The Torah Portion – Wk 45 Va’etchanan – I Pleaded

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Va’etchanan
I Pleaded
ואתחנן

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Overview

In this week’s Torah portion we are looking at Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11

Moses tells the people of Israel how he implored God to allow him to enter the Land of Israel, but God refused, instructing him instead to ascend a mountain and see the Promised Land.

Continuing his “review of the Torah,” Moses describes the Exodus from Egypt and the Giving of the Torah, declaring them unprecedented events in human history. “Has there ever occurred this great thing, or has the likes of it ever been heard? Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire . . . and live? . . . You were shown, to know, that the L‑rd is God . . . there is none else beside Him.”

Moses predicts that in future generations the people will turn away from God, worship idols, and be exiled from their land and scattered amongst the nations; but from there they will seek God, and return to obey His commandments.

Our Parshah also includes a repetition of the Ten Commandments, and the verses of the Shema, which declare the fundamentals of the Jewish faith: the unity of God (“Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one”); the mitzvot to love G‑d, to study His Torah, and to bind “these words” as tefillin on our arms and heads, and inscribe them in the mezuzot affixed on the doorposts of our homes.