A Message From Rabbi Weitzman: Shabbat Message 05.08.26

Dear Congregation Beth Emeth,

This week we read B'har/B'chukotai, the double portion that closes the Book of Leviticus. At its heart is a verse inscribed on the Liberty Bell: "You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all its inhabitants" (Leviticus 25:10). That call toward human dignity feels especially urgent today, a moment marked by anxiety, polarization, and spiritual restlessness.

Torah reminds us that true freedom is not simply the absence of restraint. It requires responsibility, covenant, and care for one another. The rhythms of Shabbat and the Jubilee year were sacred pauses that reminded our ancestors, and remind us, that human worth cannot be reduced to productivity or power.

B'chukotai opens with a conditional promise of blessing, yet our tradition has always wrestled honestly with the reality that goodness does not guarantee an easy life. The rabbis looked to Job and asked hard questions about suffering and justice. Their answer was not despair. It was a covenant. Rather than becoming disillusioned by what remained hidden, they focused on what was revealed: the chance to perform mitzvot, build community, and sanctify life even amid uncertainty. As Rabbi Harold Kushner taught, faith is not a guarantee against hardship; it is a way of walking through hardship with purpose and with one another.

On a personal note, these closing words of Leviticus carry special meaning for me. At the end of nearly every sermon my father delivered, and whenever he stood before the congregation as temple president he would always close the same way:

Chazak, chazak, v'nitchazeik. "Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another."

As a child, I heard it as a familiar refrain. As an adult, I understand it as a theology of Jewish life. Strength was never meant to be solitary. We strengthen one another through compassion, presence, learning, and acts of justice and kindness.

So as we conclude Leviticus once again, I hear my father's voice reminding us: our task is not only to endure, but to help carry each other through.

Chazak, chazak, v'nitchazeik.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Weitzman