[Mesorah] Who Made Up “Chazak Chazak VeNischazaik?” - VINnews

[Michael Poppers]

> I would like to suggest the following idea.  Somewhere, in some shul in
Hungary in the late 1700’s, there may have been too much talking in shul
and or krias haTorah.  The Rav felt that it was a lack of derech eretz and
spoke about the Gemorah in Brachos (32b).  There the Gemorah states that
four things require Chizuk – strengthening.  The last of the four is DERECH
ERETZ.  The Gemorah quotes the pasuk in Shmuel Bais (10:12), “Chazak
veNischazak ba’ad ameinu – let us be strong and we will be strengthened for
our nation.”

> That particular shul already had the minhag of reciting Chazak three
times at the completion of each sefer.  But after the Rav may have quoted
that Gemorah in Brachos (32b), the kehillah then combined their minhag and
changed it to Chazak chazak venischazaik (with a bit of a tweak on the last
vowel) because of the Rav’s citation of the Gemorah in Brachos to
strengthen derech eretz.  This minhag spread rapidly.
> When it first began, the Chasam Sofer felt it was wrong.  The Aruch
haShulchan felt the same way.  But Hashem runs the world and the minhag
developed in order to strengthen Derech Eretz. <
Now, why didn't that Hungarian *tzibbur* change their *minhag* to "Chazaq
v'Nischaz*a*q" (i.e. not tweaking the vowel)? Going back to that era, such
is the *minhag* in many *k'hilos Ashk'naz*; and since this is an AishDas
list, may I note URL https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol17/v17n001.shtml#05 from
17+ years ago.

Gut Voch/Shavu'a Tov!
and all the best from
*Michael Poppers* * Elizabeth, NJ, USA

On Sat, Dec 30, 2023 at 9:14 PM rabbirichwolpoe via Mesorah <
mesorah at lists.aishdas.org> wrote:

>
> https://vinnews.com/2023/12/27/the-mysterious-minhag-of-chazak-chazak-venischazaik/
>
> I'm just sharing
>
>
> RRW
>
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>
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