As we wind down the narrative of the Torah, the Jewish People prepares to leave its supernatural existence in the desert, engage in the natural world of battle, and develop a nation within the land of Israel. In Parashas Vayelech, we hear Moshe’s empowering words to Yehoshua – chazak v’amatz.
Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, in the name Rav Shabsi Weiss (Mishpitos Zahav on Yehoshua) reveals the depth of these words. Chazak is the call to be a big thinker, a visionary with continual aspirations for reaching higher, for avoiding complacency. However, the pitfall of always striving for more is a tendency to be disappointed by what wasn’t achieved. One may accomplish much, but there’s always more to be done. This mindset can lead a person to fall into despair.
This is where amatz comes into play. Amatz describes the ability to look back and appreciate what one has achieved even if there is still more to accomplish. The combination of chazak and amatz is the key to striving, to having the internal strength to move up the ladder.
Yehoshua needed to hear this message. Moshe understood that Yehoshua’s task before him wasn’t a simple one – to take the spiritual life that the Jewish People gained in the desert and integrate it into the life of the physical and natural. Making this transition successfully inevitably involves ups and downs, successes and failures. Yehoshua needed to give over to the nation the mindset of consistently pushing forward (chazak) while at the same time appreciating their past achievements (amatz).
The message conveyed in chazak v’amatz is highly relevant to our involvement in parnassa, which requires connecting both our physical and spiritual lives. As we’ve learned together in this column over the past year, our goal as working Bnei Torah is not simply to survive through our work. Rather, we aim to create a bridge between our parnassa and our service of Hashem. This is not a simple task.
It’s critical that as we approach the new year, we take with us a “chazak mindset.” We can do this by having goals to live a more integrated life of spirituality even outside the walls of the beis midrash. At the same time, it’s essential that we take time to engage in the practice of “v’amatz” by reflecting on our successes over the past year – how we remembered Hashem more while we were in the workplace, felt more inspired to start our work day, and strived to appreciate the opportunity for closeness to Hashem through our parnassa.
As we move towards a new year, my bracha for each one of you is that you should experience a year in which bounty in your parnassa, enjoyment from your work, and closeness to Hashem come together.
