This week’s Haftorah is, of course, the first of the seven of comfort lading up to Rosh Hashanah. It also, however, has a deep connection to themes in contained in the Parshah. One of these is belief in G-d. In both the Parshah and Haftorah the Jewish people are called upon to contemplate the nature and activity of G-d and its meaning for their own lives. Yet the starting point of this mental process is different in each. The Haftorah calls on the Jews to contemplate nature. ‘Raise your eyes to the heavens and see Who created these’ it urges its listeners. The Parshah, on the other hand derives its lessons from Jewish history. Remember what G-d has done for you, Moses admonishes the people, and draw the correct conclusions. Both of these are basic philosophical positions in Judaism. The Friday night kiddush, sanctifying that cornerstone of Jewish life, Shabbat; contains references both to the creation of the world and to the Exodus from Egypt. Yet our Parshah also postulates a third avenue to recognition of G-d: personal religious experience. It is interesting that Moses’ main historic emphasis in the Parshah is not the Exodus from Egypt, but the Revelation at Sinai. The Exodus may teach us about G-d’s presence in history but it is Revelation that tells us more about G-d Himself. His unity, non-material nature and desire to relate to humans, are learnt from the Divine manifestation at Mt Sinai. It is through the people’s personal experience of G-d that they can come to love and fear Him. This is an important lesson that is often overlooked. We are often taught to find G-d in nature or in contemplation of Jewish history but rarely encouraged to seek a personal religious experience. To many Jewish ears that sounds too evangelical. Yet that is precisely what the Rabbis encourage us to in the Ethics of the Fathers we read last week. Prayer should not be merely a meaningless ritual but a deep connection to G-d. you cannot have an intimate relationship with someone by merely reading about them or looking at their work. You must experience them. The same is true of the Divine. By contemplating nature or studying Jewish history you can certainly learn about G-d. But only by personally experiencing G-d can you actually get to know Him.

 

ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS

Rishon	Moses begs to be allowed to enter the Land but is refused.
Sheni	The warning against following other gods and the punishment: exile and destruction.
Shelishi	Moses sets aside three cities in Trans-Jordan to serve as cities of refuge.
Revi’i	The Revelation at Sinai and The Ten Commandments.
Chamishi	The people’s response to the Revelation.
Shishi	The Shema. Don’t forget G-d from the midst of prosperity.
Shevi’i	The command to destroy idolatry.
Haftorah	Isaiah 40;1-26: G-d comforts Zion

 

Sidra Statistics

Parshat Va’ethanan

·               has 105 verses;

·               is the  2nd  in Deuteronomy,  45th  in the Torah

·               6th longest in Deuteronomy, 

·               33rd  longest  in the Torah  

·                has  8 pos + 4 neg = 12  mitzvot.