Parashat Vaetchanan
Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11

Topics (click on any link)
Synopsis of the Torah portion
Spiritual insights into Parashat Vaetchanan
Key verses
Creative Midrash for Parashat Vaetchanan

Chapter 3
Vaetchanan opens with Moses plea to God to allow him to cross over the Jordan with the people. God was adamant in his decision not to let Moses cross, instead God insisted that Moses hand over command of the Israelites to Joshua.

Chapter 4
Moses now implores the Israelites to heed the laws and commandments that they are instructed to obey so that you may enter and live in the land the God has promised them. He reminds them how God destroyed offenders and those who held fast are here among us today. Moses reviews the history of the past forty years particularly when they all stood at Sinai and heard the voice of God from the fire upon the mountain. He reminded them that the Lord uttered Ten Commandments that were later inscribed on stone tablets.

Moses pleads with the Israelites to refrain from behaving wickedly and from worshipping idols or sculptured images of any likeness. Moses explains that he lost the privilege of entering the good land and again reminds the people that their wellbeing depends on their observance of the commandments. He goes on to say that if they ignore the rules, they will not endure in the land, but if you seek Him, you will find him because the Lord is a compassionate God.
Once more Moses proclaims the greatness of God, His wonders and miracles. He advises them to follow all the laws and commandments so that they may endure and live in the Promised Land. Moses then set aside three cities, in the land of the Reubenites, the Gadites and the Manassites, to which a manslayer can escape. Finally Moses prepares to explain the Teaching that Moses set before the Israelites in the valley of Beth Peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites who they defeated after they left Egypt.

Chapter 5
Moses reviewed the covenant that God made with the Israelites. Here he emphasizes that the covenant was not made with our fathers but with each one of us who is here today. The Ten Commandments are repeated here nearly word for word as it was given on Mount Sinai.  Moses reminded them again how they all heard the awesome voice of God coming from the fire on the mountain and the people were frightened by the majesty of the spectacle. They commissioned Moses to speak to God in their behalf and they will do whatever is commanded, willingly. And God praised the Israelites for their judgment and anticipated that they will always revere Him and follow all His commandments, so that it will go well for them and their children forever.

Chapter 6
Moses again underscores the instruction that God gave to be observed in the land that the people were about to enter. Moses requests that the people obey these laws faithfully so that all will go well and you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey. The next paragraph contains in its entirely the most important statement in all of Jewish tradition—Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is One. Then Moses reiterates that when the people enter the Promised Land, they must not follow other Gods because the Lord is an impassioned God. If the anger of the Lord strikes out against you, he can wipe you off the face of the earth. Over and over Moses drives home the point to do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord. Then, from almost out of no where, Moses reminds the Israelites that in the future when your son asks you what all these rules and commandments mean, you should tell him the miracle of how God freed us from bondage in Egypt with destructive omens against the Egyptians.

Chapter 7
The Israelites are told that when they enter the land of Canaan, they must defeat and destroy all the nations that God delivers to them. They must not marry with them, for they will turn Israelite children away from God and worship other gods. Israel was chosen among all the nations on earth to be God’s treasured people, because He loved you and kept the oath He made with your fathers. Moses restates that God keeps his covenant with those who love Him and keeps His commandments, but destroys those who reject Him.

Spiritual insights into Parashat Vaetchanan                          return to top of page

Va’etchanan introduces to us three particular concepts that are that we, who are pursuing the path toward healing and spirituality, could find of great value. In Deuteronomy 4:9, we find the following excerpt, “Take utmost care and watch your nefesh scrupulously." The Hebrew word nefesh is most often translated as "soul." However, the rabbis understood this term as a reference to the "life force" of each individual. Sages have applied these words to enforce the effort of taking care of our physical as well as spiritual health. More recently, rabbis have invoked this verse the cry out against the dangers of excessive drinking and smoking.
This parashah also calls to attention to the directive to recite the Sh’ma, the prayer that affirms our faith. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel taught that Sh’ma means ‘to listen’. When we are at prayer, we are supposed to listen to the words of God. We are not reciting our own words, but rather the fixed, prescribed prayers that require us to suspend our mental activity, rendering us open and clear to absorb God’s messages, which can only be heard under such conditions.
We also come across a repetition of the Ten Commandments that first appeared in Exodus and comes forth again as a symbol of the covenant, the solemn contract the God made with our forefathers. This is the agreement between God and his people in which God makes certain promises and requires certain behavior in return for a life of perfection, abundance and goodness.

Key verses                         return to top of page
This page is not a commentary on the text, but a chance for you to express your own comments and feelings in order to gain deeper insight into your own life.

Deuteronomy 4:2
You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you.
Food for thought:
1. Jewish history has shown us that we always have added and subtracted. Do you think this is a contradiction of a Torah ordinance?
2. By keeping the commandments, is it possible to add or subtract anything from them?
3. What do you think Moses is trying to tell the Israelites by this statement?
 

Deuteronomy 4:7
For what great nation is there that has a god so close at hand as is the Lord our God whenever we call upon Him?
Food for thought:
1. Is God close to you? Is he there when you call upon Him?
2. Do you think this verse is praising God or Israel?
3. What does this verse have to say about man’s relationship with God? Do you think that Jews have the ability to get closer to God than any other nation in the world?

Deuteronomy 4:44
This is the Teaching that Moses set before the Israelites: these are the exhortations, laws and rules that Moses addressed to the people of Israel, after they left Egypt.
Food for thought:
1. What actually is the Teaching? This chapter repeats the Ten Commandments again with some slight alterations from the original version.
2. Do you think the Teaching is the Ten Commandments, all the commandments or is there some teaching that is deeper than words can express?
3. This verse clearly announces that these laws were given after the people left Egypt. What about all the other commandments that were given after leaving Egypt? That would account for all of them except the Ten Commandments. What then, precisely is the Teaching?

Deuteronomy 5:23-24
For what mortal ever heard the voice of the living God speak out of the fire, as we did, and lived? You go closer and hear all that the Lord our God says, then you tell us everything the Lord our God tells you, and we will willingly do it.
Food for thought:
1. We know that man cannot see God and live, but why can’t man hear God and live?
2. Is Moses recounting the story accurately here? Is this what the Israelites actually said when they stood at the foot of Mount Sinai?
3. Perhaps the Israelites are looking for an excuse. Is it that they can’t hear God and need an intermediary, a prophet like Moses to do their bidding for them?

Deuteronomy 6:3
Obey, O Israel, willingly and faithfully, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers spoke to you.
Food for thought:
1. All we are being asked to do is obey. Is that so difficult?
2. Could it be that if we had obeyed, then and now, the world would be a better place to live?
3. Is the Torah trying to imply that only the Israelites matters would go well? What about the rest of the world?

Deuteronomy 7:3-4
You must not intermarry with them: do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. For they will turn your children away from Me to worship other Gods, and the Lords anger will blaze forth against you and He will promptly wipe you out.
Food for thought:
1. Do you think this is true? Will God’s anger blaze forth if the Israelites intermarry?
2. Could this be the cause of so much adversity in the world? Would life be better if Jews only married Jews?
3. Do you think we worship other gods? What are they? Who are they?

Additional questions to ponder:
1. What is it about the story, a verse, a word that seems to resonate with some aspect of your life?
2. Is there something about the story that rings a bell?
3. Can you recall experiences in your life when you have experienced something similar to this story?
4. How would you describe the characters in the story? Who do you know who's like them?
5. Can you personally identify with any one of the characters in the story? Which one?
6. Can you find a similarity between yourself and all the characters in the story?

Reflections:
The Rabbis of old would meditate on such questions, sometimes for weeks at a time, to help find deeper meaning in the
verses. You may wish to contemplate just one or a few of these questions at a time, rather than tackling them
all. In what ways we any of your responses to the questions personally meaningful?

Suggestion:
Some of the questions here are of a personal nature which in some cases could be emotionally upsetting. If so, try
relaxing your body as much as possible and takes long slow breaths of air. That usually helps to relieve anxiety.

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Creative Midrash on Parashat Vaetchanan                          return to top of page
Deuteronomy 4:44
This is the Teaching that Moses set before the Israelites: these are the exhortations, laws and rules that Moses addressed to the people of Israel, after they left Egypt.

The Rabbis of old would create parables, stories and narrative connections around such selected verses. What do you see between the lines, the sentences and the letters. The following questions can provide a launch pad upon which to create your own meanings of the Torah.

What precisely is the Teaching? Is it the Ten Commandments? Is it all the laws of the Torah? Is it the written law (Torah) and the oral law (Talmud)? Is the teaching something more than words alone can offer? Is it something intuitive, something that resides in the heart? Regardless of what you think the Teaching is, how can we learn it? From books? From life’s experiences? If we know the Teaching, would our lives be better off? Would there be less illness? Less crime? Less hatred? Less violence? How can we all learn the Teaching together? What exactly is the purpose of the Teaching?