I would like to talk about the end of the parsha. The last posuk 27:34 says אֵ לֶּה הַ מִּ צְ וֺת which Chazal darshun that שאין נביא רשאי לחדש דבר מעתה. After Moshe Rabbeinu, no Navi has a right to be mechadeish new mitzvos. Whatever Yehoshua did needs explanation but that is the g’zairas hakasuv. It is fascinating that both the last posuk in Vayikra and the last posuk in Bamidbar 36:13 say אֵ לֶּה הַ מִּ צְ וֺת and Chazal darshen these words. However, it’s unclear as to whether they are darshening the last posuk in Vayikra or the last posuk in Bamidbar.
I once asked Rav Moshe Shapiro zatzal is the posuk that Chazal are darkening the last posuk in Vayikra or the last posuk in Bamidbar? If I recall correctly, he said muz zain the last posuk in Vayikra and not the last posuk in Bamidbar. Why muz zain, I am not sure. Maybe because at the end of Bamidbar it would be a normal posuk and we wouldn’t have to darshen it. At the end of Vayikra it is a drasha. I am not sure why. But at any rate, אֵלֶּה הַמִּצְוֺת שאין נביא רשאי לחדש דבר מעתה, and that is how Bechukotai ends.
Then we say Chazak Chazak V’nischazeik. Again Klal Yisrael has been saying this for hundreds of years. Your father did, your zeide did, and his father and his zeide did before him. They all said Chazak Chazak V’nischazeik. It has become something of a nursery rhyme rachmana litzlan. The children have rhymes for it. It has somehow become meaningless. People think that any way you say it is fine, it doesn’t mean anything. No!
There is a reason why we say Chazak Chazak V’nischazeik. Because when we finish one of the seforim of the Torah, we have to be mechazeik ourselves. We have to stop and pause and say look, we are traveling from Simchas Torah to Rosh Hashana, Chazak Chazak V’nischazeik. We have reached another milestone. This is the third sefer that we finished. Chazak Chazak V’nischazeik. So when you say it in Shul, say it with meaning, say it with feeling, say it with thought. Chazak Chazak V’nischazeik.
Have in mind chazak, let us be strong. We should have the koach to stay up all night on Shavuos, to stay up late learning, to do what we need to do in our avodas Hashem with strength. Not to be weak, as many people are now with yeridas hadoros. It is a fact that it is more difficult now than it used to be. This is not rishus, it is a fact. Still, l think that we can do better. So everybody Chazak Chazak V’nischazeik. Be strong and strengthen everybody around you, and we will all become stronger in our avodas Hashem, as we march b’ezras Hashem towards Kabbalas HaTorah kulanu b’yachad.
A Gutten Shabbos to one and all!
