. In truth we need all three: hope, strength, and courage!

In our weekly Torah portion, VaYelekh, Moses introduces Joshua to the people as his successor – as the leader who will accompany the people into the Land of Israel. Moses says to the people: Chizku v’Imtzu [Be strong and have courage (both verbs are in the plural form)]. And to Joshua, he says: Chazak v’ematz [Be strong and have courage (both verbs are in the singular form].

These words of encouragement, along with a message of hope in regard to the future, are Moses’ final legacy to our people, and to each of us as individuals.

These words of encouragement, along with a message of hope, resonate in the words of the Penitential Psalm that we recite twice daily during this season.

And these words of encouragement, along with a message of hope, are the words that have the power to help us to meet the challenges of the future with faith and with action that will combine into a powerful blessing for all.

Particularly during this season of teshuva, of repentance or of return, I wish all of us the powerful blessings of hope, of strength, and of courage! And, as we near Yom Kippur, I pray that we, and our loved ones, be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.

Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova U’metukah [a good and a sweet new year]!
Rabbi Gilah Dror