Dear Friends,
As the great Jewish philosopher, Tevye the Milkman, stated famously in Fiddler on the Roof, “We have commandments for how to do everything, how to eat, how to sleep. How to wear our clothes…”
And, although Tevye did not expound on this, we even have a commandment for how to end a given period of time and how to begin the next period of time.
In that this day is the first day of 2026, and that we have just concluded 2025, it is fitting that we offer the statement of encouragement—not a formal blessing—for this moment. But first, it is further enhanced because this week, and this day, we also conclude reading the biblical Book of Genesis and commence reading its successor book, Exodus. Thus, we encounter a doubleheader of endings and beginnings of times or periods this day.
The ancient sages, wise beyond their time, determined that when we conclude and commence each of the five books of the Torah, we are to state the following formula from the Book of Samuel: Chazak, Chazak v’nitchazeik – Be Strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another!
Much interpretative effort has been applied to the deeper meanings of this instruction.
Today, however, on the secular New Year’s Day and the final moments of B’reishit—Genesis—perhaps it is best just to let the phrase wash over us and offer us inner and deeper encouragement.
Changes—beginnings and endings—can be emotional teeter-totters. There are ups and downs. Especially so over the last few days when news stations, websites, and papers are offering retroreflective reviews of the year that was, and some are offering prognostications for the year that will be. We remember the halcyon times; we recall the losses, and we rue the misadventures or missed opportunities, not knowing what might yet lie ahead of us.
Thus, the charge to strengthen one another is fitting. When we are prone to looking down, we may need encouragement to look up. When the days are dark, we appreciate the reminder that days of light are on the horizon. And, when we cannot strengthen ourselves, such is when it is most vital that we strengthen one another.
Thus, as we move from moment to moment, from year to year and from Torah book to Torah book, Chazak, Chazak v’nitchazeik – Be Strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
As the great Jewish philosopher, Tevye the Milkman, stated famously in Fiddler on the Roof, “We have commandments for how to do everything, how to eat, how to sleep. How to wear our clothes…”
And, although Tevye did not expound on this, we even have a commandment for how to end a given period of time and how to begin the next period of time.
In that this day is the first day of 2026, and that we have just concluded 2025, it is fitting that we offer the statement of encouragement—not a formal blessing—for this moment. But first, it is further enhanced because this week, and this day, we also conclude reading the biblical Book of Genesis and commence reading its successor book, Exodus. Thus, we encounter a doubleheader of endings and beginnings of times or periods this day.
The ancient sages, wise beyond their time, determined that when we conclude and commence each of the five books of the Torah, we are to state the following formula from the Book of Samuel: Chazak, Chazak v’nitchazeik – Be Strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another!
Much interpretative effort has been applied to the deeper meanings of this instruction.
Today, however, on the secular New Year’s Day and the final moments of B’reishit—Genesis—perhaps it is best just to let the phrase wash over us and offer us inner and deeper encouragement.
Changes—beginnings and endings—can be emotional teeter-totters. There are ups and downs. Especially so over the last few days when news stations, websites, and papers are offering retroreflective reviews of the year that was, and some are offering prognostications for the year that will be. We remember the halcyon times; we recall the losses, and we rue the misadventures or missed opportunities, not knowing what might yet lie ahead of us.
Thus, the charge to strengthen one another is fitting. When we are prone to looking down, we may need encouragement to look up. When the days are dark, we appreciate the reminder that days of light are on the horizon. And, when we cannot strengthen ourselves, such is when it is most vital that we strengthen one another.
Thus, as we move from moment to moment, from year to year and from Torah book to Torah book, Chazak, Chazak v’nitchazeik – Be Strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
