INTRODUCTION
It is the Jewish custom that upon completing any of the five books of the Torah in our cycle of weekly readings, the entire congregation calls out: ‘Chazak, Chazak, v’Nischazek – Be strong! Be strong! And may we be strengthened!’
EVERYONE’S CALL
‘Chazak, Chazak, v’Nischazek’ is called out by everyone present in the synagogue, including men, women, and children.
LOUD AND JOYFUL
We call out with a loud, joyous, voice, which reflects on the strength and steadfastness of the Jewish people in all Torah matters.
THRICE STRENGTHENED
[In Jewish Law, something done three times constitutes a chazakah (lit. a strength) i.e. a legally valid continuity and power. In this case, the word chazak i.e. the strengthening, is itself given a chazakah (legal strength) by being repeated three times over – Ed.]
Now, in addition to an established Jewish custom being ‘a part of Torah itself’, it even bears an advantage of a kind, over the Written and Oral Torah (See Likutei Torah, Derushei Sukos, 80c and in many other location, for an explanation of this advantage). Moreover, this custom carries the advantage and complete state of ‘something done three times assumes a legal strength, a chazakah’.
This strength is itself further bolstered by our tripled expression of strength, ‘Be strong! Be strong! And may we be strengthened!’
IMPLEMENTING THE CALL
During Shabbos Chazak, each and every Jewish person should strengthen themselves, their family, and all around them (the word ‘nischazek– may we be strengthened’ is plural), in all matters pertaining to Judaism, Torah, and Mitzvos.
The name of every Parshah, in addition to its content, serves as a lesson and instructed that we should implement. This is included in the directive from the Alter Rebbe to ‘live with the Parshah of the week’ by implementing its lessons. Moreover, since our Parshah is also the conclusion of the entire book of Breishis - and ‘everything follows its conclusion’ (Brachos12a) - this Parshah’s name (Vayechi) must certainly contain a powerful lesson.
However, since we are already alive (and can therefore ‘live with the Parshah’) – the life of Jewry being true life since it stems from the Torah of Life (Avos d’Rabbi Nasan 34) – then what instruction can we take from the name Vayechi, which means ‘life’?! How do we ‘live’ with ‘living’?
The explanation, in brief, is that a person generally does not feel his life-force and certainly not its source i.e. the essence of his soul. He merely feels the individual powers that stem from this life-force e.g. sight, hearing, etc. Our general and essential life-force remains undetected by our senses. The instruction of Vayechi, then, is to take the expression of our soul’s essential life-force i.e. our essential faith in Hashem, and ‘live with it’ by expressing it within the particulars of our divine service and details of our daily affairs.
Insofar as Torah is concerned, instead of merely living with (and sensing the vivifying force we receive from) the individual Parshah of each week, ‘Vayechi’ instructs us to live with and sense the general vivifying force of Torah itself, ‘for it is our lives and the length of our days’. This awareness should then be likewise brought to bear in the particular of our daily ‘living’.
And since the life of the entire creation comes from the Torah, Vayechi teaches us to view the world in context of its true general life-force, so that we fully interact with the world based on the awareness that there is nothing besides Hashem. (Editor’s synopsis of Sichas Vayechi 5750 – Hisv. p137)
“It is now Shabbos Parshas Vayechi, Shabbos Chazak, when we conclude the first book of Torah [i.e. Breishis, also known as] ‘Sefer Hayashar’ [i.e. the Book of the Upright – our forefathers Avraham, Yitchak and Yaakov. The name Breishis comes from the word rosh – a head or beginning, which indicates that this book is loftier than the other four books. See there, footnote 1]. Each and every Jewish person should therefore strengthen... [See main text above for continuation] ... in a manner whereby it becomes clearly discernable that he lives in the true sense of the word ‘living’ i.e. with the individual as well as general life-force of the Jewish people and the Torah, as it permeates every last detail of our day-to-day lives.
GREAT KIDDUSH / FARBRENGEN
We should connect this custom with the holding of a special farbrengen in addition to the weekly farbrengen (that are held in fulfillment of the custom ‘to gather congregations each Shabbos’). Indeed, many congregations have the custom to hold aKidushah Rabbah – a ‘Great Kiddush’ on Shabbos Chazak.
RE-INSTALL THE CUSTOM
We should re-establish and bolster this custom everywhere, so that all may add in reciting words of Torah - along with – and they may add in their rejoicing upon the completion of an entire book of Torah.
This should include the acceptance of good resolutions to increase in Torah study and the embellished performance of Mitzvos.
