28 Tammuz 5770 / July 10, 2010
Triennial Cycle III: Numbers 33:50-36:13
Humash Etz Hayim, page 957
Haftarah: Jeremiah 2:4-28, 3:4, 4:1-2, page 973
- (33:50-56) An additional warning to uproot idol worship from Canaan.
- (34:1-15) Instructions on dividing Canaan among nine and a half tribes.
- (34:16-29) A list of the tribal heads.
- (35:1-8) The forty-eight Levite cities.
- (35:9-34) Laws concerning the cities of refuge.
- (36:1-13) Final discussions concerning the daughters of Zelophchad.
Hazak Hazak V’nithazzek:
Be Strong, Be Strong, and Together We Will Be Strengthened
Rabbi Aaron Schonbrun
This [reciting Hazak Hazak] is in accord with the verse found in Joshua 1:8-9: “Let not this Book of the Teaching (Sefer Torah) cease from your lips, but recite it day and night, so that you may observe faithfully all that is written on it. Only then will you prosper and only then will you be successful. I charge you: Be strong and resolute (chazak v’ematz): do not be terrified, or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Hence the custom arose to declare upon completing the reading of an entire book of the Torah “Be strong…” Beit Yosef, Rabbi Joseph Caro, 15th century, Spain, Gelbard, Rite and Reason, 132