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Parashat Beshalach: In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Get Going!

March 12 , 2021

Parashat Vayakheil-P’Kudei: Chazak Chazak

 

The first warm day in the Berkshires is a cause for celebration, and we had ours this week. There is a different kind of energy in the air. Neighbors emerge from their homes to walk or play in the yard. The mountains of snow begin to melt as the sun is strong enough to finally send them on their way. And smiles return to the faces of the people you pass in the street - even behind a mask!

Even if you’re currently out of state and somewhere warm, you have experienced the relief and the hope of this first sunny day. While we are all wise to the unpredictability of spring in New England, we know that pleasant weather is eventually on its way to stay. We emerge from hibernation, ready to take on the world in a new way.

The COVID pandemic has only intensified both the challenges and isolation of the winter and the release and joy so many of us felt on the first warm days this week. While this week’s service coincides with one year exactly of virtual Shabbat gatherings, quarantines and lock downs, the warm weather and recent news announcements about the growing availability of vaccines are giving us hope. We are reacquainting ourselves with that funny, perhaps unfamiliar feeling called optimism. And we are feeling a renewed sense of strength.

This week’s Torah portion, a double parasha, concludes the book of Exodus. While we don’t know the origin of the tradition, we have a practice of reciting three words when we conclude a book of Torah: Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazeik. Be strong, be strong, and we will strengthen each other.

This week, one year into the pandemic, the first week of sunshine and warmth, a week when many of our spirits about the eventual end of the pandemic were lifted - this week felt, in many ways, like concluding a book of the Torah.

We know that winter weather in the Berkshires is not completely over, and we know that the pandemic has not yet concluded. But at this one year marker, we mark this time and look forward with strength.

Chazak - our community has shown so much strength. Throughout the entire pandemic, our Caring Committee has led us with strength and compassion. From phone calls to the entire congregation to meals for those who have lost a loved one, this dedicated group has made sure that our community is connected and lifting each other up, even when we cannot be together. This is such an important kind of strength - the strength to lift others up when they are down.

Chazak - despite our physical distance, in some ways, our community is stronger than ever. Now, we don’t know the origin of the phrase chazak chazak v’nitchazeik, we find similar words shared with one of our biblical leaders many times throughout the Torah. Joshua, who inherits leadership from Moses and brings the people from the desert into the land of Israel, has kind of a catch phrase, as our Torah study regulars know: chazak v’ematz. Be strong and resolute.

 This year, we have all been like Joshua - strong and resolute, even when it wasn’t easy. We have seen record attendance at our Shabbat Torah study, services, and events. We have looked to each other and to our Temple family for strength and connection. We are strong because we come together to learn and pray together.

V’nitchazeik - And we will strengthen one another. Throughout the pandemic, each of us have had moments of strength, and moments of struggle. As a Temple family, we have not needed to suffer alone. There are weeks when we have seen the sun shining and felt hopeful and brave - these are the weeks when we have lifted others up. There are weeks when we were the ones who needed support - and I pray that we found it here at Temple and among others that we know, trust, and love.

We have learned this year that our strength as a community is rooted in our history and our relationships, and not tied to one location or place. We have been tested as never before, and we emerge stronger on the other side. May we continue to lift each other up, to strengthen each other, and to step out into the sunshine! Shabbat shalom.

 

Rabbi Liz P.G. Hirsch
Temple Anshe Amunim | Pittsfield, MA

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784