Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz

Parashat Vayigash 2017 Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz The Great Storehouses of the Soul ‘Chazak, chazak v’nitchazek!’ – ‘strength, strength, may we be strengthened!’ Every time we complete the reading of a book of the Torah, we ritually chant this after the Torah reading. Isn’t it a peculiar thing to say? Of course, there is the impulse to celebrate the conclusion – the siyyum – of the reading of a book of the Torah, and it is traditional in Judaism to celebrate the things we finish as well as the things we start. Yet, we could have imagined another idiom. Maybe something that speaks to the holiness or the meaning of the text, something that touches upon the momentousness of Revelation or our covenantal relationship with our Torah. Yet, the traditional formula is ‘chazak, chazak v’nitchazek’. There are a number of Jewish idioms that speak to strength, sometimes in unexpected ways. ‘Ometz lev’ denotes the brave heart, like that of Joshua. ‘Yasher koach...

Parashat Vayigash  Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz  Excavating and Elevating  Being a rabbi is a funny job. Like Joseph, a rabbi is expected to replenish the storehouses of the community. Not literally, of course, but figuratively. Like Joseph, a rabbi is expected to facilitate relationships. Like Joseph, a rabbi is expected to develop a sustainable vision for the future as well as being a ‘ dugma ishit ’, a personal example. We rabbis answer to a Higher Authority, after all, and despite our personal preferences, foibles and failings, are bearers of the crucible of tradition. I love being a rabbi and only two years in, I feel like I could already write a book about my myriad of moving, challenging and sometimes outright bemusing experiences.  Yet there’s one aspect of a rabbi’s life which is most visible: the rabbi as shaliach tzibbur , prayer leader. This is what stereotypically people imagine a rabbi to be: standing here, in the prerequisite ritual garb, lead...