Vaetchanan

📜 The Story

'Vaetchanan' means 'and I pleaded.' Moses tells the people that he begged God to let him go into the Land of Israel. The Sages say he asked 515 times. But God said, 'Enough. Do not speak to Me about this again.' God told Moses to climb to the top of Mount Pisgah and look at the land from far away. Moses would die on the other side of the Jordan River.

Moses tells the people to keep the Torah carefully, without adding anything or taking anything away. He reminds them that they saw and heard God speak from the fire on Mount Sinai. He asks them never to forget that day, and to tell their children and grandchildren about it. He warns them strongly not to worship idols, because God is the one true God, and there is no other.

Moses sets aside three cities of refuge on the east side of the Jordan River: Bezer, Ramoth and Golan. Someone who killed a person by accident could run there and be safe. Then Moses repeats the Ten Commandments to the people a second time, in almost the same words as at Mount Sinai.

The most famous part of the parsha is the Shema: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.' Right after it comes the paragraph called V'ahavta. It tells us to love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our might, and to teach these words to our children. The mitzvot (commandments) of tefillin and mezuzah also come from these verses.

At the end, Moses warns the people: when you come into a good land and have plenty of everything, do not forget God, and do not follow the gods of the nations around you. If they keep the Torah, they will live long, good lives in the land. If they forget God, they will be sent away from it.