Traditionally, when the completion of the reading of the Torah portion on Shabbat marks the end of one of the Five Books of Moses, the congregation chants “Chazak. Chazak. V’nitchazek”. Loosely translated the words mean, “Be strong. Be strong. And we will strengthen each other.” Or some people might say: “Strength. Strength. And we will become strong.”
The classic Alcalay Hebrew-English dictionary defines the term chazak as “to be strong, firm, robust, courageous.” Thus, however one translates the Hebrew, whether as prescriptive or descriptive, its essence is a call to demonstrate courage by taking communal (collective) action.
The reminder to demonstrate courage is – and has always been – at the very core of the recurring, formative instruction to the Jewish people. The communal rallying cry to show courage and to find the strength necessary to do so – however difficult – reverberates within the Jewish soul even if the Jewish mind does not always hear or remember it.
Canadian lawyer, human rights advocate, Adam Hummel, has recently written about the need for all us to show courage during this unsettling, alarming rise of hate post-October 7, directed at Jews. In an article entitled, Courage:It couldn’t come at a better time, published on January 10 in Substack,Hummel urges us to be “brave, bold, and courageous”. But true to the nature of someone who ‘does’ as well as ‘says’, Hummel suggests several ways to do so.
He provides five specific characterizations of behaviours from which individuals might take action and, in the result, also find our courage.
Hummel concludes that “however hard it is to be a Jew at this time, we must know that this is one of the best times in history to be Jewish. We have a voice, we have respect, we are cohesive, we have a country, and we have an army.
Nothing is stopping us from being brave. Everything is telling us to be strong and of good courage (chazak ve’amatz). Let’s seize the moment and stand for what we know to be true.
Am Yisrael Chai”
Hummel’s article is important. Substantive. Instructive. And inspiring.
It is available at: https://catchjcp.substack.com/p/courage
GAJE reminds our readers that we await the decision of the Divisional Court on the motion by Ontario for leave to appeal the 46-page ruling by Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou allowing GAJE’s application to proceed to a hearing in court.
•••
If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.
For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com
Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.
•••
Shabbat shalom
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
January 19, 2024
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 