Shalom, one of the most beautiful phrases in the Torah comes at the very end of Deuteronomy. The situation is that the Jewish people are perplexed and anxious. They have got to be; because they know that they are going forward without Moses shortly and Joshua was played number 2 to Moses throughout his career, now is he suddenly going to be number one? And so unsolicited, God says to the Jewish people (foreign language) in plural, be strong and have good courage, from the word (foreign language) and (foreign language). And then, Moses says to Joshua, his successor, (foreign language).
“Joshua, what do you have to be worried about? God is with you, you will be able to do just fine.” When I was a little boy, when I had, facing a tough time, my father may rest in peace, used to put his hands on me and say (foreign language), be strong and have good courage. And then quote something from the middle part of the bible (foreign language), go from strength to strength. So what does it mean in a time of difficulty and trouble? Which all of us face in our lives, to have strength and courage to know that God is on our side. As long as we feel that we are doing the right ting, that God is with us, we should have strength and courage.
One of the most remarkable stories of strength and courage I know is the story of my wife who was a star in a Lutheran church, graduated at a seminary, one of the best students they ever had, they said, and she, before I met her, understood that she never was really comfortable with Christianity even though she was a rising star and could have led one of the biggest churches in America, in fact was a minister in a very large, the fastest, one of the fastest-growing churches in the country and decided to leave basically her people, leave the church, leave Christianity for un-chartered waters simply because she understood that she should be a Jew.
And now, she is teaching, she is a professor teaching religion and mythology and she teaches Jewish studies, teaches both ethics of our ancestors at the synagogue, when is our conversion program, and studying to be a Rabbi, maybe the first form of Lutheran administer ever to become a rabbi when she is ordained. Amazing story of courage and I just imagined she feels God’s hands on her saying, so to speak, be strong and have good courage. And so, for everyone facing difficult times, medical times, hard economic times, you need to have strength and courage, (foreign language), it is one of the most beautiful messages contained in Parashat Vayelekh, the third and the last portion of the Torah. And so I say to you, learn to say it to yourself, (foreign language), be strong and have good courage.
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